I love is Islam but IM tired of Muslims

Añadido: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]green just now.

[00:00:01]>> Now we got you now, brother. We got you.

[00:00:03]Salamkum and welcome to a very quick interview tonight with our good brother Dr. Ysef who is joining us and we're going to bring him live so he can be part of the conversation. And there he is. There he is. There he is. We're so happy and very delighted that you can join us tonight. And we're talking about what many are saying this book being a book of controversy. You're going to be here next Friday and next Saturday up at Mash to the Law. We're going to have a program with you on Friday night. We're going to be uh talking and discussing.

[00:00:41]We're actually going to do a live interview. We're going to actually do a live interview like I tend to do these interviews. And we're going to do it live in front of an audience at uh Master Law next Friday. and we're going to do a Q&A afterwards and we're going to also have a book signing. We don't have a lot of time tonight. So, what I want to do, I want to welcome our brother uh to the show. He's a very good friend of mine. He's part of my extended family. And I found out about this book that he wrote about a month ago. uh his wife, Sister Renee, uh I think she posted something about it or was sent to another friend and I made contact with that friend and I said, "Hey, I definitely want to get that book." And we just started dialoguing and we had a conversation and he's joining us tonight and we want to talk, man. We want to talk about this book, man. You can go into the dialogue, the research. Let's save that for uh next Friday night.

[00:01:41]People are saying they're reading the title. They're reading the title that reads, "I love Islam, but I'm tired of Muslims."

[00:01:52]Dr. Ysefamkum and welcome to the show this evening.

[00:02:01]And so I just want to tweak what you said a little bit. Um there is no controversy about the book. There is some um discontent about part of the title. The people who are raising discontent about part of the title have not read the book. So uh the book is not an issue. What is an issue is that people are reading partly and not fully.

[00:02:32]The title of the book begins with I love Islam but I'm tired of Muslims. But the title goes on to say how spiritual abuse and racial trauma intersect to cause psychological distress among African-American Muslims. And therein lies the rut. People are reading the first part. They're reading the title but leaving out the subtitle. And uh the fundamental of reading is that you read the whole sentence before you have any comprehension of what the sentence says.

[00:03:06]Okay? You can't read part of it and expect to have an understanding and then go off into a whole critique of of of part of the title without the whole title. So I think that is the fundamental problem. I am happy to discuss the book. Um the book is obviously more than just part of the title. Um when you read the entire title, you begin to get the sense that this book is about um spiritual abuse and how spiritual abuse connects or intersect with racialized trauma and how together this compound trauma causes psychological distress among African-American Muslims. And so the core of the book is to discuss the psychological distress that is being experienced by a large cross-section of the African-American Muslim population based on spiritual abuse and racialized trauma.

[00:04:16]>> What made you want to come up with that subtitle? And I and and as and I thank you for correcting me. I also think it's the subtitle uh I mean the the general title of the book that have people you know question you know your scholarship your your research or just your uh uh your writing in general. I wrote I read something that someone posted on on a totally separate post and they said that you were trying to break up the relationships and the and the Muslims within the community with a title such as that.

[00:04:56]Well, listen, I I'm I'm not I'm not going to dignify these uh Facebook pulse by suggesting that anyone uh is able to uh question my scholarship um or question uh the contents of a book that they have not read. U my scholarship uh is uh very well settled. Um my dissertation um has been published in the international journal of research. It has been published in the international journal of uh research in social sciences. It has been published in black theology from uh Rutledge. Uh so my my my my [clears throat] scholarship is is is stands on its own.

[00:05:51]I come to this conversation with a bachelor's degree in theology and biblical languages and history, a master's degree in um psychology, trauma, uh a JD degree in law, and a PhD degree in trauma psychology. So my ability to write a dissertation and to engage in scholarly research um is is very well settled and is without question. Unfortunately um when people have these knee-jerk reactions and they go off on these you know tangents uh we are unable to engage in civil discourse. And [clears throat] so hopefully the people who attend on May 8th and 9th and on May 8th we start at 6:30 at Master Law and um that's that Friday evening we expect to start promptly uh based on Imam Idris's um you know his masid and what they are doing there. Um so we're looking forward to a prompt discussion and we're looking forward to um going into the details of the research. Uh who is it uh were participated in the research? How many people how deep was it? The research methodology um the theoretical framework and all of that good stuff. uh with regards to the research you had asked a question um that I didn't address directly and let me try to do that now and that is what about the initial the first part of the title I love Islam but I am tired of Muslims after interviewing almost 300 individuals uh African-American Muslims throughout the country between New York and Los [clears throat] Angeles um from New York, um Jersey, the Pennsylvania area, Baltimore, Atlanta, all the way down, um to LA, um in [clears throat] the Midwest as well, you know, Detroit um and those places.

