I plan on being very honest because you
know through that honesty you’ll see a
lot of the blessings that I’ve been able
to enjoy from a loss opponent to
although one of the things I want to
kind of put in the beginning in your
guys’s heads right now is this idea of
water I do do a lot of studying as we
all are supposed to but I’ve also
studied the Japanese samurais anybody
know what samurai means and Japanese
Japanese samurai means one who serves
so in this jumper you know Japanese
samurai tradition there’s a big emphasis
on water as well as in throughout the
Quran waters mentioned multiple times
and the water is something we can hold
something we can drink something we can
use or evaporate if used on a rock it
can split that rock and truly Allah has
blessed me so many times with droplets
that it has split me into just a
continual happy believer and I continue
to receive blessings and more knowledge
as I go so we’re talking about the the
transformation into Islam and I was
fortunate my parents you know neither my
parents are Muslim which I think helps
sometimes you know because I was able to
learn things for myself a lot of the
things that we hold onto for the rest of
our lives are things that we found
ourselves because we know them to be
true and we feel them in every aspect of
our life so my parents were both
Buddhist and Baptist they kind of gone
back and forth but we were going to a
Unitarian Church at the time and when I
was 13 14 our job as teenagers was to
what is your declaration of faith what
is your faith statement and I don’t know
about you guys when I was 13 14 I was
you know picking up the cordless phone
and call my friends hanging out some of
these guys probably know what a cordless
phone is huh
youngest young cats so there’s this
whole idea of finding your face so it’s
like okay well what do I believe in and
I was going to this coming from public
school and knew I was going to this
Catholic high school so I thought hey
I’m gonna what about Catholicism I check
out Catholicism Christianity and you
know Jesus is a great prophet to us you
know and the whole Trinity thing to me I
was like okay yeah I know I believe in
God but Jesus is God I don’t know you
know I don’t know what that I don’t know
what that is you know when my
grandfather is a deacon in the Baptist
Church you can imagine he was he was
laying down some biblical verses and the
history of being Baptist and everything
and still didn’t really sink in with me
and it wasn’t until I was in my eighth
grade social studies class sleeping
unfortunately in the social studies
class but literally there was a video
just it was like the world religions
video one hour probably made by 60
minutes or something and they say this
is Islam they believe in one God Jesus
as a prophet mohammed mohammed is a last
seal of the prophets and they also
believe in Moses and Abraham and it was
like a just a shock to my system also
that’s exactly kind of how I’ve been
feeling like you know I know Jesus lived
because clearly reason there’s an
imprint so I looked into Islam and it
literally felt like God just unzipped my
heart and just gave me faith and I’ll
never forget that so I called it my
friends literally on 3-way back in the
day when you couldn’t do it on your cell
phones young people but uh so we get on
3-way
and neither of these two are Muslim but
I just knew I was Muslim I knew then so
I said she had a ladder that he little
lost the one the mohammed rasoolullah
they’re like what are you talking about
I’m like I just took Sodom you know
they’re like okay who
so after that it was just kind of on me
to find out what happened so being a
young guy not really knowing any any
direction I go into this I go to this
Catholic High School and surrounded by
people with faith and I had an
impression on me because you know as the
Quran teaches us we have brothers and
sisters who are believers in the book
and true believers in the book they
respect your faith and their faith is in
every day of their lives
it was an inspiration to me being around
fellow Catholic brothers and sisters
because it was in everything they did
was in everything they did so I but at
the time you know I was just trying to
be me you know young african-american
kid and predominately white school got a
lot of anger so what I did you know I
got the silver chain that set a law in
Arabic you know rock that thing hard I
went to this interracial conference and
I saw on the list one of the teachers
was neighbor
Abdul Wahid said well that sounds like a
Muslim I’m gonna go check it out you
know Allah please help me out some of
what I’m doing I literally had a teacher
self aslam book from Barnes & Noble
which couldn’t be more wrong I only know
how that’s legally printed it could be
some propaganda so so I go to this
conference and he kind of sees me in the
back you know I got the bling on and he
says hey man you know do you know what
that means he said yeah but I don’t know
what I’m doing man you know help me out
so I’m doing a lot of that was the one
of the first second droplets I guess of
water on me and to this day that man is
still my teacher and they wonder why
he’s giving me Dean and show me the path
