Transcription
In this video, we will be going through a role play of a full conversation from the beginning all the way to the end. The brother who will be helping us with this is actually a brother from Poland who took his Shahada a few years ago.
Now, here you will notice that in this conversation, we're going to basically be going through the best-case scenario as someone who is actually agreeing with every single thing that we are saying throughout the conversation, all the way till the end. What he actually takes his Shahada by the end of the video.
Now, there are two points that I want you to pay attention to here. The first one is, although here in this scenario, we're going with the best-case scenario of someone already agreeing, in case the person in front of us does not agree with any of the points, we will already learn what to do in the next module, the "What If" module.
The second thing is, when it comes to the invitation part to the Shahada taking moment, you will notice that the person there is going to actually be providing a bit of resistance and providing different arguments. But I'm not sure, should I be able to do it? But I come from another country. This is not my religion. This is not my culture. And we want basically to show you what kind of arguments we use and how we deal actually with this scenario, as well as we already discussed in other videos. So please pay attention to this conversation, and we hope you'll find a lot of benefit in it.
Bismillah. Welcome. Hi, how are you? Thank you. We are most volunteers here. We share with people free information about the mosque and Islam. Where do you come from? Nice meeting you. Is this your first time here, or you have been here before?
It's my first time actually in Turkey. Do you like it so far? Which mosque did you visit before this one?
Okay. The tourist attraction here. Very nice, very big, very impressive. Which one do you like more, this one or Hagia Sophia? You can be honest.
Better. It's, um, the other one is a bit more touristy. It's more quiet as well, right? Exactly. This is my favorite mosque as well. This actually is one of the biggest historical mosques in Istanbul. It actually takes about 8,000 people during prayer time, and you should see it when it's full. Actually, when you come to these mosques, there's always something that makes this mosque special, right? Like you notice when we come here, we always start by taking our shoes off. Do you know why we take our shoes off?
Just to keep this nice carpet clean. Exactly. It's the concept of cleanliness, actually. But the point behind it is that when we think about its cleanliness, we don't look at it only as physical cleanliness. We look at it as spiritual cleanliness as well. If you don't, it's actually when you are coming from outside, there's these like water taps with people washing their hands, face, arms, etc. So before the prayer, we do that because also it's the concept of cleanliness, both physically and spiritually.
So, for example, when you see someone, for example, washing their hands, we are told to remind ourselves, what did I use these hands for? Did I use them for good, to help others? Did they use them for bad, to to cause something bad for someone else? So you're always in this remembrance. And the beauty behind it, once you come inside the mosque, you come from that door, you always have these lines on the on the carpet. These lines on the carpet actually, once the prayer starts, people start filling these lines from the beginning all the way to the end. And when people stand on these lines to pray, they actually stand shoulder to shoulder next to each other. It's like one family, basically. That once you touch the person next to you, like regardless of where you come from, basically, once you come from that door, if you are rich or poor, black or white, young or old, it doesn't matter. You come first and you start filling these lines one by one. That's why actually, when we speak about this cleanliness, it's not only removing the the dirt from your shoes, but it's also actually removing that dirt from the heart as well, that we are all equal before God. That's one of the main ideas behind it.
Okay, that's interesting. I would never have thought about that, but it makes sense. I'm happy to hear this, actually. Another interesting thing, maybe that you have noticed here. Actually, let me ask you this. Like, when you would come to the mosque, what is one thing that you would have expected to see on the walls of the mosque, but you cannot see here?
Pictures of holy people. Exactly. Exactly. Like no pictures, no images. Do you know why we have no pictures and images?
No. Okay. So you notice that we don't have pictures and images, but instead of this, we have all these writings, calligraphy, right? So you see all the writings. You see up there, these are all verses from the Quran in Arabic. But you see the big circles, right? You said you went to Hagia Sophia, right? You remember the huge circles there? These are actually the same as well. These are names, not verses. Okay. So you see the two at the center, right? Right. The one that you see on the right, when you read it in Arabic from right to left, it actually reads Allah. God. Did you hear this name before?
Sure. Yes. Exactly. So Allah is actually the way we refer to the one and only God. But we know, like, different people in different languages, those use different words to refer to God. Like you can say God in English, you can say Bog in Russian, you can say Dios in Spanish. How do you say God in Polish?
That's close to Russian, actually. Not far off. So the thing with it is that Allah is not the translation of the word God to Arabic. You notice there are actually about two billion Muslims all over the world. The majority of them don't even speak Arabic, like Muslims here in Turkey, in Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. Muslims in Europe, Muslims in America, Muslims in Africa, sometimes. But we all actually prefer to use the word Allah. The reason behind it is that actually the word Allah has a very unique name in Arabic. It has no gender form. It has no plural form. So it's not like, for example, God, goddess, or God, Gods. It's like when you say Allah, in a very pure way, you're referring to the one and only God. That's one of the main ideas behind it, actually. This is one of the reasons why we have no pictures and images inside the mosque, because we believe God is beyond our imagination. Like, think about it this way. Think about the most beautiful picture in the whole world. If I put it here, that picture will still have a color, a race, a face, a gender. No. I believe God is beyond all of this. We don't want to limit God with the limitation of what we can think of of a face, nose, and eyes, etc. That's why when I say Allah, I know that I'm not referring to a he or a she. I'm not referring to a plural. We're just referring to the one and only God. And when you say Allah, it's like you're referring to it in the most pure way possible. We refer to Allah because this is how I know God the most. No pictures, no images. I said, let me ask you this. What do you know about God?
