 In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, I start by praising the Lord, praising God, for it is God that guided us to do what we do, and who could never have done what we are doing today without the guidance of God. And I greet you with a beautiful greeting of peace. Peace be with you. As-salamu alaykum. I am very grateful and thankful for being invited today, Reverend Jeffrey Spencer gave me three, four topics, and he said, choose one. And the one I chose that was very meaningful to me was how did the teachings of Jesus affect Mohammed, the dentist in Fremont? And I felt I was very appropriate. A couple of things. And we will see me say peace be upon him or peace be upon them, because in the Islamic tradition, whenever you mention the name of a prophet, any prophet, you always say peace be upon him. So you will see me say that a lot. And also, I keep in mind and you keep in mind that it's very rare that you have a Muslim speaker talking to a Christian congregation. So we do have, we understand that we do have our own interpretation. And keep that in mind, please, and that I think can facilitate the discussion. So how did the teachings of Jesus, peace be upon him, influence me as a Muslim? And I tell you this on two levels. It's on two levels. First, it's a core, the core belief, what we call the Akida. It's the core belief. And second is in my everyday life, in my character buildup. And on those two levels that I will address you today and to share with you how as a Muslim, we have so much reverence for Jesus, peace be upon him and for his mother, Mary, may God be pleased with her. Let's go to the core belief. The core belief, Jesus, peace be upon him, however short was his ministry, his core teaching was to the worship of one God. The core was to worship one God, Mark 1232. And the scribe said to him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one God and there is none other but he. John 17.3. And this is the life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Matthew 23.9. And call no men your father upon earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. And there are many more verses to be brief, I stop. But these are the verses that represent the core teaching, the core to the one God. And as such, the teaching of Jesus, peace be upon him, prepare me to embrace the Quran, whose fundamental teaching is the worship of one God. The worship of one God. So that I do not see Islam, Muhammad, the Quran as a new religion, but I see it as a continuation and a culmination of the mission of Jesus, peace be upon him. And because when you look at the Quran, the chapter 112, the four verses, they speak of one God. It means say, Allah who I had said there is only one God. And you keep looking at the Quran. This is the main content, the main message being sent. And as I said, it prepared me for that. Perhaps this is the greatest benefit it had to me, especially in the days that I was searching. I too, I went through a search. I was born a Muslims with my parents, but I had to search for myself. And during those days of searching, it helped quite a bit. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said in one of the book of Hadith, now you have to understand the Quran in the Islamic theology is the absolute word of God. That's called the Quran. There is no human's word in it. And then you have the words of Muhammad of compile in a book of Hadith. And they are separate. So in one of the book of Hadith called Bukhari, Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, of all the people in the world, of all the people in the world, I am closest to the son of Mary, peace be upon him. And he said, all the prophets are paternal brothers. And in Islamic philosophy would not make difference among the prophets. Two, 285, la nufadri kubayna ahad minlusuli, we do not differentiate among the prophets of God. There is something we call the covenants of prophet, the covenants of the prophet. That's why the great Sufi master, Rumi, he said, lamps are many. Lamps are many, because you have 100 watts, 50 watts, soft light, white light, LEC, LDC, whatever. So the lamps are many, but the light is one. The light is one. The prophets are many. The prophets are many. But the co-teaching is one. One God, one prophethood, one humanity. So in Islamic tradition we are told there has been 124,000 prophets that God sent at different time, to different places, to different people, in different languages. But the co-teaching was one. And that, I think, was the greatest, greatest impact that the teachings of Jesus have upon Muslims. And that we revere that, we honor that, and that's why we honored him so much. Just to let you know people don't realize, Judy talked about the five prayers. Every time we sit down in the position where we are sitting down, we send blessings upon the family. So I always tell Jesus, my Christian friend, I say, we praise Jesus five times a day. How many times do you praise? You just joke about it. All right, you need to have sometimes some sense of, you know, and then let's go ahead. I'll just be brief here because I respect the time given to me. Let's look at the everyday, everyday life, everyday behavior, the character. The first one that comes to my mind is the truth. Truth. Which is a commodity very rare, perhaps today in our world. The truth. Ephesians 4.15 But he's speaking the truth. In love, into him all things. Quran 3370 All you who believe keep your duty to Allah fear him and speak always the truth. Those great teachers, both of them, Jesus and Muhammad, peace be upon them, they were subjected to severe persecution. Severe persecution. Jesus by the Romans, peace be upon him and Muhammad, peace be upon him by the Quraysh of Mecca. They felt the pain. They saw their followers tortured, but they never compromised the truth. They never compromised the truth. And that's what I love. That's what I base my relationship in my life. First my marriage. I've been married for decades now. My wife is sitting right there and I'm still a happy married man. I can look at her in the eye and talk to her and she can look at me in the eye and talk to me because we speak the truth, nothing but the truth. And that's very important. Professionally with my patients, both me and my wife are dentists. We practice right here. Unseedable love. When I see a patient in my dental chair I don't see buffs that I will make. What is truly will be helpful to that patient. And sometimes the truth may bring you less money. But you speak for the truth. So my professional relationship we have been in practice for over 25 years is based on truth. Because those what you learn from Jesus and Muhammad peace be upon them. Righteousness is next. What is righteousness? Righteousness is not I have a beard, I have a cap and I walk to the Masjid Islamic center. Righteousness is not that you show up with your best attire on Sunday morning. That's not what the teachers said. Let them, let's hear them and let's see what they say. James 1.27 Religion that our father accepts as pure and faultless is this. To look after orphans widows in their distresses. Quran 2.177 Righteousness is not