[00:08:20]A lot of the sentiment that came from those interviews and conversations were that um hey listen we love the religion the religion is perfect uh however some of the attitudes of the Muslims are less than perfect and of course if you are a Muslim I've been Muslim now uh almost 35 years And if you are an African-American Muslim and if you are a Muslim within the inner cities, you've got to be blind to not see what's going on in our communities.

[00:09:04]They they there there have been shootouts at Eids. There have been fights uh in the ranks. There there's there's a lot of craziness uh going on uh in our communities and to look the other way or to whitewash it and not to have uh at least sincere curiosity to find out, hey, what's going on with the UMAH? What's going on with um my brothers and sisters? what's happening uh out here um is being disingenuous.

[00:09:46]>> I mean I when when I read the title of your book um I can't lie. I mean I I uh I I've heard many people say the same thing. you know, hey, we love being Muslim, but you know, we don't we love Islam, but it's another word that we put in there, [laughter] and I won't say that word over the air, but I love Islam, but we often say, I hate blank blank, you know, like we put another word in there, uh, a n-word. And I I feel the sentiments of what you're saying about what we see that takes place within the African-American community going to Eids and having you know people who claim the religion of Islam and having shootouts and you know myself working here in law enforcement here in the city of Philadelphia over the airwaves law enforcement we they have a certain way how they describe the Muslim community. And it a and it's just not the Muslim community.

[00:11:00]It's black men in general. They'll say a long Sunni beard with cut off pants. I work in law enforcement and I'm telling you, this is how they describe many of the African-Americans when they when a crime happens. This is how they describe African-American men, Muslim men, and non-Muslim men by that type of terminology.

[00:11:30]Well, look, let's let's let's not over rotate on a title. This this this this book is this book comprises of 262 plus pages across 15 chapters. Okay. Uh this is this is not a novel. Okay. And and and it certainly isn't um a comic book. Okay. This is this is a research work that has taken me over the course of two years is actually my PhD dissitation that I have converted into a book. Uh so um we can spend a lot of time talking about part of the title and what about the title and different renditions of the title but that is a nonsensical con you know conversation that is majoring in minors. Um the book is the substantive work here. Let's talk about how spiritual abuse and racialized trauma, how they intersect to affect the mental health of our brothers and sisters, the AfricanAmerican Muslim community. This is what the book is about. It's about uh psychological distress. It's about um coming to um the religion of Islam as an AfricanAmerican with um racialized trauma that's already baked in to our psyche and layering on top of that spiritual abuse that comes in many forms. The book talks about the different mechanisms of spiritual abuse and let's talk about how do we navigate the healing process of that spiritual abuse and also let's talk about how does that show up? How does that show up in the family unit, right? How does that show up in the home? How does that show up? how these Muslim men are dealing with these sisters in the home. How does that show up with these young people that have what is called identity dysphoria or fragmentated identities? They they really are confused about who they are and they are confused about their own ethnicity, their own identity.

[00:14:18]>> Uh let's talk about the substance. Let's not major in minors and get caught up in, well, the book should have been a green color with a red binding and all that nonsense. I mean, I'm not here for the nonsense. I'm here to discuss the ills of the community, what is plaguing our community, and how do we engage in solutions um and on several levels on a personal level, on a spiritual level. This book also has instructions and guidance for psychologists, clinicians, uh therapists and the book also has guidance for our imams and our religious leaders. So there are implications in the book that not only deal with the survivors of spiritual abuse and racialized trauma, but also speaks to the home, the family system. uh that speaks to our therapist um being traumainformed and being [clears throat] um equipped with the Islamic um guidance that they need and also our imams who are leading our communities, how they are better able to deal with uh these um 22year-old uh kids that are out here on their third and fourth marriages. ES and these um um brothers who are serial um um um marriers, you know, that that that has six, eight, 10 marriages in their history and leaving these homes that are devastated with children and babies that these girls have to raise. And these sisters are doing the best they can. or these sisters coming to these marriages with all this baggage and all these problems and these homes that are being devastated uh while while while the masid um um is is caught out there flatfooted without having the solutions that they need in order to navigate the disasters that are taking place in our communities. So for those that are saying, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with our communities, then alhamdulillah, uh, stay home. You don't have to come."

