Sincerely, Yours
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. JazakumAllah khair for joining us for another episode of Sincerely Yours. This is your brother Ibrahim Hindi with my co-host Sheikh Abdullah Aduru. Sheikh Abdullah, how are you doing? Alhamdulillah, I'm good, I'm good. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu everyone. How's everyone doing? I hope all of you are well. Alhamdulillah, Sheikh, you really upgraded your background. Every week it gets a little bit better and a little bit better. Yeah, we just moved so alhamdulillah. Add a little spice to it, a little Ghanaian spice to it in the back there, alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, get ready for Ramadan too, I'm sure. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Inshallah. So everyone, like always, we want to hear from all of you. Throughout this whole live session, we want to hear from you. We want to hear your questions. Put them in the chat. Give us your salam, let us know where you're coming from. We'd love to hear from everybody. We'd love to know that, you know, we've got an audience around the world and to feel that love and connection with the entire Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. So let us know in the chat where you're coming from. I see Tahseen from Columbus, Ohio. As-salamu alaykum. Sir Fatima from North Carolina. As-salamu alaykum. I see Brother Blue Man from Toronto, Canada. MashaAllah, presenting Toronto. Let us know where you're coming at us from. We want to hear from all of you. Sheikh, how's the weather down in Texas? Oh man, it's cold. It's cold, alhamdulillah. It's a lot of tawfiq. It's cold. There's some sleep. It's windier, in kind of Chicago style. You know, alhamdulillah, we'll manage. Alhamdulillah. I'm just going to plug in my headphones. I think we're getting some feedback on my mic. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. So it seems like it's the Canadian invasion today again, man. Alhamdulillah. It's good. We need to get somebody from outside, outside of the West.
Somebody over in Sardinia or somebody over in Malaysia or... Yeah, absolutely, inshaAllah. If you have any suggestions, Sheikh, let us know. As-salamu alaykum. Coming soon. I see... As-salamu alaykum, Sister Aisha from Michigan, Sister Zainab from Morocco. MashaAllah, all over the world we have people tuning in. MashaAllah. Brother Ali is saying, you know, you're saying it's cold, but that's pretty warm for us and he's right. Ali, Ali who? The troublemaker Ali? Allah bless him, man. Ali, man. MashaAllah. All right, Sheikh, we have a great program, inshaAllah, and a great guest today. A friend of mine, actually. So, you know, I'm controlling the invites and I'm bringing in all my friends, alhamdulillah. So, Sheikh Dawood Butt, he has a Bachelor of Arts in Da'wah and Usul-e-Deen from the Islamic University of Medina, and a Master of Arts in Islamic and other civilizations from the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is currently the Director of Community Outreach and Education at the Islamic Community Center of Milton, and he is a Muslim chaplain at the Milton District Hospital and the Maplehurst Correctional Complex. With that, please welcome our guest, Sheikh Dawood Butt. As-salamu alaykum, Sheikh Dawood. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. How are you doing? Alhamdulillah, jazakAllah khair for joining us. InshaAllah, tabarakAllah. How's things, Sheikh Abdullah? MashaAllah, I remember you walking around the hallways of Da'wah. Coming to see me and a few of the other brothers, alhamdulillah. Yeah, mashaAllah, how you doing, man? Good to see you. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, I'm doing good, doing really good. Just trying to figure out all this tech stuff. I was messing around with my camera yesterday, and for some reason I can't get the actual camera to work today.
And you look so crisp there, mashaAllah, tabarakAllah. I know. This guy's making Canadians look bad. But it's my little son here. He just puts it all together, and I just sit down and do my thing and point and blame, and you know how we do as fathers. How you doing? Alhamdulillah, doing good, doing good. Busy business as usual, alhamdulillah. That's right. I laughed and chuckled when I heard you say, it's cold. It's cold in Texas, mashaAllah. Yeah, that's right. That should be the title of a book, man. It's Cold in Texas. You know, unexpected, you know. Alhamdulillah. We could send you some socks if you need a winter hat. Oh, yes. Yeah, definitely. I think I may get too hot then. So this is kind of, you know, we got to wear our options, man. Depends on where the socks are coming from, you know. It's got to be the right amount of thickness, you know, mashaAllah. You can send me those beaver tails though, those beaver tails pastries. On my cheat day, quote unquote. Alhamdulillah. How's the family been? Alhamdulillah, no complaints, man. No complaints whatsoever. You know, we're here, we're healthy. I was able to go out in the cold weather and play around with the kids a little. And you know, alhamdulillah, no complaints. Allah is kind. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. That's good. Shaykh Ibrahim, what's new, man? What's new 20 kilometers away from you? This is the only way I can get to talk to you. You're so busy. Like I got to invite you on a live program and then I can actually talk to you. Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah. I'm kidding, we actually talked. We did something like this last year in Maldon under your masjid as well. Did we? Yeah, subhanAllah. We did, in fact. Time flies, man. Yeah.
Yeah, these past two years especially feel like 10 years. Like those last year, I'm like, no, it couldn't have been. But yeah, subhanAllah it was. Shaykh, how are you doing, man? Alhamdulillah, doing good. You know, just waiting for summer to come around. You know, just keep dreaming of your Umrah trip that's coming up and wishing I was going along with you, but alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. I just came back not too long ago, so I'm not going to complain. Alhamdulillah, I'm going to try to hold these sessions inshAllah from during Umrah. We'll see how that goes inshAllah. If our Canadian internet is bad, I don't know what the internet over there is going to be like. No, you should be good. You should be good inshAllah. So Shaykh, you know, part of the whole purpose of these sessions is really to help, you know, everyone who's watching get to know their masha'ikh better and get to know the students of knowledge better. And so maybe you can start us off by telling us, like, how did you get started on this path? How did a young half Pakistani, half Portuguese kid decide to pursue knowledge and come into the field of da'wah? I think it was frustration, honestly. It was a desire to study Islam and to learn Islam, but not actually having access to it in our community. And I was just getting frustrated with that. Like, growing up in Montreal back in the early 80s, we didn't have any imam who, to my knowledge, even till now, who was like an actual learned imam. We had hufadh, we had some people who had, you know, learned some Quran, but we didn't really have anyone who was like traditionally educated to be an imam. And then the couple of people that did come in didn't speak English.
You know, they came from other countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, you know, Morocco. We have a big Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian community in Montreal. So subhanAllah, like the people that did come in that were a little learned didn't speak English. And so we couldn't connect and we couldn't relate. And anything that we'd want to learn, we'd learn either through broken English or through someone translating it. And then there was a cultural barrier as well. So it was like, okay, you know, my brother, I remember my brother got in so much trouble for showing up at the masjid for Quran class wearing his Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey. And it was like, you're supporting the kuffar, this is haram, how dare you wear this in the masjid? You can't pray salah wearing this. When you get home, change and then pray your prayer again. And it was just like, subhanAllah, like, it just, it didn't make sense. Right. So I was a little frustrated. And then alhamdulillah, when I was 11 years old, we had an imam that originally from Pakistan, graduated from Medina, did his master's in Mecca, you know, came through Muslim World League to Canada for three months only. And then three months turned into six months, turned into a year, two years, and he's still in Montreal, still in Montreal. So he ended up staying. But what really intrigued me there was like his akhlaq, like his morals, his way of like connecting with us, and to us without even speaking our language. So he connected through me and my brothers and stuff by asking us to teach him English. So we used to like sit with him and tell him, okay, this is a car and he's like, this is a car. He's like trying to pronounce it. And subhanAllah, it was nice because we felt, wow, this is an imam, but he lowered himself to our level as like kids and asked us for help.
