Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest Shahad wa la ilaha illallah Inna alayna misalama Allah Allah As-salam May Allah's mercy and peace be upon you. Guyana is the land of many waters. It's a very beautiful country surrounded by water. People say, where is Guyana? Is this in Africa?
Is this Guinea? Is this Ghana? Where is this country?
We are in South America, the only English speaking, but culturally we are linked to the Caribbean. Originally they were the Guayanas, three Guayanas. And in the past they were referred to as the wild coast.
People were afraid to... do anything on it because it was the coast was below sea level. We were colonized by the British. In 1966 we became independent. Guyana has the largest amount of masjids in the Western Hemisphere per capita.
Of more than 150 masjids in Guyana, 83,000 square miles, and the Muslim population just about 12%, people are very hospitable. You will sense that hospitality more. when you move to the rural parts. We have masjids in all of these counties and even in our bordering towns.
Ramadan is a beautiful month and I love it so much. And it is, subhanAllah, one that I welcome a lot in my life because it brings immense blessings and reward for myself and my family. After Fajr at the Masjid, I go to the market to get the vegetables, the meat, the fruits for the Iftar in the afternoon at the Masjid. This is a site that the first masjid was built in Guyana in 1860. It was built by the indentured servants who came from India.
So though Muslims came during slavery, they were not able to practice their religion so the religious practices that they had in Africa was almost wiped out in the public domain. All of them became Christians, they were given new names and everything. But the Muslims who came from India were allowed to practice their religion so they had to pray so they built the mosque at this site, the first mosque structure that was set up.
According to recorded history, Muslims came here first through slavery. The Europeans, Dutch and English, had Guyana as a plantation colony, a place that you could grow produce, mainly sugar, later. But they could not find labor.
Sugar is a labor-intensive occupation. They brought slaves from Africa. They're largely Nigerians, Ghanaians. Sugar was the beginning of the colony, but now it's going off.
My name is Nasruddin Rahman. I work in the Blame Out Estate guys, from Shieldstone. I work here for 29 years now. You have to cut the cane. If you have to cut and drop something, you just cut and drop something else, cut and load the cane.
This work is very hard for Ramadan month. For keeping fast, because you could do without the food, but the water, you couldn't do without the water. Because you cut the cane and drop it, and something, you're thirsty.
You have more Muslims, but you're hard for them to keep the fast, Ramadan month. We make iftar with the friends of the masjid, like polari, chana, dates, juice, drinks, and so we just make iftar with masjid. Well, you get different parts in cooking the food at the masjid.
Something is cooked at home and carried to the masjid. This is a family place. I live here.
I've been living here for five years. And life is...so far, life is good. When we married, he then he turned Muslim. He converted to Muslim.
I feel so happy in my life that I turned Muslim. I like Muslim religion more because it's easy and it's simple. We born in a Muslim home. My father was an Imam. It was very nice reaching your brothers and sisters.
I went to the masjid and pray Salah and then you came home. You enjoy the day. Fast is so easy. You don't feel it if you keep fast.
Allah make it so easy. In 1838, at the emancipation of slavery, according to the documents, it's reported that the slaves celebrated with Friday midday prayer. The only people who performed Friday midday prayers are Muslims. And so after the abolishment, of slavery in 1838, the British now looked elsewhere for cheap labor and they moved to India.
The Indians came under an arrangement called the indentureship. Of course, the majority of the Indians were Hindus. Approximately 17 to 20% of the Indians who came were Muslims.
They were allowed to practice their religion. They were also allowed to congregate. In the 60s, Muslims started to leave Guyana and go abroad to study Islam in the Muslim world, Pakistan, India, Arabia, Egypt.
Muslims started to practice Islam more, in performing their prayers more regularly, the masjids started to open. There is still a great need for the Arabic language and you would appreciate Arabic language, yes, being taught by an Arab. Peace be upon you.
Okay. Please start reciting Surat Al-Duhha In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful I came from my country to do the Dawah For example, to do the lessons, to teach Arabic, to teach the Holy Quran Alhamdulillah, I graduated from Al-Azhar University in 2006 and I live in Guyana, the capital of Georgia, since 2017. What does King mean in Arabic? What does beautiful mean?
