"My Partner In Crime Led Me To Islam!"- Ex-Christian’s Incredible Convert Story!
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I immediately took off my belt wrapped it around my fist and went to punch the guy as I was going in to punch him I see the police car coming in from behind so the police is watching the whole thing right something happened which was a car accident so obviously we had been been smoking in the car weed and things like this so we got into a car accident so the police are going to come I'm going to go to jail the police didn't come they delayed delayed I don't know why so I'm thinking to myself why not run you know and then just leave the car and just go buy another car later right that's what I did I left the car and I ran and I'm like running through the this little Forest Area to get to my
friend's house and hide there it's like you know it's like a Hollywood movie I'm running trees and this and later the the dogs come and the helicopter and this but I wasn't caught alhamdulillah he's my partner in crime you know he's the guy I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm selling drugs with his son right his father said wait downstairs in the basement this is where we used to hang out in his basement and as I went in I noticed that his father was listening to the Quran I when the first question I asked as a white person can I be a Muslim he he laughed and he said of course he said if you're black white brown he said even if you're purple or pink he said doesn't matter what color you are right he said
you can be a Muslim abim Makari thank you for accepting our invitation we are very happy to have you with us I want to start with who isim marthi and can you tell us briefly about your life thank you for having me first of all um your brother ABD Rahim McCarthy from America I accepted Islam at the age of 18 in 1994 in America and then a couple of months about 6 months after I became Muslim I traveled abroad to Sudan and later to Saudi Arabia to study Islam and I studied in Medina alhamdulillah for 10 years and upon graduating in Medina I got involved in the daa and got involved in you know the satellite channels and the media with peace TV and Huda TV and others and you know in traveling
around the world and and here we are today with you in Turkey alhamdulillah how was your life in regards to Faith what your who are you believing in uh I was born as as a a Christian as a Catholic and I was raised as a Catholic uh we were in the Catholic church I went to a Catholic School up until second grade until they kicked me out they kicked me out of the school they're supposed to be forgiving and all of this but you I I was a bit of a troublemaker uh I got in a lot of trouble when I was in school uh from a young age and even later on as well so I I but we were raised as Catholics and as Christians yes somewhat so I mean going to church weekly uh especially my my grandmother and my
aunt they they would always go we would go sometimes you know for the big events we would go and sometimes we would go on a weekly basis uh you know being identifying as Christians you know the sign of the cross the Bible in the house you know wearing a cross you know the rosary these type of things they were very you know they were there so I I guess you could considered us you know you know somewhat religious you know not like super religious but at the same time it was definitely part of our identity and part of our our daily life can tell us about your background first how was your life before Islam so I sat down I remember I was 18 years old years old and I was involved in a very
difficult life uh I got involved into selling drugs so that in my best friend at that time who was coming from that lifestyle even his cousin was in prison serving a life sentence CU he had killed someone so you can imagine you know this this he's coming up in this and that was right around the time where like you know smoking weed became very popular it wasn't that popular back in the day and I remember that was one of the first meetings I had with him and he you know he rose up what we call a blunt which is a cigar where you take out the tobacco and you roll up the weed inside he said know everybody who's gangster everyone who's strong everyone you know this all of them smoke you know so
he he gave it to me me being an athlete at the time I was really against that but I said okay like there's a cool thing to do so he I started smoking with him the weed and then you know getting into the lifestyle he's like how do you do you think you you can wear like expensive clothes you know have relations with the so being an athlete I was really against this but I mean it was what everyone else was doing who was in that inner circle so I started you know smoking weed with him as well and even SM what comes like smoking cigarettes I was really against smoking cigarettes but then other my friends started to smoke cigarettes so I started smoking cigarettes as well and then drinking
obviously being Irish American that was already part of our culture from a young even from a young age even before the drinking age in America so I got involved in all of those things at at at at a very young young age and it was taking me down you know a a wrong path so to live a certain lifestyle you know if you want to especially when you're you know with the opposite gender you may have to have expensive clothes and expensive habits and what have you so how do you support that lifestyle he said H you see how my cousin my brother that's that's how you do know they're driving expensive cars and you know wearing gold and all of this so that kind of I got sucked into that lifestyle so it was
just basketball in the beginning but then I got kind of sucked into that lifestyle being in that wrong environment ended up not going to school from grade 11 I stopped going to school even for some time when I would go to school I had to go to school with a gun because a different rival neighborhood we got into some issue with them we came with a bunch of people we ran them out of their own neighborhood so that was very degrading for them so now they have to get revenge who is the guy the white guy who was the driver of the car they knew me so they had the Target on me and and I they were told they were going to kill me so as I was told then I'm going to get killed what am I supposed to do
now one of my friends invited me to his house after school and he said you have to protect yourself he lifted up his mattress and he gave me a pistol he said it's either going to be you or them and you know keep One in the Chamber so I would you know go every day you know I would go under my mattress when I go to school and I put my gun into my belt here and I would just sit there and kind of wait for them coming to to they did come once but they and were able to run them off with with our friends from the school so I this was the the lifestyle that I I had got pulled into at that time so how did your life start to change what was the turning point for you so I realized that this lifestyle
was going to be a short one but I didn't really want to get out of it at the same time because I was enjoying it to be to be honest you know it's kind of like you know they say you sow your soul to the devil they talk about that you don't officially like have a meeting with shaan and sign a contract but that's basically what you've done you realize that you know you're either going to get put in prison you're either going or you're going going to die one of the two right this is going to be the outcome at the end but to just live that high life and and and just know you know we're I'm I'm 17 years old I'm making you know a good amount of money a day thousand dollars a day I was I wasn't a
high guy a low guy but you know I'm living in hotels and things like this uh you know not even going home so I'm not going to school at the end stopped going to school I'm living a life that I was enjoying or I thought I was anyways and but I realized after some time I started to think that you know this is going to get me in trouble and I remember one time that I I I smoked a bit too much I think and and I met an individual who was one of my Arch enemies and he could have done what he wanted to me he could have hit me very hard and and put me in in a bad situation but I think he had mercy he had p with me when he saw the situation I was I was really intoxicated and I had smoked and weed and
this so he let me he let me he let me go and I thought I said look look how weak I I became being that situation I never did any like hard drugs things like that you know cocaine or heroin those are things you would you you would sell I never sold heroin but other things you would sell but the point being is that I never got into those drugs cuz I saw how weak it made the individual but weed it was like a cool thing so I I would do that or alcohol and things like this but when I was intoxicated to that level where I couldn't even defend myself I I thought man this made you very weak you were very vulnerable and I don't like to be weak and vulnerable so I sat down at the age of 18 I said look
you have to put set some goals for yourself so I put about six goals for myself most of them weren't really good but you know one of them was you know to uh kind of expand my my Haram Empire of you know of of selling and and illegal narcotics and become well off I was living with my family so I wanted to I want to have you know a nice car I had had a a lowkey car so you wouldn't you know you have to be careful like one of the things that really benefited from the elders and I always tell the people even as a Muslim always benefit from your elders cuz they've been through the path they've been through the problems so benefit from them take their experience so you don't make the same mistakes
they do so they said don't drive an expensive car all the time because the police going to be like this guy's unemployed 17 18 years old what's he doing like the one who actually learned Islam from his father he said I got arrested I was 15 didn't have a driver's license but he's driving a Jaguar so in the inner city so what is this guy doing for a living right so they taught me so I said okay but you have to have a nice car for you go out for certain events and think that's going to be on the side so that was like number two uh nice place my own place and then you know obviously you might not think about marriage but you have a certain individual that you have a relationship with and the
