 So this is your testimony of faith as more of a ceremonial because you already believe, right? Absolutely. You already have a belief. And to you, what is Islam? What is the beliefs of Islam? Like, what do you believe? It's kind of hard to just pinpoint one thing. I think it's about living life, right? And doing what's good and taking care of one another. It's just living your life, right? And then in terms of the beliefs, we believe in one God and you accept that. Absolutely. You believe in Muhammad, peace be upon him, as a messenger of God? As being the messenger of God, the Rasul? Yes. Yes. You believe in the books that God has sent and ending with the Qur'an. The Qur'an being the book of what? And belief in the angels and the belief in the last day. You said this was something that you embraced between April and May. So for us, for me looking at your journey, your spiritual journey, you embraced faith back in April or May when you finally said, yes, this is what I believe. And so this Shahada is you're announcing that to the community. So I don't want you to feel that you became Muslim today. You became Muslim that moment where that faith entered your heart. And you said, yes, this is what I believe, because it's a relationship between you and God. And you don't need it affirmed by any other human being. You don't need a special, you know, your faith can't be given or taken away by somebody else. This was your relationship between you and God. But the Shahada, the specific announcement can be done by anyone. And I'm actually going to ask and suggest a good friend of mine to walk you through the process. Yes, Bro. As-Salaamu Alaykum. Basically, it's just the declaration, two declarations. One declared that there's no God but God. And the second declaration there with Muslim Muhammad is the best. So we say it in Arabic. And the first part is Ash-Hadu. And you can repeat after me. Ash-Hadu. La ilaha ilmalba. Ash-Hadu. Banna Muhammadan Rasulullah. A bare witness. There's no God but Allah. A bare witness. That Muhammad is the messenger. Alhamdulillah. I'm a hug. COVID and everything. I'm a hug. That's it. Thank you. I wasn't going to miss this for nothing, man. I appreciate it. If anyone understands the journey, I'd be anywhere. I know it's being recorded, but I have to give you a reason for the significance of this when it came to me. While I was in prison, right? It's after a few years of being in there. And I'm still running with the homies inside. I started going to Juma services in prison. The brothers invited me to come to Juma. And I've been doing that for a couple of months. Some of the homies didn't care about that. Some of them did. But there was one dude who did not like that. Because all the Muslims were black. And he felt like you shouldn't be over there. So they come and get me. And they're like, hey, homies such and such wants to talk to you. That's the dude you don't want talking to you. When he summons you, it's like you're in trouble. So I was like, this is not going to happen. And so we sit down on the yard. He wants to talk to me on the yard. So I guess he wants to check me in front of everyone. So I'm sitting there. He's got a little four soldiers standing around us. And he starts off by telling us this history of the gang and Mexican history and all this other stuff. And basically telling me why I can't go to Muslim services. Because they're all black. So I stop and I'm like, well, you know where in Mexico, right? You know where in Mexico? And at the top, I mean, you can imagine my hair was slicked back. I don't have the beard. They didn't know me as to Josh and who were. They knew me by the other name. So you know where in Mexico? Not in Mexico. I'm from Pakistan. And, you know, I'm a Muslim. So I'm going to Muslim services. And he's like, he wanted me to not go to Muslim services because everyone in there is black. So I made a conscious decision. Whatever happens today, whether they kill me or what, I'm going to stand on this right here. Whatever happens. That was a very dangerous situation. That's a very dangerous situation that you're putting yourself in that you make the wrong decision. Your life is over. That's the way they play the game. Very hostile, by the way. Yeah. And they don't give you option A, B, or C. It's like, you do this or you die. Very simple. I was like, man, I can't turn back on this. You know? So I'm like, what are you doing? These guys are Muslims, right? You're my homeboy. Those guys are my brothers. You're asking me to make this choice. And I'm not making that choice. I'm going to go to services. And I felt like, and I told him, I said, you know, you're not making that same decision for people that go to Christian services. There's blacks in there, right? And you're not telling none of the homies not to go to Christian services. So why are you doing that with us? So anyway, we're going to discuss this later. The fact that I wasn't Mexican kind of threw for a loop and he had to figure out, how am I going to address this guy? You know? That's his religion. That's his race, right? And anyway, I left and I'm like, I'm in limbo. I don't know what's going to happen. They're still going to kill me or not. But I'm not going to stay here. I'm not going to put a protective custody of nothing. I'm staying here. Well, the Muslims saw him checking me. And they are playing. They don't play either. The Muslims ain't playing either. So they saw him checking me, right? And they came to me and they're like, what was that about? And I'm like, look, there's none