The Islamic Bulletin Volume X IX No. 24 Page 7 could not take his Shahada and the Prophet Mohammad (Salla Lahu ‘alaihi Wa-Salaam) asked him, you know, say it, say it. Then the Prophet Mohammad (Salla Lahu ‘alaihi Wa-Salaam) said, is there a problem between you and your mother. So, the Prophet Mohammad (Salla Lahu ‘alaihi Wa-Salaam) called for his mom, and they reconciled and then he was able to say the Shahada. So I fear that if I don’t treat my mother good and my grandmother good, and the woman in my family good, that Allah might block my tongue from saying the Shahada. Q: What do you think is the most important aspect Islam has to offer Americans and Latinos. A: The most important aspect Islam has to offer is the true connection with Jesus Christ and the conquest of self. Once you begin to recognize spiritual diseases, there are ways Islam provides for you to fix yourself. You can become a better father, and become a better person. And that is really big in Latino culture…family. Q: Exactly. Could you tell us a few things about your new movie and your plans for the future? A: “The New Muslim Cool” is a documentary about my life, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z0q3Yikuns after I made hijra from Massachusetts to Pittsburg. I learned to have a lot more respect and understanding for people who choose to follow organized religion, whether it’s Islam or Christianity or Judaism (or another path). And we all definitely changed by working so closely together for three years, learning to accept more and more that we can all be so different and yet have so much in common. All of us on the crew and production team – Muslim, Jewish, Christian, atheist, Latino, black, white, South Asian –gained new friendships and deep new levels of trust for each other. Maybe that can be on some microcosmic level what we could do as a society or even a world, if we could just be able to see each other as fully and completely human despite coming from different religions or cultures or economic classes. It is about the work that I do in the community with the young members and the work that I do in the jails. Our mosque was raided by the FBI. They never really gave an excuse why they raided it. Since we had given lots of Dawa in our neighborhood and treated our non- Muslim neighbors, good we did not even have to speak. Our neighbors came outside and spoke to the media on our behalf. So, it was very positive. We feel like the raid from the FBI was really fromAllah. Q: And your visits here in California, I heard that you had a great success on your visit to the school in Pacifica, could you talk about that? A: Oh, yeah, that was amazing. I have never experienced youth so open to change and so open to Islam. We just connected on a humanity level. That’s something that Islam has broken me out of the chains of. Latinos—we give lots of labels…If someone’s fat, we call them gordso, if someone is skinny, we call them flaco; if they’re black, we call them negro. We always have these titles and labels for people. Islam has allowed me to look past people’s skin and the physical and look at them as souls and opportunities to get closer to God. So we just connected on a humanity tip, on a young people level…from one young person to another young person, and it was an excellent vibe. Q: How about singing your music, how about your music career…could you tell us a little bit about it? A: Yeah, we got two new albums about to come out and one just came out in February. It’s available on iTunes. And, you know, we have nice non-Muslim fan base and a Muslim fan base. We try to do the music to address certain issues that we face as people, so our music has a positive message to it. I am trying to take my message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. In Islam there are diseases of the heart like conceit, jealousy, envy, arrogance, hate, our pride. So, I wanted to explain this to the people who I grew up with in the streets. I knew these people in the streets, so instead of me saying their names, I put it in a poem; I said the diseases of their hearts. So, this is a story about them without saying their names but saying their diseases. So, it goes: There was this kid named Jealousy Who had gun weaponry Whoever lived life better than him, He was his enemy He walked the street like a centipede. Frustrated with his destiny Living life like a dark legacy He had a brother named Envy Whose pockets were empty He had a forty caliber with a clip that hold twenty They made a plan to rob a drug slanger They ran into a drug dealer named Anger Known for his short temper by gangbangers And new cars and new clothes on the hangers They shot anger and left him dead in the street They left a witness Anger’s girlfriend conceit Conceit picked up the phone and talked as she cried She called up a big drug dealer named Pride She told him that Anger had died And that she had seen Jealousy and Envy with her own 2 eyes Pride picked up the phone and called his main man Hate They looked for Jealousy and Envy ‘Til the night got late The found Jealousy and Envy coming out the liquor store They shot ‘em dead and left them bleeding on the floor These are the diseases of the spiritual poor And the Deen of Allah be the only true cure Q: Jaka-lahu Khair, Brother. Thank you for your time. May Allah Reward you. As—Salaamu ‘Alaikum. A: Wa ‘alaikum Salaam.
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