She Led 18 People to Islam! - A Deaf Woman’s Incredible Life Story
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How did you feel when you realized that you had disability? How can you wake up for the Fajr prayer? I was born deaf and my mom was shocked. She would call me, she would call me. "Rebecca, Rebecca." Call me. I was just walking around. And they didn't understand how to communicate with me. They were confused. They didn't know what to do. I'd gone to school. It was a hearing school, and I was the only one deaf. The teacher didn't accept and she started to beat me and she really hurt me. And I went home. And I showed my mom, and she looked at my back. And my mom screamed. She was furious. What's the first thing you want to hear in the heaven?
Assalamualaikum, Sister Rebecca Hussain, thank you for accepting our invitation. As Towards Eternity, we are very happy to have you with us. And today for this interview, Sister Sandra Labbadia will be helping us to interpret the sign language. I want to start by asking, Who is Rebecca Hussain? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Me, Rebecca. That's my sign name. I was born in Bangladesh and I'm born deaf. My parents saw me, and they didn't understand how to communicate with me. They were confused. They didn't know what to do. They decided to take me to America when I was seven years old.
Later, They went to school, a deaf school, and I started picking up sign language for the first time, gesture, language, expressions. And I was so happy. I was absorbing and learning and learning and improving. And for the first time, I had language in my life and I felt so happy. I was so impressed I could communicate for the first time in my own language, and I was very comfortable. Now, I finished and I went to university. RIT, at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. And I finished, I graduated. And now I'm fluent in sign language. What type of childhood did you have? Can you tell us your story? I was born deaf, and my mom was shocked. She would call me, she would call me.
"Rebecca, Rebecca." Call me. And I was just walking around. I didn't hear anything. She was calling me many times. Calling me "Rebecca, Rebecca." I heard nothing. It was so confusing. And it was confusing. She didn't understand what's wrong. And I'd be walking and she would call me. And she called my uncle. And the uncle said the child can't hear. And then mom said, "Oh, something's wrong." So, I had gone to school. It was a hearing school, and I was the only one only one deaf. And my teacher... She was trying to teach the Bengali language and the English language. And she wanted me to focus first priority on the Bengali language.
And I'd look at it and my eyes just moved to the English language. The teacher didn't accept it and she started to beat me, and she really hurt me. And she wanted to force me to learn Bengali language. But I kept looking at the English language. And I didn't understand Bengali. It didn't connect with the English language seemed to attract me. And she'd beat me and beat me. And I was not happy. And I went home and I showed my mom, and she looked at my back. And my mom was screaming, she was furious. And she took me to school and she brought me and said, "Look what you did to my daughter." She told the principal, and they were very embarrassed about that. They talked to my father.
And my father was thinking and making a decision. We're going to move to America, and decided to find a school for the deaf. So we moved to America. And there was a problem, I didn't have... I was deaf, they didn't have the... They checked my ears, the doctor, and they said that, "You know, she can walk, she can sign." And my father said, "Let's put her in a deaf school." "That'll be fine for her." So when I entered the school, I was very, very happy, because I got to use gestural language. I was more able to communicate in sign language. My mother, I could teach her how to say cookie, and express myself to her. And my mom was so surprised. She was sort of learning my gestures.
I was happy, and my mom was happy too. But growing up... I went later to RIT, Rochester Institute of Technology. And that's when I really felt my language was beautiful, and I used sign language all the time, it was perfect match for me. I could socialize and communicate with everyone easily. How did you feel when you realized that you had this disability, and that there's no possibility of it going away? Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Allah gave me a life, and He did the best for me. Whether I'm hearing, whether I'm deaf, I'm happy. I'm happy being deaf, I'm happy. Everything is... I surrender to Him. Is there a moment in your past that you wish you could have heard?
Oh, you know, I wish that I could hear the water and the waves I found, when I see it... Or I wish I could hear a bird, you know, making his dhikr to Allah, making his words. I wish I could hear, you know, nature. I wish I could hear someone's voice. I wish I could hear music. I wish I could hear that, I don't hear anything. Inshallah, when she gets to heaven, what is the first thing that she wants to hear? Inshallah. I want to hear Allah's voice. I want to hear His voice. I want to hear Allah's voice more than anything. When was the first time you came to this realization that you cannot hear? When you were three? Two? Yes.