of your business. I don't want to get you guys wrapped up in this stuff because it'll cause a lot of problems. So I got this, but don't worry about it. Don't get involved in this. I'm a youngster, right? And these guys have been down for years. So they're like, you got this, but don't worry. They went to him and they basically told him, look, if anything happens to that youngster, it's on between us. There weren't a lot of Muslims on the yard. A lot of homies on the yard, but not a lot of Muslims on the yard. But the way the Muslims went and approached him, it's like if anything happens to this brother, because he's chosen to be Muslim, if anything happens to him, it's war. And you don't want to go to war with us, man. And you know what? After that, they left me alone. They left me alone. I stayed on the yard for the next 15-something years. And they were like, they weren't happy. They weren't happy at all. But it's like, this is his religion. That's what you believe in. Yeah, you have to stand, won't you? And they appreciated the fact that, you know, I didn't run. I stayed there. And I wasn't playing with it. That was the other thing. I trusted Allah 100%. I'm like, look, I'm turning my life over to you, but ain't no half-stepping with this. I'm doing this 100%. And man, I'll be honest, every decision I made after that, Allah guided me all the way, even removing the life sentence. Is that a life sentence? That life sentence came off as a result of the decision to do the right thing. And you said over here, there was a point where you consciously made that decision too much. Like, you had a conversation with God, and you said, get me out of this, and I will do the right thing. I did. Before I was 80-sentence, when they were still wanting to get me a 10-foot murder, I mean, everybody knows what comes with a 10-foot murder. It's a life-sensing accident. And I was scared. I was 22 years old. I thought my life can't be a murder. And I asked, you know, if you get me out of this, I swear I'll change. Whether if I make it out of this or not, if I stick with the life since I saw it, I'll still dedicate my life to God. And it went away two weeks later. They dropped it. And then, of course, I had to fight it, and then eventually it was a very minimal sentence. But what did that do for you, after you had that conversation, and what was your feeling? So, at the time, because I was still young, and I was a product of my environment, it wasn't a fast transition. I did change. I always had more control over it, but I was able to just kind of check myself before I did something, which I never did before, before I was just very spontaneous, very... Just do it. Whatever. They just do it, because that's how I was. That's how I grew up. And it wasn't until a year and a half from the day to where it finally just clicked. I mean, I was always positive, and I was always good, and I was always uplifting and wanting to help people, because that's who I am. And I just seemed to change. It was about a year, a year and a half, to where I'd seen a change, and I was all with it. And then from there, I just flew forward and I didn't get myself involved. But because of where you're at, you have to be involved to a certain extent. And because of what I did and the jobs that I had in there, I had to conduct myself at a higher standard. So, not only did I do that for myself, but because of who I was. I changed my mind. I could do the same thing. I was very proud of myself. I feel like I'm on the hot schedule to where I once was. You got to catch up. Yes, because before, I was very successful. I was very young in my twenties, making a lot of legit money. I was doing very well with the business I did. And I lost it all. And I figured I was two years behind it and thousands of dollars behind it. So then I just stayed focused, like I've always been. And because of God, I've been able to have what I have and do what I do. So you made the change, but it was gradual? It was. But focused. You still maintained the focus, but it was a gradual shift. It wasn't like this. No, it wasn't like that. It took at least a year. And what I would say about that is that coming over here, I was thinking what advice would I give to a new Muslim? And it's a hadith, a saying of the prophet that I mentioned a lot when somebody first becomes a Muslim, which is the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that this deen, this religion of Islam, is strong. It's metine. It's heavy. It's not a light thing. It's not a light thing. It's not a light committal. Yourself. You can drive yourself. You could have made that change. When you said, God, I'm going to change my life. You could have driven yourself and made those changes in a week or two. But you knew yourself. You said, I'm going to stay focused. I'm going to do this over a period of time. And it took about a year. So the prophet Muhammad was telling us, take your time with this religion. Don't pile everything on yourself at once. Stick to the basics, the basic practice, the basic interaction rules that a Muslim should conduct him or herself with. And then little by little make that gradual change. So if you ever feel like, this is getting too much, just remember, take it easy. It's a marathon and it's not a sprint. I would like to share with you. Yes. So I'm not an emotional person. I was raised not to be emotional. And because of how I grew up, I've been helping with free motions. And I was talking to a little writer and halfway through the conversation, I felt emotional for some reason. And