“Why am I here on this Earth? I go make a living, I provide for my family, I raise my children. But you have to look at it deeper. The real purpose in life is to interact with each other. The biggest fear you have to fear is how I’ve lived my life. For example, on this Earth, today I might be better, I might be stronger, I can even take money from you even. But on judgment day, you are going to be judged for your good deeds and your shortcomings. But at the heart of everything you do, Allah wants to see you taking learned knowledge and passing it on to others. If God gives you great knowledge and you keep it to yourself, that’s the most selfish action in life. But by giving and sharing such information, is a great benefit. Think about our cell phones. We wouldn’t have a cell phone in our hands if the first person kept it to himself. The purpose is to continue to pass information and wisdom and let others improve and improve it more. If you learn something, make sure you teach it back. Not only for your kids, but if you can, others. Pass the knowledge. You can gain the good deed, you leave that legacy. You don’t even have to look for it. It’ll come to you. But when it comes to you, don’t be lazy about it, take it seriously and take it as your highest duty. This is the bigger picture of life. As long as I’ve helped each other and left a legacy, I’ve fulfilled my purpose.

Then, Allah will judge you on your good and bad deeds. If you ask for forgiveness, he will forgive you. But if I steal money, who will forgive you? Allah will, but in that moment, it’s not just about Allah’s forgiveness, but the forgiveness of the person you’ve wronged. I can ask for forgiveness, especially when I’m alive, I have my chance. But make sure before your time is up, you ask for forgiveness. Because on that day of judgment, it is between myself and myself. You can’t fix your wrongdoings once that day has come. So, make sure you continue to tally good deeds, but also ask for forgiveness from others. It’s as simple as smiling at someone or saying Good Morning. These are both good deeds. Strive for perfection so when judgment day comes, you will be rewarded.”

“Put simply, I grew up here after 9/11. I was a teenager and teenagers were teenagers. They were mean. I’ve been called all the names and you know my wife wears a headscarf, so we’ve been called names on the street by folks before.But what you see is despite the backlash, the immediate response to retreat and hide in the Muslim community, you see how its grown stronger and prouder. I’m really proud of the DEI initiatives that have been going on to make children feel more comfortable in their own skin and religion. You know, think of the analogy of putting steel down to the test. When it’s exposed to heat, it becomes stronger. And honestly, we are the same way, we are forged by the events of a post 9/11 world. The antagonizing, the demonizing, it all made it stronger in our relationship with one another and with Allah. And that’s my favorite part about Islam. It’s all about self development man. I mean, the Sermon today talked about happiness and I grew up, born and raised here, and when I got closer to spirituality, to Allah, it just made my life happier. That connection between Allah keeps me grounded and gives me perspective when times are good, when times are bad, but it also gives me comfort knowing he’s with me. It’s been really special to see the power of congregation especially going hand in hand with spirituality. Like there's room for one on one spiritual development and it's a great thing, but it’s much more powerful in congregation. That’s why religion encourages prayer in congregation, attending community events, I mean, community is the fabric that holds us together in relation to Allah or even something greater. Where else do you see the power of this? We all get up together, we all follow the leader in prayer, we all repeat in unison. If you ever go to Mecca, you’ll see this on an even bigger scale. There are millions of people and if they hear the call to prayer, they all line up exactly the way they’re supposed to, shoulder to shoulder in the same movements. That’s a pretty powerful practice. It’s life changing to go. It can’t be captured into words. It makes you weak, brings you to tears, it humbles you. Allah is meant to be all around you and anywhere you turn you’ll find him close.”

“Being verbally attacked at one of the locations we were tabling outside. Someone came and verbally assaulted us, accusing us of violence, oppressing women, all these kinds of things you hear in the media. Sometimes, when my coworkers recognize I’m Muslim, they change, you know? People change once they know your Muslim, it changes immediately. They are usually more welcoming, more helpful, more talkative before, but once they know you are Muslim, they cut you off. What they don’t understand is Islam is all about balance. This is what they fail to see or realize. We don’t attack or be aggressors towards other people at all. It’s mentioned explicitly in the Quran, but at the same time, we are asked to defend ourselves? So this is why sometimes, we are misunderstood. This is why most of the time, people categorize it as either very pacifist or very violent. But the reality is, we don’t want to attack anyone, but we also can’t take from others, we have to stand up if we are threatened.”