[00:17:04]But for those that have eyes and ears and honest perceptions and are concerned about what's going on uh with our community, then uh you are invited. when I have interviewed all of these people and talked to all of these sisters and all of these brothers. And by the way, the there are there were over 300 people that participated, Muslims, African-American Muslims that participated in this research. 51% of them were men. So, this is not about uh male bashing or female bashing. I mean the [clears throat] majority of men uh participated in in in in this research but the results and the analysis of the research is what we need to talk about and how do we first of all we need to hear what the results were.

[00:18:05]>> We need to understand what the results are. We need to analyze these results and and then we need to take the results and see what the prescriptions are for healing and for repair uh with our brothers and sisters. Now what has been the response uh to the different cities and different mosques that you've been been to um as far as the book is concerned and and as well as the talks that you've been given.

[00:18:41]>> The response has been amazing. Um um we have spoken at several conventions. We we we were just at the AfricanAmerican Islamic Summit in Atlantic City where you had about 15 imams uh that were there. Uh a lot of imams from the Philadelphia area uh were there. Several of them were there. Um, imams from New Jersey, imams from West Virginia, imams from Baltimore, imams from Houston, imams from Los Angeles, imams from uh Detroit, uh from all over the United States, uh a packed house every day, the whole weekend. um they they they were they were very receptive with our seminars and our discussions uh when we were there as we went through our research. Uh several of the imams uh particularly the imams from Philadelphia invited me to Philadelphia. That's that's how the invitation came along. I just didn't, you know, kick down the doors of Philly and inserted myself into the conversation. I was invited by at least four or five imams uh to come there uh and to have this discussion. We have been to New Jersey. We have been to um to Baltimore um um Masid Alhawk. We have been to um Islamic conventions at Baltimore. We have been to Atlanta. Um I am in Atlanta now in fact. And so the response have been amazing. It is that response that has catapulted this book to be the number one release in Islamic social sciences on Amazon and the number 10 of their best sellers list uh in Islamic social studies on Amazon. And so we're very happy that the word is getting out.

[00:21:02]Um the reaction from some in the Philadelphia area has been um very interesting. Uh but um the the response everywhere else has been just overwhelming and very very positive.

[00:21:20]>> Yeah, that's very beautiful. We want to remind everyone that in fact you will be here um you're going to be here at Master the Law here in Philadelphia. Uh we're going to start the live interview with a live audience at the masid uh next Friday 8:00 PM. We're going to the doors open up at 6 pm. The program starts at 6:30 6:30 sharp. And one thing I know about our brother, he likes to be on time. So, we're definitely going to start the interview on time and we're going to open the floor to some respectable respectable um questions, some respectable questions, you know, cuz you're going to come there and you're going to have respect for uh our guest that is coming to town. and you know he's taken a lot of time to do research and to put this book together and I I like what you said that this book is about a healing for our people you know as African-Americans uh just thinking about it in general a lot of the baggage that you know we've come into Islam with broken homes uh molestation You know, both men and women that have been molested and they come into the religion with all of that without getting the proper counseling, the proper help, and then the proper help. Then you bring that into that brand new marriage and then you wonder why you and that marriage is not successful. Um, >> and the everyday the daytoday racialized trauma, the daytoday minority stress that comes that are systematic that are structurally based um, based on just the fact that we are black people in America and what comes with that, right? based on our lineage, our heritage, our um genetic makeup, our neurological makeup.

