Ali Dawah - December 04, 2018


SINCERE EX-CHRISTIAN & MUSLIM TALK - NEW YORK

Topics
Speakers Corner
Hosted by
Ali Dawah
Mentioned
Prophet Muhammad Paul Sheikh Mohammed Scriptures Abraham Alhamdulillah Jehovah James Version Leonard Rock His Son Judaism Gandhi Safiya Torah
HEART MOVING QURAN RECITATION - MUST LISTEN KHABIBS EPIC REPLY TO FEMALE IN AUDIENCE

Episode Stats


Length

22 minutes

Words per minute

212.94

Word count

4,850

Sentence count

578

Harmful content

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

23

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I sit down with my good friend, Leonard Rock, to talk about his love of chess and how it led him to start a chess club in New York City. We talk about how chess has changed his life and how he got into the game.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.080 You was, um, brought up in a Christian family.
00:00:03.280 Yes.
00:00:04.360 Obviously you was a Christian.
00:00:05.440 Yeah.
00:00:05.860 Okay, so what made you, question of faith, so you're saying you was, for example, um,
00:00:10.900 okay, I see what you've done there.
00:00:13.580 You even stopped me speaking there for a second.
00:00:15.100 I had to think what's going on here.
00:00:16.200 Some, some.
00:00:16.800 Oh, alhamdulillah.
00:00:19.100 Alhamdulillah.
00:00:20.240 Alhamdulillah.
00:00:21.060 Like, I just, I'm interested in the way it rolls with my tongue when I say it.
00:00:24.720 Like, when I say it's slow or fast, even if I'm not pronouncing it right,
00:00:27.600 but just the fact that it's, it's rolling with my tongue in a way that sends a certain
00:00:30.600 vibration that's interesting.
00:00:31.900 Whenever this game of chess was created, is there anything at all?
00:00:36.640 Yeah.
00:00:37.640 Is there anything in the Quran that would be related to chess?
00:00:43.440 Right, with all the hustlers, you know, sharks, wolves, and, uh, just, you know, I sat down,
00:00:52.040 started losing my money every week, you know, because at the time I was working for the telephone
00:00:55.180 company.
00:00:55.640 I was working for AT&T.
00:00:56.740 Yeah.
00:00:56.920 And, uh, you know, uh, I would lose between 150 to, like, 250 a week.
00:01:05.000 So what, what, gambling?
00:01:06.360 Was that gambling?
00:01:06.940 Yeah, gambling.
00:01:07.660 So this would make you, this would be a substitute for gambling for you?
00:01:11.980 No.
00:01:12.880 It's not gambling for me anymore.
00:01:14.580 It's more like grinding.
00:01:16.140 No, but I mean, like, did this help you get away from it?
00:01:18.520 Yeah, it helps me get away from it all.
00:01:20.340 The main reason why I like chess, because it's, you know, it's good for me.
00:01:25.000 I like the social aspect.
00:01:26.060 Like, like, outside in parks.
00:01:28.400 Like, most, most cool parks, like, this is a cool park.
00:01:30.860 Washington Square Park is a cool park.
00:01:33.020 Um, 135th Street, St. Nicholas Park.
00:01:35.720 Those are all good parks where, like, it's, it's, for the most part, it's good energy.
00:01:40.540 You know, um, I can meet interesting people, you know, people in the entertainment industry,
00:01:45.300 dancers, you know, uh, musicians, you know what I mean?
00:01:48.840 People with careers.
00:01:49.880 I mean, doctors, lawyers.
00:01:51.000 I'm sitting down with, you know, with people that have, like, that make salaries, you know what I mean?
00:01:55.620 So, I feel important, and it's just, you know, it's just the energy that it brings.
00:02:01.060 Pretty much.
00:02:02.260 You know, I couldn't look back.
00:02:04.300 It was just the complexity of it, and, you know, the social aspect of it.
00:02:09.180 It was just, it's just amazing.
00:02:11.220 What was your name?
00:02:12.940 Well, it's Rock.
00:02:13.680 Most people go away from my last name.
00:02:14.800 It's Rock.
00:02:15.500 Rock.
00:02:16.000 Rock, yeah.
00:02:17.040 It's actually Leonard Rock.
00:02:18.460 This is Mohammed.
00:02:19.620 Yeah, we met yesterday.
00:02:20.720 Yeah, we met yesterday, yeah?
00:02:22.320 Yeah.
00:02:22.580 So, how long have you been coming?
00:02:23.700 Is this, how long have you been here, like, this theme, this theme of this?
00:02:26.080 I'm actually one of the five that started it.
00:02:27.860 Seriously?
00:02:28.520 Yeah, because me, me and, uh, four of my friends, we came out.