And that was like the very first time where it was an imam not being top down, you know, like forceful upon you, telling you what to do. And so that the frustration of not having someone who spoke our language in, you know, coupled with the fact that his akhlaq was so awesome. I'm like, you know what, I got to go study in Medina when I get older. Because I felt like he's from Medina, that's where the knowledge is. And so that was like the motivations, subhanAllah. Yeah, I mean, I totally feel where you're coming from, Sheikh, but you know, as a Maple Leafs fan, I have to say, kicking people out of the masjid for wearing a Habs jersey is something I can get on board with that. That's okay. We let you Toronto Maple Leafs fans say all you want, because your words are meant, they mean nothing. They're just a bunch of fluff. Unfortunately, I don't have, we don't have the track record to respond. So I'm just gonna have to let you have it. We heard where an American is listening to two Canadians complain about sports, and he's like, man, these guys don't know what they're talking about. Well, for Sheikh Abdullah and folks from Texas, we're the Dallas Cowboys of hockey. Dallas Cowboys of hockey. Wow, okay. Any other sports? Or the New York Knicks of basketball. Like just losing against all odds. Isn't basketball a Canadian sport? Like didn't it start in Canada? Oh, shots fired. How did the All-Star game go last week in Canada? You know, just because you guys host it there, that's because your COVID regulations are non-existent. And we over here have health care that the government runs, so we have to follow all the rules and regulations. Oh, okay. Nice, nice, nice.
Touche. Touche. Okay. So the title of the tagline for it was like, any man that can fix your car. What was that about? I don't like to let my community know, so I don't mind if the rest of the world knows, as long as everyone in my community does not watch this. It's our little secret. Don't worry about it, Shaun. Yeah, so prior to going to Medina, I actually graduated as an auto mechanic, also known as a technician, an automotive technician. Yeah, I worked for Volkswagen for some time. I was offered a job with General Motors right when I got accepted to Medina, and I was like, well, I'm going to go study in Medina instead of go work at the General Motors head office. So, Alhamdulillah. Yeah, cars has always been my thing, and any time I can get my hands dirty, I enjoy it. Alhamdulillah. I just don't like telling my community, because then they come in and they're like, Sheikh, I have this problem with my car. Okay, diagnose it, and then like, can I bring it over at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning? Sheikh Huzaifah, who is also an imam at the same masjid as Sheikh Dawood, he said I should ask you, would you rather fix a car with a wrench or deal with family counseling? Fix a car. Fix a car. Fix a car with a blindfold on. Wow, SubhanAllah. What car do you drive, Sheikh? Oh, come on. Why you got to put me to shame? I got to put you on the line. So, there's this thing where mechanics fix everyone else's car, and their car needs fixing, right? So, I actually drive a 2018 Honda Accord. Inshallah. Not bad. Family car.
What would be your dream car then? A 1978 Triumph Spitfire in candy apple red with black interior and a wood dashboard, chrome bumpers, chrome mags, top down, drive through the countryside with my wife with no hijab so no one could see her. You forgot to add three wheel motion hydraulics. No, no, no, no, no. I want original. Completely original. 1978 Spitfire. That's my dream car. Wow. Mashallah. Is it realistic? Can you realistically attain that? Are you working towards that or is it just something that's like, you know? It's doable. You know, there's always one or two that go for sale every month or so. In the range of low end, between five to ten thousand. Obviously, it needs a little bit of work, but a 1978 car, you're always going to have to work on it. If you go like fully restored, you're looking at tens of thousands. But I wouldn't do that. I would just get the one where I could just work on it myself because, yeah. I'd like something original. Have you ever done that? Because, you know, working on it, I think the process of working on it is the pleasure, right? Going through that process and learning new things. Am I correct in that assessment? Yeah. I once restored, the first car I ever restored was a 79 Camaro. Okay. Entirely restored. It belonged to one of my friends. And we restored the entire thing. That was fun. You know, V8, big block. Alhamdulillah, lots of power. Put in a shift, nice shift kit and enjoyed it, man.
It was like 400, I think he got 440 horsepower out of that. Yeah. Back in the day, they were talking about like 20 years ago. So, yeah, that was fun. Alhamdulillah. Wow. SubhanAllah. I'm going to ask you, it's going to be a weird question. You got a problem with your car, don't you? No, no, no. I'll ask you when we get off the show. Alhamdulillah. I want you to kind of dig deep. This is going to be kind of a psychological question. What quality or qualities do you see that you liked within being a mechanic that is connected to the work that you do as a chaplain? What do you see that's like, wow, because I was a mechanic in my previous days or currently, that has helped me and furnished me into being what I am today. To where I can flourish or I see that Allah has gifted me with this. You see the connection? You understand the question? Yeah, absolutely. Simple answer, diagnostics. My specialization in mechanics is diagnostics and electronics and figuring out the root cause to a problem and where it came from. So you basically got to backtrack, figure it out, and then try to find your way down to figure out a solution to that problem, both on cars as well as helping people in the community. For me, it's always been that way where, you know, even my wife talks about it. She's like, you're very technical. You could analyze things, figure it out, put things in place, and it's all happening up here like one after the other. So, yeah, for me, that, you know, diagnostics, electronics has definitely helped.
You know, when people come in with problems, you know, I can very quickly, just by listening to them talk and rant or express themselves, I could figure out quite a few issues that are going on and where they probably came from. And then it's just a matter of asking certain questions to figure out the root cause. So, yeah. The pink striped elephant is in the room right now because we want to know what are some of those techniques, Shaq? You going to hold back on us, man? Come on. Like what are some of those, for instance? I'm going to create a scenario. So, brother comes in, complains that, you know, his brother comes in and complains that his child is involved with the opposite gender, right? And his child is 20. And he's not praying. And he thinks this has been going on for a long time. He just comes in and he just lets loose on his only child, his only boy. So what are some things that you could advise maybe the family friend or the imam, let's say the imam, or the community leader, the influential person in that community to look at or look for to see? The reason I'm asking, I'm presenting the scenario with the parent and the child, because one thing that I realize is this, SubhanAllah, you know, I remember, you know, I have to ask the parent, you know, because they're coming to me and they're talking to me, like, talk to my child, talk to my child, talk to my child. I'm like, I think I need to talk to you first. Yeah. Right? So what would you advise, you know, the influential leaders in regards to scenarios such as that, like parent-child situation?