fifth thing was my health get my health back cuz I found that you know drinking and smoking and things like that they would have a negative impact on me and I remember that a story I know ever ever said this online the first time I'll tell the story with you guys we're actually walking down the street and there was these these two Mexican guys it was me and my friend the same guy I was talking about from before these two Mexican guys they were they were drunk so they cursed that at us with a saying a word that we won't say so when they said that word I immediately took off my belt wrapped it around my fist and went to to punch the guy as I was going in to punch him I see the police car
coming in from behind so the police is watching the whole thing right I punched the guy and he ends up throwing the beard ble and I'm running cuz I see the police and as I was running around the school this area this is our area we grew up in right like I I run around the area before if the police would chase us when we were younger cuz we're athletic we would come to the fence and we would be like a rabbit or a deer just jumping over it with no problem but when I reach the fence cuz I'm smoking I I can't breathe you you know so I had to sit down and kind of wait the the police was busy with these two Mexican guys so they couldn't come get us right so we we were able to get away nonetheless
but I said man I said I'm in a situation where I'm I'm not healthy anymore right so I I I I was want to focus on my health you know me get stronger and then the sixth point I point was to become more religious so I I felt you know that I need to have this relationship with my Creator but my thing for religion was more like you know I see the guys in the mafia they do what Mafia guys do right during the week on Sunday they go to the church uh they give a little bit of Sak some charity to the church maybe do some Community things for the people have a bit of relationship with God and and then you know 6 days of Janam of Hell after that right so that was kind of my idea of what I was going to
do read the Bible you know I had a a gold chain with a gold cross on it so that was my Outlook towards you know the religion or religious any how how devoted I want to be religiously but I knew I had to have some spiritual side of my life as well so I put that as number six there must be a connection between this list and your hi then so how did your journey to Islam begin asalam alikum brothers and sisters we realize that 80% of our audience including this video are not subscribed to our Channel as you know we are a nonprofit organization and advertisements are disabled on our videos to toward eternity is not just a YouTube channel but also a Meda here we try to educate ourselves and the
youth islamically so the only reason we are asking for this is to spread the truth it may seem like a small act but inshallah it will help us reach millions of people now let's click the like and the Subscribe buttons and let's together walk towards eternity there must be a connection between this list and your hia then so how did your journey Islam begin you know the of Allah subhana wa tala and it has good for reasons and alhamdulillah so number six became number one and that was just when I went for a meeting with my friend's father who was African-American in the inner city in Washington DC he's my partner in crime you know he's the guy I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm selling drugs with his son
right so I went for the meeting he wasn't there and he said go in the basement wait for him back in there it was Sega before the PlayStations right so he was he was a forgivable person which is good for me right so he forgot the appointment and I'm sitting there waiting his father said wait downstairs in the basement this is where we used to hang out in his basement and he said you you can play with the Sega which is the PlayStation you know today right uh so I went downstairs and it wasn't there he had taken it to his mother's house so I'm just really you know bored sitting there and as I went in I noticed that his father was listening to the Quran he was listening to the Quran and was he a
Muslim he was Muslim his father is a Muslim alhamdulillah he's listening to the Quran in Arabic and there's the English translation that comes after the he reads in Arabic and he's following along in his in his English translation of the Quran and don't forget I told you what malol x so it's in my mind Islam so as I'm sitting there I remembered about Islam I went up on the steps start to listen then I went in and I said look I said do you mind if I sit down with you I'd like to ask you some questions about Islam and he said go ahead you know my first thing I stepped on his prayer rug with my boots you know my Timberland boots and he oh that's a prayer rug you can't step on that right I
didn't know so I I sat down and I one the first question ask you know can I be a Muslim why the misconception I have now now the misconception people have fundamentalist terrorists you know extremist Muslims right that wasn't it was there but not as much then it was more the for for us it was more This Nation of Islam you know black man and and you know white people can't be Muslim so I said as a white person can I be a Muslim he he laughed and he said of course he said if you're black white brown he said even if you're purple or pink he said doesn't matter what color you are right he said you can be a Muslim a Muslim is Islam is for everybody he told me a b about Islam I said that's very
interesting I said okay do you have any books that I could read and this is something always we tell the youth like they're shocked I'm living this this gangster lifestyle right but we used to read we're living this street lifestyle but we used to read I read the book of Malcolm X there are certain books you have to read like The The Art of War mavi the prince you know I mean the books for certain reason but you have to read so we used to read even back in the day so I said look I said you have some books I could read about Islam so alhamdulillah he gave me four books about Islam and I took them and I put them on a shelf I read a bit about you the Muslim Muslims believe about Jesus obviously
that's the main thing I want to see I was going back on the Metro I read about that for for about you know 20 30 minutes but then I put it on on the side you know sub when things happen you know when you're looking for hi whether you're a Muslim or a non-muslim you're looking for guidance Allah sends signs to everyone Allah opens up doors for you to know and is and many people like when we give daa now people will come and they say no I'm waiting for something said the fact you came here today that doesn't mean anything to you there's an amazing story if we have time at the end I'll tell you about a six-year-old boy that I met recently Amazing Story him and his mother SP about you know
coming to to accept Islam then what happened that you finally accepted Islam so 2 months later something happened which was a COR accident and I was driving I had a suspended license and back in the day there weren't pictures on on the uh they were WR type in your information your your your your your uh social security number or your you know ID number they would type it in and they would get the descriptions so back in the day you wouldn't see the picture of the individual then the computer there would just be the information his height his weight hair color so my friend had matching uh you know height as me same hair color and same description so I just used his name when I would be
stopped it was foolish I should have just went and paid the fine and got my license back but I hadn't done it yet so I was using his license so obviously we had been been smoking in the car weed and things like this so we got into a car accident so the police are going to come I'm going to go to jail and it's clear I can't use his license and get arrested under his name so as I'm waiting for the police to come and this area was very you know highly populated with police crime area the police didn't come they delayed delayed I don't know why so I'm thinking to myself why not run you know and then just leave the car and just go buy another car later right that's what I did I left the car and I
ran and I'm like running through the these this little Forest Area to get to my friend's house and hide there it's like you know it's like a Hollywood movie I'm running trees and this and the later the the dogs come and the helicopter and this but I wasn't caught alhamdulillah but what this led up to was me not having the car at that time until I bought another one and I was in my grandparents house and they you know very oldfashioned not much to do in their house very boring so I oh yeah the books I have these books about Islam Point number six of my goal is to become more religious okay let's read about religion as I go and look at these four books I have about Islam one of them is named
the religion of Truth is what I want to see so I opened it up and it it grabbed me from the beginning of the book and I read the book that night it was a Thursday the night of Friday uh Thursday evening Thursday night I read the entire book cover to cover it was like 70 plus 80 Pages something like that I read the entire book in one cting and there was four things that really jumped out to me had a huge impact on me the first one of them was you know the Islamic manism and that really was an eye opener for me the the the difference between what Muslims believe and what we believed in Christianity the issue of the Trinity and also they said you know as a Muslim there's no middleman no
intermediary between you and your creator between you and God you you go directly to him whereas in Christianity and and Catholicism we would have to go to the church and we'd have to confess our sins and I don't know if you've seen this before or not a small little box with like you know little you know window between and you can barely see the priest on other side and I'm going and telling this man about the sins and the bad things that I've done my personal you know dirt I'm actually giving it to him and he says you know stand up you know I I have forgiven you you know who are you right but in Islam we go straight to the Creator himself for forgiveness we don't need that middleman so that