00:02:31.460 We actually wasn't over here.
00:02:32.500 We was over there by the Gandhi statue.
00:02:33.860 Yeah.
00:02:34.380 So, we just set up.
00:02:35.800 Thought it would be a good, good place to, uh, you know, to play in peace.
00:02:39.660 And after about three months of set up every day, one person came along and set up.
00:02:45.100 And then, like, three people came along and set up.
00:02:47.680 And then before you know it, like, within three or four months, it was, like, ten to twelve people set up.
00:02:54.160 And then it just, they never, they never stopped.
00:02:56.640 They just came out here.
00:02:57.540 You know, a lot of people, I don't really get into a lot of my associates' personal life.
00:03:02.140 But most, some are on the street.
00:03:03.780 Some, uh, some really need this, you know, to make a living.
00:03:07.100 Yeah.
00:03:07.580 You know what I mean?
00:03:07.920 Like, I have a regular job.
00:03:08.780 You know what I mean?
00:03:09.220 Okay, okay.
00:03:09.980 I do concierge work.
00:03:11.100 I'm a security guard.
00:03:11.800 I work in the financial industry.
00:03:12.900 Okay, so you do this for, like, more social?
00:03:14.480 I do this, I do this for, yeah, for a good pastime.
00:03:17.000 But, you know, as a professional, I still want to get compensated for my time.
00:03:20.360 Oh, yeah.
00:03:20.620 But at the same time, when I'm sitting down, you know, um, I like to just, you know, meet people that are interesting.
00:03:26.340 You know what I mean?
00:03:26.800 Like, in one day, in 24 hours, like, on my off days, I'll come out here, like, 11, 12 o'clock, right?
00:03:35.600 I probably won't leave until, like, maybe, I don't know, maybe 2, 3 o'clock in the morning.
00:03:39.920 But on a good day, warm day, you know, with entertainment, everything going on, it's cool.
00:03:45.260 But, you know, when I have to, you know, when the weather's cold, when it's crazy, I may stay out for maybe 3 or 4 hours.
00:03:52.760 Yeah, because it's raining, you can't really pay this.
00:03:54.680 Yeah.
00:03:55.060 We have that kind of thing in London.
00:03:57.640 We have Speakers Corner.
00:03:59.120 It's called Speakers Corner.
00:04:00.660 Really?
00:04:01.180 So, it's a historical place.
00:04:02.840 It's been there for about 150 years.
00:04:04.300 All kind of figures have been there.
00:04:05.780 It's a corner where different people from different backgrounds come and you have dialogue and discussions.
00:04:09.380 So, when you go home, if you watch, if you go on YouTube and write Speakers Corner, London, you see our videos.
00:04:14.800 So, we mainly operate on YouTube and have dialogue discussions like that.
00:04:19.560 We just set up our own organization.
00:04:21.320 Me, Mohammed, our teachers, Sheikh Mohammed, Sheikh Mohammed, Safiya, and some other people as well who help us.
00:04:30.360 We started with Qad al-Salam.
00:04:31.620 It stands for sharing affection, love and mercy.
00:04:33.620 So, basically, obviously, we're Muslims.
00:04:35.280 We're here to give, spread the message of Islam, doing dawah, preaching, inviting people to Islam.
00:04:40.980 So, that's what we're doing.
00:04:42.120 So, that's the reason why I want, to be honest, I wanted to play chess anyway.
00:04:44.920 Right.
00:04:45.480 I know, hopefully, if you lose, you wouldn't have anything grudged against me.
00:04:48.900 No, no, no.
00:04:49.500 Yeah, because, you know, because some people have that, you know, because, yeah, because he's suffered from this sometimes, you know, I slap him about it sometimes.
00:04:56.800 But, you know, he's one of my good students, though.
00:04:58.600 He's strong.
00:05:00.480 He's strong.
00:05:01.240 He's strong.
00:05:01.700 So, the reason he's sitting on this side is just so he can learn from you, as usual in life.
00:05:06.240 Yeah.
00:05:06.600 Are you ready, yeah?
00:05:07.740 Yeah, okay.
00:05:08.420 Yeah.
00:05:08.540 So, basically, okay, and we don't have time.
00:05:11.180 I'm not going to take long.
00:05:11.820 Right, we don't have time.
00:05:12.260 Let's say 10 minutes.
00:05:13.380 Yeah, it's fine.
00:05:14.040 Okay, it's good, yeah?
00:05:14.860 It's fine.
00:05:15.700 Are you ready?
00:05:16.760 I am ready.
00:05:18.320 Okay, before we kind of started, yeah, you were saying that you was brought up in a Christian family, yeah?
