Bayan on Demand offers a growing library of courses taught by highly regarded scholars and practitioners, designed for meted board members, school administrators, imams, chaplains, youth workers, parents, and more with classes on Islamic theology, adolescent development, non-profit management, and the history of Islam in America and more. Bayan on Demand provides accessible knowledge for just $10 a month. Join our growing community of learners today and support the work of Baan Islamic Graduate School and the Muhammad Ali Scholarship. Go to baan online.org. That's B-A-Y-A-N online.org to get more information. May the peace that only God can give be upon you. Welcome to the American Muslim Podcast presented by Bayan on Demand. I'm your host, Imam Tariq El-Amin and it is my pleasure to continue bringing to you a new conversation each week with a different leader. We speak with leaders from across the nation who serve in a variety of capacities, and today we have the pleasure of having our dear Brother Imam Ishaq Majeed, he is a second generation Muslim, born and raised in Atlanta's West End and Atlanta MA of ALA communities. He's a graduate of Muhammad Schools of Atlanta and received a BS in mathematics from Morehouse College. You can check his complete bio out in the show notes. I should also mention he earned a master's degree in Islamic studies from Bayan Islamic graduate School, where he was honored to be a Muhammad Ali Scholar. this brother also has 25 plus years of experience in information technology and cybersecurity, starting his own firm, Kubra Cybersecurity, with a goal of expanding cybersecurity opportunities for minorities. so we welcome you to the podcast Brother and Ramadan Mubarak to you.

Ramadan Mubarak

we invite you to be as open, as transparent. However, much you are comfortable being. however much you want to reveal. we are here for it. we say that because we know there's a blessing, there's a benefit in these stories that people may be able to connect to and draw some inspiration from, some direction from. So that said, I'm gonna put the question to you a bit differently. where are you right now, and how did you get here?

where am I right now? That's the kind of broad question. Physically right now I'm in Washington, DC on the DMV area. Yeah. I'm actually sitting in, master Ham's Community Center. Okay. in dc. as you may know, master Muhammad is going through a renovation. a very large renovation. and, for anybody listening, please go ahead. Go and donate on the Nation's Mosque website. I had to do a little plug,

lessons involved in that, we'll put the link in the show notes,

So that's physically where I am,

And, where you are right now, and throughout the course of this conversation, people will get a better understanding of the work that you're engaged in. But before we get to this present moment, what is the first formative memory or event or conversation that you can look back and say, this is the thing that influenced the trajectory of my life.

So I was born Muslim, second generation, and, I grew up in a Muslim community. Which is maybe unique or rare in our context. When I say Muslim community, we hear the adhan five times a day. We walk to the masjid Muslims in the neighborhood, and so I didn't know anything other than this land. My, in my formative years, that's all I knew, Islam. And as I got older, we know that they're more than just Muslims, other people as well. Of course, even my extended family is not Muslim.

Mmm

I didn't know that at a very young age, it didn't dawn on me. That didn't really dawn on me until I was a little older. You can really see the difference. the first memory, Ooh, man, that's a good question, brother. Got me thinking.

Take your time.

one of the things that, 'cause we have so many influential people in our lives. I remember khutba's.

Mm-hmm.

I remember going to the masjid for fajr we grew up in the Muslim community going to the masjid for fajr.. I could literally walk out my door, walk across the field and be at the masjid and sitting in the masjid and for those that don't know, the West End Community, the Imam, there was Imam Jamil Al-Amin.

Mm-hmm.

And sometimes at fajr in those mornings He would be in there, 'cause we had a wood burning, stove.

Yeah.

Where you actually open the door, you put some cardboard in there, you put some wood in there. And I remember those days. Sometimes it would be just he and I. And he's stoking that fire. And we would just be talking, how you doing, man? Everything good. I remember, in his khutba's, almost every khutba that he would say the narration of the prophet ﷺ where one of the people asked the prophet ﷺ, so why do you pray five times a day? He said. If a man were to bathe in a river five times a day, how much dirt would be left instead of no significant amount? He said that is like an empty prayer. I don't remember a khutbawhere he didn't say that.

