 Since last week I have been gathering videos and ideas and of course stories of very amazing people around the world that have decided to become Muslim from very unlikely areas. I have reviewed videos about priests, about Catholic deacons and about pastors who decided to become Muslim for their own reasons and today we are going to be heading to Israel and we are going to be going to the Jewish line because there are two faiths that make up the Abrahamic faith apart from Islam. One of those faiths is Christianity and the other one is Judaism. Where Christianity came from Judaism, Judaism was the beginning of all the Abrahamic faith itself. Jesus came, the Messiah and of course Islam the last message made a debut. One thing that is unique about two of the faiths that Christianity and Judaism is that both of them load Islam. For Judaism it is the last and everlasting covenant but for Christianity a new covenant was made in the name of Jesus Christ and sealed by his death and resurrection. For Islam who came just about the 7th century but not really that new because obeying Allah is religion that has been with the world for a very long time. So both the Christians and the Jews see themselves very exclusive from the Muslims. They see the Muslims as pagans because they believe they deny Jesus Christ, they believe they deny redemption and deny everything that has to do with Judaism. So because of that they say well these people are not part of the faith but today the Catholic Church has recognised Islam as part of the Abrahamic faith and we stand by that. Converting from Judaism to Islam is just like a house going through the eye of a needle is very difficult. The story we want to review today makes everything easy. Asalaamu alaikum guys, welcome to another episode of the Open Mind Your Thinker Show. As it is our tradition, please like and share this video to let others see it and learn this lessons we are learning today. Don't forget to be part of the family by subscribing to help us grow from strength to strength. The video we are about to look at today is tremendously interesting and it's going to make your day. The most important thing is for people to recognise the truth and the next thing is to go for the truth. The courage to understand the truth, to know what lies beneath all the f*****g of lies and then that courage to take a step are two different things that are complemented only by the power of God. I think the power of God is in playing the life of this Jewish president, president of a large Jewish organisation that decides to teach the faith and come back to Islam. Kurdistan, home to over 45 million people, belonging to various ancient ethnicities. The autonomous region celebrates a unique level of cultural equality and tolerance. However, it wasn't always like this. Up until 1950, Kurdistan was known for its massive generation of Jews. They lived freely, intermarried for years and enjoyed the freedom to practice their religion. Then, the law in Iraq changed. It basically forced the Jews of Kurdistan and all Iraqi region to drop their Iraqi citizenship since they had nowhere to go. More than 200,000 Jewish Kurds relocated in 1951 to occupied parts of Palestine which had recently been declared the State of Israel. The Jewish Kurds that didn't move to Israel were placed in three different counties of Kurdistan, Dohuk, Erbil and Soleimaniya. Soon, the families had grown enough to take over a few areas and the distributed areas were identified as Jewish quarters. For a few years, they continued to face a bit of turbulence in case of the religious rights, but they persevered and in 2015 managed to celebrate a new law from the Kurdish parliament and granted the Jews freedom to practice freely. The Jewish Kurds rejoiced by organizing their first public religious celebration called the Forgotten Holocaust. The event was attended by many influential parties including government authorities, board members and even foreign representatives. As amazing as that is, the Jews of Kurdistan number less than 400 families. So, even if they're allowed to practice the religion freely, the minority Jews are still influenced by the Kurdish circle that is 94% nominally Muslim. Well, I just want to briefly comment on the Holocaust. I wouldn't want to say much, but I have taken a lot of time in paying to research the Holocaust carefully and everything that comes in between. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of conspiracy theory surrounds every event like the 9-11 and any other major events in the world, very good or bad. Sometimes conspiracy theory surrounds them and guess what? We just have to be left with the fact and what we know already. So, the Holocaust really happened and we really are not happy and Islam doesn't encourage things like the Holocaust. People that committed the Holocaust went on Muslims and we as Muslims have to guide against invoking certain memories, let people were allowed to practice the faith the way they didn't think. God is the one that judge. Don't judge anyone you have no part to do so. Case in point, Aram Ezzat, the head of the General Jewish Council in Kurdistan, Ezzat managed nine people in his council and enjoyed a life of power and prestige. His main mission was to secure the life of Jewish Kurds. In his quest to safeguard the Jews, Ezzat oversaw all details within the three counties in Kurdistan. This is where he met Hajj Muhammad Bayez Agha Al-Sarzuri, a prominent Muslim figure in Sulaimaniyah. The two bonded quite well and