had a huge impact on me that that was the main thing after that there was three things that stuck out to me one of them was he he talked about preparing for the prayer he said when you prepare for the prayer he said a Muslim first of all he secludes himself he doesn't you know use the the toilet in front of others and he sits down so no impurities will get onto his clothes and that had a huge impact on me and a lot of people don't realize that sometimes I have a video on my YouTube channel about a sik who wanted to become Muslim and what was the guidance for him is that one of his colleagues was wearing his trousers according to the Sunnah above the ankles so it's kind to make it's actually
become and with the hipsters it's become the fashion now but back then it wasn't so he said why do you wear your trousers above the ankles he said because of our Prophet Sall alhi this is how he used to wear and he told us to wear above the ankles so he said this to this much they they follow their Prophet so he said I used to hate Muslims and hate Islam but he started to read about uh the prophet fell in love with Islam and he had come and he wanted to accept Islam the video is on my YouTube channel the point being is that when I read about this you know the impurities and this I used to feel very uncomfortable as a non-muslim even though it was our custom from a young age to use the the
toilet standing next to one another but I felt this a personal time you know you see non Muslims in the west oh you see the weather it's a bit cold today did you see the game yesterday I said this not a time for this right it's a it's a personal time Focus right so I felt very uncomfortable so I saw the Muslims don't do this they exclude themselves that's one thing the sitting down part which was looked down upon in our in our custom they look you at not being a man the fact that you sit down only women sit down and I found it's much easier to sit down I said why are we making it so difficult standing it's much more comfortable sit down so from that time every now and then I would sit down
so when I found the Muslims did it as well it had a huge to me and I remember we were talking about a story a bit earlier about a lady in the west she noticed that from all of the students she had been you know washing clothes for for maybe 20 years or something she NOS that all of the you know the undergarments or the Underpants of the students they were stained they're stained with impurities whether it be you know feces or it be uh urine because the fact that people do not clean themselves with water and then they don't sit down if you don't sit down and you don't clean yourself with water you're going to have impurities on your clothes it's definitely going to happen so she notice one
student who was a Muslim student didn't have impurities never on his so it became like a thing for when it come she would look at his underpants each week always clean she didn't believe it what's going on so she asked him what is this I've never seen this in my 20 years or whatever I'm doing this he said because I'm a Muslim and Islam taught us and the prophet taught us that we sit down we use water and that had impact on her and this was the reason that she accepted Islam alhamd just because of the way which which it's become cultural for us it's not even really something we do so this was the second thing the third thing was the system in Islam that takes me back to Malcolm X the
discipline how it Chang his life so it was very clear the five pillars of Islam starts with the foundation of muhamed then you have the five daily prayers if you have money you pay the zakat you fast one month a year if you have the ability you go for the Hajj the pilgrimage once in your lifetime beautiful the Halal is clear the Haram is clear okay boundaries I said this is this is what I need this is the discipline I need just like Mal it's going to help me straighten out my life I like this and even Subhan Allah before because look what we need to realize the F the natural disposition the natural inclination the law created in every human being everyone has that when we give da we teach
others we're trying to bring a Muslim back to Islam the f is there he inside he Fe when you you told your story about your mother you felt it inside it's the f I need to become more religious okay that's there for the Muslim the non-muslim is there too maybe it's might be you know needs a little more searching more more cleaning but it's there so I felt even one I went to join the military because I said I need to straighten myself out so I went to join the Marines my father said wait a bit you know don't make a drastic decision take some time I got back into you know my Jia my my street life end up gotting into islamd so it was good for me in the end but I I I knew I needed that discipline
in my life so here it is in Islam and the last thing was the issue that it's not enough just to believe as a Muslim and this is you know a difference and a lot of Muslims need to understand as well because a lot of Muslims think I have the K it's enough which is not so the author he said very clearly it's not enough to be a Muslim if you don't act upon it on the K and it doesn't show up in your actions then you also you can go to the Hellfire so I felt this was very just not like in Christianity we used to believe that if Jesus died for your sins you're in a better place so a good Christian who goes to mass he's devoted does charity work when he dies they say he's a better place someone in
the mafia who's a killer but he's a Christian who believes he dies he's in a better place then who's going to hell in that case right who's hell for so I found this to be very just it's not just enough to say the K but you have to show up in your actions so I immediately made the decision after reading that book that I want to accept Islam the next day alhamdulillah I called my friend's father who was a revert himself he took me to the Islamic Center in Washington DC and I took my shahada alhamdulillah how did you feel when you took your shahada can you take us to those moments before I took my shahada I was very nervous because he told me I have to say the shahada not I bear witness that
there's no true God or no true deity worthy of worship they said that sh and accept Allah that I would say in English no he said you have to say in Arabic what for me it was like he saying I I can't say these words I I barely got through you know level one in Spanish you know I can't get through it so how am I going to learn this you know say this foreign language it's going to be so difficult so I was very nervous and coming I I prayed M with the Muslims there I wasn't Muslim at the time you know I remember in the in the Islamic Center in Washington DC I'm praying I'm looking other people pray next to me I have a gold chain on uh coming down on the ground I have a golden diamond earring
here and I'm praying with the Muslims and I stand up and I'm very nervous he said no don't worry it's going to be easy he said repeat after me so as they say you know in Arabic sling they say and it's like honey it's like honey it it came out like like honey on the tongue very easy where it came out as uh very very smooth on the on the tongue an amazing feeling inside just amazing feeling and you you feel like a weight weight is lifted from you something something just happens within as you say the and then obviously the Brotherhood everyone coming around you you know talking to you about and congratulating you and hugging you and think that it's amazing feeling alhamdulillah how was your
family's reaction to your conversion to Islam my family they were very happy when I became Muslim not because of Islam because of the changes they saw from Islam the positive changes so alhamd they saw that Islam had had had a beautiful impact on me therefore they they were happy with that they probably didn't think it was something would would be longterm but as long as I'm going to change shortterm that was good for them alhamdulillah so but even now ald they're very supportive I have a very strong relationship with my family alhamdulillah so there's no issues with that alhamd they've been supported from the beginning even I remember my grandfather you know he was in the in the US military
H he was actually from the Infantry the first infantry that actually went in after the fall of Hitler in Germany in World War II and um you know he would talk sometimes with his old army but he's online and and or online on the phone and he would say um you know he was telling him he said I don't know what they have he said the Muslims you know they have this MOS they have the Quran he said I don't know what it is he said but I like it he said cuz the boy's changed he said he's good now he stays in the house he doesn't go out late at night he's he helps out more around the house so you know he was really happy with the change that had on me as well alhamdulillah what was the major challenge
that you had to face after becoming Muslim yeah for me it was it was the lifestyle the lifestyle I was in it was very difficult for me to leave that like I said said it was right right in front of the door I could go back to it easily but actually one of my friends said something to me and he he said that you know look at so and so uh cuz I went back on the street for like one or two days after I accepted Islam about nine days after is I became Muslim he said look at him he said he claims he's a Muslim but he said there's no difference between him and us so that had a big impact on me you know I said it was like a you know lightning bolt hitting me in the chest I said no why did you become
Muslim didn't you become Muslim become closer to Allah to become more religious so I was actually in an inner battle for about a month maybe a month and a half where I I was literally literally getting sick to my stomach feeling that I want to vomit because I wanted to go out it's right out the door but I would push myself not to go and I push myself to go to the Masjid and anyone who wants to make change and what's good for themsel no matter what it is you're going to go through that difficult thing and I remember something and we could even say for example if you want to get in shape you know you're going to go through the difficult you're going to have the withdrawals of the you know the