that you turn to the east or you turn to the west. But you believe in one God. The last day the angels, the books, the prophets and check it out. You give and give his wealth in spite of love for it. To the kings folk to the orphans to the poor who beg. Chapter 107, 1-4 in the Quran. You know, Judy just told you we pray five times but the same five prayers God says, Allah says, war to your prayers if you do not feed the poor and the orphans. War to your prayers. I don't need your prayers. So ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters of humanity this is what we learn. Jesus, Muhammad, peace be upon them did not live in castles. Did not live in mansions. They were not where the pizazz and the grammar was. They were where the pain where the dirt, where the sufferings of humanity is. They lift up the unfortunate among us. And that was the epitome of the mission. And if you know me you know this is my life. If you know me, you know I have been a volunteer chaplet and Washington hospital for over 20 years and I see my colleague right there. If you know me and Judy is a witness to that I stood in front of the city council of Fremont advocating for affordable housing asking for more money to deal with the issue of homelessness in Fremont. When I was president during my tenure at Islamic society of Ace Bay way back in the 90s I initiated the feeding of the sunrise village. I founded a shelter for women that are beaten up kicked out of their homes have no place to turn in their pain in their difficulties. I opened a shelter called Nisa while it is run by Muslim but the services are open to all. To all women of different races and faith. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what define me as a Muslim. It is a humanity not a religiosity. This is what we this is why I object to two groups of people that are trying to define me. One that relegates Muslim like ISIS siding Islamophobes that panel like Gala. Both of them are wrong and I object to it because this is what defines me as a Muslim. I am a true believer and a true follower of the true teaching of Jesus peace be upon him and the true teaching of Muhammad peace be upon him. And I want you to remember that this morning. And we can go on and on. Neighbors Matthew 5.43 Your neighbor Quran 4.36 Do good to your neighbor who is near and who is far. When Muhammad peace be upon him kept talking about the neighbors his companions thought at one point he would say the neighbors inherited in their in their wealth. That's how important are the neighbors and we are all neighbors that could be a village in the whole world. We say the whole world has become a global village. That's why the Quran is specific the neighbor who is near and the neighbor who is far. Obedience to parent Muslims are known for that. Where did that come from? Ephesians 6.1 Children obey your parents. Quran 29.8 We have enjoined Muslims to be good and judiful to their parent. Forgiveness Acts 3.19 Repent then turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. Quran 20.82 But without doubt I am Allah and also he that forgives a gain and a gain for those who repent. This is what it is about the forgiveness and mercy. Daniel 9.9 The Lord our God is merciful the word merciful Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim is repeated 114 times in the Quran. This is what I learned from those great teachers that God is a God who is merciful that will forgive it is through his mercy that I find a hope in my life it is his mercy that make me allows me to redent myself wherever I have failed it is his mercy that allows me to embrace and understand my fellow human beings and that's what we learn that's how Jesus affected me as a Muslim and you can go on and on you will see that we don't have time I want to respect the time but I will just give you another example the return of evil with goodness everybody know that in Christianity if you always slap on the right cheek what you do you offer the left cheek so does the Quran return evil with good Muhammad peace be upon him he used to walk down and that lady used to take her garbage and throw it on him and he would just dust it off and keep walking it's very humiliating in this Arabic society in the aristocratic society of Quraish for somebody to do that to you it's very very humiliating it's even worse than throwing a shoe at you alright so Muhammad kept walking and every day that basket of garbage came on him one day he doesn't see the basket coming he waits nothing comes he looks up, nothing what does he do peace be upon him he woke up knocked on the door and asked to see the woman and he said how are you doing I did not get the garbage today and I'm thinking are you okay if there anything I can do for you and the woman went in tears the woman went in tears so that's what we learn from those wonderful teachers so I'm here to confirm to acknowledge that as Muslims we have the greatest reverence for Jesus peace be upon him and that our Islam is a continuation of his mission is a culmination as Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said prophethood would like a brick home every prophet came and put a brick and there was one last brick to be put after Jesus peace be upon him he came and he put that last brick and sealed prophethood it's completed house I appeal to you today I'm not here to convert you don't worry about it I'm not here to convert anybody we don't believe in conversions it is God that guides people not human being but I invite you to study to look into Islam the Quran, the life of Muhammad peace be upon him so that you will have a better understanding of your neighbor the Muslim that you will understand for yourself you will not be based on what you hear and what is being said to you find out for yourself you will be great you will be like Dr. John Esposito Dr. Moore Karen Armstrong all those are bright great scholars and they have studied they have not changed their faith they are still happy in their faith but they have seen Muslims in a different perspective they have the greatest respect for the Quran they don't burn it they have the greatest respect for Muhammad peace be upon him and I invite you to do that because there is too much blood between us there has been too much blood we cannot afford to carry more blood in our hand we need to reconcile love is love we need to reconcile we need to love each other we need to understand each other but before we can do that we need to talk to each other so I am very grateful in conclusion I am very grateful that you have asked me to come here today and we come in peace we come in good faith and let me conclude with this as we are about to celebrate the 4th of July let us pray let us pray to the Almighty God that he will keep America beautiful that he will keep America safe that no matter who comes to our next president that he or she will lead America as a world leader with justice political justice economic justice social justice and that we will fight and remove social injustice and political injustice wherever we find it ladies and gentlemen may God bless you, bless your family and may God bless America amen thank you