I'm not an emotional person. And I spoke with my friend about this. And I was like, I guess that's my life. Knowing that I want to, or I want to be part of Islam or I'm not sure. Aside. Yeah, it's aside. It's aside. Because it wasn't normal for you. No. Because it was very different. And I mean, you can't fake how you feel. That's how I felt. And I thought, maybe it is aside. And so that's when you started reaching out to the mosques and massaging to try to find a place? No, actually, this happened right as I was speaking with him. Oh, okay. This happened two days ago. Oh, I see, okay. Yeah, this happened two days ago. I've been reaching out for, actually right after COVID started. Oh, so it's been months as you were reaching out to mosques? Yeah, I was trying. I was trying to maybe get something for kind of inflammation before. You know, it's even worse. So how many mosques did you end up contacting before MCC? Maybe it doesn't. Maybe a little bit more for Sacramento. I mean, Sacramento, Santa Clara, San Jose, I think there's one in Sunnyvale. And you were just asking them, like, I just want to take my shahada. I was talking. I just wanted to talk to anybody to get any kind of information. Because I mean, there's only so far you can go on. And any responses from those dozen mosques? Some of them, they go to leave a message and the phone just hangs up. But that didn't... Determine? Determine. No. I'm very focused on what I want and what I want to do. Especially if it's a change, a good change in life. There's nothing that can stop me. Right? Because you're not doing this for other people. You're doing it for yourself and so you kept that. Absolutely. Something I want, something I truly want. Not for anyone else. This is for me. Well, and the person that mentioned that maybe that sign of emotion that you had was a sign of... Sometimes we say till fit, success, divine success. God gives you success till fit. Everything lines up. Like, I didn't know had such a dad was going to be here. Right? You didn't know you were going to be here. No. He called me yesterday. You weren't planning to be here. I didn't know he was going to be here. Yeah. He called me yesterday or the day before. Yes. I'm actually on my way. You know, this is crazy how everything happened. When I leave the restaurant, right, I have to coordinate all kinds of stuff to make sure somebody's going to be there. Because I've got a bunch of kids. They'll burn the place down, man. And so anyway, it takes a lot of coordination. So today, I was on my way to Union City because my ex-sally just got found suitable. After 25 years. After 25 years, right? And he got found suitable. So I'm looking for a restaurant out there to purchase for him so he can come on and have his own place. And so I was on my way over there. He calls me and he's like, he told me about you, man. He's like, he's going to be having something. I'm like, I was on my way over there to the bay anyway. I'm going to rearrange all of that so I can come here. But it's just weird how things lined up because it would have taken me weeks to get. Yeah. It would have taken me weeks to get somebody, all the people to take care of the restaurant when I'm not there, you know. And so today, yeah. So anyway, I wasn't going to miss this. When he told me, I'm like, oh yeah, that happened to delay. Well, I'm coming here. So it took all kinds of, just to back over there. It's crazy because all the things lined up in ways you can't even imagine, man. My experience in prison was the same way in the sense that when you make the commitment that you're going to trust the law to handle your affairs, right? And you do the right thing now. Once you trust in the law to handle your affairs and then you reinforce that by doing the right thing yourself. After that, don't even worry about it. Exactly what I did. Yeah. Don't worry about it. That was the secret to success. Just those two things. It depends on God, it depends on a law and do the right thing. And do the right thing. Is that simple? Is that simple? Very simple and fair. And my life hasn't been better. And both of you and Javier and Hatch the Jed, we met before this day, but you've come to the same realization that that's all you need to do for success. Two simple things, man. You've got to trust them. Ain't no half step. No, you have to be all right. Ain't no half step. You've got to trust. You've got to trust in the law and just reinforce that with doing the right. The minute that you put a little bit of slick in the game, that's when things go bad. Because that means you're no longer trusting the law. You're trusting your own smartness. You've got to trust the law and do the right thing and believe that it's going to come out right. You, it's just, when I started from off the corner, it was that simple strategy. That simple strategy. I trusted the law that this was, I was doing it as a service, that it was going to be successful. And I know I was going to end up with many stores as I do now. No, I didn't think so. But as long as I stayed true to those two girls, Alhamdulillah, Allah kept blessing me there. As long as all the boys and stuff come through the bed, I'm like, no. Well, you mentioned something earlier that sometimes people from your past, they might see you 10, 15, 20 years later and they haven't seen all of the changes and the transitions that you've made and that maybe even the people that are really close to you, maybe they get an understanding of it, but somebody who's not close to you is not going to understand it all. But