Well, I mean, what I know is what I learned, I guess, from my culture, from my religion. But I don't really, this is not something really that I believe in. But I do believe in something higher power, I guess. Yes, something higher than us, than this world. But do I believe what the church says? Not really. And so I don't know. I'm kind of not sure.
Okay. No, that's fine. I mean, one of the things actually behind believing in one and only God is, we want to know more about God. That's the main idea behind it. Because yes, we know that there is something bigger. We know that there is something much above everything that we know in the universe. Actually, the way we know about God, we know God is one and only, who created us and the whole universe. Has no beginning, no end, no father, no son, and there is nothing like God. Because at the end of the day, I think one of the problems in the world is that when we don't have the concept of God in a pure way, it starts being something that actually corrupts the whole thing. The main idea of believing in one and only God in this pure way, no pictures, no images, is that it becomes something that actually brings us together. Believing in one and only God rather than being something that divides us. Because think about it this way. Like if I am told to draw a picture of God, then me myself, I'll be basing that based on my culture, on what I saw in my life before, and probably that picture of God who looks something more suitable for me, not you. If you do it, you do the picture, it's gonna be more like you. If they do the pictures, it's gonna be more like them. But then, no, the whole idea behind believing in one and only God is that He's the one who created all of us together. The God that I talk to and I'm here is the same God that you talk to and you are in Poland, the same God that they talk to when they are in Russia, at the same time when they are in China. Because this is one and only God. That's the main idea behind it, actually.
Usually the question comes, how do we know who that God is? Which is, I mean, I usually sometimes like think about it this way. Like, let's say that I want to do business with you, okay? I don't know you, we just met. But I ask people about you, and they tell me, this guy, he's actually like one meter 80 centimeters tall, he is with like a red beard and with like blue eyes and whatever. This is not very helpful for me to do business with you. But if they tell me, actually, this guy is a very honest guy, he's a truthful guy, you can trust this guy, don't worry about it, he's not gonna cheat on you or whatever. That's what I need to know. Now, the same thing with God. It is not about the physical thing, because we know God is beyond our imagination. We can never limit God with what we can think of. But actually, it's about how does God deal with us. That's why there's a very beautiful concept in Islam. It's called the 99 names of God. It's like, you know, when we meet each other as human beings, what's the first thing we ask each other about our names? Usually. Which actually reminds me, I forgot to ask you about your name. What's your name?
My name is Greg. Greg. Abdullah. Very nice to meet you. I should have asked you before. That's fine. So actually, the thing with it is the same thing with God. God introduces himself in the Quran with 99 names. And these 99 names of God, actually, they're like, God is the most merciful, the most loving, the most beautiful, the most powerful, the all-knowing, the most just, the all-hearing, the all-seeing. 99 of them, basically. So this is how we know about God. Did you actually read any parts of the Quran before?
Actually, that's very interesting. Because when you see the first chapter of the Quran, let me actually show you here. So I have like on the phone, you can probably see it from here. So when you see here, the first chapter of the Quran, this is the first page of the Quran when you open it from here. So it opens from right to left. So this is the first chapter. You see, this is like the Polish translation. So you see it says, "By the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful." Right? So God's. This is the first thing when you open the Quran. And this is one of the most repeated names in the Quran, that God is the most merciful. So God keeps telling us that He's a God of mercy. Now, think about it this way. For us as human beings, we also can be merciful. Like a mother can be merciful for her son, or this is the thing that we think about the most. When you say mercy, think about it this way. Let's say you and your friend, and you are a merciful person. Let's say your friend comes to you and they make a mistake for the first time, and they tell you, "Sorry, I didn't mean it." Will you forgive them? First time, right? Let's say tomorrow, the same friend, same mistake again. Will you still forgive them?
I will try. It becomes a bit harder. Now, think about it this way. Third time, fourth time, hundredth time. Will you still forgive them?
All right. Please. Have a limit. As human beings, when we say God is the most merciful, there is no limit to God's mercy. For us as human beings, we are not angels. We keep doing mistakes. But what makes us special, actually, is that always we have this choice after making a mistake. Do I insist on it, or do I go and ask and repent? The main idea behind it, actually, is that God keeps that door of mercy always open for us. No matter how much we make of these mistakes, God is always there. We can always take a step back, and we can always ask for forgiveness. All of this, Greg, is actually one of the 99 names of God. Imagine how it is when you know about more and more and more and more. But the most beautiful thing behind it, and the most important thing, actually, in Islam, is that the relation between you and God should always be a direct one-to-one relation with no one in the middle. You remember when I talked about people praying shoulder to shoulder? Yeah. So when the prayer starts here together in the mosque, one person will take one step forward, the Imam leading the prayer. Okay? Now, the beautiful thing about Islam is that that Imam is not a special person. I can be the Imam. My friend can be the Imam. If you know how to pray, you know how to be the Imam. Why? Because we don't believe that there is any hierarchy in that sense between us and God. If God creates us all, God gives us all an equal chance to reach Him. So the most important thing behind it is that no matter what you do, we believe in one and only God, and that relation between you and God should always be a one-to-one relation with no one in the middle. There is no Imam in the middle, no priest in the middle, no Pope in the middle. Because we believe the minute we start putting people between us and God, corruption starts. The whole thing just goes down. It doesn't work this way.