Mm.

And Imam Jamil salat was his thing. Praying, in salat praying in congregation. that was his thing. and then I also remember 'cause I went to Muhammad schools, Sister, Clara Muhammad schools Warith Deen Muhammad High School in Atlanta. And I also remember the khutba's of Imam Pasha, or Sheikh Pasha, Ibrahim Pasha. And Imam Plemon El-Amin that we grew up on. I remember, Imam, Pasha had a very unique way, he would set up his khutba's. He would set it up and hit you with The main point after the setup.

Right.

It was a very unique way making this point. I remember that those good feelings the good environments that I was raised in, I didn't see a possibility of being anything other than this muslim. It just didn't make sense, for me. there were, Christians in the neighborhood and everything when they would do Christmas celebration and come out with their gifts, we said, that's cool, but we have eid that's three days and we have it two times, right? Mm-hmm. and things like playing basketball, we'll be playing on the basketball court. The adhan comes on and the non Muslims say, oh, it's time for you Muslims to go pray. Y'all gotta go pray. sometimes when we're playing soccer they say, oh, y'all gotta go pray. so there was always positiveness around being Muslim around pleasing Allah Around loving the messenger of Allah. so Allah raised me in this environment, I don't know if there's, any other way that would make sense for me.

the question was already answered for you.

Alhamdulillah.

Yeah.

And we gotta be thankful to Allah. Because there were influences. There's always influences. But I truly believe that because we heard the adhan five times a day, not from our cell phones, but from an actual person on a loud speaker, that had a great impact on solidifying Islam in us.

So with your upbringing and a lot of what you said resonates with me as a second generation Muslim, as a sister Clara Muhammad School alumn, here in Chicago, and the way that the community had such a huge impact on me. You had the benefit of being able to, as you say, walk across the field to the masjid for fajr prayer and living in a community with other Muslims Do you feel like that's something that's shaped your expectation of what communities should look like? Even though we are a minority in the United States of America, Mm,

definitely, definitely. And that I gotta step back a little bit to the previous question, if you don't mind. Can I do that?

Go right ahead please. Do

my father, he would reinforce, what we were learning in school, meaning we had to re I, I remember doing Ramadan. We would, he would have us all sitting on the couch reading, Qur'an In English. We would read it. We didn't like it at the time. we wanna go play and do all, but that was foundational, we had different version of the bible. then you had encyclopedia Brittanica that whole row, right? But he would say things about the stories, doing comparative analysis of the stories in the Quran and the stories of the prophets, the stories in the Quran and the stories in the Bible. there was also that, And of course, my mother who would teach at the school. And also she would cover and everything like this. So all of that is just foundational. but as far as the question about community. yes. I believe one of the things that, we are lacking today in some areas is a physical community.

Mm-hmm.

we have a spiritual community, but in many areas, we just don't live next to each other.

Yeah.

We don't walk to the masjid with each other. We have to drive to the masjid and things like that. sometimes we can't even make it to the masjid.

Yeah.

that physical community, a lot of the aspects of it, Islam, that become almost, and I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way, but it almost becomes passive. Or subconscious if you will.

Yeah.

Right Where you are walking around, you may not hear this. Oh, there go the adhan So, you know what time it is for school. what the times are because you heard the alarm go off at the same time. So now you recognize it even when you are away from that area. man, it's time for salat. and this is Before cell phones in your pocket, we would be at the malls or hey, it's time, for salat. But this physical aspect of where our children get to see how, men and women interact, little simple things like this, right? How older brothers dress, How they treat each other. how Muslim women interact so forth. the different ways that people dress, the different ways that people speak and treat each other adab things like this. or even, just like walking to the masjid right?

What

do you do when the adhan is called? this physical community is something that I think would help our communities grow exponentially. Exponentially.

