New Yorkers In The Deen

Salam aleikum.

Our next the next part of our show is actually the deen show. We're very proud to have brother Eddie red, Slavic here. Eddie is the founder of the popular Deen show. He's the host and founder. The Daily Show is a Muslim film company that strives to provide authentic information on Islam from the Quran and Sunnah and absolutely stays away from all negative and extreme topics or positions in Islam that are not based upon the Sunnah. And we're very happy to have brother Eddie here tonight to have the deen show live from the New York City Muslim center as part of the foundation for knowledge and development, like to invite brother Eddie up to the stage.

This is the

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whoever lives on something, he will die on that thing.

And whoever dies on certain thing will be raised upon that thing. So what are you living for?

And what are you living on? So from the right to the left, introduce yourself, introduce yourself and we'll begin with me throw some questions at you. So, okay, so I'll go My name is valkyr. I've been taking a class at the foundation since the SOC GPS program has opened up back in 2010. And I have to say it has been a blessing. I used to make the law back in college that when I graduated, there will be something that I can go and learn the religion. A lot of us don't have the opportunity to go overseas. And you know, handle as soon as I graduated, the associate's degrees program open up so very happy about that.

My name is Karim Hassan, similar situation I've been a student of the foundation for some of their courses, we can seminars and I started becoming a full time student at their associate's degree program, which also, as Zach mentioned in 2010. I have been here ever since. And it's been a great blessing from Allah. Now in the video, we saw it talked about getting hooked. How did you get hooked up with the program? It's actually a funny story how this all began. Me Zack and I, we actually used to help volunteering. We wish a soccer night soccer and I

that soccer and I we used to help volunteer for the foundation. I originally learned about the Arabic to program this Arabic program because of he had a status of I forgot which source it was either as Facebook or Twitter. So I asked him about it. Having learned about it, we decided to go into it. And we weren't really into the other courses yet. So once we came and started volunteering, we started sitting down in the courses and we were hooked right off the bat. It was originally we will just focus on Arabic. And then when they were like we just sit through this class, and we will reconvene.

Yes, yes, like that. You got bit by the good books. We did. 100 less. So what are some of these courses?

So since we began, we've taken numerous courses last semester, which of course got hooked basically, based on addictions that you know, people can face. We took the thick of solid learning exactly how to pray exactly like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam prayed. Starting from the beginning, we took a course on that here after our last hurrah. We sort of course on the preservation of the Koran. And so now we took the thick of purification, we take an Imam now is 40 Hadeeth. We've taken family matters, which was a course on Family Development, husband and wife relations. We took Tafseer

from the law now, you know, for this semester, now we're taking he is the names and attributes of a law has its origin, an Athena course, on the law,

a great blessing. What's the methodology of the academy that they use that really also interests you? That keeps it flowing? It's not is it boring? Do you sometimes have to sit it really, you mentioned that you got revoked and it's very interesting. So what's the methodology that the teachers use just to keep you coming back for more? For more for more, you're here now talking about it. Yeah, you want more? Yeah, yeah. 100 it's completely different than any other Islamic educational experience that I've ever had. You know, we're sitting here in a class which has been continuously given. It's a continuous procedure where we're coming every single week to learn a

thumbs up. We have students that are dedicated to do this. On top of that, the instructors, Mashaal they're very intriguing, they're very grabbing. They're intellectually you're engaged intellectually in your classroom setting. You're not just sitting there.

instructor not just standing there, you know, talking as fast as you can. And you're not just jotting down notes, you're actually sitting there, the instructor asks you questions and grabs your attention the whole class is they're trying to figure out the answer. And by the end of the class, you've actually learned without even without even realizing it, so it's a very entertaining process. Also, you're always on constantly like mine. I call them Brain Candy. It's a fun experience. Brain Candy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would definitely say something that separates, you know, what the foundation uses in their methodology is the the ability to have interaction, the interactions with

our teachers, and that a lot of times, you know, I've taken previous Islamic courses, we didn't have the freedom to just ask our instructor right away a question, or we didn't have that connection with them from the light here. We do have that, you know, we have the numbers of our instructors, if we wanted to ask them something we go to eat with them. It's a whole. It's really a one on one greater picture. So the instructors are cool. Oh, yeah. hamdulillah.