Sure. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah, that makes sense for sure. Okay, I'm happy to hear this. So all of this that I told you about so far, that was the first circle, right? Now you have the second circle there. It's also another name. Actually, let me ask you, do you have a guess what whose name do you think will be up there?
God? Your prophet? You know the name. Exactly. Muhammad, the prophet, the messenger. Actually, for Muslims, we believe Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the last prophet and messenger that was sent to deliver the message from God. But the interesting thing, actually, is that Muhammad is a human being. He's not God. He's not Son of God. He's a human being. What makes him special? He was the last one chosen by God to deliver this message to humanity. The nice thing is, actually, to be Muslims, it is not enough to believe only in Muhammad, peace be upon him. To be Muslims, we have to believe in all the prophets and messengers together. And that's actually a long list. For Muslims, we start way from the beginning with Adam, peace be upon him. You know Adam as in Christianity also? Is that like Adam and Eve? Right? Adam, peace be upon Noah. You know Noah with the ark? Yeah. Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, David, Solomon, John, Zachariah, Jesus. How do you say Jesus in Polish?
Yes. Actually, we say Isa in Arabic. The same. Yes. Yes. That's Jesus, peace be upon him. And Muhammad, peace be upon all of them. The idea behind believing in all of them together is that we believe there is only one God. We are one humanity. So it is one message. And we believe this message did not start with the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. We believe it started way from the beginning with Adam, peace be upon him. And then every prophet and messenger came to continue and complete the same message, one after the other. They came to continue it, actually, one after the other. That's why for us, we don't look at it as Muhammad versus Jesus or versus Moses. We'll look at it much more like Muhammad after Jesus, after Moses, after Abraham, after Noah, peace be upon all of them. The main idea behind it here is that we don't believe that if God wanted to divide us, God will be saying, "Okay, this is the religion for China, this is for Russia, this is for the Middle East, this is for Latin America." It doesn't work this way. One God, one humanity, this message. And we believe the beauty of this message is that each one of them came actually to continue and complete it and to emphasize it. The way actually we look at all these people, Greg, we look at them like role models. And all of them, look at them as human beings, not gods, not sons of God. Because think about it this way. Like if if Jesus was God, I cannot be like God. But if he was a human being like me, I try my best to be like him. If Moses, peace be upon him, was an angel, I cannot be like an angel. But if he was a human being like me, I tried my best to be like him. That's why we look up to them like role models. Like for me, as a Muslim, I want to be like Muhammad, peace be upon him, like Jesus, peace be upon him, like Moses, peace be upon him. Because what they were known for, actually, is coming with this one and only message. And their lifestyle was a very good lifestyle with good characters, good manners, caring about others, trying to make this world a better place basically to live and for everyone. That's the main idea behind it. And this simple, one and only message that they are all have been coming with, it's actually done something very complicated. It's not some, it's not rocket science. You don't need like PhDs to understand and to and to figure out what it is. It's actually something that brings us all together. Do you know what this message is? Do you have a guess?
Probably to believe in God, to obey Him.
Jack, that's a very good educated guess. I have to say, Greg, I didn't see this coming at all. That's very good. What we get kind of from the church, but this is the main message I always took out from the religion from the church. So exactly. Right. Actually, exactly. It is what you said. It's believing in one and only God and doing goodness. Because we believe that's what brings us all together. But when I say believing in one and only God, is in that sense that I told you, in a very pure way, and having no one between you and God, no pictures, no images for God. It's a very pure form. Because we believe the minute we start putting our human intervention in this, the whole thing collapses. The whole thing goes down. Otherwise, it becomes a tool of power. It becomes a tool of making this an institution, institutionalizing this or that. That's not what we want at the end of the day. What makes this message thing is that it's a very simple and pure message. Believing in one and only God is a direct relation between you and God. And then by obeying God, you basically do goodness that God tells you to do. That's the main idea behind it. That's why actually we believe in all these prophets and messengers together, because every single time after one of the prophets and messengers, people would deviate. So God will send another prophet and messenger to confirm, to bring people back to the right path, until it continues with Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Actually, there's an interesting thing because just like we are supposed to believe in all the prophets and messengers, we also are supposed to believe in all the books that were given to these prophets and messengers, all the scriptures. So for Muslims, we do believe in a gospel that was given to Jesus, a Torah that was given to Moses, Psalms to David, scrolls to Abraham, peace be upon all of them. And of course, the last word of God, the Quran, that was given to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Now, you see, for Muslims, today we don't read the Bible. We read the Quran. Actually, there are two things that make the Quran special. The first one is, we believe the Quran is the last word from God. So it's the most updated form of this message. The second thing, which is actually very important, is actually the preservation of the Quran. We believe that the Quran that we have today is the same Quran that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, had more than 1,400 years ago, preserved in its original language, in Arabic. And we don't only think this, we know this is the case because there are both manuscripts that we have in museums that we can go and check, and they come back to the first century of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But actually, more importantly, Greg, I think you're going to like this one. Is actually there is this beautiful concept called the memorization of the Quran. In the life