What's the meaning of that line? Al-Baab Al-Baab When I first came to Guyana, I was honestly surprised by everything Spell again and read So he did the language and he did the... and traditions, and the culture, and the timing, it was a surprise for me.
What surprised me here among the youth is that there is respect for Islam. So there are people here who are They are not Muslims, they don't believe in any religion, or they are non-Muslims. But they come to the Fasl with love for learning the Qur'an, love for learning the Arabic language, love for increasing culture. And more than that, some students wear hijab with love for hijab, regardless of the difference in religion.
Guyana is a country of religious diversity, religious tolerance. Everyone respects freedom of speech and freedom of belief. Well, I come from a normal Guyanese family that contributed significantly to public service.
My grandparents and my parents and myself, our family came up from an Islamic background. My, both my parents would have completed Hajj. I'm from a village called Inora on the west coast of Demerara.
I grew up in the village of Inora. Playing in the kampong of the Lenora mosque, that's our local mosque. As a child, I remember looking forward to Ramadan from many perspectives. Not only for the Taraweeh Salah, but from the community. So the community came together and had Iftar together.
As a community, people came, all the children, your parents, they were all there, breaking the fast together, eating together, sharing together, eating from the same plate, and then praying together. building relationship. And that he has chosen us to witness this most blessed time of the year. A time of redemption.
The believer who recognizes the value of this gift can only reflect on the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ayyaman ma'dudan this is a special time in the Lama Prabhupada's existence. This is not an irregular time of the year for us. We need to recognize this is an opportunity of a life In Guyana we have a rich country in terms of diversity, as you know, and that is something that we can celebrate.
The Muslim community is... the smallest of the three main religious communities, but yet the country elected a Muslim president. In many mosques across the country, we'll see that community spirit again, where the community, the people in the community, the children, their parents, they're coming together as families, joined together in one community, breaking the fast of Iftar, sharing and praying together, you know, connecting with each other. Assalamu alaikum. Some beef brought out from the market.
And one mil for the iftar. During the month, Ramadan, fasting month, every day we cook. We feed them when they come in the afternoon.
The fasting portion. Who doesn't keep fast? Everybody eats.
Dinner before they go home. We're between women and children and things by 200 people. 27 years now, convert.
I married to a Muslim girl. So then after I married to her, I became Muslim. I had to convert before I married to her. I find that in Islam, it's good.
It's more simple religion. You have to do the right thing. The religion is straightforward. The books tell you what to do and you do the right thing. And that's it.
Say, Alhamdulillah, Bismillah, La ilaha illallah, Muhammad Rasulallah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar all the time. Keep me up for the day. I'm a convert.
My husband is a Muslim. This is like about three years now of fasting. It takes me 21 years after to convert to a Muslim.
When you're there, where the cool, you don't find it hard. Your question, Karna, is after you break your fast, you eat dinner. When you finish Maghrib prayer, you eat the dinner.
Ramadan, it's time for togetherness. When the whole Jamaat come together, you pray together, you eat together, you break fast together. It's time to carry this.
Allah Allah Our Prophet tells us that fasting is for Allah. This is a deed that Allah has taken upon Himself that He will reward each and every one of us, brothers and sisters. He made that initiative, He made that proactiveness to start respective brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters, once again everyone is invited for khana after the remaining salah and dua, inshaAllah.
Ameen. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Rahmanir Raheem. Maliki Yawmideen. Iyagina A'udu wa Iyagina As-Sa'een.
Iddina As-Siratul Mustaqeem. After you finish breaking the fast, you feel so good, happy. Because you don't know you do something good for the day, and you didn't eat all day, so now when you eat, you feel good.
Ramadan is a very great month. Lots of blessing. Come here.
You are awesome. Anybody here? Oh, it's good. It feels so good to observe the holy month of Ramadan.
And when you do that you have so much strength. You don't know where the strength is coming from. It's from Allah. Allah is the Greatest.
Allah is the Greatest. Eat it. CIG was formed in July 1, 1979. It was a very small place.