Okay, any memorable moments that you guys had that you'd like to share with the audience?

There's a lot of dating from the 2010. When we when we took a look at the hereafter one of our classes in the middle of the semester, the instructors actually brought out a wooden casket and put the wooden casket out. So the reality, you know, hit us right there. People actually got in the casket. Yeah, it's kind of a scary experience. That's a memorable moment. Yeah. It really was. And, you know, going through the semesters, when we were doing him know, he's 40 Hadeeth, you know, we had had the the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, where he says every joint in the body, you know, give it to do sadaqa. So this talk is brought out a skeleton skeleton model, one student had

to go up to the skeleton and start counting the joints. So he was counting them on the hand, he was 3040. And he only had the hands panel. So you know, to really realize the Hadeeth and understand its meaning, you know, we were able to see visually, let's, let's, let's back it up a little bit. You talked about the casket. Yeah. Okay, and how did this work out? So they bring out the castle who's sitting in class? So the casket was okay, this was a surprise. Yeah, no, no one had any idea. It was just like this setting. Everyone who said, this is a future box that all of us here, there's no disagreement, no matter what method you're on, it doesn't matter where you're coming from black,

white, Chinese, non Muslim, Muslim, we can all agree that we're all gonna die. Any disagreements?

Okay. So talk to us this I mean, this is what this what this is what woke me up death, the reality that we're all going to die. So we better be in the best state by developing our ourselves to be the best that we can be, according to God's will not our desires. So describe that moment. You see, the casket was suffocating. It was so small, we're like, what the hell that you see around you, you actually got in it. Yeah, it's a very tight space, you watch on TV, you know, these people with huge caskets, they are all dressed up. But this never happens. You know, in reality, the cascade is very small, once the cover is closed, it's, it's pitch black, it's, you have no breathing room. And

that's what's gonna happen. And, you know, one thing that really caught me was that, let's say when you know, someone we know passes away we have in our mind, so that we're going to go to the grave. So we're going to be seeing these things when we're sitting in the middle of the class. And this was brought out it was just like that, like everything came to a halt. And that's you know, possibly how our death could be the entire class was was very surprised, and it was a very scary expense for the entire class. I remember students you know, stepping away because they were in shock and what what is this and you get that feeling you know, you go to the gym, you go to the gym to get the pump the

good feeling, you know, the Bloods flowing, and you start feeling like okay, you know, energize so we look for that feeling some people they go to the nightclub to get that feeling right, all those you know, useless feelings. You know, Chase in your your your lesson your desires, and you do drugs to get a certain feeling of alcohol to get a certain feeling, then you got the negative side effects. Right? What was that feeling was? Did you feel the feeling that feeling of reality is like a wake up. That's how you can describe that's exactly how you can describe it a feeling of reality, a wake up call, it was just a scary moment, it was just like, your heart would skip a few beats just

when they're going at them. Now someone says, Man, what is it? What are these guys are crazy. What are these guys doing bringing a casket and what do they teach it? What what were what are the benefits of this? I would say that the benefits are for the Muslims to come to the realization that they will pass and to make sure that what they're going to do before that is going to be favorable to them on the Day of Judgment. So we want to prepare, we want to be the best human being. Absolutely. And we want to worship the one who created us not his creation, and do good deeds. Absolutely. What what motivates us is death. Right is that their judgment is coming to you in

Paradise, or that happy place? We don't want to be in the hellfire. Yes. Next question. Tell us now. You know, this is what I love because the Quran the verbatim literal Word of God, the story is over and over and he's a lullabies we tell these this is these are

things that inspire us true stories, and over and over, Ibrahim Elisa, Abraham, Noah, Jesus, their work their vow of calling the people to submit not to

themselves with the creation but to submit to the Creator, the Dow so is there any training of because, again, is because we Islam says love all mankind, so we love mankind. That's why we need to share the purpose of life. So is there any training for days for people now to get out there because it's not about you know, learning this, I just keep it to ourselves, you got an antidote, and people need the medicine