they're still operating with you the way you were. That's the point of reference. Right. And it made me think of, you know, that even the process of when a person becomes Muslim and starts developing their Islam, whether they were born Muslim and start developing their Islam, because I have that experience as well. I was born Muslim, but I didn't always practice. So you have to, you know, you start on the path or you weren't born Muslim, you chose Islam like you did out here and there's going to be other people in your life that they don't see your journey, right? It might be family, it might be friends. And so you have to have mercy and compassion with them but steadfast on your path. Like, this is who I am, but I'm also, you know, I'm recognizing where you are and there's some things that you might not accept about me, but even in the process of you not accepting, I'm going to be merciful and compassionate. It's my grip. Yeah, my grip. That's the grip. Be comfortable who you are and what you want to do. And especially when it comes to Allah, I think it's important to just stay true to yourself and anything that you want, regardless of anyone else's opinion or someone might treat you differently because of it. Yeah. So you said be comfortable with who you are. So how do you deal with when somebody else is not comfortable with who you are but you're comfortable with who you are and one element of who you are? How do you deal with that? You know what? I've been blessed by the ability to communicate with people. That's one of my strong points. If someone has an issue, why do you have to be true? What do you think? You can't believe what you see on the TV or ask me any question about it. And come with them with love. It's their anger or just if you're positive, I've been known to be like the worst people and I've got to have been able to change it. Not because I wanted to because they changed themselves. Well, because you just had a conversation with them. Sometimes you just got to love people and I've also had conversations with people that came up to me and apologized. Really? I'm not sure why I apologized because the things I said about you and how I thought about you, I said it's fine because it's okay. I get it all the time. And they're like, well, no, no, I don't want to apologize because I feel bad and it's okay. It's fine. It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's me. It's really not big deal. It's all done good then. And they change. And there's no other that old expression that they don't recognize. Absolutely. If you're serious, people recognize that. And they may, you know, come pick at you a chance if you're gonna double or not. But if you stay firm on your principles and you stay serious, people have nothing but respect. Even when they disagree with you. They may disagree with you. Right, sure. But they will respect you as a result that, you know, yeah, he's serious. He's the same person every time. He doesn't get involved in stuff. And that goes back to number two, believing in a lie and doing the right thing. That's all you need. I'm telling you, as long as it's not complicated, man, for me, it's not very simple. I don't have to address a certain way or look a certain way. All I need to do is just do the lie and just be a good human being. That's it. Islam is that simple. You know what I mean? And don't let no one tell you, sometimes you go to a bus station, man, and they'll be like, brother, you don't need to do things like that. I got it. You gotta get some of that. You got connections, you know, you got money or, you know, I don't give you money. I just got myself. So, because what he said is true, there's a lot of people that you might go to a mosque or to a community, you know, meet a Muslim and they're like, oh, well, let me tell you about Islam. But you've already studied a lot. You have the tools to be able to figure out things you got here on your own, right? None of us, none of those dozen meshes got you here. You got here by yourself with the success from God. He got you here. But, you know, if anything ever comes up, just reach out to us. If, oh, I heard somebody told me, I have to do this or somebody told me Islam is this. And just say, you know, I have some trusted sources. Just gonna double check, you know, and not be swayed. But you don't look like the person who's gonna be easily swayed. Ah, you're very stubborn. I can't be swayed. That's a real difference. I mean, that's a good thing. He's only telling you that because man, a lot of places you go, like you go to the mosque, and people, oh, you need to do this. You need to do that, you know. And sometimes, and they, didn't mean well. They're coming from a good spark in their heart. That's their interpretation that a person has to look a certain way or act a certain way to be a model Muslim, right? But what they forget is that we're on different levels of evolution in our faith. Some people are up here. Some people are down here, you know. And you can't always meet people where you want them to be. You have to meet them where they are. And I think that's the most important thing, that I get that too. I go to a Muslim sometimes. They want me to, brother, you need to do this and that. You just say thank you. And that's it. You can't tell me. No, it's okay. I'll keep you moving. I'll do it right now. Okay. Good. I'll put it up. All right. Well, I think we've got a, and there's got some more. There's got some, I'm here for you and you've got a deal. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.