of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, not everyone did have like, there is no printing. So not everyone has a copy of the Quran. So what people actually were doing at that time, around the Prophet, peace be upon him, there were actually many of them memorizing the whole Quran. Did you know that today, in 2023, we have millions of people all over the world who memorized the whole Quran? All of it. The whole thing. From the first verse in the first chapter all the way to the last verse of the last chapter. More than 600 pages in Arabic. That's a lot. Yes. And people do it. You don't have to do it to be a Muslim, but a lot of people can just do it. Of course, it's not normal to be memorizing a full book. But we believe this is the last word of God. And the beauty behind it, like, let's say when you come pray down, you'll see the Imam reciting some verses from the Quran. The thing with that is that even when he's reciting, if he makes one small mistake, people can catch him. So today, even if we want to change the Quran, we cannot change the Quran with millions of people memorizing the Quran all over the world. And that's something that's very precious for us because that's actually what keeps the purity of the message. Like all the things that I told you about so far, if I put human intervention in it, we can change it. But we know it is not changed. That message is pure as it is. Still moving. And the beauty behind it, Greg, is that if God wants, God can have like a bit Quran on the sky that no one can touch. But God actually chooses to preserve this book, to save this book in the hearts of those who believe in it. That's what makes it special. And people who memorize it come from all over the world, even people who don't speak Arabic sometimes also are able to memorize the whole Quran. Because actually, this, like, remember, actually, we believe in all the prophets and messengers, etc. When you think about it, like, usually the names of religion, usually religions are named after a person or a tribe or a place or a nation, etc. Like, think about it this way. Like, um, Christianity, the word Christianity comes from the word Christ, Jesus, peace be upon him. Judaism, the tribe of Judah. Hinduism, the Hindus River, India. Buddhism, Buddha. This is not [ __ ] it is not Arabianism, it is not Turkianism, it is not Pakistanism. It is Islam. Do you know what the word Islam actually means in Arabic?
No. I I've heard something about peace, something like this.
You have very good guesses so far. That's very good. Actually, do you know how people say greet each other on the streets here? Did you hear this one before? Assalamu alaikum. Right? Means peace be with you. Okay. Assalam. Islam. It actually comes from the same root in Arabic. It actually means submission and peace. So it is the peace that someone has in his heart when he submits his will to God. Because we believe in this life, there are things that we can control, there are things that we cannot control. We are supposed to do our best in what we can control, and then we leave the rest to God. Once you really have this in your life, you really know what it is, the real true peace inside your heart. That's why actually, for Muslims, we believe Muhammad, peace be upon him, was a Muslim. Jesus, peace be upon him, was a Muslim. Virgin Mary, peace be upon her, was a Muslim. Moses, peace be upon him, was a Muslim. Abraham, peace be upon him, was a Muslim. They were all Muslims, peaceful people, submitting their will to God, having this one message, believing in one and only God, and doing goodness. That's the main idea behind it.
That makes sense. I mean, it's never thought about it that way before, but that's like all together, it makes a makes sense. Makes sense. I'm really happy to hear this. Look, I'll be very honest with you in this, because I think I said I told you this already, it is not complicated. It is not rocket science. If God is God, then it's not going to be something that's only for a few elite amount of people to be able to reach and understand. If God creates us all, then God gives us all this equal chance to be able to reach Him. That's all. You believe the message is very simple. Sometimes we as human beings, we make it complicated. We try to put things in the middle, side, putting institutions in the middle, people in the middle, whatever in the middle. But no, if God creates us all, God gives us all the same chance to be able to reach Him. Actually, you remember when I told you about the names of all the prophets? I think the majority of them, you already heard about them before. Yeah, right? Sure. Yeah. Like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, peace be upon all of them. And actually, when you read the stories of some of them in the Quran, sometimes you can actually see a difference in the story. One of the most interesting examples for this, actually, is the story of Adam and Eve. You know the story of Adam and Eve, right? Like, God creates Adam, don't eat from the tree, they eat from the tree, God gets angry, punishes us, we all come here. That's like the story in a nutshell. That's the story we see from movies, from the Bible, etc. Actually, when you read that story in the Quran, there is something that's very interestingly different there. In the Quran, the story actually starts before God creates Adam. God is talking to the angels, and God tells the angels, "I will create Adam as a representative on Earth." Angels ask, "Why? Why will you create someone who's gonna shed blood and cause corruption?" If you think about it, that's a huge question. That's a very big question because this is a very existential question that we have throughout history. Like, why does, like, God knows that we're going to be doing all of this. Look around you today, we are shedding blood, angels and corruption. And angels are asking exactly this question. And what I love the most about this question, Greg, is that the Quran doesn't hide away from it. The Quran doesn't say, "Okay, let's just forget about it, don't think about this, just continue, move on." The Quran starts the story with this big question. This story is probably page five or six in the Quran. It's like the beginning of the Quran. And still, you see it very way in the beginning of the story. Then the story continues, and God says, "I know what you don't know." Then God creates Adam. God teaches Adam. Then a very interesting thing happens. God tells the angels to bow down before Adam. Now, you know the concept of going down in any religion, in any culture, when someone bows down before someone, it means that some more superior creation, that's a more special creation. So the question usually is, what is the thing that makes us, me and you, human beings, more special than angels? Good question. You have a guess? Just have a guess. What do you think?