00:05:23.680 I'm sorry?
00:05:24.320 You was brought up in a Christian family?
00:05:26.060 Yeah, I grew up in a Christian family.
00:05:27.940 You know, my, okay, so I have a mixed background.
00:05:30.560 My dad, my dad is from the West Indies.
00:05:33.340 He's from St. Vincent.
00:05:34.120 Yes.
00:05:34.360 My mom is from Dominican Republic.
00:05:36.120 Yes.
00:05:36.240 She's from the capital.
00:05:37.020 She's from Santiago.
00:05:38.000 Yes.
00:05:38.720 I don't, unfortunately, I don't speak the language.
00:05:40.240 I was kind of, like, lazy in school when it came to, like, linguistics and stuff.
00:05:42.920 Yeah.
00:05:43.340 But, you know, I think most Americans grew up as Christians.
00:05:48.060 You know what I'm saying?
00:05:48.740 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:05:49.240 They look at Jesus as the Son of God.
00:05:51.040 Yes, yes.
00:05:51.540 You can't get to the Creator, you know, just without, through something.
00:05:56.860 It has to be through Christ.
00:05:58.340 Yes, exactly.
00:05:58.960 Christian meaning Christ-like.
00:06:00.360 Like, I guess that's what the word Christian means, Christ-like.
00:06:02.500 Yeah.
00:06:02.660 So, but, but when I stopped was when I did my first semester in college.
00:06:07.540 Yeah.
00:06:07.640 You know, I started talking to a lot of the students.
00:06:09.680 Yeah.
00:06:11.380 Muslims, Muslims, Jews, you know, just the whole, the whole spectrum of religions.
00:06:16.520 Yeah.
00:06:16.720 And I started picking up little pieces of information here and there.
00:06:19.340 Yeah.
00:06:19.840 And over a short period of time, a lot of the information that's in the Holy Scriptures is kind of, like, inaccurate.
00:06:27.740 It's kind of, like, a little distorted.
00:06:29.820 So, so, so, so, so, like, for yourself, should we play and talk as well?
00:06:33.440 Yeah.
00:06:33.760 Yeah.
00:06:33.920 Yeah.
00:06:34.180 So, basically, you're saying that you was, you was basically, you brought up in a Christian
00:06:40.280 family?
00:06:40.960 Yes.
00:06:42.000 Obviously, you was a Christian.
00:06:43.100 Yeah.
00:06:43.320 Okay, so what made you, so you're saying you were, for example,
00:06:47.940 Okay, I see what you've done there.
00:06:51.300 You even stopped me speaking there for a second.
00:06:52.800 I had to think what's going on here.
00:06:54.480 Okay, all right.
00:06:56.400 So you start questioning the scriptures.
00:06:59.580 Yes.
00:07:00.280 So what happened then?
00:07:02.320 A friend of mine, I wouldn't really call him a guru, but he's a real knowledgeable guy.
00:07:06.600 Okay.
00:07:08.040 He was telling me a little bit of history about Islam.
00:07:10.460 Like he said that the first Muhammad, the first Muhammad, like way, way, way, way back,
00:07:16.480 he said that Muhammad at one point, and I'm talking about a one-on-one guy,
00:07:21.880 a guy that doesn't really know much about the Quran.
00:07:24.180 Okay, I'm just going off of what my friend told me years ago as a teenager.
00:07:27.820 He said that Muhammad forced religion on others.
00:07:31.280 He said that if you don't accept Islam as your faith, then you will be murdered.
00:07:39.400 This is what I heard. 0.97
00:07:40.460 This is what I heard.
00:07:41.920 It kind of threw me off, you know, because when I think of Christianity as a kid,
00:07:47.020 you go to a little Sunday school, and you sing the songs and everything, and you're thinking...
00:07:52.080 So he wasn't a Muslim, was he?
00:07:54.020 I'm sorry?
00:07:54.680 No, he wasn't a Muslim.
00:07:55.680 He's just like a guru.
00:07:56.660 He's like one of those more like...
00:07:59.040 He's more like Taoism.
00:08:00.460 Taoism, and...
00:08:02.460 Yeah, so I think he's misinformed very badly.
00:08:04.920 Right, misinformed.
00:08:04.980 Very badly, yeah.
00:08:06.060 Yeah, misinformed.
00:08:06.740 And that's one of the reasons we're here to, you know, educate people on that.
00:08:09.980 But yeah, carry on, you were saying.
00:08:11.080 Yeah, so that kind of deterred me from getting into Islam.
00:08:15.740 Okay, okay.
00:08:16.640 Just the fact, the story you told me about Muhammad was like...
00:08:19.580 Yeah, it's not true as well.
00:08:22.300 Yeah.
00:08:22.620 It's so far from the truth.
00:08:23.700 So far from the truth?
00:08:24.300 So far from the truth, yeah.