When we were giving zakat out in the 70s to 20 or 30 persons, that has now increased to more than 1,200 persons. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, now CIG on a monthly basis is distributing close to about 50,000 US dollars in Zakat and towards the orphan sponsorship program. These are routine activities.
This is a food hamper project. by the Central Islamic Organization of Ghana. These are monies that would have been donated by persons locally in Ghana, regionally, and internationally for food hampers to be given to fasting Muslims during the month of Ramadan. Almost 2,000 persons having a hamper each. So how much person live in your homes?
Six. Six, okay. Do you want to sign here for me? Sign here. What I'm doing here, I'm taking down their names, their masjid that they are attached to, the number of person that will benefit from this food basket.
And this is like a iftar food basket that will assist them in making preparation for their suhoor and making preparation for their iftar at their homes, their family, if they cannot make it at the masjid. And these persons are selected because they are from the less fortunate of our community, Blairmont, Shieldstone and the Edward. I make preparation of different grains, different varieties of dry goods that can be cooked, rice, macaroni, chow mein, flour.
This distribution is done not only in Ramadan but throughout the entire year. I cook for thousands of people. Yeah, I do a lot of cocaine.
People ask me, they say, Tony, don't fill up cocaine. I say, no, this is my hobby. And I love cocaine.
There's cocaine done every Ramadan month for the Camp Street prison and Lusignan prison. Well, this is a good blessing because our brother's in there. So, you know, we need to do this for them.
Because, you know, they're fasting, so the minute they break their fast, they need to get something to eat. You know, we try to change the menu every single day and give them a different thing every day. I like today now, as you know, we're doing daal and rice and chicken curry for them.
But today on Monday. It's Ramadan month. You know, we're looking out for the brothers. You know, we're looking out for the brothers, so that's why we do it for them. I have been self-trained for 75 years in prison.
I have appealed that to take part every day in the feeding up, getting the meals brought out and I am I take part in the Jumat Salah. I am the leading imam. Here I am the imam for the masjid.
I converted at the masjid that is in the prison of Mubarak. facility that was in 2017. I know there was a book by the name of the Quran but I never read it because I couldn't have read. And while I saw the brother was reading the Quran and he was teaching another brother and I was like curious to learn or to understand what is really going on so I said I want to be there, I want to take part and I went and I listed. From there I listened, I was so amazed from there and I said, you know what, read it to me brother, tell me what it said. Being close at all, catching Juma every Friday, farming a daily salad with your brothers, remember it's clutch better.
It's one of life painting and the process and of course. You must say it's less than enough, you can write a book from this, surely you can write a book. My best of advice, I always tell any Muslim brother.
None more slaves. Try not to get yourself caught up. Like I said, by the way, The grace and the mercy is of Allah, Subhan Allah.
Go through very much safe. Allah, Subhan Allah, never want to put us through difficulty, but we put ourselves. You know, no one looked after us except Allah, Subhan Allah, what to do with that? The Muslim inmates are very cooperative, they're very disciplined.
I would want to believe it's because they engage in so much praying, so much time, but they don't find that they're so erratic like the other inmates. That's just my view. The prison don't really prepare for Ramadan. This is a special food, halal food I think it is. They give us food, but they don't provide for the breaking of the fast.
That is not within their jurisdiction, but we get three meals a day. This is the facility that we perform our Friday Jemaat Salat. These are the mats. It's not a complete one, it's just pieces that we use.
In the 90s we start to see a resurgence of Islam, especially among our Afro brothers and sisters, and many of them are returning to Islam. And there are a number of communities... of Africans who are Muslims. In some cases it is predominantly the imam is African and most of the congregation are from the African brothers and sisters.
And I must add, sometimes these converts are more practicing of the religion than those who were born Muslims. I never think about being a Muslim because as a young boy leaving school, meeting with friends, when I think about it I say like you know I would lose too much. You know the way of life you know you can't eat you know. You can't go to parties.
I didn't think about it such, you know. A day while going to work in the army, I made a little prayer in English as a Christian. I said, if things work out good for me, I would accept Islam. And it worked out so good. I had no choice.
I took Islam very seriously. I always say that if I'm a Muslim, I must live as a Muslim. I pray five times a day.
I try to make it very efficient. I become the Muazzim for the mosque. And from there on...