I remember when I saw my father and mother and my relatives, you know, communicating, blabbing, talking. And I was watching them and I was seeing their mouths move. I was watching and just staring their communication. And for myself, I couldn't understand. And I didn't know what was going on. And I would see their tongue moving and them talking and saying hello and communicating back and forth. I didn't understand anything. And that was confusing. I couldn't hear anything. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I was wondering, I was contemplating, I was reflecting. And the thought impacted me. Who made me? Who am I? I didn't understand, and this thought came to my head. Like, very strong.
Who am I? And I asked my brother, hey. And he was very small. He was younger than me. I was about eight years old at that time. My brother was four. And I said, "Who created me?" "Who made me? Who made me?" And I was touching my skin and touching my hand. And he said, "Allah, Allah." "Who's Allah?" I said to my brother. "I don't know who's that?" "You can't see Him." "Oh, well, where is He? Where is He?" I was scared at first. "Who created you?" And then he said, "Allah." And my skin, my bones, my face. Who made me inside, I didn't know. And from where? Where did I come from? From this earth? I didn't know anything. And I was learning and learning from my brother who was younger than me.
As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages. With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. When did you learn sign language? When I was born I was using gestures, not sign language, just gestures. Like just cookie and name and milk and water and just... You know, stirring, you know, on the stove or food. I was hungry. I didn't know how, you know, asking, showing.
Are you angry? Looking at people's faces, trying to understand if there are angry expressions. But when I came to America and I got involved in understanding everything, sign language in America, I was about, I started like ten, 11 years old and all the way up. I just started learning and I put gestures and sign language together, and then just really strong receptive skills and gestures together and facial expression and sign. And then it helped me to learn sign language to the full degree. Can you hear in your dreams? Okay, so, I cannot hear in my dreams, but I can see colors. I dream in colors. So, do you see in the dreams, people are using sign language? Yes.
Before, I used to think about that. And many deaf people don't understand how to explain a dream. I would have to force them to gesture, to use their facial expressions. So, I was thinking about that for a long time, and I was imagining how that happens for myself. And I showed them more. And they started to be clear that that's what's happening in our dreams. We're gesturing. Both gesturing and sign language. Sometimes, I'm gesturing. Sometimes, I'm using sign language. Sometimes I'm using both. But that's for all deaf people. All deaf people. They say that the lack of one ability leads to the development of another. Has your deafness been an advantage for you? Yes. It's important.
Visual is very, very strong for me. The visual and physical and signing is important. The visual I can see and it has emotion, it expresses everything. And it's like things will go just over my head, or go right past me and I won't catch it. But when I'm looking for expressions and I'm looking for a sign or anything visual, it's more developed. What is it like to be walking down the road, and not be able to hear if there is something risky around you, like a car or a truck? Have you ever been a difficult situation? I have double eyes all the time. My eyes are everywhere, you know? I'm looking at everything everywhere, all the time. That's just natural to me.
I'm driving, and I'm excellent driver. I'm very skilled. People are talking, people are hearing, people are on the phone. People are, you know, and they get lost. But I don't, you know, and I'm just really super focused. And I'm straight and I'm skilled because I'm focused more. -So she can drive? -Yeah. Actually, deaf people are better drivers than hearing people. And that's known. That's the statistics. As a young girl, did you have any concerns of getting married and how did you finally get married? My parents wanted... Really, and they wanted me to get married. And they wanted to find someone for me.
So later, my parents found a man who was really nice, and they introduced me to that man. And he was from Bangladesh. And he was from California. And it was my father's friend's brother in law. And they introduced us. My parents confronted me and I felt very awkward about that. I thought, how are we going to do that? I was concerned about communication. I don't know if you found the right person for me. He's not going to understand me. How am I going to understand him? How are we going to communicate? And my parents said, you can, you can. My parents said, you can try. He's hearing, but that's fine. And he'll help you, and that'll make life easier for you.