Okay. That's a good guess. Not the right one, but that's a good one. Actually, one of the things that makes us special as human beings are actually two things. We have this ability of cumulative knowledge of keep learning one after the other. And based on that knowledge comes the second thing, which is the free choice that we have. So angels are that perfect creation of God. They do whatever God tells them to do. If God tells them, "Go right," they go right. "Go left," they go left. For us as human beings, based on this knowledge that we have and the learning that we have, we have this test of having a free choice. We can choose to say yes, or we can choose to say no. That's the main idea behind it. And that comes with a huge responsibility, if you think about it. That's why actually, when the story continues, and God tells Adam and Eve, "Don't eat from the tree," and they eat from the tree. For us, actually, this is not the first original sin that changes history. No. For us, this is the first free choice that they take. And then God tells them, "Now you're ready. Now the story starts. Now you go to Earth." So, Greg, it looks like a small difference, but it actually changes the whole thing. Because for us, this life is not a punishment from God. It's a gift from God. It's a test from God. That's why when we are born here in this life, no one gets baptized because you come here pure. Then you grow up, and you start making your decisions, good or bad. That's why we don't have this concept of confession, because it's a direct relation between you and God. That's why we don't have the concept of Jesus dying for our sins, because you already come pure here, and it is your choices and your decisions, and then it's between you and God. As you see, it looks like a small difference, but it can affect a lot of things around you here. It changes the whole perspective we see the world around us. It was the first choice. It was the first time they sinned, they did something that God told them not to do. And God there teaches them what to do when that happens, which is basically, you ask for forgiveness. And if you are sincere between you and God, God forgives you. That's why for Muslims, we never refer to the story as the story of original sin. Actually, sometimes we refer to the story as the story of original forgiveness, because this was the first time we took a free choice, and this was the first time God told us what to do when we take such free choices. That's the main idea behind it.
That's a big difference. To say it's a small thing, but I've never heard this before. I never would have guessed that, like, Muslims actually believe something so close to to what the Christians believe because it seems like very far. They seem very far from each other. And what you're saying, it seems like it makes a lot of sense and it's actually close. Just all the bad things seem to be missing from this belief, to be honest with you.
It is. It is the pure message. We believe whatever it is you are hearing from me is the pure message of Jesus, peace be upon him, is the pure message of Moses, peace be upon him, of Muhammad, peace be upon him. It's just when you basically remove the human intervention out, when you keep that pure message from God, that's what it sounds like. And actually, one of the things that you probably have seen where animals, you probably have seen even sometimes people praying, right? And this even concept of prayer is one of the things that keeps that pure relation between you and God in a very direct way. Like, you see when people are praying, you see people more like standing up, bowing down, more like a physical activity. When I say prayer in English, what comes to my mind more is more like talking to God. Here, you see it more like an activity, basically. Actually, there are two different words in Arabic that are kind of mistranslated both to English as prayer. The first one is called Dua. Usually, Muslims will do like this, even without the hands, you can just talk to God directly. No specific time, no specific form, no specific movements, no specific language. You can be thanking God, talking to God, asking God for something, whatever it is. But this one that you see here, five times every day, in specific time, in specific form, in Arabic, actually, it's called Salah, which literally translates to English as connection, communication. The idea behind this one is that at the end of the day, Greg, we're all human beings. No matter how religious we get, we we never, it's like we don't only think always about God. Sometimes we think about love, money, work, study, whatever it is. But with five times every day, it kind of keeps you in continuous remembrance of God. Like sometimes I'm working, I'm studying, my head is blowing up, and suddenly you hear it. Believe what I'm doing, and I pray. You feel much more peaceful in a way. At the same time, you feel much stronger, because if God is with me, then what's going to happen? It is as if five times every day, God is telling you, "Stand up, it's not over. Just do your best. Just continue." And the beauty behind it is, like, just like our physical bodies need food, we need to eat two times, three times a day, whatever. Our souls, our spirits, sometimes just need a bit of time out. I need something to nurture them as well. This is what the prayer does. And let me tell you this, once you get used to it in your life, it becomes hard to imagine your life without it. It becomes such an important part of your life, because it is the thing that's keeping that communication directly between you and God. That's the base. That's the most important thing behind it. All this practical side of Islam, whether it is with the prayer, because there are like some things that Muslims need to do. So the prayer, five times every day, giving an annual amount of charity, fasting in Ramadan, you might have heard actually about Ramadan, there is pilgrimage that Muslims do, you do it once in your lifetime if we're physically and financially able. All of these things, basically, one of the main ideas behind them is to keep this strong sense of community. But most importantly, is to keep that pure relation to you and God. That's the main idea behind it. It is basically something that's supposed to make us better human beings, actually. You remember I told what the verses up there? So one of the verses you see there, it actually talks about the prayer. It basically says, "Prayer is supposed to prevent you from doing badness." So if you are praying, you're doing the movements, but after the prayer, you're not being a better person, then there's something wrong with your prayer. If you're doing your fasting, but then you keep hurting people, doing something bad in the community, there's something wrong with the fasting. So all of these things, they keep that pure relationship between you and God, and they are supposed to be basically training us and reminding us to be able to be better people, basically, in this world. That's the main idea behind it.