00:08:25.240 Okay.
00:08:25.380 And Christianity, you know, with politics, politics, most politicians deal with Christianity.
00:08:32.180 I think it's a Christian country.
00:08:33.600 Yeah.
00:08:33.840 I would say it's a Christian country.
00:08:35.540 Because politically, most people in politics that are high up, the big hand in the sky,
00:08:40.460 so to speak, are Christians.
00:08:42.540 Yeah.
00:08:42.720 You know what I'm saying?
00:08:43.400 Yeah.
00:08:43.640 And then they look at Muslims as terrorists, you know, the whole 9-11 thing.
00:08:46.860 They look at, you know, anybody that's Arabic speaking or has the thing around their head
00:08:51.940 is considered a terrorist.
00:08:53.260 It's like a common enemy.
00:08:54.240 I mean, every time in time, you always need common enemies, you know?
00:08:56.560 Right.
00:08:56.820 It's just like, okay, now it's the Muslims' turn. 1.00
00:08:58.120 It was the blacks before, now it was the Japanese, and then it was the Russians. 0.93
00:09:00.860 Yes. 0.73
00:09:01.100 Now it's the Muslims' turn now. 1.00
00:09:02.260 Exactly.
00:09:02.560 Yeah.
00:09:02.840 So, okay, you looked at some scriptures, yeah?
00:09:05.220 Mm-hmm.
00:09:05.560 And you realized at this moment in time that Christianity may be...
00:09:12.320 have corruption?
00:09:14.260 You said there was some corruption in the scriptures?
00:09:16.540 Yeah.
00:09:17.360 You know...
00:09:18.920 Okay, now you think of Judaism, that's...
00:09:22.080 But I believe Judaism deals with the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
00:09:26.760 Yeah.
00:09:27.300 And that kind of makes sense.
00:09:29.460 When you listen to the stories, you know, Moses, and even, you know, when you think of all of
00:09:37.400 these, like, prophets, like, later on in the scriptures, you know, it kind of makes sense.
00:09:42.120 Yeah.
00:09:42.320 But then when you get further down into the scriptures, when you talk about visions, a person having visions, and even when you look at a version of the Bible, you look at the King James Version of the Bible, these are people that I've heard were martyrs.
00:09:57.880 Yeah.
00:09:58.040 These are people that dealt in, like, all kind of twisted sexual activity.
00:10:02.480 You know what I'm saying?
00:10:03.360 So, anytime you're dealing with gentlemen that dealt in that type of lifestyle, you have to question when they publish the scriptures.
00:10:13.140 Exactly.
00:10:13.580 It's very important.
00:10:14.260 You know, if you look at, like, for example, the prophet, he spoke on his life, you know, even his own enemies would testify.
00:10:19.840 They hated his guts.
00:10:20.520 And the reason they hated him so much is because he just came with a message of worship God alone.
00:10:26.320 Because if you look at all the prophets that came, we believe thousands of prophets came, yeah?
00:10:29.540 Every one of them proclaimed something with no shadow of a doubt.
00:10:33.400 Worship God alone.
00:10:35.260 There is, God has no partners.
00:10:36.800 So, when Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, came, he came with the same message. 0.73
00:10:39.520 They didn't like that because they were worshipping 365 gods, yeah?
00:10:42.780 And they were using it as a business.
00:10:44.380 So, they offered the prophet, peace be upon him, and said, look, we'll give you, you want woman? 0.97
00:10:47.120 You will give you woman. 0.96
00:10:47.740 You want status?
00:10:48.400 We'll give you status.
00:10:48.900 You want money?
00:10:49.300 We'll give you money.
00:10:49.780 Just, shh, be quiet.
00:10:51.860 And he said, if you give the sun in my left and the moon in my right, I will not stop preaching what I'm preaching, yeah?
00:10:56.960 Because it wasn't about money.
00:10:58.140 It wasn't about woman or this, that, you know what I'm trying to say.
00:11:00.580 He believed in his message.
00:11:02.180 He was known to be a sadaq, so truthful that he would go to his people. 0.95
00:11:06.580 He would go to his tribe, yeah? 0.89
00:11:08.080 Is it my turn or your turn?
00:11:10.200 Well, it's my turn.
00:11:10.920 You played the night out.
00:11:11.520 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:12.120 So, he went to his, he went to his, I'm going to take you out first before I tell you this.
00:11:17.580 Okay.
00:11:17.840 Yeah.