[00:23:42]All of these things, these environmental factors go into making up who we are as people, but in particular as black people. And so we bring all of that um to bear to the conversation. And then when we come [clears throat] into the dean >> um we have people telling us our pants is too short, our hijab is not uh fitting right. Um our our clothes is too tight or we can't wear this color. We should only wear black. um you know, husbands telling wives, you know, you can't go out after McGrid, you can't do this or you can't do that. Uh the kids uh seeing this dysphoria. Um they they they they are they are very confused. Um then we have the masid not being a safe space for us to come to. uh you know, brothers coming to the masid with guns, uh sister wives in the ranks doing the Eid, fighting each other, uh shootouts at the Eid, uh uh among Muslims. Um you know, you you you have a lot of stuff going on, right? Um you have you have uh you know the masjid Imam um is is there telling you know the battered sister uh who just got punched in the eye by her husband just be patient just you know this is a test from a law you know don't go to the law authorities and and so you have a lot going on and there's a lot to to unpack And so when you when you talk to uh uh three 400 Muslims uh across the country that are African-Americans and these stories begin to repeat repeat in psychology there's a word for that is called saturation. When you begin to have saturation of this information and now you begin to triangulate the information and analyze the information and statistically you put it in a model and you get the output, you begin to see that there is a problem. And so what you have to do as a researcher and as an academic scholar is begin to formulate um methodologies and frameworks in order to address the problem and arrest the problem and and and that is what we have done. we have been able to compile all of this uh into a book and uh we're looking forward to the conversation. Um and for those who are getting distracted by the beginning of the title, I say to you stay focused. Uh and um read the book. Um in fact, do us all a favor. just read the whole title so that you don't uh walk away just halfcocked and uh getting engaged in frivolous conversations that has no bearing on anything.

[00:27:24]>> Wow. This is uh a very exciting interview that I'm looking forward to next weekend with you up at Master the Law. Uh we want to thank Imami Dre Laware uh for helping and putting this together. Uh it was an idea that him and I both came up with and we went to our brother and we were able to make it work out. I want to talk about now on Saturday. Saturday, you're going to be at Master the Law and you're doing a Will you be doing a a presentation on the whole book itself?

[00:28:05]>> Uh yes, I'll be I'll be previewing um the entire book. Um but you know, it's very difficult to preview an entire book that took um over two years of research. uh in just a couple of hours. If you would give me a minute, please let me uh power up my phone. I see I'm getting um >> getting those warnings.

[00:28:35]>> Yeah, [clears throat] I'm getting that is dying. So, let me >> plug it in.

[00:28:44]>> So, if if everyone is uh just joining us, we we're we're having a conversation with our brother and we're talking about his book that he has out that he's written, I love Islam, but I'm tired of Muslims. Uh, that title alone has really been something.

[00:29:07]>> Read the rest of it, beloved. You are you are reinforcing.

[00:29:11]>> No, no, no, no, not reinforcing it. You know, I'm just >> No, read the whole title, though. Read the whole title.

[00:29:18]>> I will. I will. trying to find my glasses while I'm speaking at the same time. And we're going to be talking next next Friday night. Next Friday night, we're going to be having a conversation and it seems to be that we're really going to possibly go over the allotted time for the interview and we're going to be discussing probably a little bit after Mug Ribb on Friday night. And the Saturday talk itself is going to be a more general conversation uh about the book. Um >> well, Saturday is going to be a workshop. It's going to be >> okay.

[00:29:58]>> Uh a workshop and a seminar. So Saturday we are going to have some handouts. We are going to um have mainly audience participation. We are going to divide up into groups. We are going to have uh pens and papers and notebooks and be able to do some actual work where we look at certain scenarios.

[00:30:30]And we are going to um utilize the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam his framework which is the framework that I developed uh in order for holistic healing and um and repair.

[00:30:48]So um Saturday that that work is going to involve um those that are there um it's going to involve handouts. is going to involve uh uh PowerPoint uh presentation. It's going to involve healing mechanisms. We are going to go through that. That time is going to be I think either three or four hours. I believe it starts at 10. I think it's from 10 to two >> on Saturday.

[00:31:22]>> I believe it is.

[00:31:23]>> Yeah. Yeah. But Saturday is going to be some real um workshop things with PowerPoint presentations and actual uh downto-earth uh work in terms of how do we address this issue. Okay, this is not this is not um me standing up on the menimar and preaching down at people. Uh this is us um doing some empirical work so that we can get down to the business of figuring out what is the problem and how do we bring healing to the um >> before I let you go I wanted to know have you like had conversations with other than African-Americans about about this book?

[00:32:19]>> No. My my focus my research is on African-American Muslim population. In doing my research, I recognize that there is no literature. And when I say no literature, listen to me very carefully, except for this book and my research and the publications that I have cited earlier in this conversation.

[00:32:52]There is no scholarly information that deals with spiritual abuse and the AfricanAmerican Muslim and the intersection of spiritual abuse and racialized trauma within the African-American Muslim community and how it impacts the mental health of African-Americans. M >> so this this this research is the only research that is out here in the public square that deals with this subject matter. So let me translate that for you in just plain old English. I'm the expert on this and there is none other.