“When I was in Little Rock, I was taking a bus from my clerkship to my university. There was this one time when me and my friend were talking and a lady said, Oh, can you speak English? I think they heard something in the middle of us talking, you know Arabic words that we use in Islam. And she was like, I want to know what you guys are talking about. And I was like, why does it even matter to her? So we just kept quiet and we were just students at that point so we got off the bus at the next stop. You know, I learned to not feed into their thinking. In that moment, if I had said something or reacted, that would have just fed into her aggression. I chose to stay calm, mind my own business. For the people on the bus, I hope they can learn that Islam in the day to day social media and in the mainstream media destroyed the whole concept. Islam is in the name of peace, the most peaceful religion you’ll ever find. Every religion has bad actors. But don’t let that sway your opinions.”

“It's a tough thing to deal with, especially when people don’t understand your religion or what you stand for. But at the same time, you have to rise above it. For me, I’ve dealt with it in different aspects whether it be at school or work, especially what happened in 9/11, a big factor for Muslims. Honestly, I think that actually awakened a lot of people to what Islam really is and what it isn’t. People think of it as a terrorist organization out to harm humanity, but if you read the Quran and talk to any scholars, they’ll tell you that in the verse, if you save a life, its like you’ve saved all of humanity, but if you’ve taken a life, it’s like you’ve killed all of humanity. In retrospect, it depends where you are at in life but you need to learn to accept people’s differences and help them grow. Choose respect over everything. You know, respect in terms of what people choose. We all have differences in religion, what we eat, where we might go. Obviously, whoever we surround ourselves with shapes who we are. But at the same time, respect is common ground for everybody. Respect people’s religion, peoples choices but also love people too. You can’t sit there and have a conversation with people when they come at you from left field with anger, malice or hate. But when you respect someone and try to listen to who they are, you might learn something.”

“I was raised in the Middle East so being Muslim, it’s a part of who I am you know, so a lot of the traditions that I have learned came straight from Islam [in the Middle East]. You know, it has taught me to be a good person, being respectful to people, respecting your parents, and your community; Be the best person you possibly can. Coming to America and being Muslim, it’s different because the culture isn’t the same. They don’t understand how Islam is really and they have their own point of view, but I don’t believe they [Americans] understand Islam to the extent of what it is. I mean to be straightforward, it's a way of life for me. So I was born here [in America], but I lived in the Middle East then came back. So I saw how different the two cultures are and how Islam shapes their culture and how you know, the majority of Americans are Christians. I respect it though at least. You know, they have their own way of living and how they treat people, it’s just a little bit different to ours. There are a lot of common traits, you know, be good to your neighbors and family, just be a good person in general. In that sense, it’s pretty similar, but we have things we can’t do as Muslims that Americans can, and going to school here can be tricky (as a Muslim), to fit in. I mean to give an example, in high school, to me it was difficult because I was surrounded by Americans and a lot of people just don’t understand Islam and that wasn’t the easiest thing for me. From my experience though, I just want people to keep an open mind, you know, try to be friendly, keep in mind people’s feelings, cause some people might be going through stuff. Just take it easy, accept others.”

“Sometimes there can be challenges with Friday prayer (the Holy day for Muslims). I think some people just don’t know the law and rights, the religious rights that people can take off time on Friday for religious purposes. I think that is a challenge for Muslims because sometimes there can be, maybe, hostility in a way. Maybe people not facilitating or making it easy, but they have to accept it. Maybe not willingly, but they still do. I think those people should start off with reading the Quran, because you know, you owe it to yourself to read, to educate yourself. Rather than being viewed as a break or something like it, attending Friday prayers, and Islam in general—it's an intellectual, spiritual, scientific, psychological movement, it's a way of life, and people and bosses should accept that.”

“Islam encompasses so many values man, for me, especially the congregation aspect of it. A lot of what we do is community based and in that sense, of course, you find a lot of meaningful connections with the people and you share this while celebrating your religion, you know? I think that for the people that maybe don’t understand or accept our way of life, just like everything else we come across in life, educate yourself. The news these days is a big bombardment of negative energy, and sometimes, it's nice to just take a step back and figure things out by ourselves. Try to talk to people and tap into this whole curiosity aspect of life man. You know, just go out there, ask more questions, seek verifications, we are all here to learn more things about ourselves and life.”