00:11:18.240 So, he went to his tribe and he said, if I told you guys, right behind this mountain, there's an army coming to kill us all.
00:11:27.660 Would you believe me?
00:11:28.680 They said, of course we believe you.
00:11:29.600 We know you to be the truthful one.
00:11:31.100 We've never, we've never seen you lie.
00:11:32.820 Right.
00:11:32.920 You're somebody trustworthy.
00:11:34.240 He goes, I'm telling you, I am the messenger of God.
00:11:37.540 Do not worship anyone besides him, but you call me a liar.
00:11:40.220 If I told you there's an army coming behind this mountain, you'd say, yes, of course.
00:11:44.020 How could we doubt you?
00:11:44.760 You're a true.
00:11:45.780 But when I come and tell you, I'm the messenger of God, you deny me.
00:11:48.880 So, that was one of the main fundamental things the Prophet, peace upon him, came with, yeah?
00:11:52.480 Worship none other than God alone.
00:11:53.920 And when I spoke to you, you said you came to Islam or you believe in Allah?
00:11:58.140 I believe in Allah, yes.
00:11:59.040 So, would you define yourself as a Muslim?
00:12:01.780 Or would you say that you're not a Muslim, but you, like, tell me why, like, why Allah?
00:12:09.260 Like, why, yeah?
00:12:11.760 Well, because the, you know, from the information that I've, the minimal information that I've read from the Quran,
00:12:18.560 as opposed to the King James Version, it just seems, it makes me feel comfortable and it seems more accurate, more logical.
00:12:29.040 It doesn't seem like it's coming from a bad place.
00:12:32.000 Certain, certain, certain, certain, certain paragraphs from the King James Version kind of make me question a lot.
00:12:40.700 And it makes me feel uncomfortable.
00:12:42.360 I ain't gambling today.
00:12:43.620 Huh?
00:12:43.880 That may, that may be the same for the Quran, but it's just that I haven't, I haven't, I haven't dozed into the Quran that deep yet
00:12:53.640 to really, to really make that assessment to say it's, it's just as uncomfortable as the King James Version.
00:13:00.720 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:01.100 You understand?
00:13:01.640 So, but, but, but, but the people that I see, all right, put it like this.
00:13:06.720 When you, when you, when you have a mass amount of people, that's, that's one religion.
00:13:10.960 Like, take, take a mass amount of Christians and take a mass amount of Muslims. 0.97
00:13:15.740 We're just going to deal with, with two, two, two religions. 1.00
00:13:18.120 You know, so many different denominations, right?
00:13:19.680 Like, it's the, the energy that I get from, from each side.
00:13:25.340 Okay.
00:13:25.800 Okay.
00:13:26.200 For example, when I was growing up, Christians used to always try to, uh, um, persuade you 1.00
00:13:35.320 into become a Christian.
00:13:37.620 Yeah.
00:13:38.100 It's just like, no matter what they did, it, it, it, it was almost like a Jehovah's Witness. 0.94
00:13:42.120 Jehovah's Witness knock on your door and they kind of like, they're a little bit too aggressive. 0.96
00:13:46.240 And it's the same thing with Christianity.
00:13:48.040 Not as aggressive as Jehovah's Witness, but it's that aggressive nature that I don't 1.00
00:13:53.160 like.
00:13:53.780 Okay.
00:13:54.180 You know what I mean?
00:13:54.780 If I was going to convert, I will convert to a religion that's, that's, uh, uh, welcoming.
00:13:59.860 It's a little bit more welcoming.
00:14:00.340 Okay.
00:14:00.580 I see, I see where you're coming from.
00:14:01.500 I see where you're coming from.
00:14:02.200 Because, yeah, so, okay.
00:14:03.700 That's interesting.
00:14:04.240 So, what was, how was your take on the matter of Trinity?
00:14:06.560 Did the Trinity ever come, like, where we thought, you know what, this doesn't really
00:14:08.960 make sense to you.
00:14:09.980 Like, have you heard of the Trinity?
00:14:10.860 No, I'm good.
00:14:11.580 Like, you mean like the Son, Father, and the Holy Spirit?
00:14:13.420 Yeah.
00:14:13.580 Like, has that, because, because the thing is, like, what made you say, you know what,
00:14:16.980 like, no, I believe in the one true God.
00:14:19.340 What was it that said the Trinity was like, do you understand the concept of the Trinity,
00:14:22.940 by the way?
00:14:23.260 Yeah, yeah.