So you are a student of Islam, a teacher. Can you talk a bit about the importance of the physical expression of God consciousness. Of Allah consciousness that would have somebody stop in the middle of the day. pull over to the side of the road, pull out a prayer rug in a space where there are other people who are not Muslim looking Can you speak to that from a, a teacher's lens and, what do you see as the impact?

this is the example of the prophets ﷺ People knew his character first. They knew him for 40 years. they saw how he spoke. they saw that he was trustworthy. that he was manly. They saw all of these things. They saw that he cared for the people around them. This is the same for a physical community. They may not know my name, but they know that this guy when that prayer called, he gonna go to that green building in the West end. they know that they may not know what we're doing in the building. They know when they hear that call. I remember there was an interview, a news interview Of some of the Rastafarian people that lived in our neighborhood. And what I remember from that interview is that when the news person asked about, the call to prayer, It's like when we hear that call to prayer. We know that we are safe because the Muslims are still here.

hmm. Ma Shallah.

being that example of good character, That example of, you know, Allah uses word in Qur'an, qawimoon, he use it in regards to women. Right? rijal, qawimoon wa nisa Right. Mm-hmm. qawimoon are those who stand up, Who have a standard of being. will always provide, will always protect. how can they see this? how can they know this? People can put that on For certain events, but in a community where they see you all the time, it's no way to turn it off and turn it on. And I'm not saying people do that. people will always, they'll see your character before they know your name, they'll see your character and they will know what you believe in. They see your character and they will know if they can trust you, they don't even have to say anything to you. This is part of the benefits of a physical community to non-Muslims. To fellow Muslims, they see the same thing. I believe in surah tul-Kahf Where Allah says, turn your face to those who seek Allah in the mornings, in the evening.

Yeah.

How you would know that by observing people's character, right? Not by what they say but their character. So that's, I think that's the first part of education. You know, Malik, his mother said before you learn his fiqh learn his adab, learn his character, take from his character before you take from his fiqh and all that type of stuff. That's the first part of education.

Yeah. That's beautiful. I did not read your entire bio, but I feel. it's important to share this piece. as a preface to this next question. as I mentioned, you are passionate about spreading the message of Islam through increased knowledge, love, and salutations of praise on the prophet Muhammad ﷺ, you routinely give Islamic talks organizers dhikr circles with permission and authority of a sheikh gives weekly classes and works with others in charitable activities. Now, as I said, dear family who are listening, you can go to the show notes and see the biography without break, and get a little bit of insight into who this brother is. when you are introducing Islam, especially when you're introducing, the, prophet Muhammad, ﷺ, to people, is there a particular, strategy or methodology that you use? because it is different when we are talking with other Muslims as opposed to somebody who is not familiar, or who's on the periphery.

the strategy is to be truthful. That's the strategy.

Yeah.

and to depends on who you're speaking with. I was listening to a talk by sheikh Hassan Cisse And he was being interviewed and he tells this story of a non-Muslim lady who, says, can you tell me something about Islam? Or tell me something that the prophet ﷺ said his response. Was something in regards to women, the rights of women, right? And so there's not, I don't think there's a set response. It depends on the person we're talking and sometimes we might not even mention the prophet ﷺ But we might mention something that he did, because some people aren't ready to hear even the word prophet. they misunderstand or have been, wrongfully taught, I guess you could say. What a prophet is. Right? but what people do appreciate is truth, honesty, and goodness. And the best example of that is the prophet Muhammad ﷺ and it's, it's, Man, if you gimme to talk about the prophet ﷺ you might not talk about anything else. he's the example,

Yeah.

He's the most beautiful example,

Yeah.

He's the mercy to all the worlds.

ameen

and the prophet ﷺ is for every person, every human being, any human being that walks on this planet, the prophet ﷺ has something that is appealing to that person about him. they may reject it, but they can't deny they, they have to admit it. Even his main enemy. Abu Jahl had to admit that, yeah, we know he's telling the truth, but I just can't deal with it.

