When Tony embraced Islam, he lost his business, his friends, and, for a time, his family. In Part 2 of his conversation on ROOTED, Shaykh Riyad Walls tells the story of what came next: the journey into sacred knowledge. From his wife teaching him alif-bā, to selling his beloved hi-fi to pay the rent, to walking a Long Street that was once lined with bookshops, to the hadith that lit the fire in him, "whoever walks the path of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Jannah."
Along the way: his father’s reconciliation in a hospital bed, the two kinds of divine guidance, the travelator as a picture of staying on the path, the teachers of Dar al-Arqam who carried him, and the dream of studying in the city of Fes that sets up Part 3.
A story for every seeker, convert or raised-Muslim, that being guided is a choice you keep making.
ROOTED is a series from Isnad Academy following the pursuit of sacred knowledge through the unbroken chain of transmission, the isnād that connects us, teacher to student, back to the Prophet ﷺ.
This is Part 2 of three. In Part 3: the travels, the trials on the path of knowledge, and the road to the mimbar.
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00:00 "Allah took it all away — so I could focus on the one thing He gave me"
00:45 Welcome back to ROOTED
02:14 The convert's different path to knowledge
02:56 "I embraced Islam and got the girl as a bonus"
04:41 Losing the business, the friends, the family
10:27 When my father found out
14:32 The hospital: "he was proud of what I'd become"
17:10 "Good luck" — the tests every believer faces
18:15 The gateway to the path of knowledge
20:48 Married, and the move to Cravenby
22:58 Selling the hi-fi: give something up for Allah
25:46 Long Street, when it was a street of bookshops
32:22 The two kinds of guidance
34:45 "This religion speaks about everything" — and istinja
44:55 "I love you for the sake of Allah"
47:26 The travelator: staying on the path
51:36 The book that lit the fire: Ihyā Ulūm al-Dīn
52:32 "Whoever walks the path of knowledge…"
55:15 Muhammad Karim and the sponsorship to study
57:08 ICOSA, Dar al-Arqam, and choosing a path
58:14 My teachers
01:00:52 Voice of the Cape and the door to Medina
01:03:24 "My first achievement" — first in class
01:06:28 Bursting to travel: the city of Fes
01:08:28 Al-Qarawiyyin, Fatima al-Fihri and the old way of learning
01:11:54 "Be a seeker, and remain a seeker"
01:13:29 The four types of people in knowledge
01:15:02 "Above every knower is the All-Knowing"
01:16:00 The cliffhanger: setting out for Morocco
Correction: Mawlay Idris I was a descendant of Sayyiduna Hasan ibn Ali (Ahl al-Bayt), not of the Umayyads.
