American Activist Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who was influenced by Malcolm X's personality and struggle and met Islam at the age of 18, says, "Islam saved me."
Yasin states that in 1964, the year Malcolm “I didn't know what Hajj was, I first learned about it with that letter. Then Malcolm X returned from the pilgrimage, and the day he returned from the pilgrimage, I went to visit him among the crowds. “I shook his hand for the first and last time that day.”
Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who was born into a devout Christian family in the Harlem district of New York in 1946, had a large family with nine siblings.
Although he was not an orphan from the age of 3 to 15, Yasin, who was raised as a strict Christian by a foster family in Harlem with his siblings, deeply experienced the period when white racists discriminated against black people in his youth.
Khalid Yasin (born 1946) is an American Islamic preacher, a former Christian, who lives in Manchester, England and lectures in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. Yasin frequently travels overseas to spread his faith and has called himself a "media-bedouin," remarking that the Bedouins are willing to settle wherever there is "water and shelter".
When he turned 18, Yasin, as an African-American individual, was influenced by the personality and struggle of Malcolm X, who was influential in many people becoming Muslims and was introduced to Islam. Yasin, who said that Malcolm X directed him to the Islamic Scholar Sheikh Daud Ahmed, entered Islam in 1965 through the Islamic Scholar Sheikh Daud Ahmed. This situation caused a big change in Yasin's life. Yasin, who studied fiqh, hadith, provisions, memorization, Islamic history, Arabic, and many other Islamic sciences from well-known Islamic scholars for 30 years, also took lessons from great scholars such as Shaykh Khalid Al-Halwaany in Saudi Arabia and improved himself very well.
Yasin, who tries to explain Islam to people with many video recordings, speeches, and books, talks about the lives of the Prophet Jesus and the Virgin Mary based on the Quran, conversations about what the purpose of life is, what kind of a cause the Prophet Muhammad and his friends were in, due to the society he is in, in his books and conferences. He talks about issues such as what they are charged with. American Muslim Activist Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who analyzes the society he lives in very well, carries out preaching work for them, and also touches on the events in the world, has introduced more than 75 thousand people to Islam in 61 countries around the world and more than a thousand people with his more than 100 video recordings and conferences. It has led to the guidance of people.
How did you become Muslim?
I was 18 years old when I met Islam. Islam saved me. He introduced me to the truth at a very early age, especially by saving me from the possibility of finding the truth by making mistakes. Many people in the world make mistakes, experience serious problems, or lose a loved one, and then begin to search for the truth. But Alhamdulillah, when I was only 18 years old, Islam saved me from falling into these mistakes and God Almighty gave me guidance, and when I look at the transformations that Islam caused in my life, especially at the age of 18, it brought a clear discipline to my life.
We are 10 siblings. When I was 3 years old, there was a fire in our house and my mother was not home at the time of the fire. There is a rule in America: Since my mother was not at home when there was a fire, the government came and told my mother, “These children are your responsibility. The children are home alone and you cannot take care of your children. "We will take your children from you," he said. The state took me and my siblings. I stayed in an orphanage for a while. I wasn't an orphan, but I grew up like an orphan. After growing up in an orphanage, they gave him up to his family home as an adopted child. I grew up in a lot of different families. All of them were Christians, but some of them had different denominations. I grew up a very strong Christian. Some people took me to church once a week, some took me to church twice a week, but when I was 15-16 years old, I started to understand all these sectarian differences, these distinctions.
Among your best friends is Muhammad Ali. How did your friendship begin?
I performed the Hajj at the same time as Muhammad Ali. We didn't go together, but we were there together. We were doing it at the same time. Then, when he heard I was coming, he invited me to his room. I had the opportunity to meet him there. Frankly, his face was much more familiar to people than the pope's face, and he was one of the most influential people I have ever seen in my life. He was very generous, very intelligent, not arrogant at all, and very sincere. I am very glad that I met him and was able to establish a rapport, and our friendship continued afterward.
What are your views on Islamaphobia?
Islamaphobia has unfortunately become a socio-political tool. When we look at the origins of Islamaphobia, it must have been in 1974. We see that some intellectuals spread this idea, and it has many sub-branches such as philosophical academic. Everyone knows that the real purpose here is to damage the image of Islam. Turning it into a socio-political tool and turning it into an even bigger accuser of Muslims. But Muslims also cause this a little bit.