00:14:23.720 I don't really understand, I never really understood the concept of the Trinity.
00:14:26.900 The, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, you know, when you think of, when you think of the, the
00:14:32.200 Ankh, the symbol of Ankh, it's man, woman, man, woman, and offspring.
00:14:35.680 That makes sense.
00:14:36.640 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:14:37.340 Uh, but then when you think of the Trinity, when I think of the Holy Spirit, like, if,
00:14:41.660 what exactly is the Holy Spirit?
00:14:43.400 Like, I don't, I never really understood that.
00:14:45.320 If that could be fully explained to me, then maybe I could have a little bit more endearing
00:14:49.580 feel for it.
00:14:50.280 Yeah, so the, the thing is with the Trinity, they say, it's the Father, the Father's God.
00:14:55.500 Right.
00:14:56.120 Then the Father sent His Son, then His Son became the Father.
00:15:02.280 So the Father is God, God sent His Son, then His Son became God, and the Son, God, died on
00:15:11.440 the cross for the sins of the world, but at the same time, there's the Holy Spirit, which
00:15:16.500 is also God, but they're not free gods, but they're one God.
00:15:21.140 Does that make sense to you?
00:15:22.380 Honestly.
00:15:22.980 It doesn't exactly make sense to me.
00:15:24.100 Okay.
00:15:24.580 So now, this is one of the big problems with our Christian friends. 0.99
00:15:28.200 Um, what we say is, this idea, where did this notion come from?
00:15:31.600 Because when we look at Abraham, Abraham was in a Jew, he was in a Christian, or was he
00:15:35.340 a Muslim?
00:15:35.620 In the concept of the title that's given, because Muslim means the one who submits his 0.97
00:15:41.220 will to God.
00:15:41.960 Right.
00:15:42.660 So Abraham didn't have these religions, but if you look into all these prophets, all of
00:15:47.320 them never came with this.
00:15:48.740 All of them came and said, like, if you came to me and said to me, what is Islam?
00:15:52.180 I'd say, we believe in one God.
00:15:55.260 There is nothing like Him.
00:15:56.980 He does not beget, nor is He begotten.
00:15:59.220 Yeah?
00:15:59.480 He does not have a son.
00:16:00.400 He does not have a child.
00:16:01.440 He's free from any need.
00:16:03.340 Right.
00:16:04.000 Yeah?
00:16:04.680 Does that make sense to you?
00:16:05.800 Yes.
00:16:06.200 Okay.
00:16:06.660 So, this is where we come to our Christian friends and say, look, what you're claiming
00:16:10.220 doesn't make sense.
00:16:10.900 You're claiming God came to earth.
00:16:13.720 I can't...
00:16:14.760 We worship God because He's worthy of worship.
00:16:17.900 Yeah?
00:16:18.200 Because He's the most powerful.
00:16:19.260 He's created all of this.
00:16:20.360 Right.
00:16:20.880 He deserves to be worshipped.
00:16:22.600 Is somebody who came to earth, ate food, and had to go to a toilet deserving of my worship?
00:16:27.860 We say no.
00:16:28.680 So that's what Islam is in a nutshell. 0.99
00:16:30.860 So that's the reason why you say you believe in Allah.
00:16:33.620 Right.
00:16:33.860 That makes sense to you.
00:16:34.920 Yeah.
00:16:35.540 In their...
00:16:36.280 Like, mysticism in their cult, they consider God the all.
00:16:40.500 So that's pretty similar to Islam.
00:16:44.040 Yeah.
00:16:44.140 Yeah.
00:16:44.180 It's like everything that's created, it comes from Allah.
00:16:47.340 Exactly.
00:16:47.760 Exactly.
00:16:48.180 Yes, exactly.
00:16:48.960 I never understood.
00:16:50.720 And another reason why I'm not...
00:16:52.420 I don't consider myself a Christian now is one thing that was important is that why 0.99
00:16:57.380 is it that they say that Jesus is the Son of God?
00:17:02.420 He should be the Son of Man.
00:17:04.060 Yeah.
00:17:04.340 I think that Jesus should be the Son of Man.
00:17:06.420 You can't defy the laws of gravity.
00:17:08.980 You know what I mean?
00:17:09.480 Yeah, exactly.
00:17:10.640 The walking on the water and the healing the sick and all of that.
00:17:12.640 I'm not saying it can't be done.
00:17:13.720 It's just like a...
00:17:14.380 Like it's...
00:17:14.920 Yeah.
00:17:15.240 Like the thing is, we believe in miracles in Islam as well.
00:17:17.160 You know?
00:17:17.300 We believe in miracles as well.
00:17:18.720 But yeah, like you said before, being the Son of God, God doesn't need a son.