Makes sense. That makes sense. I wouldn't have made that connection before. You, I think, explain it so, so simply that it's just kind of all comes together. I'm very happy to hear this. Thank you.
So, actually, let me tell you this. Like, if you think even about the prayer, like, if someone does the movements of the prayer without believing in what Muslims believe in, they don't just become Muslims by doing this. Because it is not the movements only that makes it special. It is what you have inside. Because I believe when I'm praying, I'm talking to God directly. So actually, there is this concept. I'm not sure if you heard about it before. It's called the six pillars of faith. These are the six things that Muslims believe in. Anyone who believes in these six things, then they already have whatever it takes to be able to call themselves Muslim. Did you hear about this before? So I'll count them for you now. Please, as I'm counting, if you have any question, feel free to ask in the middle. Okay?
Sounds good. So the first one is believing in one and only God. Not two Gods, not three Gods, not hundred Gods, not me God, not you God, not Sun God, not Moon God, not Muhammad God, not Jesus God. One and only God who created us and the whole universe. Has no beginning, no end, no father, no son, and there is nothing like God. No pictures, no images. The one and only God that we all know. The 99 names of God. That's how we know this God. And the most important thing behind it here, Greg, is that the relation between us and God is a one-to-one direct relation with no one in the middle. The minute we start putting people between us and God, the whole thing goes down. So that's number one. Does this make sense to you?
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That just connects to like the kind of idea I think, but it specifies it more of what I had about God and this higher power. It makes sense.
Exactly. That's the main idea behind it. The second thing is, you'll probably also know this one, because we believe just like God created us, God also created other creatures like the angels. So you remember in the story of Adam and Eve, I told her about the angels? You know the angels like Michael, Gabriel, etc. Yes. And actually, the idea behind believing in the angels, we believe they are they are this perfect creation of God. They do whatever God tells them to do. What makes us special as human beings is that we have this test of free choice, based on the learning and the knowledge that we have. That's the main idea behind it. By believing in other creatures, we basically are very humbled in front of before God, because we know God didn't only create us. God already has angels that are much greater than us. Like, if all humanity doesn't believe, this doesn't make anything less of God, because there are already all other creatures. If God wanted, He can make us angels. But what makes us special is that we choose. That's the main idea behind it. So that's the second one. The third one is that to be Muslims, we have to believe in all the prophets and messengers, as I told you already, from Adam, peace be upon him, all the way till Muhammad, peace be upon him, including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, peace be upon all of them. As I told you, the idea behind it, we believe they are all human beings. They are not gods, they are not sons of God. And we look up to them as role models. We want to follow their example of their manners, of their modesty, of their trustworthiness, of all of these good things. And we believe the core of this message, Greg, that they all came with, is the same one and only message: Believe in One and Only God and do goodness. That's the main idea behind it. Does this make sense to you?
It does. It makes sense. Right. And there are, they are not Gods, they're not sons of God. As I told you already, if Jesus was a God, I cannot be like God. But if he's a human being, I'll try my best to be like him. The same thing. If there are angels, no. If we were angels here, God would send an angel. But we are human beings, so God sends this message with human beings. So that's the third one. The fourth one is actually, we believe in all the books that were given to them. As I told you already, we believe in a gospel that was given to Jesus, Torah that was given to Moses, etc. It's certainly believe, of course, the last word of God, the Quran, has given to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Now, as I told you, we don't read any of the other books, because we believe what we have today is not the original that was there with Jesus, peace be upon him, or Moses, peace be upon him. We believe there was a lot of human intervention in the middle, a lot with other people involved, getting involved, a lot of translations in the middle, a lot of human beings like me and you sitting there and deciding what to be and what to be out. When it comes to the Quran, we know this is the pure, unchanged word of God. You remember the story of Adam and Eve that I told you? What makes it special is the same Adam, same Eve. What makes it special is that you were able to listen to the pure version of that story. That's the main idea behind it. It wasn't my version of the story, it was what God told us basically in a very pure way. That's the main idea behind it. Yeah. Does this make sense so far?
Yeah. So that's number four. Do you remember the four that I said already? Let's try.
God. Okay. Angel. Angels. Okay. People. Prophets. Exactly. See. Books that were given to them. Four. So number five, we believe in the afterlife. We believe that after we die, God will be bringing us up all once again, and God will be judging us based on two things: based on faith and good deeds. So faith without good deeds doesn't work. Good deeds without faith doesn't work. It has to be together. So you cannot just go to God and tell Him, "I believed, but I killed 100 people. Up in heaven." It doesn't work this way, because this faith is supposed to make us better people as well. Think about it this way. Like, we know in this life, what makes us special is that we have free choice. I, in this life, I can choose to do good. I can choose to do bad. I can choose to be a doctor saving people's life every other day, or I can choose to be a murderer killing people every other one. But if every single time I do something bad, God comes and stops me, then there is no free choice anymore, right? The main idea behind is that we choose. But there, on the afterlife, that's where basically we see the results of whatever choices we make. Because on that day, everyone will be there. I will be there, you will be there, Hitler will be there, Obama will be there, Putin will be there, everyone will be there. And the beauty behind it is that basically, that's where we see the results of what we did, of faith and good deeds together. So there we have, there is of course, this concept of hell and heaven. So that's number five. Does this make sense to you?
Yeah, consequences make sense. Makes sense.