is there any training to how to deliver the message of purpose of life to the people in these classes, I would say that there's two major parts of the foundation that we have here, which is knowledge and development. So we the students, we do obtain the knowledge here and you know, the shadowclan, our instructors, the the, the students here, we call them super students. And these super students are taken to the side under the wing, you know, for example, on their ship Shaquille under his wing and personally trained on a one on one basis. And, you know, this is done so that we can help our communities we can start calling people to Islam, you know, starts within ourselves, we

have to start developing ourselves. And once we're at that state where we can help others, we begin to do that, you know, for example, in our marriages here, imagine you said no, Miriam, the last three weeks, the last three Fridays, each tumor, I was led by a foundation student, each of the three code books were given by a foundation student from the lab. This is a facility and this is a program where we're able to get the knowledge and put it into application not only for us, for the community, and it's not something that we come to get a class for an hour and we go home No, we actually use this knowledge and we develop ourselves and our families and our communities. And you

know, from that you can't find this anywhere. So for those is a great blessing Mashallah, I just want to add one more thing was my buzzer he once said that he give us example of Pharaoh from and he was saying Allah subhanaw taala you know, gave him so many tests and so many chances and he suffered our hearts with that with that comment stating that you know, nobody we know can equal to the evil apart from who claimed he was God and so that's how we should we interact with our with individuals, you know, no matter how many times we feel like oh, they're not listening to us or they you know, we don't care which our hearts to be soft soft and so that's what we get both aspects also. Personally

why's it training us to be a little bit softer towards on anybody was speaking to

implementing the other and just I guess Korean said, giving the dollar I'm gonna move on to you talk to us about this Arabic program as their you signed up for why'd you sign up for it? Okay, so the Arabic program, we started like 2000 are you in here? Are you Arab? Yes. I'm not the subcontinent. And before Arabic Say you know, Bosnia. No, no, the subcontinent India? No, no, I'm from Are you from London?

All right. So with basically everything, you know, I believe, like everybody who's interested in Arabic, they go to probably a few phases. When I started off, I sort of self study, you know, maybe I can an Arabic on my own, I have to, you know, I can't afford this, I have to dedicate my time, etc. But that doesn't work, then you will move on to something else. Just try like a university level Arabic, and fine. You take semesters of university level, Arabic, what do you learn? You know, you learn how to say, Hello, how are you? You know, I have a house here. I'm from here, I go to this school, but you don't know how you open up the Quran, you know, maybe one word, you know, like,

What? That's all you will know. And so that that curriculum is not it's not focused on the Quran or understanding the Quran. And as Muslim, that's our goal. Why do we learn Arabic, you know, it wouldn't be considered a language to learn if it wasn't for the Quran. And we want to learn how to be just to understand the Quran, to please Allah and to get closer to Allah. And so that's why once I took one, so I think it makes the program the program itself is focused on 80 by the time you finish 85% of the Quran, you have to understand that you will understand inshallah, and from the first from the first,

we call it from the first day from the first session, when you learn those words, and you review the words, and you just feel an attachment to those words to the sutra that has those words. And when you recite the Sora, you are very, very happy. You're just it's a sick feeling in your heart. Like I understand what you're saying to me. And it's not just somebody else's words, it's Allah speaking to you. So that's the reason why I would say it's working. It's not it's not insensitive, or machinery again, you know, you walk out, forgetting almost everything you learned. This is something that's continuous on a weekly basis. And it's not, it's not suffocating. If you take your time, and you

learn. Like, it's not suffocate, Yes, why not? Just relax, we have a few more questions. We're almost out of time. I'd love to spend more time with you guys. And abroad, we almost we have another guest we have to bring up but in the short time that we do have tell us why not just rely on the translation, you know, use of our leave on the international. Absolutely. Like you mentioned all these the translators, one of the reasons why it's like for example, if you if you have a painting, you painted a picture, or you take a picture of something beautiful and you call me up on the phone, you describe it to me it's not the same thing as me, being there in person and seeing that object,

right. So it's the same thing with the transition, the grind, the grind was sent by Allah subhana wa Taala and it has two purposes. It has the purpose of guidance and the purpose of of a miracle. So what can you translate it