00:17:21.960 Do you get what I'm trying to say?
00:17:22.700 God can do whatever befits His majesty.
00:17:25.500 Do you get what I'm trying to say?
00:17:26.200 But He's not going to come to earth.
00:17:29.000 This doesn't negate, oh, if He saw God, why can't He come to earth?
00:17:31.760 Because it takes away from His majesty.
00:17:33.340 Like how is He the all-powerful, the all-knowing?
00:17:35.260 Like if Jesus is the all-powerful and the all-knowing, He was crucified on the cross.
00:17:39.500 So God was crucified by His own creation.
00:17:41.800 His own creation got God.
00:17:43.980 Imagine us. 0.91
00:17:44.780 We come to God and say, yeah, we're going to crucify you.
00:17:47.200 What kind of a God is that?
00:17:48.540 Yeah, yeah.
00:17:48.840 That can't even help Himself.
00:17:49.840 That He's crucified by His own creation and then He's crying.
00:17:52.320 Do you get what I'm trying to say?
00:17:52.960 Right.
00:17:53.180 So let me ask you.
00:17:53.640 So the Jesus that's in, I thought it was the same Jesus.
00:17:57.160 No.
00:17:57.320 Two different Jesuses? 0.96
00:17:58.360 There's two different Jesuses.
00:17:59.560 The Jesus in the Quran and the Jesus in the King James Version are two completely different beings.
00:18:03.900 I would not say two completely different because even if you look into the Old Testament, for example, in the Bible,
00:18:08.880 when Jesus came, we believe there's some truth.
00:18:11.320 Because we believe Allah, God Almighty, sent down Jesus and Moses and Abraham and sent the Scriptures.
00:18:17.840 But the Scriptures were corrupted in time.
00:18:20.100 The Quran, there was the Old Testament. 0.96
00:18:21.820 Right.
00:18:22.020 There was the New Testament.
00:18:24.400 Right.
00:18:24.880 We say the Quran is the Final Testament. 0.99
00:18:26.840 Okay.
00:18:27.140 Do you get it?
00:18:27.560 Right.
00:18:27.780 So the Quran has come to clarify the wrongs in the Bible.
00:18:32.660 Yeah?
00:18:33.060 Because God Almighty sent it.
00:18:34.340 God Almighty sent the Scriptures to Moses and Jesus.
00:18:37.500 Right.
00:18:38.220 But He did not preserve it.
00:18:39.480 He was not intent to preserve it.
00:18:40.720 It was for those people at that time.
00:18:42.280 So when the message was reached, it went through corruption.
00:18:44.500 That's why Allah says in the Quran,
00:18:45.680 Woe to those who write the Scriptures with their own hands and say this is from Allah.
00:18:50.640 So what they're saying is, you're doing that for a bit of money, yeah?
00:18:54.000 You're changing the words of God.
00:18:55.660 With the Quran, the Quran is on a whole different level because it challenges people that doubt it.
00:19:01.000 It says, if you think this book is other than your Lord, then bring a chapter like it.
00:19:05.880 Bring something similar to it.
00:19:07.140 So the smallest chapter in the Quran is three sentences.
00:19:10.380 Three sentences.
00:19:11.740 And God is giving a challenge and saying, look, if you can, if you doubt this book, okay, make something like it.
00:19:17.500 Three sentences.
00:19:18.520 Or find contradictions or errors in it.
00:19:20.280 Do you get what I'm trying to say?
00:19:21.020 Yeah.
00:19:21.240 So that's the reason why.
00:19:22.880 Because I'm a reaver to Islam. 0.96
00:19:23.960 I came to Islam in 2012.
00:19:25.420 Look out for my man.
00:19:26.680 2012, 23rd of December.
00:19:28.180 That's when I came to Islam.
00:19:29.680 And when I looked at being to Christianity, this was one of my issues.
00:19:33.560 It didn't make sense.
00:19:34.220 And when I looked at Jesus, Jesus said to the Jews, hear O Israel.
00:19:37.340 Our Lord God is one.
00:19:39.320 He didn't say, hear O Israel.
00:19:40.820 Our Lord God is three in one.
00:19:42.820 The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:19:44.000 Right, right, right.
00:19:44.400 Nothing.
00:19:44.660 He said, hear O Israel.
00:19:45.360 Our Lord God is one.
00:19:46.700 When somebody came and approached him and said, oh good master, what must I do to get eternal life?
00:19:51.260 He said, why are you calling me good?
00:19:52.660 There's only one good and that's God alone.
00:19:54.420 So when we look into the Bible, the question that you're asking about Jesus is the same as what's in the Quran.
00:19:58.440 There's similarities because Jesus did teach the oneness of God.