Then there is only one left. Destiny. We believe in God's ultimate knowledge. We believe that yes, we have free choices in this life, but for us as human beings, whatever I choose to be, to do, I can never come to a point where I can surprise God. You can choose to do good, you can choose to do bad, you can choose to come here, you can choose not to come here, but we never surprise God, because God has an ultimate knowledge. It's the all-knowing, the all-hearing. If we are able to surprise God, then that's not God anymore, because God already knows what's going to happen. Why is this important in our life, Greg? Because think about it this way. In our life, we don't always have good things happening. Sometimes you have good days, sometimes you have bad days. Sometimes you are very happy, it's your graduation date. Sometimes you are very bad, you lost someone. But what I know is that in the in the best day of my life, I know that
The same God is there. He knows it was going to happen, and He's there for me to thank and ask for more blessings. And also, on the worst day of my life, that same exact God is still there. He already knows everything, and that God is there for me to ask for support and patience. That's when you have really true peace, when you know that you are never alone, in the happiest day of your life and in the worst day of your life.
That's why we don't pray only when we feel that we need God, because we know that we always are in need of God, and we are never alone, whatever it is that happens. Because at the end of the day, one of our missions in this world is to make this world a better place to live, and for everyone, for people who look like me, for people who don't look like me, for cats, dogs, animals, environments, everything.
Sometimes we feel that we cannot do much, but one thing that we believe is that you just do your best. God does not judge us only based on the result, but actually on the effort. When we go to the afterlife, God will not be asking you, "Why didn't you fix the world?" but God will ask you, "What did you do to try fixing it?" Just do your best, whatever your best is, I don't know, but you know, and most importantly, God knows. This is the main idea behind it: you do your best and you leave the rest.
So, these are the six pillars of faith, spirits of faith. Make sense to you? If you believe in them, then you already have whatever it takes to be a Muslim. Let me ask you this, do you believe in these six things? I mean, yeah, when you're talking about them, they make a lot of sense. Yeah, it makes sense. I could say I do. Yes, I think so. If you believe in these six things, Craig, then you already take what, that you already have whatever it takes to be able to call yourself a Muslim.
Actually, let me tell you this, do you know how someone actually becomes a Muslim? So, actually, for someone to become a Muslim, there is nothing like being baptized. No one comes and declares you Muslim. No, it's something between you and God directly. Something actually that you say. If you believe in it already, then you already become Muslim. It's something between you and God directly. It's an agreement between you and God. It is something we call the Declaration of Faith.
And actually, this sentence that I'm telling you about is something that you already heard. You have been hearing here a lot. It's something that they say actually in the five times prayer call every day. Even for us as Muslims, every single time we hear it, we repeat. We're refreshing our faith as well. That sentence says, "I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, and I bear witness Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Anyone who says this, believing in it, then they already have whatever it takes to be, then actually they become Muslims. You become part basically of a much bigger family.
And the thing with it, Greg, is that as you become part of this family, you start the never-ending journey between you and God. All the practical things of Islam, the prayer, etc. This starts the journey between you and God of self-improvement, bit by bit. Like, no one expects you to wake up in the morning and then suddenly know everything and know how to pray and know everything. It's a never-ending journey. And the beauty of this journey is that it never ends for you, never ends for me, because we know we are not angels. None of us is going to ever be perfect. Just about us always continuously improving ourselves, bit by bit, to reach basically closer and closer and closer.
Once someone becomes a Muslim, the beauty of this journey is that you are not on your own. You have all these people around you that are part of your journey. And most importantly, you have God with you on this journey. So, Greg, let me actually, actually ask you this question. Do you want here now, in this special moment, to say this sentence with me and start this journey and become a Muslim? Do you want to become a Muslim?
Everything you say is making sense, like a lot. And I think, I think I believe what you say. It's like, uh, seems like a big, big thing to do on a tourist journey, you know. And all of a sudden, I have to, I'm changing everything about my life. It's, uh, it's a lot to take in. It's a lot to to think about. Um, I mean, also, you know, I'm Polish, so I don't know, like, it's, it's a completely different culture, you know, from, and a lot to change, you know.
So, look, I'll be very open with you, okay? And I'm really, like, it's a very, like, I'm being very open with you and asking you this because it's something that's very direct, basically. And I'm gonna be very open with this because I think you remember when I told you about the meaning of the word Islam, yeah? And I told you it is not like [ __ ], it's not Arabianism, it's not Pakistanism, it's not whatever. Because a lot of times people think of religions like sometimes they think of like football clubs. Like if you support a football team, you are born with it, you die with it. If they win, you support. If they lose, you support. But the concept of religion is something that's much more. It is something actually that affects our eternal life as well.
The main point behind it is that you are now, Greg from Poland. If you become Muslim, you will still become Muslim, Greg from Poland. It has the main idea behind it. I have a lot of people, a lot of friends who actually, after they become Muslims, from Mexico, from Poland, from wherever, they still have their culture. That's fine. But basically, what you do is that you add that Muslim identity on it. That you know that by this, you actually are someone who can call themselves Muslim, a peaceful person submitting their will to God.
And let me tell you this, whatever it is that I was telling you today, it wasn't like it's something that you didn't know in your heart. Deep there, you already knew it was there. The only thing you knew today is that this thing that you already knew was the right thing in your heart. It is already there, and it is called Islam. And the beauty behind Islam is that this is not a name that we name ourselves. God names us this way. The people who are submitting their will to God, to The One and Only God.