And you can try and you can communicate with him. And so that was my husband who they introduced me to. And I would teach him some sign language. And he would... He was nice person and I felt comfortable for a long time. We've been married for 37 years. And so far... So how did you communicate with your husband? In the beginning, I tried to use my voice so he could hear me. Because I didn't understand him. And I couldn't hear. And I couldn't lip read. it was really, really hard. Because I couldn't lip read and understand his, you know... I couldn't understand his lips. They were not opening up enough for me to understand.
And then slowly, I had to learn what word he was saying, and I had to practice. And then, using my sign language. Plus, I use a lot of gestures and facial expressions, and he'd understand me more. And then I needed him to do gestures and sign. More for me. For me, so I could understand him. So, can you use your voice, but not as much as we do? My voice is like a frog. -My voice is like a frog. -No, no, not at all. My voice is like a frog. -It's really good. -No, no, no, it's really... Just a few words and then we continue. I can speak, but not clear. I understand some of the people speak with lip reader. But I can't hear at all. I see their lip, reading. Oh, I knew it. That's it.
Can you give us the translation of the Fatiha through gestures? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah, the most kind, the most merciful. All praise be to you, Allah, Lord of the universe. The most compassionate, the most merciful. You are the king of the Day of Judgment. You alone we worship. You alone we ask for help. You show us the straight path. The path of those whom you have blessed. Not those who have deserved your anger, nor those who have gone astray. Mashallah, Mashallah. Can you show us the word "Allah" in the sign language? Allah. One. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Qur'an? Qur'an. Ramadan? Ramadan. Okay, so, prayer, salah? Mashallah, so good. Kaaba? Kaaba. Mecca.
This is Mecca. Mecca. Come on. I'm calling you. Mecca. So, this is Mecca. It's calling you. Fasting? Fast. What about sin? Shaitan? Hell? Fire. Heaven? Angels? Amazing. This is halal. This is haram. Haram. Haram. How can you wake up for the Fajr prayer? Automatically, boom! Allah (swt) tells me it's time and boom. Like a hammer, boom, I just wake up. But it changes throughout the year? Sometimes I wake up. Sometimes I feel a flashing, like a flashing coming to me. That's how I feel. And it's telling me it's time to pray. In a way Allah wakes you up. It's like Allah is waking you. Have you ever explained Islam to a deaf person, a non-Muslim person? And what was their reaction?
One time, online, okay? On the computer, online, I was talking to a man and we connected and we met. And I don't know how he... He got my number through ISTHH, our organization, and he confronted me and asked me a question about Islam. I said, okay, I'll express, I'll explain to you. Let me without, you know... And he says, "I'm Christian," you know, and she said, "I'm Muslim." "Can I bring my Christian Jesus idol to you? Are you going to worship him?" And I told him, I would kick out every single idol that... I made such a.... I told him that I will kick out every single idol.
Our God could kick out every single idol that you have in front of him and throw them away because we only worship one. And he looked at me and he was shocked that he had never had this explained like this before. And he realized when he was talking to me, he was learning about Islam that, I was teaching him that this was the right way and he converted to Islam. Mashallah, Mashallah. Is there another example? Is this the only one? Okay, one person, they were deaf themselves. And says, "I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus is God." And she says, "Let me explain to you, let me explain something." "Will you worship an elephant? Will you worship a giraffe?
Will you worship the stars?" And I listed so many different things. "Are you going to worship those things? And will you worship a person?" "Will you worship Buddha?" "Are they all the same?" "Will you worship me? Should I worship you?" And they said no. And they looked at me and they were so confused. And they were thinking and they realized, you're right. You will not worship anything except Him, Allah. And explained to her that He sees you and you can't see Him. But you have proof by looking at yourself that He created you. So this is your proof that there is a Creator. But you can't worship an elephant, you can't worship these things. And I listed all of them, and then she realized.