“Islam is very open to others, it’s not just like, you have to speak or be arabic, although it would help you out a lot in the traditions. Going to Friday prayers does help out a lot, I mean the lectures are in English, you can come in, sit down, and you can listen to the Imam talk; I mean you don’t even have to be religious, it just includes very good learning lessons. I think sometimes people get that wrong, you know, I wouldn’t say we pray for a long time, it’s just 5 short prayers each day and smaller ones that give you good deeds. The only time you have longer ones is during Ramadan because that’s like really important to us along with Taraweeh, that can go up to 8, 12, 16 and 20.”

“Islam, I think people should know it’s a religion of peace. It’s a religion that you have to believe in God, only one God, but you also have to be nice and kind to every human being on this Earth, no matter what religion or skin color or disabilities. I think people should read and study more about Islam before they make an opinion on the religion. You know, study what it stands for, I mean God told us to have peace and love each other and be kind to each other and to respect each other on this Earth.”

“Religion to me has taught me more than school. It teaches you things you can’t learn in school. Like always being merciful and choosing to only forgive people. School never taught me to always be charitable when possible. As a way of life, I want to spread the word of God and always be kind to my friends, family and everyone else.”

“It’s simple. We are a community. We love each other. We pray together every week. We come together on Friday for this. We worship Allah because that’s who we choose to follow. People should try to stop complicating things. It's just about loving each other, staying together through hardship and you know, helping each other always.”

“Islam saved me. You know, Allah sent me in the right way. He makes me healthy, he keeps me away from bad things you know? People don’t understand the Muslim people, is nice people, peace people. You know, some people, they misunderstood Muslims and they think other way, but in reality, the people are very nice and Islam is of peace. I mean, if he told me not to drink alcohol, I wouldn’t because Allah is looking out for me, not to make mistakes. He saved me, saved my kids, saved my community. He talks about right way, it’s not easy, but in the same, it’s not easy to do that, because a lot of people find it hard to do it. Religion isn’t easy, but it saves you.”

“I was born a Muslim. But with that, I’ve come to see that Islam has not just been a religion to me, but a lifestyle. For me, it was like the rules and boundaries that the religion set for me. You know, I can ensure safety and the best possible solution for me and the people around me. I think a lot of people don’t understand that these rules aren’t just set so it can be a rule. It's not like “oh it's a religion we have these rules you have to follow.” Like we have boundaries for a reason. It's special to Islam that I can see the rules have reasons and an answer for them. I’ve studied other religions, but I’ve found that Islam’s rules aren’t reasoned by “do it for Allah” but to help me in the world. Self improvement basically. Think of Islam as like a video game guide. They give you guidance and rules to help you through the game. You know, everything has a purpose. That's when people judge us for praying multiple times a day, you have to understand, when you look at one thing, it’s just one point of view. You have to look at it holistically. If you did research and talked to people that have a real sense, I mean the average Muslim, not just the extremists in the media, you’d see how Islam differs drastically.”

“Kindness. Be kind to humans, but also to other living beings. The media has done a bad job of portraying Muslims but I think if you study Islam, look around, go to mosques, see what Islam actually preaches, you’ll see the difference. Muslim aren’t bad people, we are all good people. It’s just the media doesn’t do good job of representing us. It all starts with just being kind to others, no matter what.”

“Kindness. Be kind to humans, but also to other living beings. The media has done a bad job of portraying Muslims but I think if you study Islam, look around, go to mosques, see what Islam actually preaches, you’ll see the difference. Muslim aren’t bad people, we are all good people. It’s just the media doesn’t do good job of representing us. It all starts with just being kind to others, no matter what.”

“It’s a measure of vision, visions of the world, you know people should know that Islam is a religion of peace. I want people to know that it’s the opposite of what American propaganda tries to advertise in the news and tries to tell the youth about Islamophobia. It's a man made opinion, you know? Like your parents say, before you judge the book from its cover, just read it.”