He's bad for business.

He's bad for business, But this is, the prophet ﷺ is the most beautiful in any aspect. any way you want to take that he's the most beautiful, the most knowledgeable, the most approachable we try to model that, we try to, that's, that's what we try to model,

So we're always looking for connections. And I think this is something, I don't know if it is unique to Muslims, it probably is not, but my anecdotal experience makes me feel like we are always looking for ways to relate whatever we're doing back to the qur'an and sunnah. And, with that, when you think about your work in it. Founding, cybersecurity, company Kubra. When you think about that, what are the ways that you see the connection between your identity as a Muslim, your, commitment to modeling, the prophet ﷺ and so on. what is the intersection?

So whatever field that a person is in, we should strive as a Muslim to do it with excellence.

That's right.

And then once we have that level of excellence, we should want to share that, and bring other people into that level of excellence. I found that this was a way for me. To be able to take care of my family, which is a duty on every Muslim man, right? in this field, I've been able to take care of my family now for 25 something years,

Yeah.

I wanted to give other people the opportunity to be able to do that as well, who may not have an avenue into that. I don't know if that fully answered the question or not?

No, no. I think, there is an element of zakat, in that.

Mm-hmm.

Right? Providing access and resources for those who, for whatever the reason is, don't have those things. it is to say that we want for our brother or sister, what we want for ourselves.

Exactly.

that's what I took from that. I hate to ever speak for anybody, but I couldn't see how anybody would not be able to make that connection. I think you hit it right there. So you have had the opportunity to do some traveling.

Yes, sir. I have a bug, right? A traveling bug. I like to see the world. And, Allah says, travel through the earth and see, what happened to the other peoples. the first time I traveled outside of the country Was in our senior high school trip. We went to one of the islands called Aruba. And it was so different from Atlanta I wanted to go in North Texas, so alhamdulillah I did travel, with my family. We've traveled to Jordan. we lived in Jordan for a year. We've traveled to Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, uk, some of the oth other islands. so we've traveled, Malaysia, we've traveled to a number of places. Yeah.

What was something that you found to be consistent in all of the places that you've traveled? And give me one thing that you found that really stood out as a difference.

So when, I travel, even in non-Muslim countries, I Try to find where the Muslims are. And what is beautiful. Being African American Muslims, in America I would say the standard bearer of Islam in America. Everywhere that I went, people had their own unique stamp on how they practice Islam. It was still the same. It's still the same Islam. You still pray five times every day fast, you modestly dressed, but they had their own stamp on it. where it was unique to their society for their culture. and it was beautiful. It's beautiful. We went to, Senegal, the most recent one is, in this particular place, in Senegal, also in Dakar the Capital and in One of the places I visit alot Madina Baye these are people that are. enriched in, in rhythm, first of all, poetry.

Yeah.

tasawwuf You might be walking down the street in Dakar, you pass a masjid and you hear them in there doing their dhikr and their very Rhythmic tone.

Yeah.

oh, they're praising Allah. Just sending praises on the prophet ﷺ. And you go to Medina Baye you'll see groups of kids having cipher, right? They're saying, who can praise the prophet ﷺ the best.

Wow.

And so, this is refreshing to see that, right? you go to Malaysia, they have the wraps around the sarong, right? the man wear sarong. We went to Juma, I remember this. And they had showers in the masjid.

Really

rows of shower. So the people can, if they're, you know, physical laborers and they can come to the masjid. Take a shower at the masjid come out with the nice clothes on. Right. Go in. After salat they put back on their clothes and they go back to work. You know? it's making it easy for those people to come to jumah

mm-hmm.

and Egypt, it's hot. the people are a little bit more, high tempered, but at the same time, they're very generous. the Arabs in general, most of them, that I visited, they're very welcoming. Want you to come in, drink some tea with 'em, sit down and relax for a little while, and then joke around. They joke a lot, the Turkish people and every society that I've been to has a unique stamp, in the western. Societies where Islam is the minority, you see more of a emphasis on, being, real strict. on the requirements But a real, firmness in their religion. Firmness in their religion. So it's not always as laid back as you would go to a Senegal or Malaysia, either where Islam is everywhere. and some of the Muslim places. Yes. When you are with Muslims or in Western countries. When you are with Muslims. Yes. this is something that I noticed maybe other people didn't notice. So this is my own reflection. there's no adhan to remind you. In most cities, there's no adhan to remind you that it's time for salat.. Nobody's going say, in Raman brother? Why you eating? you're supposed to be fasting,

right.