[00:33:42]Um and so we are going to go through these details and we are going to go through the finding, the results, the significance and the healing inshallah when I get to Philadelphia.

[00:34:00]>> Chapter five stands out for me. Racial trauma and the black Muslim experience.

[00:34:07]I just opened the book up and that chapter just popped out right here.

[00:34:10]Chapter 5, racial trauma and the black Muslim experience.

[00:34:16]>> And that goes back that goes back to the 60s, the 70s. I mean that there there there is a trail of bodies just in that one sentence structure, racial trauma among Africanamean Muslims. I mean it it it it it it goes back right. Um you know Islamophobia uh has been a thing especially since 911 way before but especially since right a and and so you have you have the results of that that we're dealing with. And what about what about not just external racialized trauma with regards to African-American Muslims, what about the intra religious trauma that comes from within the foreign Muslim community, the foreign Arab community or the Pakistani community. You and I have both had that experience where you go to these communities and you can barely get the brothers or sisters to salam you, >> right? You you you the fact that you are not Arab. Uh the fact that you you are not a foreign Muslim, your your your religion is is uh delegitimized, right?

[00:35:50]uh you are not looked upon as much of a Muslim as the foreign Muslim is because you are an AfricanAmerican Muslim. Right? So you are less than.

[00:36:03]>> Right? So you've got you've got a lot of layers of this conversations that is out there. a lot of layers of racialized trauma both external and internal to be able to unpack this conversation and what role does the foreign influence have on how we practice Islam and the direction of our masids and how we see ourselves and how our children see themselves within the society that we live in today.

[00:36:43]>> Do do you think >> all these questions that the book addresses?

[00:36:46]>> Do do you do you think that as a as as a people as African-American, do you feel like that many of us may feel like we don't have an identity uh in in in America as as African-American Muslims?

[00:37:04]>> I think that there is a dysphoria. I think that there is a fragmentation of our identity because we don't know enough. We haven't studied enough and we are just going on little kibbles and bits that we have read um of the sa of the prophet for example where the only African we we know is Bilal and Bilal was a slave and all all of this and so he is given to us as as our example and that kind of thing without the details, okay, that there were hundreds of Africans who were next to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, who were beloved of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who were sahaba and sahhabets of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. We don't know our African lineage, our heritage as Muslims in a way that gives us ownership of our religion. And so we look at Islam as an Arabized religion and that we are somehow just gracious and grateful that it has come to us. But we have put in the work. Our ancestors have put in the work. Our ancestors were there from the very beginning before even Medina was the center of Islam. Abestinia was okay which is modernday Ethiopia. Okay. The first mosque before Kuba was in Abbisinia. But our people don't know our history well enough to be able to push back on the false ideology that we are some Johnny come lately. And so this is a part of our um identity fragmentation. Some of this stuff, all of this stuff is what our masids should be teaching, right? along with the other stuff, but this stuff too, right? We don't we don't we don't need our history uh whitewashed. We don't need it um being silent, right? We need to be able to talk about the tribe of uh Banu Afida uh uh uh in a loud voice. Okay, this is an African tribe that came from the first hijra.

[00:40:01]Okay, that after a while um they decided that they wanted to make hijra from Africa to Medina to live closer to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. But but but but but early on a full 7 years before the migration to Medina the prophets of Allah wasallam sent Sahabas from Mecca sent them to Abbisinia. We all know that story but that's generally where the story ends for most of us.

[00:40:38]>> Okay. Communities were formed there.

[00:40:41]tribes accepted um Islam there. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sent his daughter Rukayad there. Okay. Um man Ibin Aan who was her husband at the time. He went there, right? One of the Khalifas, right? He was there living and and and and and so Islam was established there before it was established in Medina, [clears throat] right? But you know, you ask the a the average African-American Muslim, they have no idea. they are still, you know, running around uh trying to be an Arab, right? Not knowing that >> we have our own identity within the dean of al-Islam. So even with that identity crisis that many of us seem to have, are we functioning on like two different total playing fields when it come to understanding our role in Islam and implementing that?

[00:41:47]>> Well, I mean, identity crisis um cuts really deep psychologically.

