011 – Hajj Talib, a Muslim Who Found Meditation
Hajj Talib is a friend of mine who I have known for several years. He is a convert to Islam for around 33 years and recently went through a process of awakening. He had a tough childhood, going from a broken home with an abusive father to living in a foster home and learning to fight to survive. He is now an internationally recognized martial arts master, published author, mentor, seminar leader, and public speaker, and is working on a book called “From Munich to Mecca.” Talib is widely traveled and studied and even taught Arabic. He used to work as a visiting imam in prisons in England.
Follow up video https://youtu.be/k1VVNMnGHO0
Audio Download: http://abdullahsameer.com/files/podcasts/11_Hajj_Talib_Interview.mp3
– The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment: http://amzn.to/2gvDlNV
– The Power of Now: http://amzn.to/2woZ8fS
YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/-6_XKmtxFLQ
Timestamps :
0:00 Introductions
1:15 Hajj’s background and how he came across Islam and ended up becoming Muslim.
6:02 What did Islam mean to Hajj when he converted to the religion? Why is Hajj not comfortable with the term revert? How his family reacted to his conversion to Islam.
12:06 Hajj’s journey to Sufism – anecdotes of meeting Sheikh Nazim. What drew him towards Sufism?
15:50 Hajj’s life as a Muslim – Never missing a prayer in 33years, regularly reading the Quran, learning Arabic.
18:09 The good parts of Islam that Hajj liked and the positive impact that it had on his life. What motivated Hajj?
21:00 Teaching Arabic in the UK and Hajj’s upcoming memoir
22:56 Hajj’s beliefs right now – Is he an agnostic Muslim? Being a cultural Muslim.
25:50 What initiated Hajj’s journey away from conventional martial arts and Islam. Being introduced to meditation and how it has changed his life and perspective on religion.
33:52 Mindfulness and Buddhism and how they emphasize meditation. Spiritual awakening and living a more conscious and fulfilled life. How Most Muslims limit much of their studies just to Islamic texts and the Quran.
41:20 Meditation – recommendation for a book by Adyashanti. Non-abiding states of enlightenment. Analyzing why you do the things you do.
46:00 The idea that you are not your thoughts. Filtering out meditation and mindfulness out of Buddhism and leaving the dogma behind.
54:48 Some people need religion in their lives for them to thrive. The numerous personal interpretations of Islam by Muslims and religion in general by their followers.
57:08 What is Hajj’s perspective on the question of God? Being comfortable with acknowledging that you do not know all things.
1:02:20 The problem of evil and suffering. The narcissistic take that the universe was created for humans. The existence of consciousness. Importance of discussing topics, even the hard ones to come up with a consensus.
1:09:45 Book recommendations from Hajj – The power of now, The end of the world as you know it.
1:13:00 Hajj’s message to the Muslim community
1:14:57 Some of Hajj’s books and the timeline for the second book’s publication
1:16:10 Final remarks and Hajj’s social media handles
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