No. So you have to be more disciplined within yourself to maintain your Islam in Western society. You have to be more firm on yourself. and more disciplined. I said that about three times in Western society, Yeah. But in the Muslim society, it's very easy and It's beautiful in all of it.

I appreciate that. I had the opportunity to travel to Senegal, a few years ago, and was very impressed with the spirit of the people and being in a space where you were absolutely affirmed. Absolutely, accepted. I feel like being Muslim in the United States of America. Is such a blessing for the exact reasons that you mentioned, is that it really is a choice. It is a commitment. It is not being carried along with the wave, right? everybody's going to the masjid, everybody's fasting, And not to say that these are not things that we don't want, we want these things in our communities, but it really takes the personal commitment and the responsibility for the individual to a whole, other level. And I think there's a blessing in that as well. even looking at the blessing of being in a space where you hear the, adhan called, and I've been in those spaces too. it is wonderful, but I could see how I could end up on autopilot at the same time. and that's not to say that would be the automatic disposition for people, In those societies. As a matter of fact, I think it could also work the exact other way, and you become even more sensitized. it becomes that much more ingrained in you.

I agree with you a hundred percent on that. we being the community for, the Tijanniyah people, Fayda Tijanniyah people here. one of my teachers, Muhammad Cisse, we bring him to visit at least once a year. he was talking to a mixed group of people and, he said, man, I'm making a du'a for you guys because it's not easy being Muslim in America or in Europe or in the uk. It's not easy. It's easy to some of us.

Yeah.

Because we grew up here, we don't know any other way of how to be Muslim. but we are bombarded with a whole bunch of stuff that we think is normal and it's very abnormal. in the hot seasons when people are not dressed, men and women, they not dressed properly. I heard Shake Hamza, Yusef, he said, it's haram for people, and I'm not making a fiqh point, I'm just saying what he mentioned, he says, haram for us to be seeing people's thighs.

Mm-hmm.

How many people's thighs do we see? yeah. I agree. Being Muslim here, it has to be a lot of blessings. for a person to be in our environment and make salat, five times a day. a person who's fasting, trying their best to be pleasing to Allah. to be pleasing to the prophet ﷺ. I'm sure you've heard of people who have traveled here from other places Other countries, and they come here, they said, man, I learned Islam here.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that spirit matters. it is one thing to be consistent, to be intentional, to be firm in your, Islam and quite another, to lose the beauty of it in your firmness. and that's never what we aspire for. we are aspiring for that, that middle path. And to, but I think there's also something subconsciously, or maybe consciously that happens when people who are not born here come here as Muslims they feel like a fish out of water, and they feel like, they gotta hold onto the little bit of water that they have in their hands. They brought some water back with them and they're like, I'm not letting this go at all. I'm holding onto this. So it becomes a matter of, you're not actually able to acculturate yourself to new surroundings in a way where your Islam actually accentuates and beautifies the culture that you enter into.

they don't know what the water holes are. Right. They don't. it is not like a waterfall. in some of our cities, in the US

No. No.

You have to go to specific places.

Yeah.

And sometimes you go to some places, but the example of being firm and still being beautiful is the prophet Muhammad ﷺ

yeah. Absolutely.

Nobody is more firm in their deen than the prophets And nobody's more beautiful, than the prophet ﷺ this is why the prophet, is so important, Because without him, as an example. We'll probably be very difficult people to be around.