I would actually focus on the parents. I'd be like, you know, tell me about your day. Tell me what you do. What is a typical day in your household look like? And try and figure out what those parents do and how long they've been doing certain things. Then I would also like, you know, probe and ask like, you know, at what age did you start doing certain things with your child? Right? Islamic things, classes. Even dua, you know, like one thing that I learned from my wife is you got to start really young. The very first diaper change that my wife did at home for our first child, she said the dua of going into the washroom when taking off the diaper and putting it on, said the dua when you're coming out of the washroom. And I'm like, man, that starts from a young age. So putting that together, I'm like, okay, at what age did you start this with your children? Because if the father is coming in and going, yeah, you know, this is the case with my son. What do I do? It's a matter of saying, well, wait a second. What got your son to that point in the first place? And then you backtrack. Like what do you do as parents in your house? Right. What is what's what does a dean mean to you? Right. Do you call the adhan at fajr time and wake up your entire family or you're like, oh, they need to sleep, they need to rest. Because if that's the case, then your children are reading from you that you're not prioritizing the dean in the first place. Why should they? Right. Right. Things like that where you just you backtrack. Backtrack. How cooperative do you find community members in regards to that? Like another scenario is the wife comes in, I want to complain that she comes in or let you know about the current situation. That's not going well with her husband. When you summon firstly as an arbitrator, Mashallah, is it advisable to summon the husband?
And if or when you do, what's the rate or percentage of husbands that actually come and sit down to go through this arbitration process? For the most part, brothers do end up coming in either that or they'll just talk to me over the phone. But yeah, what happens is I usually ask a certain set of questions that I have lined up. You know, if I hear this in the story, then ask that. And what I like to do is try and find, like I said, try and find where the problem started. So I'll be like, how many hours do you guys spend at home together as a family? How many hours is the husband at work? Do you work? I'll ask the mother, do you work? And if she says yes, I'll be like, when did you start working? Right. She says, I don't know, seven years. OK, seven years. Why did you have to start working seven years ago if you never worked prior to that? Oh, because we bought a house. When did you buy a house? Ten years ago. OK, so how come three years after you bought it, you needed to go to work because it was being too much of a burden on my husband? So, you know, I started going to work. And then from there, it's like, OK, do you feel that your children started to change when you were always at work? Your husband was always at work and no one is ever at home with the children. And they're like, yeah. Like, so the root cause of your problem is that you're not at home with your kids. The root cause of your problems is the fact that you guys bought a house that you couldn't afford. Hmm. SubhanAllah. And so one of the solutions is sell the house or downsize, buy something smaller or rent. Just sell it, move out, live in something where it's affordable, where only the father has to go to work. He can come home and spend the rest of his time with the family. You can enjoy the extra money going on vacation, doing things together. The pinnacle of success for us here in North America is not to own a house,
even though society tells us that, you know, that's like ultimate happiness and mashallah, tabarakallah, you're doing good. You own a house, you're leaving something for your children. None of our children care about our house once they get married and move out. Right. So, yeah, that's that. That that is a very common example of people's problems where the problems start when they purchased a house they just couldn't afford. It's not about buying a house. It's about purchasing things you can't afford. And then the strain that comes on the family, right, no one's ever at home. Kids come home, they bring friends, they start getting involved in drugs. They hang out later after school because they know their parents aren't coming home till six o'clock. So they have two and a half hours to chill. You know, they go places, they meet people, they do things. There's no one watching over them. Parents come home, they're tired, even though they're home, kids are in the room, you know, doing things they're not supposed to do. So it's like a vicious circle, right, that that lots of families get stuck in. Wow, subhanallah. Yeah, mashallah. I like how you went through the process. I mean, I think that's important because, you know, sometimes there will be family friends that, you know, he's he's he's he's the he's the beginning or she is the beginning of the journey of this couple going to someone like yourself. So they may need to understand some of those probing questions to be able to call you and give you like an update or the things of that nature, which happens a lot. You know, yeah, I mean, it's really going back to the seed, right, the seed of the problem rather than looking at the the actual, you know, the actual descriptions or symptoms of the problem. So I think one of the things that helps as well is I do chaplaincy in maximum security prison just like five minutes away from my house. And, you know, dealing with inmates like they've done things in their life that they now regret.
So you learn I learn a lot from the inmates and what they say and the things that they ask and they ask the most simple, basic things. But you realize this is a person who had everything, lost everything, but now has nothing but is richer than ever because they found Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at a time when they have nothing. And their only hope, their only support is the fact that they can pray. They sometimes don't know what direction to pray in because there might not be a window so they can't see outside. They don't know what time of the day it is because they're not allowed to have watches or clocks in their cells. But at least like they pray, they recite Quran, you know, they do whatever they can. And you see them like some of them are tattooed up like face down subhanAllah. Like I remember once, you know, talking to a brother who had tattooed on his neck, fear Allah. And he's like, fear Allah tattooed on his neck. And he's like, brother, I've been Muslim my whole life, you know, but he's like, I never felt like I was a real Muslim until I came to prison. But what I learned from that is when we let go of the dunya, right, like we were saying before, going back to the root cause, the dunya itself distracts us so much from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When you let go of that and you simplify in your life and you only have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you actually feel liberated, you feel happy, you feel free. You feel like I don't need anything else. Some of them are like, I don't care if I never own a car again. I don't care if I, you know, one brother was telling me last time, I don't care if I ever get out. He goes, alhamdulillah, I have food, I have a bed to sleep on, and I have my Quran and I pray. Alhamdulillah, you know.