And she felt sick inside. And it took about three months later, I was teaching her and she converted to Islam. Mashallah. How many people took Shahada after you told them about Islam? About 18. 18 people became Muslim through you? Yeah. Deaf people, right, deaf people. What inspired you to give da'wah? I never thought about da'wah. The impact came to me from people asking me questions. People always coming to me, asking me different things. But I was not a preacher. I'm not a preacher. That's not what I want to do, to preach. I mean, if Allah (swt) brings someone to me and they're Muslim, and they need knowledge, you know... And people come to me and they call me all the time.
And I say, "Thank you, Allah. I know that you send them to me, I'm going to teach them." It's who Allah brings to me, and I provide the knowledge. What does she enjoy the most in this life? I mean, I really enjoy learning about Islam, and I enjoy learning and growing more closer to Allah, and getting closer to Him and helping people. And you know, helping my husband, helping other people, helping my family. Most of all, getting close to Allah. That's what I enjoy the most. My deen. Your religion. Once a deaf person said that even though he could not hear the adhan, he sometimes felt it. Have you ever experienced such a situation? So, we took a trip to Al-Aqsa, Sandra and I.
And Sandra was signing the adhan in sign language. And she was vibrating her hands, vibrating and vibrating, to match the voice of the Imam. And I was just shaking from the vibration. Because I could feel, you know, the vibration in her hands, of "Allahuakbar." And they do "Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar." And her hands were describing that powerful emotion as if I could feel, and I could see people around me and the expressions of people. And I could feel with my eyes that feeling of His majesty. Can you lip read and understand what people are saying by their mouth movements, lip movements? Most deaf people cannot lip read. But I...
And people are surprised that I can lip read, or sign and lip read and they're just surprised. It's a gift from Allah (swt). You know, I'm happy. As a continuation of this question, can you understand what I'm saying right now? Should we do this? Can you understand what I'm saying right now? We are very happy to be at your house. Does he need more emotion? You need more emotion. -Emotion. Emotion. -Emotion. We are very happy to be interviewing you. We are very happy to meet you and interview you. Yeah, Mashallah. Sister Rebecca, can you make a prayer for Muslims and especially our brothers and sisters in Gaza? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. All the world. Palestine. All the countries.
Bless all the children who are suffering or crying. We raise our hands to you, give us the blessing to the world. And protect everyone from pain and from destruction. Forgive everyone Allah, we ask for you, Ameen, to have mercy on us. Sister Rebecca, thank you so much for giving these answers and giving your time. We were inspired a lot from you. May Allah reward you. Continuing Toward Eternity. Never ending. Keep going forever. -Thank you for everything. -Okay.
Assalamualaikum, Sister Rebecca Hussain, thank you for accepting our invitation. As Towards Eternity, we are very happy to have you with us. And today for this interview, Sister Sandra Labbadia will be helping us to interpret the sign language. I want to start by asking, Who is Rebecca Hussain? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Me, Rebecca. That's my sign name. I was born in Bangladesh and I'm born deaf. My parents saw me, and they didn't understand how to communicate with me. They were confused. They didn't know what to do. They decided to take me to America when I was seven years old.
Later, They went to school, a deaf school, and I started picking up sign language for the first time, gesture, language, expressions. And I was so happy. I was absorbing and learning and learning and improving. And for the first time, I had language in my life and I felt so happy. I was so impressed I could communicate for the first time in my own language, and I was very comfortable. Now, I finished and I went to university. RIT, at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. And I finished, I graduated. And now I'm fluent in sign language. What type of childhood did you have? Can you tell us your story? I was born deaf, and my mom was shocked. She would call me, she would call me.
"Rebecca, Rebecca." Call me. And I was just walking around. I didn't hear anything. She was calling me many times. Calling me "Rebecca, Rebecca." I heard nothing. It was so confusing. And it was confusing. She didn't understand what's wrong. And I'd be walking and she would call me. And she called my uncle. And the uncle said the child can't hear. And then mom said, "Oh, something's wrong." So, I had gone to school. It was a hearing school, and I was the only one only one deaf. And my teacher... She was trying to teach the Bengali language and the English language. And she wanted me to focus first priority on the Bengali language.