I'm here all the while. Salah wa daqamat is salah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. I never want to give somebody the keys to open the masjid.
So that responsibility, I take it. very seriously that if I'm not there, the masjid would be locked and I would be held accountable for prayers for the brother who is sitting or waiting on me. So I try to be very punctual and that actually motivates me to be here five times a day.
The people that come to our mosque here are mostly African people. Safaya has a stigma. And the stigma is that most of the people that live in this area get themselves tangled with the law. Many people stigmatize the area with this. But so far that I am here, crime has reduced.
A lot of things are positive that's coming out from this area. Whatever we can assist, we assist the community with. So whatever problem they're having, whatever difficulty they're having, they can come out and tell us and we can see whatever assistance we can lend. So this is a plus for our Jamaat as well as our masjid, that the people in the area, they respect us.
Because they see what we are doing, it is honesty and we try our utmost best to serve the locality, this community, with respect and tolerance for each and every single individual that resides in this area. There are many people out there right in our locality here, in our community. They are entrusted. They are interested in Islam. They are curious and they see how Muslims deal with people, how Muslims live, and they realize that this should be the way out.
The first thing that you have to do is seek knowledge. Seek knowledge. I would go home, read my Quran, you know, just relax. And focus in on the next prayer which would be Zuwar. And there, back again.
As a Muslim, I don't want to be too proud by telling you that I am a good Muslim. Allah knows best. What I do, I try to do the things that is pleasing to our Creator. So this is my first Ramadan as Muslim. Last year Ramadan I wasn't Muslim, but I observed a few days to see what it was exactly.
That's when I was learning about Islam. It's an experience. It's not easy, but it's a commitment.
Getting married to the person I'm with right now was also one of the reasons I converted to Islam. We ended up in the talks of getting married. We never planned on getting married, it just happened.
And we decided one day, let's get married next month. And we got married next month, right in the same yard out there. It was very small, very simple, and it was very happy.
I'm originally from Bartica. My mom was half Amerindian, half Negro, and my father was fully Amerindian. I was an active Christian. I used to play drums with the church, keyboard, and I stopped. I got converted last year.
Muslim faith has shown me the peaceful, the peace in life. Sometimes when I'm stressed or something, I play some Quran and it basically helps me to focus. So the whole of Islam is...
really relaxing and calming in my perspective. It teaches you to be a good person to others, a good person to yourself, a good person to your friends, families, and all these sorts of people. So it teaches you more how to live a good life, physically, do good deeds, and be viewed as a good person as a Muslim should.
Peace be upon you Mr. Mohammed How are you my dear friend? Good to see you. You are doing well?
I hope so. I have been here for 6 years in Guyana. I have not moved from there. I speak to my friends twice a week. Of course I feel lonely.
That is the beginning of things. I feel lonely more when I am in Ramadan. I remember Ramadan days when I was in Egypt with my family. In the middle of the day, my friends go to pray in the city, go to pray in the village near the village, go to travel to Cairo.
These are the days that you know, the days when we were young, you know, the best days, frankly. and the university days. Any country we go to, God has wisdom in it.
God put you in this place because of the wisdom and the reason that you are delivering the message of God. My mom always said, I will go in the month of Ramadan. To pass away in this month, it's usually an honor, because it makes your accountability lighter on the Day of Judgment.
And so every Muslim desires to pass away in the month of Ramadan, and so, alhamdulillah, she is definitely honored. This is one thing that made me feel as a son so happy for her that there is nothing you know that better I or anybody in the world could have given her. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. We tender our condolence to all the relations.
This is not the only existence. That is not the end of it all. That is the beginning of an everlasting.
existence. Our position in the past it was more family oriented now there is more open there is more activities regarding and more information being circulated about Ramadan and fasting via social media In the past, we did not have television in Guyana, so we all depended on the radio. So in the mornings, we have a radio program. Everybody will tune in to listen to the Ramadan program and the songs being sung.
in the Urdu language. Alhamdulillah, now today, we have moved from radio, we now have television programs, we have a lot more information being disseminated via the social media. the WhatsApp and the internet, etc., etc. Every day we have a television program, radio programs in Ramadan. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Dear viewers, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. The government gives us some time on the national television for us to have our Islamic programs. This month was gifted to us so that we may purify our bodies minds and hearts and cultivate taqwa, God consciousness. The Muslim community, by the grace of Allah, they have developed.