the the sweets and the sugars and what have you but you're going to find the pleasure later so sometimes you have to go through difficulty in order to reach that pleasure so it wasn't that long a month month and a half but like I said being in that environment you know so that that was it helped me out a lot being around the Muslims and that's why the prophet one of the first things he established in Mecca was having that little Center there for the new Muslims having that Retreat for the new Muslims inside Mecca so they come together learn their Iman and you know and strengthen their faith so alhamd that made it it many if I look back at it now actually very easy where would what it would
have been if I wasn't in that environment alhamdulillah who was the first person you gave dawa to now the first person I gave dawa to was my close friend the one who caused all the problems who taught me all the bad things I came and called him to good alhamdulillah and he accepted Islam but he didn't Dr yeah the one who talk about drug dealing and all this and no not the drug deal son the other one who taught me before that before I I went to this other guy he was the one who who taught me all the bad things with his from his brother and cousin and all this in the beginning so he was the first person I called alhamdulillah we were very close he took he took his shahada uh he didn't have the
same journey I had he went you know a bit straight but hopefully hoping now that he came back as well also called many of my friends many of them almost accepted Islam some of them refused to listen some of them did listen one of them he told me he would accept Islam in a year's time because he was too busy with with you said with the with the women and things like this so and he had a good influence on them also I talked to my family but I focused more so on my grandmother because my grandmother she was uh she was the one who you know raised me my parents were divorced when I was five so she was always there for me uh she was um also at that time were actually six of us and cousins and
brothers and all of us together four from my mom and two from my aunt so at that time we were only four so I was the baby at that time then my brother came after him my sister came after him but at that time I was the baby so I was a bit spoiled I was very close to my grandmother you know um and you know so she had gotten a bit older she was in a wheelchair at the time but I made sure that when I would read the Quran I had my journey to the Quran I would read it out loud so she would be listening to me reading it okay and then when I told told her about you know what we believe uh in Islam and what we believe as Muslims in Jesus she was shocked you know as we say as as she s she saw a ghost
you know she was like this you know and I remember I was helping her to know take her bath at the time and I said to her uh do you believe in what we're saying what I'm saying do you believe this is the truth and she said yes and I said then repeat after me the testimony of faith I explain it to her and I told her how to say in Arabic and she said it with me alhamdulillah I traveled after that and I didn't get to spend much time with him asked the scholars they said inshah she died as as a Muslim since she believed in the Kena even if she didn't act she was very old at the time anyways so she died any a couple of years later but I had traveled abroad and I hadn't spent much time with her so
for me that's obviously one one of the biggest things cuz she and along with my and my father and mother as well but uh she had a huge impact on me and my life so she she took her sh as well alhamdulillah you've been to many different countries to give dawa is there anything you have come across that you will never forget yeah alhamdulillah there's a lot of things I think um if we were to say we could do a whole episode on that obviously different things but I'll tell you I'll share I'll share two quick stories with you from the World Cup as you know I was involved in in the Dow activities in the World Cup recently I received a phone call from one of the sisters who's active with us in da
sister she said there's a six-year-old American boy who wants to accept Islam I said six-year old what does he understand you know six-year-old I said this is such a a joke you know they say want you to come and I'm thinking cuz as you know I'm very busy I'm thinking I go there 6 what's the going to be in b i remember I contact abim green and uh some of other brothers I talk with John Fontaine who you had here as well and some other brothers who who I'm close with so have you have you ever had an exper even we have a DA group I said does anyone have an experience with this I said what am I supposed to expect I didn't know what to expect so I go in there and as I'm thinking I'm saying okay
his mother apparently she's very supportive she has to know about Islam herself she had since he's learning she had to learn why is she not accepting he's accepting so when I sat down with her and him in the beginning she explained to me that you know she's been in Kuwait for a very long time teaching uh now in you know she's in love with the Middle East he never wants to go back to America and he said that you know she he's around Muslim Students his friends are Muslim Muslims so and they he attends the Islamic Studies lessons for like what is it grade one he was in or that he he he was had a big impact on him and he decided he want to become Muslim and he said she said he made me research
with him made me read to him made made me teach him about Islam so she's doing the research and she's giving it to him and he's convinced and then she started asking the guy questions she's like why do we pray because Allah gives us everything he's the one who deserve for for worship and you know his belief in God and I was I was shocked that a your boy had he had that much knowledge you know about Islam in a really good knowledge like as as someone who's much older than him he was very intelligent so I said okay I said clearly he understood what he wanted to do and she said the fact he wants to become Muslim I want to support him I was like wow this amazing I never never thought this would
yeah yeah he's Christian she I want to support him he wants this I want to support him I want him to become Muslim guess what he wants to do she said I told him he's convinced she said I've been talking to him about for a long time he this is what he wants and I want to support him so after and after after speaking to him he really understood he understood where Islam was and he really was was convinced a lot of the misconceptions he answered them as well which was really at that age I was really shocked you know so he took his sh it was amazing you know then right away it was me and another sister was with us she's from the the the there from uh from Ethiopia right away we turned to the
mother we're like what about you so that's the question I had from the beginning you've been doing the the leg work researching with him right so you should know about Islam as well she said I believe Islam you know I'm really convinced but I'm you know I want to do a bit more resarch I'm making for a special time and a lot of non Muslims they have this misconception special time special this I said look I said there's not going to be a more beautiful time than this trust me the fact your son just took a shahada you taking your shahada with him now this is going to be an amazing feeling we talked to her a bit more in this she said know what you're right what you just said she said this is
going to be an amazing day I'm going to take my shahada with him so she took her shahada as well so that was one of the new stories Subhan Allah that and I haven't shared yet so you guys are the first to hear it it was an amazing story Subhan Allah that know really emotional and now the sisters were there people were crying and then after some have some beautiful pictures as well I could I could probably give you uh they made a big party for him in his school uh you know give him a bunch of gifts it was it it was very beautiful alhamdulillah what projects are you doing right now I'm currently any here inul we have sahab Academy which is focused on training du we do most of our stuff in
Arabic we doing some you know some programs as well in English so I'm the head of the English Department one of the the main guys in the Academy I also work with AA um and different Dow projects we're focusing more now on South America and Africa I was just there I told you with our brother Adan Rashid in Africa had a beautiful trip in Africa in Tanzania and and Malawi and also I'm working with one um charity I'm an ambassador for them and the she of of the charity so I do a lot of work with them as well we were just in Lebanon with with the Syrian refugees there on the border so alhamdulillah the these are the you know the main things that that I have and you know just online with my my
social media as well these are the main things I have alhamdulillah if you had a chance to address all the non-muslims in the world what would you like to say to them if you had just one minute any I would like to say you know through exper experience what I've been through what other new Muslims have been through and and how we found you know the sweetness of Faith you to come and to learn for yourself not hear from others that's what happened to me right a very close family member she said don't listen to the Muslims the Muslims are this and this and a lot of negative things she said but I didn't listen I went and read from myself and I saw the truth for myself and I found that many
Muslims even if they don't accept Islam at least they understand what Islam is this is what always ask them to do please don't listen to what the media says about us don't listen to what other people say about us and we're we're almost like two billion there so many of us around you know give us the the right as your colleagues as your neighbors to understand what we believe in listen to us as Muslims and read for yourself to understand what we not read what non-muslims say about us read what Muslims say about themselves interact with us come visit us that's why we we focus a lot on having you know centers now we open up our doors for them to come and listen we have daa tables or information