That's putting it nicely.

if we take our own interpretation of what we read There would be some serious problem, alright. Even amongst two Muslims.

Yeah.

we have the example of the prophet Muhammad ﷺ in some of my khutba, I give this, reference in Qur'an Where Allah says, obey Allah and obey his messenger.

That's right.

and Allah has said this well over 20 times in Quran, obey Allah and obey his messenger. Obey Allah and his messenger. It says it in different ways, and in one place it even says obeying the messenger is obeying Allah. but nowhere in the corner does it say obey yourself. unfortunately we have people who want to try to exclude that example. But without the example of the prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we would not know how to follow the Qur'an. We would be following our own self and our own interpretation of the Qur'an, which will lead to complete chaos. We have this beautiful example of firmness and beauty.

Yes.

Alhamdulillah, The prophets was involved in a lot of war and a lot of battles. Badr, Uhud, Second Badr, trench, all of these battles even later in his life with the Romans and all this type of stuff. But it's only reported that he killed one person.

Yeah.

And he really didn't kill that person. This is a man who's fighting battle after battle, after battle after battle. And some of the sahabah they would say when the battle got thick, when it got hard, we would get close to the messenger of Allah. he's fighting these people. and I have trained in martial arts.

Yeah.

And so I'm imagining a warrior on the battlefield, people that come to attack him, he's swinging his weapon in a way that will push them back, but it doesn't kill him.

smacking him with the flat edge. He smacking

him with the flat edge. Or maybe with the hilt. Yeah. Or something like that. And when the battle gets thick, his companions getting close to him. that's a beautiful example of being firm strong, but being a mercy at the same time, he's fighting these people, but he's not killing them. Because why He wants them to come, he wants them to see this character. Imagine fighting somebody like that. man, every time I get he just pushes me back. And you do it again, and you do it again. He's like, man, how can, I can't continue to fight somebody like this?

That person would likely think after a while after being rebuffed so many different times. This person values my life more than I do.

Look at that.

Right?

Look at that.

Yeah. That's beautiful. so what martial art do you train in?

Alhamdulillah? it's Ike Juujitsu. I started with my teacher Ali Shabazz, I've been with him almost 22 years now. Training with him. Ali Shabazz he a beautiful brother. He gave a proof. One time he came to class, smiling so hard, and he starts talking about, I got a proof from the Quran for what we do. He said, really? What's that? He says, 'cause Aah says fighting is prescribed for you and you may just like a thing that's beneficial for you.

That's right, that's right.

Alright, go ahead then Imam.. Go ahead sheikh.

Alhamdulillah. I would love for you to talk a bit about the social media clip of you reciting the opening chapter of the Quran. suratul-fatihah at what appeared to be a gathering of faith leaders and, and maybe more folks around the presidential inauguration. because it was a beautiful thing to see this representation. Could you talk a bit about that?

So this happened earlier this year as part of the inaugural, events for the president. this was the craft service that the, religious community does at the cathedral here in Washington, DC. I was not, supposed to be the person to give that. I wasn't the person in for that. Imam Talib called me about two weeks before that. He said he, Ishaq I'm gonna be out town. I need your help with something. I said, no problem, Imam. He says, we have this thing. We need mu'adhan. He said, can you do it? I said, not me. I don't have the best voice. Yeah. and I, I made some recommendations and we ended up with the brother who gave the adhan,, Akhutba'sr Sharif. he's actually a third generation Muslim, He's 90 years old.

Beautiful.

he's the mu'adhan for Masjid Muhammad gives the design for the Juma prayer. I was going to escort him. It was a very cold day Like I said, he's in his nineties, so We had to go through security, get security background and all that type of stuff. Brother Dr. Muhammad Faser, Raheem, was the one who scheduled to do that, but may Allah bless him and bless his family, Maybe two days before he called me, he said, I'm taking care of my family in the Carolinas. but I'll be back in time. And so the night before he, he send me a message. He said, my flight got canceled.

Mm.