and continued to guide me even when I’ve
when I’ve asked some questions so much
thanks to him so then the first
experience I had at the mosque so now I
knew I was most of my kind of knew how
to pray excited want to go to mosque and
just be standing there you know not
doing what I should be doing and it blew
my mind man it was a little I don’t know
if anybody’s been to Minnesota but we
actually do bench so you actually know
we actually have a lot of diversity a
lot of Somali brothers a lot of brothers
in the Middle East but when I went to
the Masters it’s a little one-room
mosque in the top of this dilapidated
building at Saint Paul and this this
older Muslim was just teaching this is
why guy
how to read Arabic and just teaching
them don’t like wadis that’s amazing I’m
like so you guys friends I got these
methods to do today
oh my okay well that’s pretty cool and
then when we got to prayer I still
remember my first prayer because it was
amazing to me I did I’ve never met any
of these brothers didn’t know any of
them by name and they came shoulder to
shoulder foot to foot with me and if you
ever pray next to me I will be touching
your feet so because that was
unbelievable to me you know even in the
Catholic tradition when I watched my you
know friends pray everybody’s in their
space give me some space you know but
here we’re saying no I man we need to be
touching we are one that was a profound
profound impact on me
and for for me Islam has really saved me
from a lot of different things really
guided me despite me not listening at
times everybody you know people want to
talk about the NFL but I would not be an
NFL football player not only if it
wasn’t for a loss of heart Allah but if
it wasn’t for the Deen because through
the Deen I’ve learned discipline and
sacrifice so it made it easy to have
discipline and sacrifice for a sport so
through high school now some Muslim I’m
telling everybody you know yeah Muslim
you know do my thing and all of a sudden
I’m going I gotta go to college now I
don’t know if anybody you’ve been on a
recruiting trip to d1 school anybody
raise your hand Wow so I needed my Deen
then you know I’m saying I’m a kid in
Minnesota so I’m going think about going
to Miami and Notre Dame and Miami knew
what they were doing okay these people
make literally millions of dollars off
these athletes you get a 17 year old kid
from Minnesota to come to Miami in late
November they take me to the beach I
know you ever been in the beach in Miami
you will need your Dean if you go to the
beach in Miami and Taylor right now
this is a struggle so I go to Miami and
a they won over a seventeen year old kid
that’s for sure
you know I was happy I was I liked the
beach I wanted to be there but then I
went to Notre Dame and at Notre Dame
it’s not South Beach but there was this
wonderful tradition there and we’re
there playing Michigan at the time if
any of you are thinking about going the
University of Michigan don’t it’s a bad
school go to Notre Dame but it was a
huge game for Notre Dame and I’m seeing
all this tradition of faith I mean you
know and there are brothers in the book
they have a they have a you can’t even
imagine how big this building is with
Jesus on it with his arms open wide and
to me just that symbol of acceptance was
was unbelievable and that’s one of the
things that people go to the University
of Notre Dame to see all the time so not
only that when I get on the field after
the big win somebody grabs me from
behind
they say hey you go anywhere else you’re
gonna be a number you come here you’re
part of a family I said wow man yes
that’s incredible no one did that at
Miami no one did that at Michigan so I
came home I still like Miami you know
it’s cold over there himself in you know
Miami’s got the beach and it’s cool so I
told my parents that I want to go to
Miami
like no nope never seen my mother more
upset with me in my life to this day she
said you’re not going and then this just
this piece came over me and I just came
over me you’re not going you’re not
going and so I ended up going to Notre
Dame and a lot of people asked me to say
you know what was it like being Muslim
at Notre Dame those brothers and sisters
and at Notre Dame they helped me be a
better Muslim
anybody want to get so many masses they
have
yeah anybody want to guess how many
masses per week there are at Notre Dame
seven anybody else 330 masses per week
at the University of Notre Dame on
campus so you talk about people with
Dean you know I’m saying though they’re
not you know Muslims that’s it that’s a
lasting example every week in my
community so I was able to grow because
when I was saying that’s the Amen what’s
this Ramadan thing hey it’s kind of like
Lent in a way okay cool so they laid
leave me alone they know I’m doing my
prayers you know if I said it they say
man we’re going to this movie and now
I’m a guy I gave my prayer in you know
they understood so from that
understanding not only did I grow as a
Muslim but I always always will and I
always encourage all you to respect
people of the book those who are true in
their faith because they will respect
you as well
and they will make you better about your