stalls you can call them different city centers around the world where people have the ability to come here in in in Turkey for example the Su Mania a sufia we have these information centers these centers people come and sit with Muslims and hear for themselves and have that experience and learn Islam then they make a decision for themselves like all of us do you know if they believe this is the origin of Truth follow it you know but if not at least you understand from the Muslims directly you know what Islam is [Music] alhamdulillah
friend's house and hide there it's like you know it's like a Hollywood movie I'm running trees and this and later the the dogs come and the helicopter and this but I wasn't caught alhamdulillah he's my partner in crime you know he's the guy I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm selling drugs with his son right his father said wait downstairs in the basement this is where we used to hang out in his basement and as I went in I noticed that his father was listening to the Quran I when the first question I asked as a white person can I be a Muslim he he laughed and he said of course he said if you're black white brown he said even if you're purple or pink he said doesn't matter what color you are right he said
you can be a Muslim abim Makari thank you for accepting our invitation we are very happy to have you with us I want to start with who isim marthi and can you tell us briefly about your life thank you for having me first of all um your brother ABD Rahim McCarthy from America I accepted Islam at the age of 18 in 1994 in America and then a couple of months about 6 months after I became Muslim I traveled abroad to Sudan and later to Saudi Arabia to study Islam and I studied in Medina alhamdulillah for 10 years and upon graduating in Medina I got involved in the daa and got involved in you know the satellite channels and the media with peace TV and Huda TV and others and you know in traveling
around the world and and here we are today with you in Turkey alhamdulillah how was your life in regards to Faith what your who are you believing in uh I was born as as a a Christian as a Catholic and I was raised as a Catholic uh we were in the Catholic church I went to a Catholic School up until second grade until they kicked me out they kicked me out of the school they're supposed to be forgiving and all of this but you I I was a bit of a troublemaker uh I got in a lot of trouble when I was in school uh from a young age and even later on as well so I I but we were raised as Catholics and as Christians yes somewhat so I mean going to church weekly uh especially my my grandmother and my
aunt they they would always go we would go sometimes you know for the big events we would go and sometimes we would go on a weekly basis uh you know being identifying as Christians you know the sign of the cross the Bible in the house you know wearing a cross you know the rosary these type of things they were very you know they were there so I I guess you could considered us you know you know somewhat religious you know not like super religious but at the same time it was definitely part of our identity and part of our our daily life can tell us about your background first how was your life before Islam so I sat down I remember I was 18 years old years old and I was involved in a very
difficult life uh I got involved into selling drugs so that in my best friend at that time who was coming from that lifestyle even his cousin was in prison serving a life sentence CU he had killed someone so you can imagine you know this this he's coming up in this and that was right around the time where like you know smoking weed became very popular it wasn't that popular back in the day and I remember that was one of the first meetings I had with him and he you know he rose up what we call a blunt which is a cigar where you take out the tobacco and you roll up the weed inside he said know everybody who's gangster everyone who's strong everyone you know this all of them smoke you know so
he he gave it to me me being an athlete at the time I was really against that but I said okay like there's a cool thing to do so he I started smoking with him the weed and then you know getting into the lifestyle he's like how do you do you think you you can wear like expensive clothes you know have relations with the so being an athlete I was really against this but I mean it was what everyone else was doing who was in that inner circle so I started you know smoking weed with him as well and even SM what comes like smoking cigarettes I was really against smoking cigarettes but then other my friends started to smoke cigarettes so I started smoking cigarettes as well and then drinking
obviously being Irish American that was already part of our culture from a young even from a young age even before the drinking age in America so I got involved in all of those things at at at at a very young young age and it was taking me down you know a a wrong path so to live a certain lifestyle you know if you want to especially when you're you know with the opposite gender you may have to have expensive clothes and expensive habits and what have you so how do you support that lifestyle he said H you see how my cousin my brother that's that's how you do know they're driving expensive cars and you know wearing gold and all of this so that kind of I got sucked into that lifestyle so it was
just basketball in the beginning but then I got kind of sucked into that lifestyle being in that wrong environment ended up not going to school from grade 11 I stopped going to school even for some time when I would go to school I had to go to school with a gun because a different rival neighborhood we got into some issue with them we came with a bunch of people we ran them out of their own neighborhood so that was very degrading for them so now they have to get revenge who is the guy the white guy who was the driver of the car they knew me so they had the Target on me and and I they were told they were going to kill me so as I was told then I'm going to get killed what am I supposed to do
now one of my friends invited me to his house after school and he said you have to protect yourself he lifted up his mattress and he gave me a pistol he said it's either going to be you or them and you know keep One in the Chamber so I would you know go every day you know I would go under my mattress when I go to school and I put my gun into my belt here and I would just sit there and kind of wait for them coming to to they did come once but they and were able to run them off with with our friends from the school so I this was the the lifestyle that I I had got pulled into at that time so how did your life start to change what was the turning point for you so I realized that this lifestyle
was going to be a short one but I didn't really want to get out of it at the same time because I was enjoying it to be to be honest you know it's kind of like you know they say you sow your soul to the devil they talk about that you don't officially like have a meeting with shaan and sign a contract but that's basically what you've done you realize that you know you're either going to get put in prison you're either going or you're going going to die one of the two right this is going to be the outcome at the end but to just live that high life and and and just know you know we're I'm I'm 17 years old I'm making you know a good amount of money a day thousand dollars a day I was I wasn't a
high guy a low guy but you know I'm living in hotels and things like this uh you know not even going home so I'm not going to school at the end stopped going to school I'm living a life that I was enjoying or I thought I was anyways and but I realized after some time I started to think that you know this is going to get me in trouble and I remember one time that I I I smoked a bit too much I think and and I met an individual who was one of my Arch enemies and he could have done what he wanted to me he could have hit me very hard and and put me in in a bad situation but I think he had mercy he had p with me when he saw the situation I was I was really intoxicated and I had smoked and weed and
this so he let me he let me he let me go and I thought I said look look how weak I I became being that situation I never did any like hard drugs things like that you know cocaine or heroin those are things you would you you would sell I never sold heroin but other things you would sell but the point being is that I never got into those drugs cuz I saw how weak it made the individual but weed it was like a cool thing so I I would do that or alcohol and things like this but when I was intoxicated to that level where I couldn't even defend myself I I thought man this made you very weak you were very vulnerable and I don't like to be weak and vulnerable so I sat down at the age of 18 I said look
you have to put set some goals for yourself so I put about six goals for myself most of them weren't really good but you know one of them was you know to uh kind of expand my my Haram Empire of you know of of selling and and illegal narcotics and become well off I was living with my family so I wanted to I want to have you know a nice car I had had a a lowkey car so you wouldn't you know you have to be careful like one of the things that really benefited from the elders and I always tell the people even as a Muslim always benefit from your elders cuz they've been through the path they've been through the problems so benefit from them take their experience so you don't make the same mistakes
they do so they said don't drive an expensive car all the time because the police going to be like this guy's unemployed 17 18 years old what's he doing like the one who actually learned Islam from his father he said I got arrested I was 15 didn't have a driver's license but he's driving a Jaguar so in the inner city so what is this guy doing for a living right so they taught me so I said okay but you have to have a nice car for you go out for certain events and think that's going to be on the side so that was like number two uh nice place my own place and then you know obviously you might not think about marriage but you have a certain individual that you have a relationship with and the