So like, we have so many things in life and we still complain, but we haven't really found Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sometimes. Yeah, that's deep, man. Shaykh Ibrahim, if you mind, I just want to ask more. Yeah, no, go for it. I'm just going to put it on the line here, man. No, alhamdulillah, because you know, you're speaking for a lot of people, and that's why we want to bring different people on here, is because we want them to speak for those that may not be able to be spoken for. And also for them to understand the life of a person that's trying to call to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and to understand the different nuances that one may go through and the different talents that they have and share, and to just let the world know, mashallah, to the verdict of Allah, of how we can all work together. But you know, you mentioned the inmates is a whole other chapter and segment, really. SubhanAllah, when I came back from Al-Madinah, actually, before I went to Al-Madinah, this brother became Muslim, and you know, he just got out of prison, and his grandmother wanted him out of the house. So he ended up living with me. I got accepted to Al-Madinah. I left. He went and lived with some other brothers, and alhamdulillah, ma sha'a Allah, predestination of Allah, he went back to got involved and went back to prison. Graduated from Al-Madinah, came back, live at a little house next to Muhammad Masjid in Houston. Guess who just gets out and we end up living together again? Our man Mujahid, man. And this brother, you know, very intelligent brother, you know, subhanAllah, wanted to learn Braille. But there was points where it was so hard for him to get back into the system. I remember one time he told me, he said, man, I just want to go back to jail, man. What are you talking about? He said exactly similar to what you said. He said, I have my own bed. I have my own room. I have everything. I don't you know, all of this distractions is just like for what he was trying to become a journeyman, you know, electrician. It was just difficult for him, you know, but him understanding kind of what distractions were because he's been in, you know,
I don't want to say solitary confinement, soft solitary confinement in a beneficial way, kind of like it to calf. Right. It's kind of like you have time to think. And as this name of this book is indistractable. Right. You're not distracted at all because you allow, as some youth would say, boredom. They embrace it because they don't. It's time to think introspective, to think, what am I doing for Allah, for my mother, for so on, so forth. So I think it's good that you're voicing for for the inmates. What would you with that? What would you advise? Like, you know, the youth, I don't want to say troubled youth, like the youth, the seasoned Muslim community. That may when they hear that someone has come out of prison, it's automatically negative. The society, you know, he's a felon. Well, his or her opportunity for getting a job is not it's not as is the opportunities are very slim for them. And then they go to the Muslim community and it's like the opportunities are slimmer for them. So what would you advise the seasoned Muslim community, the youth, you know, and in regards to this demographic? And also getting involved in this work of going to help and call to educate those inmates if they had the opportunity to go once a month, things of that nature. So those two questions. First off, I would tell the community in general, you know, don't judge a book by its cover and understand that we learn the names and attributes of Allah for a reason. And if Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem and he is Al-Afoo, right? And, you know, he's forgiving. Then why aren't we?
Like if Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala forgives and he says in the Quran that he forgives and has the ability to forgive any sin, but he refuses to forgive shirk. Then why don't we have a little bit of that softness in our hearts as well? Like don't treat other people. Yeah, they made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Some people's mistakes are bigger. Some people's mistakes are smaller. Some people's mistakes are the same as everyone else's, but they got caught and other people didn't. Right. Like some people tax evasion, right, or fraud, or they might not declare certain things. And, you know, one person goes to jail, another person doesn't. And it's like, what makes them different than you? The fact that they got caught and you didn't. So you're not very different than this person, right? So we got to keep that in mind that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is merciful. And, وَمَا أَرْصَمْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was sent as a mercy to all of the creation of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that means that our mission in life is not to judge people. It's to help guide them. So we're supposed to be there for them. Right. I don't really remember your second question right now. No, no, no, Mashallah. It's really. I think it's it was more of what would you advise like the young? I think it's the same thing because, you know, would you advise them to go out to these, you know, these correctional facilities and go and see for themselves if they had the opportunity to? Yeah, if if they're able to, because I know here in Canada, it's very different than the US. So if they're able to or what one of the imams does over here, he's a chaplain. But he also has this organization that helps or gets together.
He gathers ex-convicts, if we could use that term, right. People who are released from prison, you know, they've changed their lives. Every single year he holds like a gala to raise some funds to help people that are coming out that are, you know, getting back into society. And SubhanAllah, that's just amazing, because you see some of the achievements that these brothers and sisters have done from prison and then they get out and they're completely changed. And they've achieved things that are far more superior than a lot of us. It's like, SubhanAllah, why are you even judging them? Like they've changed. And that in itself is a blessing from Allah that they've received that we still haven't. They went through some hardship that shook them up so much that they left the bad in their life and turned to Allah. And so we should admire that. You know, we really, really need to admire the fact that some of them have found Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and we're still chasing after, like you said, you know, that brother. People just chasing after the dunya. And for them, it's like we're living here temporarily and that's it. Al-hakimu t-takafu, you know, you've been diverted by gathering things in abundance. SubhanAllah. I just want to remind everyone watching, inshallah, if you have any questions for our guest Sheikh Dawood, you can put them in the chat, inshallah. Hopefully, we'll be able to get your questions. There's also a link in the description of this video or this podcast where you can click on it and give us your feedback, inshallah. If there are people you want us to invite, if there are, you know, different elements you want us to incorporate into these sessions, you know, we want to hear from you. We do take and read all of your feedback seriously, inshallah. You know, Sheikh Dawood, just to continue this conversation, I just think it's an amazing topic and conversation.
I don't have as much experience as you, but I have seen some similar instances like what both you and Sheikh Abdullah mentioned of people who almost like prefer to be in prison just because, you know, they're focused on their deen there. And that sometimes when people get out, it's so difficult that they might end up going back to that previous life. Would you say, like, to the Muslim community, do you think that we bear kind of a responsibility there because they'll come out of prison, they'll try to get into the Muslim community, and then people treat them differently, and then almost like we're pushing them back to that life? Do you think we bear a responsibility as a community for those kinds of situations? Yeah, absolutely. So I talk about this with another brother who goes in with me. He's been a chaplain at prisons for over 20 years now, 22 or 23 years. And he does it just out of the kindness of his heart, subhanAllah. He's a Nigerian brother, you know, he's an electrician. He doesn't take a single dollar for it. He doesn't even let the prison buy Qur'ans and stuff for the inmates. He will use his own wealth. And, you know, myself, what we do, like, he's trained me this way. He's like, don't take anything from anyone. We buy it ourselves and we will provide it to the inmates. Right. So one of the things that I talk to him about all the time is the fact that we need a system to help our Muslim brothers and sisters not necessarily reintegrate, but just get them on their feet, get them going for the first few months. And, you know, we've discussed like how many Muslim businesses do we know of? Loads, lots and lots of Muslim businesses.
Like there's so many brothers and sisters who have stores, restaurants, you know, different types of businesses where they can employ part time one of these brothers or sisters that comes out of prison. Right. And then we thought of like a masjid that maybe has small rooms for for lodging and it doesn't even have to be in the masjid building. It could be a separate building right where they can either reside or an actual home where each person just gets a room. Right. And they get to pray together. And there's like a designated imam that stays there on site or spends the entire day there before going home in the evening, you know, teaches them about the deen. They go through like a three month course on Islam, you know, covering various different topics. We pray salah in jama'a, in congregation together. Every evening we recite Quran together and learn the Quran. You know, these are things that we really need. Those first few months that someone is released, there's two things that they'll do. The day that they're released, either they're going to walk in the direction that they used to be in and call up their friends that they used to hang out with and they get right back into the same trouble and nonsense they were in before. Or they have somewhere else to go, someone else to call, who's going to help them. And the problem is, there's usually no one to call because their family doesn't want to associate themselves with this person anymore. You know, they're like, we're ashamed of them or it's like, okay, come home, but we're going to move. We're going to go somewhere else, which sometimes is fine. You know, change of environment is absolutely important. But when you busy them with things like work, like how many Muslims, you know, brothers who own restaurants, you can hire them to work in the restaurant. There's nothing wrong with that. They've done their time. They deserve to, you know, alhamdulillah, the time that they serve, they serve.