[00:41:54]And so when you start to get into identity crisises and um identity dysphoria, there are a lot of fallout that comes as a result of that. Right? The Egyptians uh said in the temple of deli, know thyself. Okay? So if we don't know ourselves, it's very difficult to know anything else. And so one of our first responsibilities as humans is to know ourselves to obtain a knowledge of self. And as we come into Islam, one of our um obligations is also to know ourselves as Muslims. And that's one of the things that Malcolm X understood uh very very clearly. even though he had a a sure knowledge of self as an AfricanAmerican man when he went to when he went to Mecca and and he made um the trip uh to the pilgrimage um he [snorts] didn't just stop in Saudi Arabia he traveled to Africa to the Sudan to to West Africa and elsewhere where and even though um brother um Malik Shabbaz ended up embracing Sunni Islam.

[00:43:33]He did not embrace the Arab ideology. He did not embrace um that that that um philosophical approach. He stayed black. He stayed African-American.

[00:43:50]He stayed Muslim. And he began to build from there. Unfortunately, his life was cut short um for those reasons and others. Um but he wasn't able to to um to really fulfill his dreams. But um albeit with a shortened time span that was his approach. I mean and he is the kind of the primal deal example or the archetype for us in terms of how do we marry our um birthright as AfricanAmerican with our Islamic spiritual right as Muslim and he [clears throat] married those two really seamlessly.

[00:44:45]And this this to me um is the archetype in [clears throat] terms of what a good uh healthy uh Africanamean Muslim should look like, >> brother. I mean, I I I'm I'm here and I'm enjoying what you're saying, but you know, as you have said and many others have said, like there there's a disconnect. these type of things aren't widely teached within t taught within the African-American Muslim communities.

[00:45:18]It's it's like you get the the the religious side of it, but you don't get those other things to be able to to be the substance that many African-Americans in the Muslim community need to function every day >> because we've been brainwashed. I mean, we we we we have we have we have drank the Kool-Aid with crushed ice. We we we have really swallowed not just the um the creed and [clears throat] the dean, but we have we have we have swallowed the philosophy. We have followed, we have swallowed the the geopolitical stance of the Saudi Arabians. We have we have swallowed their sociological stance and we have swallowed their psychological stance. And so now you hear imams and you you you see people online uh being offended when I talk about a mosque that is predominantly black and talk about a black massaging. They don't have no problems talking about a foreign masid.

[00:46:40]But when you talk about a black masid, they have automatic self-hatred. Well, why is it a black masid, brother?

[00:46:48]There's no black masid. [clears throat] We are all Muslims. It's just a Muslim masid. When in fact, the Sah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was was is rifted with those kinds of connotations. Every time we read anything, we read about the different tribes, we know that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam came from the tribe of ures, >> right? Well, how do we know that?

[00:47:17]Because that's important to know, right?

[00:47:20]His tribe, his people, who he related to, where he came from is an important part of his story. Okay?

[00:47:32]>> When when we heard about Balo, nobody said, "Okay, Jess Belo was the muin."

[00:47:39]They they went the extra mile. They said he was a slave. They said he was black.

[00:47:45]They said he was from Africa.

[00:47:48]Right? So whenever you you you read you read Okay, let me ask you a question.

[00:47:58]Let me ask you a question.

[00:48:03]Who is the Sahaba or is there a Sahaba in that was mentioned in the Quran by name?

[00:48:14]Out of all the Sahabas, can you recall a Sahaba, whether it's, let's give the big four, Abu Baka, right?

[00:48:29]>> Right.

[00:48:31]>> Um, >> this man, >> Ali, >> right? Which one of them were mentioned in the Quran? Let me help you now. By name.

[00:48:46]By name. The only Sahabah that was mentioned by name in the Quran in the 33rd surah is Zade.

[00:48:59]Zade Iban Har.

[00:49:02]Zade was the adopted son of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.

[00:49:09]The prophet called him his beloved.

[00:49:12]A black man.

[00:49:15]A black man is the only Sahaba that has the honor of being mentioned by name in the Holy Quran.

[00:49:28]Now, how many of our young people know that?

[00:49:36]How many of them know that?

[00:49:39]When is the last time you heard any man, as long as you've been Muslim, say that to you?

[00:49:48]Shouldn't that be important?

[00:49:51]>> Yes.

[00:49:52]>> Okay.

[00:49:55]I rest my case.

[00:50:00]Well, we're definitely looking forward to you coming uh to the city next weekend.

[00:50:09]I I think that it is definitely going to be a treat to have you here. And as I said, I know you and I encourage people, you know, to also check out some of the previous interviews and talks that our brother has given. Uh Mashed Alhawk in uh Baltimore.