fifth thing was my health get my health back cuz I found that you know drinking and smoking and things like that they would have a negative impact on me and I remember that a story I know ever ever said this online the first time I'll tell the story with you guys we're actually walking down the street and there was these these two Mexican guys it was me and my friend the same guy I was talking about from before these two Mexican guys they were they were drunk so they cursed that at us with a saying a word that we won't say so when they said that word I immediately took off my belt wrapped it around my fist and went to to punch the guy as I was going in to punch him I see the police car
coming in from behind so the police is watching the whole thing right I punched the guy and he ends up throwing the beard ble and I'm running cuz I see the police and as I was running around the school this area this is our area we grew up in right like I I run around the area before if the police would chase us when we were younger cuz we're athletic we would come to the fence and we would be like a rabbit or a deer just jumping over it with no problem but when I reach the fence cuz I'm smoking I I can't breathe you you know so I had to sit down and kind of wait the the police was busy with these two Mexican guys so they couldn't come get us right so we we were able to get away nonetheless
but I said man I said I'm in a situation where I'm I'm not healthy anymore right so I I I I was want to focus on my health you know me get stronger and then the sixth point I point was to become more religious so I I felt you know that I need to have this relationship with my Creator but my thing for religion was more like you know I see the guys in the mafia they do what Mafia guys do right during the week on Sunday they go to the church uh they give a little bit of Sak some charity to the church maybe do some Community things for the people have a bit of relationship with God and and then you know 6 days of Janam of Hell after that right so that was kind of my idea of what I was going to
do read the Bible you know I had a a gold chain with a gold cross on it so that was my Outlook towards you know the religion or religious any how how devoted I want to be religiously but I knew I had to have some spiritual side of my life as well so I put that as number six there must be a connection between this list and your hi then so how did your journey to Islam begin asalam alikum brothers and sisters we realize that 80% of our audience including this video are not subscribed to our Channel as you know we are a nonprofit organization and advertisements are disabled on our videos to toward eternity is not just a YouTube channel but also a Meda here we try to educate ourselves and the
youth islamically so the only reason we are asking for this is to spread the truth it may seem like a small act but inshallah it will help us reach millions of people now let's click the like and the Subscribe buttons and let's together walk towards eternity there must be a connection between this list and your hia then so how did your journey Islam begin you know the of Allah subhana wa tala and it has good for reasons and alhamdulillah so number six became number one and that was just when I went for a meeting with my friend's father who was African-American in the inner city in Washington DC he's my partner in crime you know he's the guy I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm selling drugs with his son
right so I went for the meeting he wasn't there and he said go in the basement wait for him back in there it was Sega before the PlayStations right so he was he was a forgivable person which is good for me right so he forgot the appointment and I'm sitting there waiting his father said wait downstairs in the basement this is where we used to hang out in his basement and he said you you can play with the Sega which is the PlayStation you know today right uh so I went downstairs and it wasn't there he had taken it to his mother's house so I'm just really you know bored sitting there and as I went in I noticed that his father was listening to the Quran he was listening to the Quran and was he a
Muslim he was Muslim his father is a Muslim alhamdulillah he's listening to the Quran in Arabic and there's the English translation that comes after the he reads in Arabic and he's following along in his in his English translation of the Quran and don't forget I told you what malol x so it's in my mind Islam so as I'm sitting there I remembered about Islam I went up on the steps start to listen then I went in and I said look I said do you mind if I sit down with you I'd like to ask you some questions about Islam and he said go ahead you know my first thing I stepped on his prayer rug with my boots you know my Timberland boots and he oh that's a prayer rug you can't step on that right I
didn't know so I I sat down and I one the first question ask you know can I be a Muslim why the misconception I have now now the misconception people have fundamentalist terrorists you know extremist Muslims right that wasn't it was there but not as much then it was more the for for us it was more This Nation of Islam you know black man and and you know white people can't be Muslim so I said as a white person can I be a Muslim he he laughed and he said of course he said if you're black white brown he said even if you're purple or pink he said doesn't matter what color you are right he said you can be a Muslim a Muslim is Islam is for everybody he told me a b about Islam I said that's very
interesting I said okay do you have any books that I could read and this is something always we tell the youth like they're shocked I'm living this this gangster lifestyle right but we used to read we're living this street lifestyle but we used to read I read the book of Malcolm X there are certain books you have to read like The The Art of War mavi the prince you know I mean the books for certain reason but you have to read so we used to read even back in the day so I said look I said you have some books I could read about Islam so alhamdulillah he gave me four books about Islam and I took them and I put them on a shelf I read a bit about you the Muslim Muslims believe about Jesus obviously
that's the main thing I want to see I was going back on the Metro I read about that for for about you know 20 30 minutes but then I put it on on the side you know sub when things happen you know when you're looking for hi whether you're a Muslim or a non-muslim you're looking for guidance Allah sends signs to everyone Allah opens up doors for you to know and is and many people like when we give daa now people will come and they say no I'm waiting for something said the fact you came here today that doesn't mean anything to you there's an amazing story if we have time at the end I'll tell you about a six-year-old boy that I met recently Amazing Story him and his mother SP about you know
coming to to accept Islam then what happened that you finally accepted Islam so 2 months later something happened which was a COR accident and I was driving I had a suspended license and back in the day there weren't pictures on on the uh they were WR type in your information your your your your your uh social security number or your you know ID number they would type it in and they would get the descriptions so back in the day you wouldn't see the picture of the individual then the computer there would just be the information his height his weight hair color so my friend had matching uh you know height as me same hair color and same description so I just used his name when I would be
stopped it was foolish I should have just went and paid the fine and got my license back but I hadn't done it yet so I was using his license so obviously we had been been smoking in the car weed and things like this so we got into a car accident so the police are going to come I'm going to go to jail and it's clear I can't use his license and get arrested under his name so as I'm waiting for the police to come and this area was very you know highly populated with police crime area the police didn't come they delayed delayed I don't know why so I'm thinking to myself why not run you know and then just leave the car and just go buy another car later right that's what I did I left the car and I
ran and I'm like running through the these this little Forest Area to get to my friend's house and hide there it's like you know it's like a Hollywood movie I'm running trees and this and the later the the dogs come and the helicopter and this but I wasn't caught alhamdulillah but what this led up to was me not having the car at that time until I bought another one and I was in my grandparents house and they you know very oldfashioned not much to do in their house very boring so I oh yeah the books I have these books about Islam Point number six of my goal is to become more religious okay let's read about religion as I go and look at these four books I have about Islam one of them is named
the religion of Truth is what I want to see so I opened it up and it it grabbed me from the beginning of the book and I read the book that night it was a Thursday the night of Friday uh Thursday evening Thursday night I read the entire book cover to cover it was like 70 plus 80 Pages something like that I read the entire book in one cting and there was four things that really jumped out to me had a huge impact on me the first one of them was you know the Islamic manism and that really was an eye opener for me the the the difference between what Muslims believe and what we believed in Christianity the issue of the Trinity and also they said you know as a Muslim there's no middleman no
intermediary between you and your creator between you and God you you go directly to him whereas in Christianity and and Catholicism we would have to go to the church and we'd have to confess our sins and I don't know if you've seen this before or not a small little box with like you know little you know window between and you can barely see the priest on other side and I'm going and telling this man about the sins and the bad things that I've done my personal you know dirt I'm actually giving it to him and he says you know stand up you know I I have forgiven you you know who are you right but in Islam we go straight to the Creator himself for forgiveness we don't need that middleman so that
had a huge impact on me that that was the main thing after that there was three things that stuck out to me one of them was he he talked about preparing for the prayer he said when you prepare for the prayer he said a Muslim first of all he secludes himself he doesn't you know use the the toilet in front of others and he sits down so no impurities will get onto his clothes and that had a huge impact on me and a lot of people don't realize that sometimes I have a video on my YouTube channel about a sik who wanted to become Muslim and what was the guidance for him is that one of his colleagues was wearing his trousers according to the Sunnah above the ankles so it's kind to make it's actually
