Professor, it’s Peter from class. How you doing? Doing good, brother. Do you have a spare moment to chat? I have a question to ask you, if you don’t mind. Absolutely. Be with you. Hello, Peter. Hey, professor. How you going? Good, mate. How are you? Good, thanks. So I wanted to ask, how do I get closer to God? Well, the first step is to acknowledge his existence, which you have. And then once you do that and testify that there is no God but he, then you learn how to really converse with god. And in Islam, it gives us that beautiful way of conversing with god directly without that intermediary. Okay? And we do that through the ritual prayers known as Salah. When you bow and prostrate your head on the ground, that is the closest that you will be to God Almighty. But also through prayer, through giving charity, through smiling in the face of people, through looking after your neighbours, through looking after animals and the environment. Any good act that a person does brings them closer to Allah, brings them closer to god. And so really, it’s a way of life. Once you live your life in a way that is pleasing to our maker and Creator, Allah, and you follow that with good deeds, that’s the best way to bring you closer to, to Allah, to God. Thank you, professor. No worries. Pleasure. Alhamdulillah, brothers. We have with us today Peter, now Peter Has been on a journey of discovering the right path, the real truth Islam. I’ve answered several of his questions. Some were very difficult, but I knew the answers. Some were silly, so I didn’t even bother answering. But Alhamdulillah Peter is here today and he’s excited to convert to Islam. Peter, are you nervous? Tiny bit. Let’s do it. Okay, so just raise your finger and repeat after me. اشهد ان لا اله الا الله واشهد ان محمدا رسول الله رسول الله Peter we got you this care package it has everything it has a prayer mat so this will teach you how to pray so there’s gonna be 5 1 in approximately two hours so don’t miss that grab on to that okay thank you and then there’s a lot of books in there as well okay okay thanks so this is from us okay there is a lot of things you’re gonna have to change now coming to Islam I hope you know that firstly we can’t have Peter Wang anymore okay has to be something more Abdullah Abdullah is good Abdullah even Abdullah or Saeed maybe you look like a Saeed what about Abdullah Saeed Abdullah Saeed yeah see now that’s a good one Saeed Abdullah Saeed Dallah look look you’ll get there you’ll get there you’ll get there also no more Chinese food bro I’m sorry about that what but I love Chinese food doesn’t matter mate no more pork on your fork Peter you’re Gonna learn to eat halal and only halal now. Okay, I guess also, doesn’t the professor’s lecture finish right now? Let’s go tell the professor about this good news. Grab your bag and let’s go. Professor, Professor, Professor, did you hear the good news? What’s the good news? Peter just converted to Islam. Mashallah. Mashallah. The beard boys. Mashallah. There’s so much you gotta change, especially with that beard. You gotta get on my level and Professor’s level. We’re tossing up between two names. Which one do you reckon would suit Peter? Abdullah or Saad? Both are beautiful names. But I think if you don’t mind me having some time with Peter just by myself and yeah, yeah, that’s fine. If that’s okay with you guys, you let him know about all the good things about Islam, especially the food and Janat as well. Yeah, boys, we will we will. Inshallah. Well, please take a seat, Peter. Well, what a what a moment. Hey, I feel maybe something’s overwhelming you. Well, look, professor, very honestly, it’s it’s a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot going on. The boys are mentioning that I have to change my name and that I have to start dressing differently and that I can’t eat Chinese food anymore and I love Chinese food. So I don’t know what to do about all these things. Well, there I’m sorry to hear that you feeling overwhelmed. First, we need to realise that many people who convert to Islam Or revert to Islam for like yourself face these challenges and often er Muslim brothers or sisters who advise new converts do you know they’re quite genuine and sincere but I think sometimes when a lack of awareness about what Islam actually requires, I might uh, lead people to give maybe the wrong advice. Okay. And so, uh, the first thing that we need to realize is that Islam does not have a problem with cultures. In fact, Islam has a very positive attitude towards cultures which is very unique and Muslim scholars have always said that we can always take that which is good, useful and merely harmless from cultures and make it part of who we are. Okay. And secondly, uh, Islam does not intend to Arabize everybody, you know, and so by asking you to adopt an Arabic name or dress like Arabs or dress like Pakistanis or Indians, that is not a requirement so I don’t have to change my name. No, you don’t have to change your name. Regarding the food, of course you don’t need to change the food except you need to be mindful that you’re eating halal. Okay? So the meat has to be halal but you nobody can say change your love for Chinese food, you know, just like we don’t expect Pakistani Muslims or Indian Muslims now to change their cuisine so they can all become Arab Muslims. Look at, I mean you your background is Chinese, right? Correct. They Look at Muslims when they went to China. I mean, at least 13 years they have been in China. And if you look at the mosques in China from outside, they look like temples. They do architecturally because they wanted Islam to, to come across as functional and belonging. Okay, that they are not separate from the fact that they became Muslim doesn’t mean now they are separate from the Chinese sister, but they are part of it’s all, it all makes sense. It’s all coming together. So I can still be Chinese, I can still be Australian and be Muslim all at the same time. Absolutely. And we must never see these, uh, identities as contradictory. Yeah, they are complimentary. Yeah, this is gonna be a big test for me, professor. But, um, I’m confident in the, in my faith in Allah and I’m confident in the Muslim community as well. And I’m excited to be a new Muslim. Inshallah. And just so I can’t emphasize enough the importance of Dua, prayer, supplication to ask and he’s closer to you than you think. Allah’s closer to you than you think. Inshallah. Ready for that? Inshallah. Excellent. Inshallah. You’re learning quick.