And this message, Greg, is the message of Jesus, peace be upon him, or Virgin Mary, peace be upon her, of Moses, peace be upon him, of Muhammad, peace be upon him, peace be upon all of them. By taking this step, of course, you are basically saying, instead of watching from outside and saying, "Okay, this is something that's very nice," you're basically saying, "No, I'm gonna be from inside. I'm gonna, bit by bit, be improving myself." All the practical side of Islam is there, and bit by bit, bit by bit, you're going to be improving yourself in it. But instead of just watching from outside and saying, "Okay, this looks like something nice, but let me continue something else," it doesn't.
And actually, one last thing that I can tell you is that sometimes for us as human beings, when we want to take decisions, sometimes we say, "Okay, like this looks very nice, but I'll think about it tomorrow or the week after or the month after," and then becomes the year after, and then it passes. If you believe in these six things, you already have whatever it takes to be awesome. If you tell me that, no, you're like, you have questions on them or whatever, you can feel free to ask now, you can ask later. Whatever happens, you have a family here now in Istanbul.
But the main thing behind it is that if you already have this, then instead of watching from outside, you have it there already in your heart. And now you have the key in your hand. You can say this sentence, and you can start this journey of being a Muslim. So, let me ask you one more time, do you want us now, in this special moment and this special day, in the special place, to say this sentence together and start this journey together of becoming a Muslim? Do you want to be a Muslim?
That's all it takes. Just once you say the sentence, you are a Muslim. Nothing I have to do after. A relief or something after this. I'm gonna give you, of course, a lot of learning material, a lot of things. Bit by bit, you're going to be basically learning, improving yourself, and you're always going to have me with you to teach you, to help you, whatever it is you need. Do you remember all the practical side of Islam I told you, the prayer, the fasting, etc.? What we're going to do after this, bit by bit, we're going to start basically practicing these. It's enough what I know for what you've experienced. If you go now and read the whole Quran, read whatever the basic essence of Islam is, these six things. If you have them, you know that you can open the key. After you open the door, and you are inside, you keep starting on this never-ending journey of improvement.
Actually, there is, you know, the first chapter of the Quran. I showed you the first verse of it. There's a very beautiful verse there, and we read this chapter of the Quran every single time we do the five times prayer every day. That verse actually reads, "Guide us to the right path, guide us to the straight path." Now, if you think about it, people who are asking for this guidance, he's someone who's Muslim, who's a practicing Muslim, who's doing the prayer, who's reciting the Quran, and still he is asking for guidance. You should, you can be thinking like, "What guidance do you need? Like, you are already doing it all." But no, it's a never-ending journey. When you are a Muslim, you are inside. It's a never-ending journey of self-improvement, of learning, of always trying to keep on the right path. What you have now, by believing in the six pillars of faith, you basically have the ability to open this door. So, instead of watching from outside and saying, "Okay, I'm not sure." If you know that you believe in these six things, then you only have whatever it takes to be able to open this door and start this journey.
So, let me ask you, do you want us now to take the sentence, and you want to start the journey of becoming a Muslim? I mean, I, yeah, I think, I think I think I'd like to. But, okay, so you, how, how will I, how would I learn the words or what to say? So, basically, if you want to take the sentence now, what we'll do is that first, I will tell you the sentence in English. We can say it together, and then, word by word, I will tell you in Arabic. Okay, let's do it together. And by the way, you do the sentence, you basically will become a Muslim. Let's do it together. So, repeat after me: "I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, and I bear witness, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger, is the messenger of Allah." Now we're going to say the same thing in Arabic. "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasool Allah." Congratulations, Greg. You just became a Muslim.
It feels pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. Wow. It's so simple to. Wow. Wow. Thank you very much. How do you feel? How is it different? I feel fresh. I live in a new world now. It's amazing. Just like this. You're, this is destiny. See, when you came from this door today, I didn't know I was going to meet you. We didn't know this was going to happen. But we know that these things don't happen as coincidence. They happen all part of destiny. I'm very happy that we met. I'm very happy that I told you every single thing I said. And at the end of the day, it was something between you and God. Whatever it is that I told you, I didn't feel like I'm telling you something new to you. Like, or do you know it in your heart that this was the right thing. The main idea behind is the purity of the message. And now you are on this journey. You are a Muslim. You call yours, you are now Greg with a Muslim. When you go to the street and say, "As-salamu alaykum," they'll tell you, "Wa alaykum as-salam," too. Because now you are part of a very big family of two billion Muslims all over the world. Now it's like exactly like a new page in your life. All your previous sins or whatever you did in your life before is all forgiven. It's like you're opening a new page of your life. And now, bit by bit, we're gonna start basically on this journey.
How do you feel? It's a lot. It's a lot. But like, it feels, it feels like this is the right decision. And it's going to be different from now on. I'm very happy you're saying this. Thank you so much. I never would have thought that. I thank you. I always keep telling people when we meet here, these things, God sends you to me, God sends me to you. It's a very beautiful thing that happened. If you want now, actually, we have a center just close by. It's like one minute walk. I want, let's go there together. I want to give you like a small gift, like some things that basically will help you as well on this journey. Let's go there together. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.