So I got to ask this Andrew so um you were in jail at a very difficult time cuz you went there through Ramadan right and you were fasting and you know they were you know just a terrible time to be you know obviously going yeah your first
Ramadan too um you converted to Islam a few months prior um shout out to Tam KH by the way he was a gracious host out there in Dubai um shout out to him uh can you take us through what led you to uh converting to Islam and how was that
First month uh your first Ramadan in prison you talk about fraternity and brotherhood like I just described and there’s no bigger fraternity or Brotherhood than Islam that’s the bottom line of it it’s it doesn’t matter what color you are it doesn’t matter where you’re from you’re
All Brothers in Islam and it truly is a beautiful feeling and I think I came on your show and spoke my respect for Islam before I reverted I’d have respected it for a very long time and I think if you’re truly a religious person and you
Do believe in God you’re going to see the attractions of Islam I’ve had conversations with very devout very strict Christians and when I talk to them they debate Christianity versus Islam against me and it’s quite a friendly debate but when I say aren’t you jealous of the fact that we stick up
For what we believe in and you Christians allow yourself to be mocked endlessly I see in their eyes they’re infuriated everyone is jealous of the fact that Islam means what it says and says what it means unapologetically because that’s a masculine trait it’s A Warrior’s religion and if you’re a
Warrior and you want to say what you mean and mean what you say you’re going to feel massive respect for Islam and I respected it for a long time and I guess if you respect something long enough you end up believing in it and the conversion comes afterwards and my
Ramadan was in jail I I don’t know if this is completely true and I don’t want to talk like an Islamic scholar cuz I’m not but if you’re at war or if you’re in a particularly difficult scenario you don’t have to fast but I decided to fast
Anyway and to respect it and I got my meals and I was given my three meals a day and I would pick out the bits of food that was edible and I would cover it up with a little piece of plastic and I would sit there all day long with the
Plastic over my paper plate and flick the brought roaches and flies and make sure nothing touched it until until it came time to eat I didn’t eat before Sunrise cuz I didn’t have food Before Sunrise I could only eat once a day when the sun went down and uh it was quite a
Beautiful feeling I read the entire as much of the Quran as I could I don’t know if I finished the entire thing in that month but I finished the entire thing in jail and between reading the Quran and protecting my food I I felt very fulfilled during that month it was
Probably one of the easiest months in jail Ramadan I yeah I felt fulfilled I knew what I had to do I had to pray I had to read the Quran I had to protect my food I had to make sure there wasn’t insects in it by the time it came to eat
I eventually got to eat it with my brother and we sat there and we ate it and it was quite a fulfilling time I was very sad when it ended I was very I was genuinely sad when Ramadan ended and I was still in that jail so did did Islam
Help you stay strong and in jail I would open the Quran on random pages every day I would just open it and I’d find a quote which I found applicable to the situation I was in so I would leave it up to chance but I guess God was trying
To give me particular messages and every single time I opened that book there was a passage or a message on the page I randomly selected that made me feel better every single time and the best one and my favorite one is my favorite in the whole Quran so far is just
Because you say you believe does not mean Alla will not test you um you’re a Believer does not mean your life gets easy absolutely not just because you just because you say you believe does not mean you will not be tested and I saw as a test I actually saw the fact
That I went to jail quite quickly after my reversion almost I was going to ask you about that as a test do I really believe and that’s why I decided to respect Ramadan am I going to just throw it all out the window because my life’s
Gotten hard or am I going to stick to what I said I believe in and show that I believe truly and God was watching and God was paying attention as was I and I feel very fortunate to have spent remad joil do you know the story of Job in the
Bible I do but you can tell it for the con
source