become and with the hipsters it's become the fashion now but back then it wasn't so he said why do you wear your trousers above the ankles he said because of our Prophet Sall alhi this is how he used to wear and he told us to wear above the ankles so he said this to this much they they follow their Prophet so he said I used to hate Muslims and hate Islam but he started to read about uh the prophet fell in love with Islam and he had come and he wanted to accept Islam the video is on my YouTube channel the point being is that when I read about this you know the impurities and this I used to feel very uncomfortable as a non-muslim even though it was our custom from a young age to use the the
toilet standing next to one another but I felt this a personal time you know you see non Muslims in the west oh you see the weather it's a bit cold today did you see the game yesterday I said this not a time for this right it's a it's a personal time Focus right so I felt very uncomfortable so I saw the Muslims don't do this they exclude themselves that's one thing the sitting down part which was looked down upon in our in our custom they look you at not being a man the fact that you sit down only women sit down and I found it's much easier to sit down I said why are we making it so difficult standing it's much more comfortable sit down so from that time every now and then I would sit down
so when I found the Muslims did it as well it had a huge to me and I remember we were talking about a story a bit earlier about a lady in the west she noticed that from all of the students she had been you know washing clothes for for maybe 20 years or something she NOS that all of the you know the undergarments or the Underpants of the students they were stained they're stained with impurities whether it be you know feces or it be uh urine because the fact that people do not clean themselves with water and then they don't sit down if you don't sit down and you don't clean yourself with water you're going to have impurities on your clothes it's definitely going to happen so she notice one
student who was a Muslim student didn't have impurities never on his so it became like a thing for when it come she would look at his underpants each week always clean she didn't believe it what's going on so she asked him what is this I've never seen this in my 20 years or whatever I'm doing this he said because I'm a Muslim and Islam taught us and the prophet taught us that we sit down we use water and that had impact on her and this was the reason that she accepted Islam alhamd just because of the way which which it's become cultural for us it's not even really something we do so this was the second thing the third thing was the system in Islam that takes me back to Malcolm X the
discipline how it Chang his life so it was very clear the five pillars of Islam starts with the foundation of muhamed then you have the five daily prayers if you have money you pay the zakat you fast one month a year if you have the ability you go for the Hajj the pilgrimage once in your lifetime beautiful the Halal is clear the Haram is clear okay boundaries I said this is this is what I need this is the discipline I need just like Mal it's going to help me straighten out my life I like this and even Subhan Allah before because look what we need to realize the F the natural disposition the natural inclination the law created in every human being everyone has that when we give da we teach
others we're trying to bring a Muslim back to Islam the f is there he inside he Fe when you you told your story about your mother you felt it inside it's the f I need to become more religious okay that's there for the Muslim the non-muslim is there too maybe it's might be you know needs a little more searching more more cleaning but it's there so I felt even one I went to join the military because I said I need to straighten myself out so I went to join the Marines my father said wait a bit you know don't make a drastic decision take some time I got back into you know my Jia my my street life end up gotting into islamd so it was good for me in the end but I I I knew I needed that discipline
in my life so here it is in Islam and the last thing was the issue that it's not enough just to believe as a Muslim and this is you know a difference and a lot of Muslims need to understand as well because a lot of Muslims think I have the K it's enough which is not so the author he said very clearly it's not enough to be a Muslim if you don't act upon it on the K and it doesn't show up in your actions then you also you can go to the Hellfire so I felt this was very just not like in Christianity we used to believe that if Jesus died for your sins you're in a better place so a good Christian who goes to mass he's devoted does charity work when he dies they say he's a better place someone in
the mafia who's a killer but he's a Christian who believes he dies he's in a better place then who's going to hell in that case right who's hell for so I found this to be very just it's not just enough to say the K but you have to show up in your actions so I immediately made the decision after reading that book that I want to accept Islam the next day alhamdulillah I called my friend's father who was a revert himself he took me to the Islamic Center in Washington DC and I took my shahada alhamdulillah how did you feel when you took your shahada can you take us to those moments before I took my shahada I was very nervous because he told me I have to say the shahada not I bear witness that
there's no true God or no true deity worthy of worship they said that sh and accept Allah that I would say in English no he said you have to say in Arabic what for me it was like he saying I I can't say these words I I barely got through you know level one in Spanish you know I can't get through it so how am I going to learn this you know say this foreign language it's going to be so difficult so I was very nervous and coming I I prayed M with the Muslims there I wasn't Muslim at the time you know I remember in the in the Islamic Center in Washington DC I'm praying I'm looking other people pray next to me I have a gold chain on uh coming down on the ground I have a golden diamond earring
here and I'm praying with the Muslims and I stand up and I'm very nervous he said no don't worry it's going to be easy he said repeat after me so as they say you know in Arabic sling they say and it's like honey it's like honey it it came out like like honey on the tongue very easy where it came out as uh very very smooth on the on the tongue an amazing feeling inside just amazing feeling and you you feel like a weight weight is lifted from you something something just happens within as you say the and then obviously the Brotherhood everyone coming around you you know talking to you about and congratulating you and hugging you and think that it's amazing feeling alhamdulillah how was your
family's reaction to your conversion to Islam my family they were very happy when I became Muslim not because of Islam because of the changes they saw from Islam the positive changes so alhamd they saw that Islam had had had a beautiful impact on me therefore they they were happy with that they probably didn't think it was something would would be longterm but as long as I'm going to change shortterm that was good for them alhamdulillah so but even now ald they're very supportive I have a very strong relationship with my family alhamdulillah so there's no issues with that alhamd they've been supported from the beginning even I remember my grandfather you know he was in the in the US military
H he was actually from the Infantry the first infantry that actually went in after the fall of Hitler in Germany in World War II and um you know he would talk sometimes with his old army but he's online and and or online on the phone and he would say um you know he was telling him he said I don't know what they have he said the Muslims you know they have this MOS they have the Quran he said I don't know what it is he said but I like it he said cuz the boy's changed he said he's good now he stays in the house he doesn't go out late at night he's he helps out more around the house so you know he was really happy with the change that had on me as well alhamdulillah what was the major challenge
that you had to face after becoming Muslim yeah for me it was it was the lifestyle the lifestyle I was in it was very difficult for me to leave that like I said said it was right right in front of the door I could go back to it easily but actually one of my friends said something to me and he he said that you know look at so and so uh cuz I went back on the street for like one or two days after I accepted Islam about nine days after is I became Muslim he said look at him he said he claims he's a Muslim but he said there's no difference between him and us so that had a big impact on me you know I said it was like a you know lightning bolt hitting me in the chest I said no why did you become
Muslim didn't you become Muslim become closer to Allah to become more religious so I was actually in an inner battle for about a month maybe a month and a half where I I was literally literally getting sick to my stomach feeling that I want to vomit because I wanted to go out it's right out the door but I would push myself not to go and I push myself to go to the Masjid and anyone who wants to make change and what's good for themsel no matter what it is you're going to go through that difficult thing and I remember something and we could even say for example if you want to get in shape you know you're going to go through the difficult you're going to have the withdrawals of the you know the
the the sweets and the sugars and what have you but you're going to find the pleasure later so sometimes you have to go through difficulty in order to reach that pleasure so it wasn't that long a month month and a half but like I said being in that environment you know so that that was it helped me out a lot being around the Muslims and that's why the prophet one of the first things he established in Mecca was having that little Center there for the new Muslims having that Retreat for the new Muslims inside Mecca so they come together learn their Iman and you know and strengthen their faith so alhamd that made it it many if I look back at it now actually very easy where would what it would