[00:50:31]Uh you were down there not too long ago.

[00:50:34]Uh the imam, very beautiful brother. Had the opportunity to meet him. Uh we were in uh >> Mustafa Brent.

[00:50:42]>> Yes. Yes. Imam Mustafa, a very good brother, man. And that was a treat to watch the presentations that you were doing down there at uh Mash Jed Park.

[00:50:56]Very good. Very good. Looking forward to >> I mean there there's a lot of stuff online. I mean yesterday I did a podcast uh with Imam Rashad. Um very very uh this was my second time on his show. Uh he has a YouTube uh channel, Imam Rashad. You can just you know go on YouTube and and and and Google that. Um um that was my second interview with him. I've done um several interviews with Shake uh Amin Muhammad uh from the Atlantic City uh community, Masid Muhammad.

[00:51:42]>> Masid Muhammad. Yes.

[00:51:43]>> There.

[00:51:44]>> Um um so we we we've got we've got a lot of um information online. Unfortunately, you know, if you want to hide something from a negro, put it in a book. and and and it's it's it's safe there. So, um you [clears throat] know, we just need to read and we need to expand our intellectual capacity and um reach for things that's uh um further than where our hands can reach. And so unfortunately in the age of social media, people sitting at home in their comfortable chair and they see something and they have this visceral reaction to it and the phone is there, their hands are there and they can just sit in the comfort of their home behind a screen and just text away or behind their computer and type away uh without regard for any research or to look any further.

[00:52:52]And so unfortunately uh the ignorance that is out there is pretty deafening. And so hopefully our people will take a different approach.

[00:53:03]>> Yes, sir. Well, my brother, what turned out to be a 5 to 10 minute conversation has went on for about 53 minutes and 15 seconds.

[00:53:14]I'm looking forward very much to um being with you next weekend up at Mashed Law and we encourage the people to come out, you know, um if you have a concern, if you have some suggestions, uh you went as far to even put your personal phone number on social media so those that had concerns could reach out and and have a conversation with you.

[00:53:42]>> Yeah. and and and yeah, but I'm I'm I'm I'm really to be honest with you, I'm I'm I'm really not concerned about people who just want to talk for talk sake. I mean, my my time is too valuable for that. Um [clears throat] and and and so I'm really not interested in having discussions with people who have not read the book and [clears throat] is not coming from a position of um just curious inquiry after reading something that they may see differently and want to have a question. um you know just calling me to talk uh save yourself the trouble and the embarrassment and um um just listen. But you know uh trying to just call me to have conversations when you haven't read the book or when you are illprepared to have a conversation about the subject matter. Yes. Save us both the trouble.

[00:54:52]>> And speaking of the book, you will have uh copies of the book uh this weekend here uh for sale. And if people >> Yes, the book is on Amazon. If if people want the book now, they can just go on Amazon and get it. Um it's it's it's really that simple. Uh the book is available. Uh it's on there. you can just go get it. Hundreds of people have already done that. Um, but for those that are coming uh to the program on Friday and Saturday, we will have a few books there. We wouldn't have like this whole lot of inventory. We may have um 30 or 40 books there so that we can uh sign for people uh and that kind of thing. Um but um the majority of the books you you just have to go online and get it.

[00:55:53]>> Sounds good my brother. I look forward >> to uh having you here next next Friday, next Saturday. And as I said, we have to thank Imami Dre Abdul Zah here for um helping uh and facilitating uh the venue for Friday night as well as Saturday. And maybe during the week between now and next next Friday, we can uh put together a live between uh yourself and imam Idris so we can get his perspective and get him into the conversation before next weekend.

[00:56:34]Inshallah.

[00:56:35]>> Inshallah.

[00:56:37]>> Sounds good, brother. I will see you.

[00:56:39]>> Thank you. Thank you, brother Jiad. I appreciate um [clears throat] your time being spent in this interview and um I appreciate you being willing to host the interview based on your experience um on living Islam today. Uh we expect that you will do a wonderful job and we look forward to spending some time with you next week Friday.

[00:57:05]>> Yes sir. Inshallah we look forward to uh close us out with prayer brother.

[00:57:11]Alhamdulillah.

[00:57:12][snorts] [clears throat] Alium [snorts] brother inshallah we'll see you next weekend.

[00:57:41]Byebye.