Now they deserve this chance to prove to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that they're able to live in society and do right and do good. So, yeah, there's definitely a need and, you know, our communities should really start thinking, you know, alhamdulillah, we made a lot of progress. We used to complain 20 years ago that all we have is masajid and we don't have any systems for the Muslim community. Now you have, you know, Yaqeen Institute, you have other Islamic institutes. We have, you know, small little clinics that are opening up around the world and stuff like that for Muslims. There's progress, but I think we need to really identify certain things that is a responsibility on our shoulders. Like when someone is in need, we're supposed to help them. Right. But if you don't, then who's to blame? Like who does an inmate call? Like how many times, it's happened so many times because our masjid is so close to the prison where, you know, brothers that were in for, it could have been anything. Like a brother punched the wall in his house. Cops were called, you know, no charges or a charge was laid, but, you know, the person was found innocent. But maybe have spent a week, two weeks, a month in prison until a court case hearing and everything was dropped. Now, where does this person go? They come to the masjid. And when they say, I was just released from prison because this person was angry and punched the wall. Right. Everyone starts to judge them. You know, board members or management might say, no, they can't stay in the masjid, they're dangerous, they might steal the donation boxes. You know, they might steal the sound equipment, the audio equipment, the cameras, it's worth money. Right. They might take it. But this person doesn't want to do that. You know, this person just wants to take a shower, put on a fresh pair of clothing, because the clothes that they're wearing when they're released is the clothing that they were wearing when they got arrested. Right. That may be two or three months old, sitting in a bag and never, ever washed.
And then somehow they just want to sleep a little bit, have some food, and then they'll figure out what to do after that. But if we don't help them, then they end up on the streets. They end up in shelters. Right. They end up meeting people that do drugs or that offer them jobs like, hey, you know, I know someone who steals cars and, you know, all you have to do is drive the car to the shipping yard and then they'll stick it on a ship and, you know, it's off. All you got to do is drive. So you're driving stolen cars. Like, subhanAllah, it's crazy. Whose responsibility is it to help them? We got to do that. If someone comes to us, we need to help them somehow. Right. Yeah, well, I'm starting. What was what was the first thing? Shout out me. Allah bless those brothers. The Nigerian brother, you're speaking about yourself and the brothers and sisters that go. They don't care about a radar, whether under the radar or not. They just go and help this underserved community is very underserved. You know, subhanAllah, that they go and, you know, use their money for this cause to help educate and just to facilitate the education of the children. And just to facilitate enrichment to these to these brothers and sisters that are incarcerated, may Allah reward them. May Allah reward the entities, the misogynist that, you know, help out those that are that are in need. And this is without a doubt someone that is, you know, whether wrongly convicted or like you said, most of you don't. They made a mistake and they're trying to do their best. And we should be those that I want to help and assisting good and piety. Question. What was amongst the I know there's many, but if you could share with the world, what was a profound moment that you encountered as a chaplain in the prison system? There's so many. I know, man. That's why I said amongst them.
I know it's hard to pick one, but, you know. You know, you know, I'm a lot every single day that I go and actually spend it today. Every Wednesday I spend in prison. So I was there all day today. I remember a story of how there's so many, but, you know, one of them that sticks out was this old man. He was like 69 years old. I think if I remember correctly, he was 69 years old. And this was pre covid. I went in to lead Juma. So what I do is like I lead Juma in the masjid and then I drive straight to the prison and I lead like three or four different Juma's in different units over there as well. As many as I can until Asr time is about to enter. So one of these brothers, he's from another country and I'm going to be very vague because I'm not allowed to like, I have to keep it very confidential, right? But he, SubhanAllah, you know, he came to Canada to basically, this is what he's telling me, right? To bring drugs into the country, right? He was and he didn't know it was drugs, whether he's telling me the truth or not, I don't know. But he's like, you know, his wife is really old and he didn't have the money to help his wife to get the health care that she needed. So he agreed to transport these drugs into Canada. And when he landed in Canada, he got caught in the airport. So they arrested him there. And they're like, did you know that this was in your bag? He's like, yes, I did. And they're like, OK, you know, it's illegal. He's like, yes, I know. But my wife is really sick and I need the money. And if I don't get her this treatment, she's going to die. OK, they arrest him. They put him in prison.
69 years old, right? He's coming from like South America. When I meet him, I'm like, were you always Muslim? He goes, no. And he's like, that's the beautiful thing about it. He said, I had to commit a crime in order to be arrested, to end up in jail. In Canada, in a country that's not even mine, to meet a Muslim cellmate who gives me da'wah. And now I'm a Muslim. He said, I don't even care about the money anymore. I feel that what I gained is far better than what I set out to achieve. And he's like, the beautiful thing about it as well is that he goes, now that I found Allah, my taqwa leads me to ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for her to be cured. And he's like, I've been making dua ever since I became Muslim. And he's like, Alhamdulillah, she's so much better. She didn't even need any medical assistance. He hasn't seen her. Well, at the time he didn't see her. He's like, all I do is call her like every couple of weeks. And he's like, she's perfectly fine. She's not sick anymore. Alhamdulillah, you know, she's good. And he's like, I found Islam and I had to go and do this in order to become a Muslim. So it was just like a slap in the face, you know, where we're like, OK, we're going to do this, a slap in the face, you know, where we are sometimes raised in Muslim families, right? Some of us born in Muslim families. Some of us, you know, like my mother embraced Islam about a year and a half before I was born. And you become a Muslim or, you know, you're raised as a Muslim, you take it for granted. And you just never think, you never value your deen. You don't value your iman that Allah chose you to be a Muslim. I remember when we were students in Medina, our teachers used to tell us the most valuable thing that you have is Islam. And subhanAllah, when you like start to work in the fields and you start like meeting people and talking to people, you realize like, alhamdulillah, such a blessing. Ya Allah, never take it away from me.
Ya muqallibal quloob, thabbit qalbi ala deenak. You know, don't ever allow me to leave this deen. Because look at what people had to do in order to find Islam. And we just have it. We have it all around us. So yeah, this is one story. There's so many though, subhanAllah. You know. JazakAllah khair. JazakAllah khair. Beautiful, beautiful. Amazing story. Sheikh, you had an ayah that you wanted to reflect on, or a few ayahs I believe you wanted to reflect on. So go ahead, inshaAllah. I think it's actually related to our topic in a way. Yeah, surat ad-Duha was, you know, when you asked me to figure out what I'd want to share, an ayah or hadith, there's always times in life where it changes, right? Like you lean more towards certain ayahs or certain hadiths, you know, this is relevant to you in your life right now. But subhanAllah, when I think of surat ad-Duha, it's always a powerful surah where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is like communicating to the Prophet ﷺ who was raised as an orphan child, right? And, I mean, people can read through the surah, I know it takes time, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know, in the third ayah, ما ودعاك ربك وما قلع Your Lord didn't abandon you, right? Why would Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala abandon you? He created you. And so a lesson there for people who are going through hardship, the Prophet ﷺ was going through extreme hardship, far worse than what we were going through, at multiple times in his life, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't abandon him. And then when you think of it as a child as well, like the amount of sisters that come into my office, and they're like begging for me to convince their husband not to divorce them.