have been if I wasn't in that environment alhamdulillah who was the first person you gave dawa to now the first person I gave dawa to was my close friend the one who caused all the problems who taught me all the bad things I came and called him to good alhamdulillah and he accepted Islam but he didn't Dr yeah the one who talk about drug dealing and all this and no not the drug deal son the other one who taught me before that before I I went to this other guy he was the one who who taught me all the bad things with his from his brother and cousin and all this in the beginning so he was the first person I called alhamdulillah we were very close he took he took his shahada uh he didn't have the
same journey I had he went you know a bit straight but hopefully hoping now that he came back as well also called many of my friends many of them almost accepted Islam some of them refused to listen some of them did listen one of them he told me he would accept Islam in a year's time because he was too busy with with you said with the with the women and things like this so and he had a good influence on them also I talked to my family but I focused more so on my grandmother because my grandmother she was uh she was the one who you know raised me my parents were divorced when I was five so she was always there for me uh she was um also at that time were actually six of us and cousins and
brothers and all of us together four from my mom and two from my aunt so at that time we were only four so I was the baby at that time then my brother came after him my sister came after him but at that time I was the baby so I was a bit spoiled I was very close to my grandmother you know um and you know so she had gotten a bit older she was in a wheelchair at the time but I made sure that when I would read the Quran I had my journey to the Quran I would read it out loud so she would be listening to me reading it okay and then when I told told her about you know what we believe uh in Islam and what we believe as Muslims in Jesus she was shocked you know as we say as as she s she saw a ghost
you know she was like this you know and I remember I was helping her to know take her bath at the time and I said to her uh do you believe in what we're saying what I'm saying do you believe this is the truth and she said yes and I said then repeat after me the testimony of faith I explain it to her and I told her how to say in Arabic and she said it with me alhamdulillah I traveled after that and I didn't get to spend much time with him asked the scholars they said inshah she died as as a Muslim since she believed in the Kena even if she didn't act she was very old at the time anyways so she died any a couple of years later but I had traveled abroad and I hadn't spent much time with her so
for me that's obviously one one of the biggest things cuz she and along with my and my father and mother as well but uh she had a huge impact on me and my life so she she took her sh as well alhamdulillah you've been to many different countries to give dawa is there anything you have come across that you will never forget yeah alhamdulillah there's a lot of things I think um if we were to say we could do a whole episode on that obviously different things but I'll tell you I'll share I'll share two quick stories with you from the World Cup as you know I was involved in in the Dow activities in the World Cup recently I received a phone call from one of the sisters who's active with us in da
sister she said there's a six-year-old American boy who wants to accept Islam I said six-year old what does he understand you know six-year-old I said this is such a a joke you know they say want you to come and I'm thinking cuz as you know I'm very busy I'm thinking I go there 6 what's the going to be in b i remember I contact abim green and uh some of other brothers I talk with John Fontaine who you had here as well and some other brothers who who I'm close with so have you have you ever had an exper even we have a DA group I said does anyone have an experience with this I said what am I supposed to expect I didn't know what to expect so I go in there and as I'm thinking I'm saying okay
his mother apparently she's very supportive she has to know about Islam herself she had since he's learning she had to learn why is she not accepting he's accepting so when I sat down with her and him in the beginning she explained to me that you know she's been in Kuwait for a very long time teaching uh now in you know she's in love with the Middle East he never wants to go back to America and he said that you know she he's around Muslim Students his friends are Muslim Muslims so and they he attends the Islamic Studies lessons for like what is it grade one he was in or that he he he was had a big impact on him and he decided he want to become Muslim and he said she said he made me research
with him made me read to him made made me teach him about Islam so she's doing the research and she's giving it to him and he's convinced and then she started asking the guy questions she's like why do we pray because Allah gives us everything he's the one who deserve for for worship and you know his belief in God and I was I was shocked that a your boy had he had that much knowledge you know about Islam in a really good knowledge like as as someone who's much older than him he was very intelligent so I said okay I said clearly he understood what he wanted to do and she said the fact he wants to become Muslim I want to support him I was like wow this amazing I never never thought this would
yeah yeah he's Christian she I want to support him he wants this I want to support him I want him to become Muslim guess what he wants to do she said I told him he's convinced she said I've been talking to him about for a long time he this is what he wants and I want to support him so after and after after speaking to him he really understood he understood where Islam was and he really was was convinced a lot of the misconceptions he answered them as well which was really at that age I was really shocked you know so he took his sh it was amazing you know then right away it was me and another sister was with us she's from the the the there from uh from Ethiopia right away we turned to the
mother we're like what about you so that's the question I had from the beginning you've been doing the the leg work researching with him right so you should know about Islam as well she said I believe Islam you know I'm really convinced but I'm you know I want to do a bit more resarch I'm making for a special time and a lot of non Muslims they have this misconception special time special this I said look I said there's not going to be a more beautiful time than this trust me the fact your son just took a shahada you taking your shahada with him now this is going to be an amazing feeling we talked to her a bit more in this she said know what you're right what you just said she said this is
going to be an amazing day I'm going to take my shahada with him so she took her shahada as well so that was one of the new stories Subhan Allah that and I haven't shared yet so you guys are the first to hear it it was an amazing story Subhan Allah that know really emotional and now the sisters were there people were crying and then after some have some beautiful pictures as well I could I could probably give you uh they made a big party for him in his school uh you know give him a bunch of gifts it was it it was very beautiful alhamdulillah what projects are you doing right now I'm currently any here inul we have sahab Academy which is focused on training du we do most of our stuff in
Arabic we doing some you know some programs as well in English so I'm the head of the English Department one of the the main guys in the Academy I also work with AA um and different Dow projects we're focusing more now on South America and Africa I was just there I told you with our brother Adan Rashid in Africa had a beautiful trip in Africa in Tanzania and and Malawi and also I'm working with one um charity I'm an ambassador for them and the she of of the charity so I do a lot of work with them as well we were just in Lebanon with with the Syrian refugees there on the border so alhamdulillah the these are the you know the main things that that I have and you know just online with my my
social media as well these are the main things I have alhamdulillah if you had a chance to address all the non-muslims in the world what would you like to say to them if you had just one minute any I would like to say you know through exper experience what I've been through what other new Muslims have been through and and how we found you know the sweetness of Faith you to come and to learn for yourself not hear from others that's what happened to me right a very close family member she said don't listen to the Muslims the Muslims are this and this and a lot of negative things she said but I didn't listen I went and read from myself and I saw the truth for myself and I found that many
Muslims even if they don't accept Islam at least they understand what Islam is this is what always ask them to do please don't listen to what the media says about us don't listen to what other people say about us and we're we're almost like two billion there so many of us around you know give us the the right as your colleagues as your neighbors to understand what we believe in listen to us as Muslims and read for yourself to understand what we not read what non-muslims say about us read what Muslims say about themselves interact with us come visit us that's why we we focus a lot on having you know centers now we open up our doors for them to come and listen we have daa tables or information
stalls you can call them different city centers around the world where people have the ability to come here in in in Turkey for example the Su Mania a sufia we have these information centers these centers people come and sit with Muslims and hear for themselves and have that experience and learn Islam then they make a decision for themselves like all of us do you know if they believe this is the origin of Truth follow it you know but if not at least you understand from the Muslims directly you know what Islam is [Music] alhamdulillah