I said, okay. He said, but I'm gonna try to find another flight later on. He said, all the flights are canceled. And so he said, you're gonna have to do it. I said, okay, no problem. the next morning we show up and I'm in the spot. So that's how that happened, Allah is the best, of planners. And I don't know, if it's because of the honor of him taking care of his parents or some other reason why Allah decided to make it this case this way. Maybe I love one of him. To be with his parents more than he wanted me to be, in this place. but that's how that happened.

I'm sure you got a lot of favorable responses though. when I looked at it, I said, man, this is a beautiful thing.

one of the brothers asked me, he said, man, were you nervous? I was like, nah, I wasn't nervous, but what I did say was I was concerned that, I would do. Something that's pleasing to Allah.

Yes.

Doing something that's pleasing to Allah. So I didn't want to get up there and choke Have a bad name, first thing that the news gonna pick up. Oh, this black Muslim got up there, he couldn't even read. that was my thing. I wanted to, make sure that I was pleasing to Allah, and doing it in the best way possible.

Okay, alhamdulillah. I understand that you have another project that you are working on. Fayda right?

so Fayda literally, means the flood, right? A flood, water, flood, flooding, right? now the tarika that I am a part of is the the tarika Muhammadiyah a way of the prophet ﷺ, and that specifically is for knowing Allah and his messenger more intimately than And the fayda of this tarika was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Tijanni Sharif, who was an Algerian who, migrated to, Morocco. the Prophet ﷺ gave him the permission and guided him on this way. ah, he saw the prophet ﷺ while he was awake. And I'm not talking about a dream, but while he was awake, there's a reason why that's important, but I don't want to get too much into that. That's a whole nother lesson. But the prophet ﷺ he mentioned to Sheikh Ahmed Tijanni Sharif he says that for those who follow you, your murides are my murides This is what the prophet ﷺ said. and he said some other things that follow that. which means that in this way, the prophet ﷺ, is the ultimate sheikh of the tarika Tijanni Just as he is with some of the other people as well. So the fayda Tijanniya, Sheikh Ahmed Tijanni said that there will be one of the followers in this Tarika who will bring a flood, a fayda of people to come into this way. And he said, this person is gonna be close to the end times and that is Sheikh Ibrahim Yasin. raheemu'llah Sheikh ul-Islam and Hadi Ibrahim Yasin. Yes. Islam and Ibrahim, yes. Is Senegalese. he was born in 1900. So a recent shake. He heard radio, he saw tv, he saw movies, planes, and everything like this. Alright. And that tradition carries on. So that's what the fayda is. The Fayda is Fayda Tijanniya branch in the Tejana, tarika. So we have an application, an app. He is on your phone, right? our brother, Ibrahim Dempson Usman Demspon, who are my two partners on this app. And actually they started Fada books before, and now we have Fayda Digital.

Mm-hmm.

You find it on our app store, but it has books, in Arabic and English audio books in Arabic and English. lessons, what we call knowledge cast. talking about Islam tasawwuf, tafsir, hadith poetry on the prophet, ﷺ. Praise the prophet, ﷺ. Ways to bring closest to the prophet, ﷺ. All in what? Knowing Allah. Knowing Allah the only way that we really know Allah is through the prophets Allah Sheikh Hasan he once said that, if you want to know Allah, then follow the prophet ﷺ. And this is one of the things that Allah says in the Quran where he says, say to them, he says, tell the people if they love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive your sins. So loving the prophet, ﷺ is a way of being closer to Allah, and that's what this fayda Tajanniya is. That's one of the main things of this. fayda tajanniya, being close to Allah, increase our taqwa. You don't have to be a Tajjani to download the app, You don't have to take a tarika to enjoy what's on this app to benefit from what's in the app.