Do can they can they translate the miracle of the Quran, they really cannot. And they cannot translate the guidance to the full extent they can do what they can, and they will in their abilities. So what we're really seeing is not really the Quran, it's really the interpretive interpretation of somebody who who knows how to translate the Quran. So in the back of your mind, you kind of lose that connectivity with Allah, you don't realize that a lot is a speaker by speaker is pixel or the speaker is we use on speaker is Muslim Muslim con. So it's not the translation itself, it's not considered the crime as most of the library. And just by reading a translation, you

don't have this connection, it's not the same thing, the name of the software that you guys use talk about this for a while, okay, so it's basically a web application, where you can access it from any laptop, any internet access, your phones also can access this. And most of the work is done at home, where you access, the whole thing is based on a movie. So you start off with the script, which is basically your words that you're memorizing, right? So you memorize the words, then you get evaluated to see if you learn and during the time of evaluation, they asked you, you know, in English, what is this? Where do you have to type it in. So not only are you learning how to say the

word, you also learning how to type the word and then how to type with an Arabic keyboard. Once that's done, you move on to the dialogue, or the the script person

speaks paragraphs to you stating this is what's going on. And basically all these words that are used in this dialogue are from the crown or from select surah. So that's how you learn the words. That's how you become connected to the words. And once again, once a dialogue is done, you got a set of questions, you get an evaluation, and the questions are not like, Oh, you can rephrase the question to get the answer. It's actually abstract. The last question what's going on in situation, you have to reply back in with the correct answer. So that's basically you go in steps. And you do this a few times. And by the end of it, when you're done, you're getting evaluated by a mentor. So

there's now there's two aspects, your student, your mentee, then the person who's helping you who's guiding you through this is the mentor. Basically, what happens is, again, you go at your own pace at home, you don't have to go you there's no pressure, there's no rush. But once you're ready to move on, you, you you contact your mentor, and you get evaluated, and then you move on. Now, the way this system works, especially well, if you get stumped, you have somebody you can contact, you can also contact the rest of the students via forum. The the contact the instructor, the mentor by text, cell phone, they're all moderated, but it does its job. So you're never left alone. And it's just

like I said, You're never alone. And it's always a constant learning process. And you guys busy with Yeah, absolutely. We're busy we have, you know, it's not like we have to dedicate an hour every single day to do this. You have a time gap, you go ahead and do it. It's not time consuming. It's really fun. And you know, instead of watching TV, that's what you can do. Yeah. So you guys are making time I'm sure you you got your wife and your kids and everything and you guys were neither one yet for both of us. But inshallah God bless you. You guys are married yet.

Swish Shaquille, he's got to work on making this happen. Everybody's Good to see you guys. So we got some development process.

Bless you, righteous wise. I mean,

I just wanted to have him with him before we go. A lot of this stuff I want to ask the last month of the bless the people behind the staff, the developers, the mentors, also, they spent a lot of the time they spent the blood, the sweat the tear into this program. And it really shows because the students really learn from this.

In the last minute that we have 30 seconds each, what would you like to say to those that are stuck at home playing the Xbox and many who are just wasting their time and not realizing the importance of purpose of life not really reflecting and sometimes you know, they come to Juma maybe Ramadan rolls around and they get involved and they step back but then they see you guys young guys you're not you know the you know 60 years old doing this you guys are young guys. you're motivated you know, you're excited. How can you How can we get them excited? Just a few words talk to us. Okay, so basically, for the Xbox are out there, it's fine to play soccer But listen, you gotta dedicate time

for you know, there's a certain time for certain things.

Whatever the things is, you're gonna feel an empty feeling in your life you know, you're missing something and that's what the Xbox is there. It's kind of trying to fill that void if you want to fill that void it's it's it's a lot it's not the Xbox so fine. You want to change your friends, your family that's okay. But at the end of the day, you have to focus that you have to realize you're going to die you're going to see a law and what are you going to say to him when you get there you know, you have to have something to back you up. Basically great advice and I would say you know to the brothers and sisters perhaps struggling out there no one is telling you to be an Imam. No one is

telling you to be right. Right off the bat a community leader starts off small so start off small, do something consistently and inshallah from this you know, you can develop yourself, realize it rewards you bless you in this life and hereafter. Thank you very much.

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