I'm like, sister, sometimes some things are better for you, right? Like if your husband is so evil, like I remember, subhanAllah, some of the things, like I don't know, sometimes I want to share these things to the community, but sometimes I feel like we should just conceal what's happening. For the sake of respecting, you know, the people who are committing these sins. But without mentioning names, like some sisters, their husbands are sleeping with prostitutes, and they're still staying with their husband. Right? Like one sister, her husband, in order for them to be intimate, he has to watch pornography. So he tells her, you know, turn around, and, you know, they're intimate backwards, basically, right? And he's watching something else, envisioning himself with another woman on the TV screen, while he is being intimate with his wife. And she's like, I'm okay with it, as long as he's my husband. I'm like, how? You know? And then in addition to that, there's drugs, and there's alcohol. And these are things that, like, exist in our Muslim communities, and people don't realize it. And so sometimes sisters need a way out, and they know that divorce is the right way out for them, but they're too scared to take that step. Because it's understandable, you know? You may have never worked. You're a stay-at-home mother. You know, you're worried about the cost of things in Canada, and being alone, and you might not even have family here, right? A lot of Muslims in Canada came from other countries, and they're first generation, so they have no one here in Canada to look after them. All of their relatives are back home in some other country. But Allah ﷻ says, ما ودعاك ربك ومن قلاة ولا الآخرة غير لك من الأولى Right? That the hereafter is better for you. Focus on the hereafter. What does that mean?
That means, whatever sacrifice I need to make now for the sake of pleasing Allah ﷻ, let me do it. As hard as it's going to be, because the reward in the hereafter is far greater. And so alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, I can get through it. Why? Because Allah ﷻ took care of the Prophet ﷺ. He wouldn't abandon him. He's not going to abandon me. Because the lesson we get there is that we follow the Prophet ﷺ. No matter how hard it is, Allah will always help us. You know, other examples from the surah, Allah ﷻ says, أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى وَوَجَدَكَ ضَلًّا فَهَدَى وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى The Prophet ﷺ was an orphan. The Prophet and Allah ﷻ is saying, didn't I find you as an orphan? You were an orphan. What's an orphan? You have no mother, no father. Some, in the example of the sisters that need this support, need to hear something positive, something motivating, Allah ﷻ will take care of your children. The number one excuse that sisters give to stay in their marriage is, I'm staying in this marriage for the sake of the children. Stay in the marriage for the sake of pleasing Allah. The moment that there's no pleasure of Allah ﷻ coming out of your marriage, then something's wrong in this marriage. So staying there for the sake of the children is not always, and in my experience, almost always the wrong reason to be staying in that marriage. Why? Because Allah ﷻ will look after your children. I would like to use the example of the Quebec City mosque shooting that happened a few years ago here in Canada.
The six brothers that were shot, I met all of the families, I went to their houses, sat with their children, I actually did like counseling sessions with them and set up activities for their children for a few months after the incident happened, just to like help their children and make them feel loved and so on. And I always use the example of Brother Youssef. Brother Youssef was one of the brothers praying in the front row of the masjid the night the shooting happened. And there was another brother who was leading the salah. That brother was shot in the leg. When the shooter came in, he started shooting and shot the imam in the leg. The imam's daughter was standing on the end of the front saf. And when she saw her dad shot, she started running towards her dad. And the shooter is just like going nuts. Brother Youssef takes the daughter and huddles over her like a human shield, putting his own life at risk in order to protect her. So he tells us afterwards, and we actually recorded this in a documentary, he says, we always think that we are the ones who raise our children and we need to be there to protect them. He's like, I never in my life thought that I would be protecting this girl on that night and never thought that I would put my life in that situation. But he also says that the children of the fathers who died that night, who were martyred that night, their children will live. And Allah will raise them and Allah will take care of them. And they will be okay. And it's us that we need to worry about. And so when you come back to this surah, and talking about people that are stuck in their lives and going through hardship,
take care of yourself. Because if you can't take care of yourself, how do you expect to take care of your children? How do you expect to take care of anyone around you? So you need to look after yourself. You need to help yourself. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says to the Prophet ﷺ, وَاجَبْكَ بَالًا فَهَدَىٰ You know, he found the Prophet ﷺ in need of guidance. And he guided him. We should never think that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will never guide us. Allah will always guide us if we turn to Him seeking His guidance. But people sit back sometimes and say, Oh, Allah's never helping me. That's not the way to ask the help of Allah. Allah says, اُدْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمُ Call upon Me, I'll answer you. So don't blame Allah for asking help from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Submit, like fully submit to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And you'll find the help of Allah coming to you. And then at the end of the surah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرُ وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرُ وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثُ So don't oppress the orphan or repulse the beggar. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says and proclaim, let people know the blessings of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We have a golden opportunity to help other people in like what we were talking about earlier, that will be a means of goodness in our life. The happiness you get from helping people who are in need is a happiness that no money can buy. Because you can, here's an example going back to prison, SubhanAllah, an inmate after Juma'ah one day, every time I've led Juma'ah without fail, when I finish the salah, I turn around and all the inmates are literally just crying tears,
like their faces are just covered in tears. And one of the inmates, he says, Sheikh, I have a question. I'm like, what? He goes, I don't know what time it is to pray my salah. Because there's no clock and I have no window in my cell. I can't tell the time of the day or the night. I don't know when it's Dhuhr, I don't know when it's Fajr, I don't know when it's Maghrib. And he's like, I just want to be able to tell time. And I was like, SubhanAllah, look at that. Like how many of us, like we wear watch, I got a watch on, I have another watch over here, you got, you know, on the corner of your screen, you have your time, you know, on that device, on your phone, wherever, you got time everywhere. All he wants is to be able to tell time. And there's ways, of course, for the inmates to do it. Like they ask the guards, guards come by every half an hour. So if the guard says it's 10 o'clock, the next time they come is going to be 1030, next time they come is going to be 11. There's ways for them to figure it out. But he just wants ease in knowing I'm praying my salah on time. That's it. That's his blessing. That's what he wants. And he's like, I just want to pray my salah on time. I don't want to be late. So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing us like you can help people by simply telling them what time it is. But we take it for granted. You know, so I just wanted to share that, you know, with us because I feel especially here in my community, you know, there's COVID. These last few years have been really tough. I know in the United States, you know, Sheikh Abdullah, things have been opened up a lot easier and quicker. But here in Canada, like we're still praying six feet apart from each other in the masjid, you know, with temperature checks, masks on, prayer mats. And it's just like, SubhanAllah, when is this going to end?