Deen in colleges are also needed my Dean
I don’t know how many you’ve been in
college but you will need your Dean at
college and especially you know Hum Dil
I was able to to play and do good things
and they know where you live in college
you know it’s one thing in in the pros
when you go and then you go back to your
house you know in a community but when
you’re saying it when you play a Notre
Dame they know you live at Siegfried
Hall you know so people are coming by
good times are being had and I really
needed my Dean to continue so finally
home do LA get to get to my junior end
of my junior year all these projections
coming out a you’re going to be a number
one pick you’re going to be a
first-round pick all this stuff and I
have my first of what would be three
back surgeries and four surgeries total
in five years
so here I am now I have a back surgery
I’m like man I don’t know what I’m gonna
do
I need my Dean again so I’ll continue to
pray continue to pray God drafting the
third round hamdulillah first week of
practice in the pros back went out again
I needed a second back surgery kept on
my Dean kept on my Dean came back and I
think I have probably the worst
preseason game in the
history to NFL when I finally came back
in one half I had three penalties two of
them back to back two of which were
holding which is like the worst penalty
an offensive lineman could have and then
again I just I knew I had my faith you
know I knew I had the Dean and I just
kept praying I kept praying Allah I have
nothing I have nothing I fear nothing
but you please guide me through this
please give me opportunity again you
know I’m doing a lot of that year went
on to do good things
then again I’m going through and I keep
telling you this because it’s so
important to me that I’ve been able to
keep my team but there were times when I
went away and I don’t know if any of you
have had that as well but there will be
times if you’re young that you will you
will struggle but every time I struggle
something happened made that made me
come back to the Dean and I would not be
standing here today without that one of
those things that I’ve been kind of
living living it up a little bit you
know doing my thing and also I was going
to the mall so I was hitting jhummer you
know but I was still you know doing my
thing and literally I just I literally I
feel something grabbed me on my couch
said if you do not stop you will go to
hell we all know who that was talking to
me
you know you all know who that was that
grabbed me so hum doing laughs I stopped
I stopped Connor with the we’re living
the life now I’m doing a lot of the next
literally the next week I met the woman
who on July 7th will be my wife I met
her at a charity event cuz I wasn’t
doing nothing I said I might as well go
to a charity event you know one of the
wooden otherway that I got kind of that
water and then this this recently for me
I had gone to I finished my four years
at at the Denver Broncos and I was set
to make whatever amounts of money okay
and at that time it was important to me
I’m not gonna lie to y’all man making
millions of dollars is important to me
it really was and for an unknown reason
literally unknown
okay I’m traveling I’m doing my thing
having a good
time my back gives out again I have to
have my third back surgery people say to
me sometimes how do you know there’s a
guy said you think a man with three back
surgeries be playing an NFL if God
didn’t exist so here I am I’m waiting
for the money I can’t wait for the money
and it doesn’t happen I decide for a
minimum contract okay have another back
surgery and now I’m rehabbing and out
and you go home
everybody’s like so what’s going on with
you what’s going what’s the deal you
know I came back from that serve when I
day I got out of the surgery table I
came home I said God I will not lose
faith I will not lose faith in right
there hours after my back surgery
I made some lockers it would not break
me it would not break me coming back
through that whole experience I’m alone
I’m working out I don’t know if you ever
had anybody rehab an injury torn ACL
it’s a lonely time over there you’re
just doing little exercises so you can
gain an inch in a week or a rep in a
month
that’s how slow you’re moving I prayed a
guy said god I pray I continue my faith
and I pray it that one day you’ll help
me and I will be back and just when it
was as bleak as possible I go to the
Masjid I’m still going to Juma and that
in all of us have that time where it
says hey give up it’s not working you
know go something else I kept praying
and Hum do a lot of the Broncos signed
me back for two years and that’s where I
am today
so through my faith it’s just been a
blessing you know to start from a kid
who had a silver chain to being here
speaking in front of you guys today and
especially for the youth I just
encourage you to stay on the Dean no
matter where you are and make sure that
you talk to somebody older somebody like
myself or somebody in your community
because we all in here know the power of
allah subhanho wa taala
and I’m so blessed and happy and I’m so
happy that I was able to share this
story with you today so thank you very
much
[Applause]