became good friends. Al-Hajj Al-Sarzuri asked Ezzat many times what he thought about Islam. Its influence on Kurdistan and globally. He would talk about Islam's principles, the loopholes in Judaism, and why Islam was the true religion. Al-Sarzuri's religious talks persuaded Ezzat to at the very least ponder over his faith and think about his purpose in life. Was Judaism really what he wanted to pursue? Did the religion leave any questions unanswered? Was Islam trustworthy? Ezzat wasn't curtain from what the media believed Islam was and the negative picture did keep him from actually moving toward the faith. In spite of it all, his friend, Asharzuri, kept on discussing Islam with him and answered any question Ezzat had. After three long years, Aram Ezzat was finally convinced Islam was a true faith. He found the courage to testify his faith by reciting the Shahada. Subhanallah. Yeah, I want to really look at... I'm so interested in reflecting about one's life and purpose when you do so and when you conjure many other facts that deals with the Islamic claim to truth you will realize that there is an actual claim to truth and these claims are true. I have to make this quite clear here because when you look at the trajectory of the prophecies that were revealed in the New Testament it would realize at some point that it was pointing to Islam because even the apostles were confused about the prophecies that really do not know what Jesus Christ meant and Jesus said they wouldn't know until the Holy Spirit came and how did Islam came, how did Islam take over the world if it is not the act of God and then who did it when you reflect on all this and reflect basically your purpose in life the five times daily prayer, the fasting the commitment to God and his teachings the impregnable armor against modern day practices and whatnot you come to realisation that Islam with its consistency doctrine, philosophy and theology aids the true faith it's truly incredible how influential a friend's mere words can be Ezzat in a recent press conference officially proclaimed his status as a Muslim and a few days later sat down for an interview with Al-Jazeera Net along with his friend, Al-Sharzuri on converting to Islam Ezzat says that he decided to surrender his Jewish beliefs because of how much integrity and validity the principles of Islam hold his friend, Al-Sharzuri comments that he felt great joy and pride after hearing that Ezzat had become a Muslim on his influence he was relieved to have saved his friend from entering Hellfire in the afterlife although the region of Kurdistan was overjoyed to have an additional brother in their Muslim community Ezzat's proclamation of faith was met with a few drastic stirs his social media was on fire with Islamophobic insults criticism from angry Jews and disappointments from Kurdish minorities Ezzat was also accused of wrongdoings from people living outside of Kurdistan and even charged legally in a variety of cases however, all of it failed to downplay his trust Well before this video continues I would love to say that one of the things that attracted me to Islam is the ponder to charity these are the core of Islamic teachings and theology you might not understand that but as a Catholic you were taught the power of charity even in the seminary at some point you would be asked to do charity like as part of your penance for sin like you go to a priest for confession and after confessing the pain of the gravity of the sin the priest might decide to tell you that you've got to go for charity work to assuage your sin and that's basically how the church operates so it's easy for a Catholic to really understand the enormity of charity of Islam in fact, his faith was strengthened Ezzat revealed that his next plan was to perform Umrah he was also inspired by the philanthropic attitude of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and aspires to devote his time to relieving the poor spending time with orphans and working with many charities Al-Hajj Al-Sharzuri says he's going to walk side by side with his friend starting by covering all of his costs of performing Umrah as a gift he also vows to work together with Ezzat on all his charitable feats Subhanallah this is exactly why our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him stressed on the importance of brotherhood Abdullah bin Umrah reported the messenger of Allah peace and blessings be upon him said the Muslim is a brother to another Muslim he doesn't wrong him nor surrender him whoever fulfills the needs of his brother Allah will fulfill his needs whoever relieves a Muslim from distress Allah will relieve him from distress on the day of resurrection whoever covers the faults of a Muslim Allah will cover his faults on the day of resurrection we can all learn from Al-Hajj Al-Sharzuri's act of goodwill it is up to us to honour the face of Islam in a world where faith is seen as a weakness and be moral in living a life of discipline that's what weakness is now when you're living a worldwide life where you live the way you like and you do anything you like you are strong that is the irony but guys it doesn't work that way if you're truly strong you are going to be disciplined you are going to have something to do with an un-sing-creator and you are going to have focus and direction these are three elements of real stress well guys thank you so much for being part of the show today don't forget to like this video share it to a lot of people and see you next time assalamu alaikum