And because of that, like families have broken up, you know, children have started to reveal things about their lives to their parents. Parents are stressed out of their minds. And everyone is like looking for some hope. So what I wanted to share was, you know, in this surah, go and read it. You'll find, you know, people who are in need, you'll find the help of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. If Allah didn't abandon the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he won't abandon you. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy. Ameen, ameen, ameen. Sheikh Abdullah Khair, Sheikh, that was beautiful. Definitely a lot for us to think about and consider. And yeah, SubhanAllah. You know, just one of the things that kind of went back to what you were talking about earlier, like the example of the brother or the family that's being held back because they're just holding on to that dunya, that house, that's actually, you know, bringing them hardship. And yet, if they were to let go of that, let go of that dunya, they would get like that peace and just trust in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Just like you said, Allah Azawajal, you know, takes care of the Prophet and, you know, implies in this verse that he'll take care of us as well. And that was something that's very beautiful. Sheikh, you want to play rapid fire questions? Oh, man. The world's the scariest, right? It's easy. All right, let's start off easy. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla. Okay. Shea or coffee? Coffee. Really? I pegged you as the Shea guy. You know, I never really liked coffee until after I graduated from Medina and I moved to Malaysia and I became a father and I was doing my master's.
I was living in a country where my wife has never left Canada before and I lost my scholarship and I was broke and I was sleeping like two hours a night every single night for like months on end. And I'm like, I need coffee. I started drinking coffee. Like everything just went downhill. So, Alhamdulillah. That's Allah. Mountains or oceans? Oceans. Even though I have a fear of being on water, I love walking by a beach. It's like the most soothing thing for me ever. Can you swim? Yeah, Alhamdulillah. I just don't like being on boats. Oh, I see. Okay. Favorite city, but you can't choose Mecca or Medina because that's too easy. What's your favorite city? Why you got to do this to me, man? Kuala Lumpur. Oh, Inshallah. I was going to ask you, the other question I was going to ask was like, what's the most beautiful place you've seen? I guess same question. Langkawi. No, no, I wouldn't say Langkawi is the most beautiful. I don't know. I've been so many places. You know what? One of the most beautiful places is like north of Vancouver in the mountains there in the middle of winter. You have like these pine trees that are 150 feet high, covered in snow. And it's like completely silent. Completely silent.
Like sound just doesn't travel. And it's so beautiful. You have a contrast of like the dark green trees and the white snow. And it's just like amazing. Is that on the way from Vancouver to Whistler? Yeah. Yeah. We were talking about that last session. It is a very beautiful place. Sheikh Abdullah, you got to check it out. Yeah, I got to check it out. All right. What language do you wish you knew? Portuguese. I thought you already spoke it. No, I'm learning. I am a citizen of Portugal. Wow. Okay. What is the most interesting thing you've ever tasted or eaten? Durian? I knew you were going to say that. I knew you were going to say that. I knew it. You got to explain. I love durian. I love durian. It's amazing. If you eat durian, I don't know, most people can't eat it. It took me two years to be able to put it in my mouth. But if you can get from your hand past your nose, actually into your lips, and then when you press your tongue to your palate, it's like really amazing. Absolutely amazing. But then the second thing would be, actually might switch it up on my list. Sushi in Tokyo. Unbelievable. I've heard of that too. Sushi in Tokyo is not like sushi, like you can't find that kind of sushi anywhere else.
Really? I've heard that before from other people. Yeah, they use these herbs that are like native to Japan and they put it in the food and it's just like flavor explosions happening in your mouth. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Wow. Durian, like everyone in the chat is like, yay, we're from Malaysia. Thank you for liking durian. Oh yeah, let people know what durian is. Let the people know. Because when I was in Malaysia, that's when I was introduced to it as well. It was like you go by elevators and it has a picture of a durian that has a no sign, like it's illegal. Yeah, I'm just saying like every hotel is like, you can't bring it in here. It's the king of all fruit. So what kind of fruit is that? Can you like explain for those who don't know? It kind of looks like a spiky melon, but you don't eat the outside of it. You take a machete and you chop it in half and you like crack it and pry it open. It's really, really hard to open. But on the inside, there's like this gooey, pasty, yellowy, sticky, very stinky, nasty smell that comes out of it. And it smells like rotten garlic that was fried with onions and eggs and everything else in between. Wow. And it's so potent that like when you smell it in the supermarket before being cut open, you're like, oh, my God, I'm avoiding this store. I'm not even going there. It's almost like like laxa. Laxa is like next level fermented shrimp paste, nasty smell. But sheikh Abdullah is like, why are we talking about this?
But when you can finally stomach putting your fingers on the middle part of the durian, the yellow part, it's so mushy and gooey and sticky. Getting it close to your face feels like there's like a radiation coming out of it and it's going to burn your skin off. Like, honestly, that's that's what's going on in my head. It's like, oh, I'm putting this radiating torture fruit in my mouth. And so that's why it took me two years before I could even try it, because anytime I'd bring it close to me, I'd feel like something's happening to me and it's wrong. But if you can get it on your tongue and then just close your mouth, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. The flavor, you're like, why does Allah make it smell this bad when it tastes this good? SubhanAllah. Wow. You have to earn it. I feel like I got to go back and eat it now. I guess it takes a level of iman to eat it, huh? That's why only the Muslims enjoy it. Sheikh, what job would you be the worst at? Coding. Because it's boring or? I just don't know anything about it. I'm really good at the matrix stuff. I can picture ones and zeros in my head, but I can't figure out what on earth is going on on those sentences. All right. Are you the kind of person who can sleep on an airplane? Nope. I'm just too tall and I have a lower back issue from sitting in too many economy seats.
It's just so painful being on the plane. I love flying, though. Absolutely love it. But can't sleep on the plane. What was your first job? Wow. I used to work for my dad. My dad's a welder. But if I could consider it a job job. I used to work at a Persian carpet store, handmade Persian carpets. I used to deliver them, pick them up, wash and clean them, as well as work in the showroom, showing them. Crazy work. It's so hard. It kills your knuckles. All your skin peels off. It's not easy. Hard work. That was, I think, my first official job. And then I worked at delivering pizza and then worked at Avis and then worked at UPS. I washed cars for Avis car rentals. And busy. All right. Last question. What superpower do you wish you had? Invisibility. So that people don't bother you with questions. Yeah, man. Just to go places and be left alone. It's a blessing from Allah. As-Salaam. As-Salaam. We don't have that many questions from the chat this time. Trying to look up, see what we have. Here's a couple of quick questions. Maybe we'll just answer them. This is from As-Salaam. Please, what's the ruling on ladies reading Quran when off Salat?
I guess when they're not praying. Shaykh Abdullah is my senior. You can't do this to me. No, Shaykh Abdullah, go ahead. No, no, no. Honestly, people don't know, but I looked up to you so much when we were in Medina. I was like, SubhanAllah, this brother has everything that a North American student needs. SubhanAllah, he's got a smile. He's like the only American. No, not the only American. Like literally a handful of American students that reached out to non-American students and made us feel like we'll be okay. Alhamdulillah. JazakAllah khair, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate the kind words, man. Man, you know, I never told you, but the first time I saw you after you left Medina and I left Medina, I was like in tears, man. SubhanAllah. I think it was in Malaysia, I believe we met, right? I think it was Malaysia. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw how big your biceps got, mashAllah, TabarakAllah. I was like trying to, I'm tall, man. I couldn't get my arms around you. Alhamdulillah, and like may Allah keep you safe and protect you. You and yours too, man. It was really good seeing you in Malaysia, mashAllah. Alhamdulillah. I mean, if I could humbly answer this, what's the ruling on ladies reciting the Quran? As long as you're not touching the Quran, you know, I follow the opinion of the scholars that they can recite the Quran from memory or from looking, you know, if you use a device as well. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best. Okay. Other comments, like, wait, he is half Portuguese, Pamela.