And I'd look at it and my eyes just moved to the English language. The teacher didn't accept it and she started to beat me, and she really hurt me. And she wanted to force me to learn Bengali language. But I kept looking at the English language. And I didn't understand Bengali. It didn't connect with the English language seemed to attract me. And she'd beat me and beat me. And I was not happy. And I went home and I showed my mom, and she looked at my back. And my mom was screaming, she was furious. And she took me to school and she brought me and said, "Look what you did to my daughter." She told the principal, and they were very embarrassed about that. They talked to my father.
And my father was thinking and making a decision. We're going to move to America, and decided to find a school for the deaf. So we moved to America. And there was a problem, I didn't have... I was deaf, they didn't have the... They checked my ears, the doctor, and they said that, "You know, she can walk, she can sign." And my father said, "Let's put her in a deaf school." "That'll be fine for her." So when I entered the school, I was very, very happy, because I got to use gestural language. I was more able to communicate in sign language. My mother, I could teach her how to say cookie, and express myself to her. And my mom was so surprised. She was sort of learning my gestures.
I was happy, and my mom was happy too. But growing up... I went later to RIT, Rochester Institute of Technology. And that's when I really felt my language was beautiful, and I used sign language all the time, it was perfect match for me. I could socialize and communicate with everyone easily. How did you feel when you realized that you had this disability, and that there's no possibility of it going away? Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Allah gave me a life, and He did the best for me. Whether I'm hearing, whether I'm deaf, I'm happy. I'm happy being deaf, I'm happy. Everything is... I surrender to Him. Is there a moment in your past that you wish you could have heard?
Oh, you know, I wish that I could hear the water and the waves I found, when I see it... Or I wish I could hear a bird, you know, making his dhikr to Allah, making his words. I wish I could hear, you know, nature. I wish I could hear someone's voice. I wish I could hear music. I wish I could hear that, I don't hear anything. Inshallah, when she gets to heaven, what is the first thing that she wants to hear? Inshallah. I want to hear Allah's voice. I want to hear His voice. I want to hear Allah's voice more than anything. When was the first time you came to this realization that you cannot hear? When you were three? Two? Yes.
I remember when I saw my father and mother and my relatives, you know, communicating, blabbing, talking. And I was watching them and I was seeing their mouths move. I was watching and just staring their communication. And for myself, I couldn't understand. And I didn't know what was going on. And I would see their tongue moving and them talking and saying hello and communicating back and forth. I didn't understand anything. And that was confusing. I couldn't hear anything. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I was wondering, I was contemplating, I was reflecting. And the thought impacted me. Who made me? Who am I? I didn't understand, and this thought came to my head. Like, very strong.
Who am I? And I asked my brother, hey. And he was very small. He was younger than me. I was about eight years old at that time. My brother was four. And I said, "Who created me?" "Who made me? Who made me?" And I was touching my skin and touching my hand. And he said, "Allah, Allah." "Who's Allah?" I said to my brother. "I don't know who's that?" "You can't see Him." "Oh, well, where is He? Where is He?" I was scared at first. "Who created you?" And then he said, "Allah." And my skin, my bones, my face. Who made me inside, I didn't know. And from where? Where did I come from? From this earth? I didn't know anything. And I was learning and learning from my brother who was younger than me.
As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages. With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. When did you learn sign language? When I was born I was using gestures, not sign language, just gestures. Like just cookie and name and milk and water and just... You know, stirring, you know, on the stove or food. I was hungry. I didn't know how, you know, asking, showing.
Are you angry? Looking at people's faces, trying to understand if there are angry expressions. But when I came to America and I got involved in understanding everything, sign language in America, I was about, I started like ten, 11 years old and all the way up. I just started learning and I put gestures and sign language together, and then just really strong receptive skills and gestures together and facial expression and sign. And then it helped me to learn sign language to the full degree. Can you hear in your dreams? Okay, so, I cannot hear in my dreams, but I can see colors. I dream in colors. So, do you see in the dreams, people are using sign language? Yes.
Before, I used to think about that. And many deaf people don't understand how to explain a dream. I would have to force them to gesture, to use their facial expressions. So, I was thinking about that for a long time, and I was imagining how that happens for myself. And I showed them more. And they started to be clear that that's what's happening in our dreams. We're gesturing. Both gesturing and sign language. Sometimes, I'm gesturing. Sometimes, I'm using sign language. Sometimes I'm using both. But that's for all deaf people. All deaf people. They say that the lack of one ability leads to the development of another. Has your deafness been an advantage for you? Yes. It's important.