Yeah.

it's for everyone.

as a Bayan graduate, what did that experience mean to you as a student of knowledge, as someone who also continues to teach and someone who understands the importance and benefit of community?

was a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful experience, even without the educational part of it, we had. days years of just discussing Islam with our brothers and sisters, right? we had to write about it. We had to read about it, even without the educational part, just being with the Muslims for the purpose of increasing our Islam is a beautiful thing. with the guidance of experienced teachers. I can't express how wonderful that is. in, a context, that's familiar to us, Meaning the American context. we got to, you and I were in classes together. we got people from all over, people who had various levels of Islamic education and experience. Some who were younger than both of us, some who were older Some who had already gone to universities like Azhar. and studied at other places and still came because they understood that in America, Islam is different and we need to learn how to, relate Islam in this society. And I think Bayan does an excellent job of that, opening people's ideas to better ways and different ways of establishing Islam. In the best way in our society. I think Bayan does that very well. you're going back to the prophet ﷺ, right? We could be sitting in the classroom and it has people from all over the place. some people may think that since the prophet ﷺ, was Arab, all of his companions were Arabs. No man. He had people from all over the place who were around the prophet. So people who had traveled just becoming people. And so when you're sitting around the prophet ﷺ you have people who look like you and I but people who are Persian. You have people who are Roman, you have Arabs. You have Africans. You have all of these people who are around the prophet, ﷺ and then you come to a class in day in, it's the same type of mix.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

Mm-hmm.

It's beautiful thing. And who are we talking about? We talking about the prophet ﷺ.

That's right. That's right.

And so it's a beautiful thing. Bayan was a wonderful experience. It actually, reignited the love of learning about, Islam for me particularly, formal learning, the teachers are wonderful. The staff is wonderful. The students are wonderful. it's a wonderful program. Wonderful program.

alhamdulillah. Well, my dear brother Ishaq, I am definitely appreciative of you taking the time to share a bit of your insight, your experience. we certainly look forward to this tool that you've said. It's for everybody. It's not just for Tijanni

that's right.

it's for everybody. That's right. So I look forward to, touching base with you again and hopefully to talk about some of the components and how people are responding to it. May Allah give it success in all of your endeavors. I know. And I think this is the culmination to had the chance to talk with your wonderful wife, Corey. and really I think the only way to really. One up this is to have you both back on at the same time,

That's gonna be a party. Absolutely. but alhamdulillah, I thank you for inviting me as well. alhamdulillah, may Allah Bless this show. And, I have to give credit where credit is due, I know you did some radio work before. And I listened to, the interview that you did with my wife.

Yeah.

And I said, man, this brother, he really knows this craft. he knows when to ask the questions. He knows when to, let the speaker go, you know, alhamdulillah. But also, don't cut this part out. Please don't cut this. If you all don't know. Imam Tariq with this silky voice, nice voice. he has an audio series on YouTube of him reading alhamdulillah him reading the qur'an in English.

Yeah.

If you haven't heard that, please go and listen to it. I gotta give credit with credit may Lord bless that.

may Allah accept it as an act of worship. I definitely appreciate you, brother, and since you asked, I'm gonna leave it in. American Muslim Podcast family. Please check the show notes out you get all those links, how you can support the work at masjid Muhammad, how you can also get the Fayda app. Now as we prepare to close, I want to remind you if you didn't catch it during our conversation, Imam Ishaq and myself both received the Muhammad Ali Scholarship. Which allowed us to complete the Master of Divinity. Your contributions to the Muhammad Ali Scholarship supports those who are endeavoring to support community life, those who are working on the front lines of community in whatever capacity you can imagine. So if you go to bayan online.org, You can click on the donate button. And finally, join our community of learners by getting yourself a subscription to Bayan on Demand. That's Bayan on Demand. We have 30 classes on there, taught by some of the best and brightest, some of the most recognized and sought after scholars, and practitioners in the United States of America. And you can have access on your terms. $10 a month, and with that in Sha Allah, with God's permission, we will see you again next week. I'm your host, Imam Tariq El-Amin and I leave you as I greeted you, As Salaamu Alaikum may the peace that only God can give be upon you.