Actually, so my wife and I have been contemplating moving to Portugal. Yeah, just the weather is a lot nicer. It's more centrally located. It's closer to Makkah and Medina, closer to Malaysia. But yeah, so we homeschool our children. And what we really want to do is like tour all across not only Europe, but all of Africa. I love Africa. Like a brother, even just the other day on Saturday, we were talking about, you know, how things are in Canada. And, you know, where do Muslims go? Like, what is the ideal place for Muslims to live on earth other than Makkah and Medina? And my answer to them is anywhere in Africa. SubhanAllah, like I love Africa. I've been to Nigeria. I've been to South Africa dozens of times. I've been to Kenya. I just love Africa. I love the people there. I, you know, everyone feels like your brother and sister, whether they're Muslim or not. And I actually call you brother, you know, it's like my brother. Yes, I feel good. I feel like you gave me a hug just by saying that. SubhanAllah, you know, I remember the first time I ate at Nando's in the Johannesburg airport. And it was like these, you know, these women working there and, you know, they have like their hair nets on and stuff. And they're like double, maybe even triple my age at the time. And they're like, yes, my brother, what do you want? I'm like, my sister. I would love to have that meal. You know, and I tell her and I just so happy to call them my sister. Yeah, that's just absolutely amazing. SubhanAllah. Yeah. I don't even know how we got into that. Oh, yeah, we're talking about.
Like we want to just take the girls to different countries to tour and to spend time there and to learn from the people and help the people. Like my first roommate in in Medina is from Niger, which is just north of the Niger River. So you have Nigeria just north of it is Niger. And this roommate of mine, subhanAllah, he speaks French and I speak French. So he was like he was he was my blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when I got to Medina as a student, because I was in building one with six students in a room and no partitions in between us. Sheikh Abdullah probably remembers building one. Of course. And subhanAllah, he spoke French and. I was out of touch with him from 2007 until July 1st last year. Whoa. Like randomly, I tried so hard to find him to get in touch with him, emailing through like friends of his who I used to send emails to to get documents and stuff because they live like real poor. And subhanAllah, just to get that experience. And, you know, I'd love for my daughters and my wife to to visit him and visit his family and just see the villages and like the traditional style. SubhanAllah. To me, that's just amazing. Absolutely amazing. I love it. I love Africa. Absolutely love it. SubhanAllah. This maybe leads into what you were saying. I mean, I don't know what the housing prices are like in Portugal, but this is fascinating. I don't think you can even answer this question. The question is for our podcast listeners. Please tell us about buying a house without interest in Canada. And honestly, Sheikh, if you know the answer, I'd love to know it as well. Cash.
I don't know what the prices are in Portugal, Sheikh. So you can buy a fixer upper. You can you can buy like a piece of land with a with a really old stone house on it for as low as like 15000 dollars. About 10, 11000 euros. You can buy a nice small house that you can immediately live in that, you know, needs a little work for as low as like 25, 30000 dollars on the countryside. Yeah. So wondering why I'm living here. That's that's you can get a really, really nice, modern, you know, beautifully renovated small house for 100 grand. Really nice. Newly done. Entirely new. So what are we doing here? And of course, you go into the cities, it's a little more expensive, right? Like if you're living in Lisbon and Porto and the bigger cities, it's it's more expensive, obviously. But, you know, the countryside, you can get a nice house with lots of land and orange and fig trees. And what are we doing here? All the trees, name it. Time to get out of our comfort zone, man. Here's a good question to end on. Brother, is there anything in your life you believe you could have done better? Maybe it's like general advice, something you would say to your younger self. What kind of advice would you give your younger self? I think it's always just time, use your time wisely. You know, a lot of us feel like we have used our time wisely, but I think we could have been a little more strategic in the way that we used our time.
So, yeah, you know, manage your time a lot better, Inshallah. Especially as I get older and settled in the community, also because of COVID, like I hate being settled. Like I wish I could just, I've got to be careful what I wish for. But, you know, I feel comfortable living out of a suitcase in the sense that I love traveling. I love to be a traveler. So, you know, managing your time better, but also if I could have maybe traveled more with my wife and travel, have the opportunity to do that as well when I was younger and also with my family. I think that's important. Travel broadens the mind. Jazakallah khair, Shaykh. I know we took up a lot of your time. We really appreciate you being with us and honestly, like the stories you shared with us, especially the stories from prison are really powerful and amazing stories, Inshallah. Jazakallah khair for being with us and hopefully we can have you back in the future. Inshallah. Jazakallah khair for having me. It was a pleasure. Forgive me if I said anything wrong or insulting anyone or anyone's culture or anything of that sort. It's not my intention at all. And may Allah make it easy for us to see each other again soon, especially in Texas where it's really cold. Allah bless you, man. It was really good seeing you, man. I love you, brother. Allah bless you. Quick question, though, before we go. There was a brother as well from the US. Was it Abdus Shahid? Oh, yeah, Abdus Shahid. You know, Abdus Shahid. Yeah. Yeah. He's still here. He's right down the street. He had like big frame glasses. Yeah. I will send him this. He's 20 miles north of me, man. His wife and my wife are real good friends. My wife is actually going to take his wife to the airport today. But because of the weather, it kind of their kids are around the same age.
So, mashallah, he's here. He's here. Him, Omar Hernandez. Omar Hernandez. Yeah. They're all over here. Yeah. And Isa. Yeah. Isa as well. Isa, yeah. Isa is in Houston. Isa Farada. Yeah. He's still here. Mashallah. Give them my salam when you see them, especially Abdus Shahid. I haven't seen him since he left Medina. And like I said, we looked up to you guys. Not to say anything great about you to your face, but, you know, Allah kept you guys genuinely in the midst of this. And you guys were so kind and sincere and you just treated us like brothers and it really like holding back emotions, but it really helped us out. I don't compare, man. I mean, anyone in our generation knows and he deserves it, man. Abdus Shahid, man. SubhanAllah, man. Like when anyone would come from anywhere, actually, but like from the West, he made a point to take you to bin Dawood, show you the haram. No one liked him. Like, seriously, I mean, he deserves our respect because he was of the few that would show love as soon as you got off the plane, man. This is before, you know, we had all those systems of helping the Westerners and stuff like that. SubhanAllah. So JazakAllah khair for the kind words, but Mashallah Abdus Shahid was on another level. Allah iqbal al-fiqh. Allah bless you. Allah bless you. All right. JazakAllah khair, sheikh. We'll see you soon. Take care.
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