Visual is very, very strong for me. The visual and physical and signing is important. The visual I can see and it has emotion, it expresses everything. And it's like things will go just over my head, or go right past me and I won't catch it. But when I'm looking for expressions and I'm looking for a sign or anything visual, it's more developed. What is it like to be walking down the road, and not be able to hear if there is something risky around you, like a car or a truck? Have you ever been a difficult situation? I have double eyes all the time. My eyes are everywhere, you know? I'm looking at everything everywhere, all the time. That's just natural to me.
I'm driving, and I'm excellent driver. I'm very skilled. People are talking, people are hearing, people are on the phone. People are, you know, and they get lost. But I don't, you know, and I'm just really super focused. And I'm straight and I'm skilled because I'm focused more. -So she can drive? -Yeah. Actually, deaf people are better drivers than hearing people. And that's known. That's the statistics. As a young girl, did you have any concerns of getting married and how did you finally get married? My parents wanted... Really, and they wanted me to get married. And they wanted to find someone for me.
So later, my parents found a man who was really nice, and they introduced me to that man. And he was from Bangladesh. And he was from California. And it was my father's friend's brother in law. And they introduced us. My parents confronted me and I felt very awkward about that. I thought, how are we going to do that? I was concerned about communication. I don't know if you found the right person for me. He's not going to understand me. How am I going to understand him? How are we going to communicate? And my parents said, you can, you can. My parents said, you can try. He's hearing, but that's fine. And he'll help you, and that'll make life easier for you.
And you can try and you can communicate with him. And so that was my husband who they introduced me to. And I would teach him some sign language. And he would... He was nice person and I felt comfortable for a long time. We've been married for 37 years. And so far... So how did you communicate with your husband? In the beginning, I tried to use my voice so he could hear me. Because I didn't understand him. And I couldn't hear. And I couldn't lip read. it was really, really hard. Because I couldn't lip read and understand his, you know... I couldn't understand his lips. They were not opening up enough for me to understand.
And then slowly, I had to learn what word he was saying, and I had to practice. And then, using my sign language. Plus, I use a lot of gestures and facial expressions, and he'd understand me more. And then I needed him to do gestures and sign. More for me. For me, so I could understand him. So, can you use your voice, but not as much as we do? My voice is like a frog. -My voice is like a frog. -No, no, not at all. My voice is like a frog. -It's really good. -No, no, no, it's really... Just a few words and then we continue. I can speak, but not clear. I understand some of the people speak with lip reader. But I can't hear at all. I see their lip, reading. Oh, I knew it. That's it.
Can you give us the translation of the Fatiha through gestures? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah, the most kind, the most merciful. All praise be to you, Allah, Lord of the universe. The most compassionate, the most merciful. You are the king of the Day of Judgment. You alone we worship. You alone we ask for help. You show us the straight path. The path of those whom you have blessed. Not those who have deserved your anger, nor those who have gone astray. Mashallah, Mashallah. Can you show us the word "Allah" in the sign language? Allah. One. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Qur'an? Qur'an. Ramadan? Ramadan. Okay, so, prayer, salah? Mashallah, so good. Kaaba? Kaaba. Mecca.
This is Mecca. Mecca. Come on. I'm calling you. Mecca. So, this is Mecca. It's calling you. Fasting? Fast. What about sin? Shaitan? Hell? Fire. Heaven? Angels? Amazing. This is halal. This is haram. Haram. Haram. How can you wake up for the Fajr prayer? Automatically, boom! Allah (swt) tells me it's time and boom. Like a hammer, boom, I just wake up. But it changes throughout the year? Sometimes I wake up. Sometimes I feel a flashing, like a flashing coming to me. That's how I feel. And it's telling me it's time to pray. In a way Allah wakes you up. It's like Allah is waking you. Have you ever explained Islam to a deaf person, a non-Muslim person? And what was their reaction?