Our head of state, we have ministers in the government who are Muslim. We have Muslim lawyers. The director of public prosecution for Guyana is a Muslim sister. This year will be 18 years since I have been in this position, being the longest serving Director of Public Prosecutions. I am the first woman to have been appointed as the Director of Public Prosecutions.
I am also the first Muslim woman and the first Muslim lawyer to wear the hijab at the bar. I performed the Hajj in 1985 and after I performed the Hajj I decided that I will wear the hijab. I had gone and leave, I came back to work, I started wearing it.
I had no adverse reaction and I have always been respected at the bar and I have never been treated differently. Muslim Guyanese have always held Ramadan in high esteem. Families would invite friends over and families to break the fast. I love to cook for other people. Generally, I love to host.
So I would host about 10 to 12 times per year. You know, not big gatherings, but very, very close friends. In Guyana, most of the men and some of the women would go to the masjid to break the fast for a family dinner, most of them.
Some families choose a day or two in the month to invite their extended family over or their very close friends over. So today we chose to invite very close relatives. The last two Ramadans, because of the pandemic, there was a setback because we weren't able to socialize in the masjids and the mosque, so that it was a little different. But the good that came out of that is that families were able to come together in homes that usually didn't happen.
As soon as the time for fast arrives, we take a sip of water and we have a date. That's from the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace, so we continue that tradition. Ramadan is a heightened spiritual time and we know the value of every good thing that we do. We know the value of every prayer, of every fast, of every zakah, everything that we give. And so we take it very seriously because we know it's multiplied.
And so we don't hesitate to make use and take advantage of the value of Ramadan. I pray to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, give me good manners and character and respect like the prophet of Islam. You know that all communities are connected through religion, that everyone respects the other's faith. I see that.
As a religious man, there is no discrimination against religion. Guyana has no problem with Islam. Guyana is a country that respects all of Islam, respects all religions, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, some are non-Muslim, some are not convinced. They don't have any religion.
And the country gives them the freedom of religion. Here, praise be to God, there are nice people, people who love coexistence, people who respect religions. This is the situation of the youth that I saw. Here you have the world's three great religions together, side by side. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, side by side.
Our pleasure to join with our presidents. The diversity is not only from a religious perspective. The diversity is from an ethnic perspective also. We are a land of six different people, fused together on the one common banner, and that is we are Guyanese. This week in Guyana, we have a...
a very interesting period. We the Muslims are in Ramadan, the Christians are in the period of Lent fasting, and the Hindus are in the period of Navratri. So all three of the major religions are fasting and today we have a national day of prayer and fasting.
The people of the country, they were fused together in struggle. And in that struggle, there are certain fundamental principles that bounded the people together. And that is the love for freedom, the respect for each other, viewing each other equally in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of humans, and developing that level of respect and tolerance for each other. This country, we're blessed. We live in harmony with all the other religions.
The Hindus, the Christians. We live in harmony with everyone. It's our interpretation of Islam. It is one that promotes peaceful coexistence, religious tolerance and respect for everyone.
humanity of every person, irrespective of their race or irrespective of their religion. If you're not promoting peace, you're not promoting tolerance, you're not promoting respect, you're not promoting trust, you're not promoting love, then you cannot be representing Islam. Just a simple talk with a Muslim brother can ease the tension of whatever it is you're going through. Islam, as you would know Islam, is a way of life.
It's not what you feel like, it's a process that you have to live by. And I enjoy doing it. The future of Islam here, I think, is a very rosy one. And it's something actually that can be an example to many countries in the world.
And for the people to compliment the natural beauty of our country with their good attitude, and behaviour. Hopefully it will be able to make a contribution of its spirit, of the Guyana's Islamic spirit of tolerance, of acceptance, of growth, of contribution to the world. Yes, I think one day Guyana will have a woman as a president and maybe a Muslim woman too.
Shake your body, yeah, man, shake it. And shake it. Oh, la, la, la, shake it.