00:20:01.860 But it got corrupted by Paul.
00:20:03.860 By Paul?
00:20:04.580 By Paul, yes.
00:20:05.320 Paul.
00:20:06.060 Yeah, Paul.
00:20:06.660 The Apostle Paul.
00:20:07.760 Yes, he's the one who came and brought this whole thing of I had a vision of Jesus and he died for our sins.
00:20:12.860 All of this, that's why the Quran came to correct that mistake.
00:20:17.520 Do you know what I'm trying to say?
00:20:18.560 And yeah, that's why it sounds like, you know, the thing is you believe in the oneness of God.
00:20:22.580 And we believe that's innate.
00:20:24.060 That's programmed within ourselves.
00:20:25.860 Do you get it?
00:20:26.320 We call that the fitrah. 0.99
00:20:27.880 The fitrah?
00:20:28.360 The fitrah.
00:20:28.860 The innate disposition.
00:20:29.900 Do you know what I'm trying to say?
00:20:30.640 Yes.
00:20:30.840 By logically, you know, you're like, come on, like, God can't be free in one.
00:20:34.660 Because Allah says in the Quran, if there was more than one God, they would fight each other for power.
00:20:39.040 Do you get what I'm trying to say?
00:20:39.700 Right.
00:20:39.860 So logically, where you're coming from, it's like, look, there's one king.
00:20:43.760 Right.
00:20:44.080 There's one king.
00:20:44.600 There's not, you know, there's three of these, but there's not three, there's one.
00:20:48.440 Do you get it?
00:20:48.720 Right, right, right.
00:20:49.240 There's one king.
00:20:50.260 Right.
00:20:50.480 He's the king of the heavens and the earth.
00:20:52.020 And what we do in Islam, Islam, is we call people to worship him and him alone.
00:20:57.140 Do you get it?
00:20:57.760 Because your mom and dad brought you to this age.
00:20:59.860 The least that you can do is appreciate and value them.
00:21:02.520 Be respectful towards them.
00:21:03.580 Yes.
00:21:03.860 What about the one who gave you your mother and father?
00:21:06.240 Do you know what I'm trying to say?
00:21:07.020 All God Almighty wants from you and me is to acknowledge, be grateful.
00:21:13.340 Yeah.
00:21:13.540 Because we pray five times a day, you know, and, you know, we fasting Ramadan, et cetera.
00:21:18.460 Do you know what I'm trying to say?
00:21:19.160 Yeah.
00:21:19.420 So you do not class yourself as a Muslim, but you believe in Allah as your.
00:21:22.880 Yes.
00:21:23.620 Yeah.
00:21:23.860 That was quite, I found that very interesting.
00:21:25.020 Yeah.
00:21:25.180 You know, the funny thing is about linguistics is that like, well, like, okay.
00:21:28.480 So like when I did my first semester at Burma and community college, right?
00:21:32.540 Yeah.
00:21:32.660 Like even, even as a teenager, certain sounds and certain words that roll off your tongue
00:21:38.220 is interested in me and it computes and it makes me gravitate towards that.
00:21:42.800 Like, like, for example, like when you say the word, uh, uh, alhamdulillah, right?
00:21:49.980 Alhamdulillah.
00:21:50.680 Like I, I just, I'm interested in the way it rolls off my tongue when I say it.
00:21:54.360 Like when I say it slow or fast, even if I'm not pronouncing it right, but just the
00:21:57.620 fact that it's, it's rolling with my tongue in a way that sends a certain vibration that's
00:22:00.860 interesting.
00:22:01.260 You know what I'm saying?
00:22:02.340 Like, uh, the English language, you know, I think, you know, uh, Ebonics, which is,
00:22:06.960 which is like, like a ghetto made up, uh, uh, slang.
00:22:09.540 It's good.
00:22:10.380 I, I love it and I embrace it because it's like, it's certain words that you can create
00:22:14.300 and make up and get that same vibration.
00:22:16.040 Yeah.
00:22:16.260 So, uh, that's one of the kind of like strange reasons why I, I gravitated, uh, uh, towards,
00:22:23.280 uh, uh, the Islamic religion because it makes sense.
00:22:26.440 It's logical and it, and it's just that, you know, I have so much on my plate.
00:22:29.800 They just kind of just, I feel like maybe I should, you know, uh, dig more deep into
00:22:35.300 the, to the scripture.
00:22:35.880 Yeah, I would, I would say definitely, man.
00:22:37.080 You know, have you listened to the Quran before?
00:22:38.960 When you say listen to it, you mean like, you mean audio?
00:22:41.320 Yeah.
00:22:41.500 No, no, do me a favor, yeah?
00:22:45.360 There's a lot recited, yeah?