One time, online, okay? On the computer, online, I was talking to a man and we connected and we met. And I don't know how he... He got my number through ISTHH, our organization, and he confronted me and asked me a question about Islam. I said, okay, I'll express, I'll explain to you. Let me without, you know... And he says, "I'm Christian," you know, and she said, "I'm Muslim." "Can I bring my Christian Jesus idol to you? Are you going to worship him?" And I told him, I would kick out every single idol that... I made such a.... I told him that I will kick out every single idol.
Our God could kick out every single idol that you have in front of him and throw them away because we only worship one. And he looked at me and he was shocked that he had never had this explained like this before. And he realized when he was talking to me, he was learning about Islam that, I was teaching him that this was the right way and he converted to Islam. Mashallah, Mashallah. Is there another example? Is this the only one? Okay, one person, they were deaf themselves. And says, "I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus is God." And she says, "Let me explain to you, let me explain something." "Will you worship an elephant? Will you worship a giraffe?
Will you worship the stars?" And I listed so many different things. "Are you going to worship those things? And will you worship a person?" "Will you worship Buddha?" "Are they all the same?" "Will you worship me? Should I worship you?" And they said no. And they looked at me and they were so confused. And they were thinking and they realized, you're right. You will not worship anything except Him, Allah. And explained to her that He sees you and you can't see Him. But you have proof by looking at yourself that He created you. So this is your proof that there is a Creator. But you can't worship an elephant, you can't worship these things. And I listed all of them, and then she realized.
And she felt sick inside. And it took about three months later, I was teaching her and she converted to Islam. Mashallah. How many people took Shahada after you told them about Islam? About 18. 18 people became Muslim through you? Yeah. Deaf people, right, deaf people. What inspired you to give da'wah? I never thought about da'wah. The impact came to me from people asking me questions. People always coming to me, asking me different things. But I was not a preacher. I'm not a preacher. That's not what I want to do, to preach. I mean, if Allah (swt) brings someone to me and they're Muslim, and they need knowledge, you know... And people come to me and they call me all the time.
And I say, "Thank you, Allah. I know that you send them to me, I'm going to teach them." It's who Allah brings to me, and I provide the knowledge. What does she enjoy the most in this life? I mean, I really enjoy learning about Islam, and I enjoy learning and growing more closer to Allah, and getting closer to Him and helping people. And you know, helping my husband, helping other people, helping my family. Most of all, getting close to Allah. That's what I enjoy the most. My deen. Your religion. Once a deaf person said that even though he could not hear the adhan, he sometimes felt it. Have you ever experienced such a situation? So, we took a trip to Al-Aqsa, Sandra and I.
And Sandra was signing the adhan in sign language. And she was vibrating her hands, vibrating and vibrating, to match the voice of the Imam. And I was just shaking from the vibration. Because I could feel, you know, the vibration in her hands, of "Allahuakbar." And they do "Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar." And her hands were describing that powerful emotion as if I could feel, and I could see people around me and the expressions of people. And I could feel with my eyes that feeling of His majesty. Can you lip read and understand what people are saying by their mouth movements, lip movements? Most deaf people cannot lip read. But I...
And people are surprised that I can lip read, or sign and lip read and they're just surprised. It's a gift from Allah (swt). You know, I'm happy. As a continuation of this question, can you understand what I'm saying right now? Should we do this? Can you understand what I'm saying right now? We are very happy to be at your house. Does he need more emotion? You need more emotion. -Emotion. Emotion. -Emotion. We are very happy to be interviewing you. We are very happy to meet you and interview you. Yeah, Mashallah. Sister Rebecca, can you make a prayer for Muslims and especially our brothers and sisters in Gaza? Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. All the world. Palestine. All the countries.
Bless all the children who are suffering or crying. We raise our hands to you, give us the blessing to the world. And protect everyone from pain and from destruction. Forgive everyone Allah, we ask for you, Ameen, to have mercy on us. Sister Rebecca, thank you so much for giving these answers and giving your time. We were inspired a lot from you. May Allah reward you. Continuing Toward Eternity. Never ending. Keep going forever. -Thank you for everything. -Okay.