Message from Saajid Lipham to everyone

0:00Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, wa sallam, wa sallamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhun, wa wakum al-wours. So my name is Sadjid, lippam. I'm currently fasting my 19th Ramadan as a Muslim. Subhan Allah, time flies. So I know a lot of you might already be familiar with my background, but for those of you who are new, I come from a Christian background. I embraced Islam in 2008. And then from 2010 to 2019, I went to the Islamic University of Medina to study Islam, to I live in a Muslim country and then I returned in 2019 to teach what I learned. And back around maybe 2014, I started making content on social media with the goal of spreading the teachings of Islam. And a lot has happened over the years during that time, but firstly, I wanna really thank everyone who has been supportive, Jizaka Malahu Khairan. This really has been a team effort. Being an American who comes from a non-Muslim background who not only allowed guided to Islam, but also gave me the opportunity to go abroad and study

1:01and come back, I've always felt this obligation to spread the message of Islam in America. I know from personal experience how not only do a lot of Americans not know much at all about Islam, but oftentimes what they do think they know about it is not accurate. So really my main goal is just to teach people about Islam. And in this day and age, there's different ways to go about doing that. Currently, one of the main ways I personally utilize is sharing thoughts and commentary on topical things that are happening. Every day on social media, there's something new that's being discussed. And oftentimes, Islam is the main topic of discussion. And unfortunately, oftentimes, it's being completely misrepresented. And it seems like there is definitely a concerted effort to misrepresented. So that's really what a lot of my main accounts across social media have been focusing on recently. And at Hamdulillah, I've seen the impact,

2:02I've seen the interest, I've seen the appreciation, the need for this sort of content. But aside from that method, there is also the more academic approach, the more ideal approach, which is actually teaching. So this is also something that I focus on. It doesn't get quite as much attention, but that's also part of the reasons I wanted to record this video. Because alongside the commentary, the responses, the reactions to topical events, I also founded a nonprofit called Straight Path Academy. And I wanted to let everyone know if you appreciate the type of content you see on this channel, the main way you can show your support is by supporting Straight Path Academy. So as we respond to a lot of the misinformation of the current events on this channel, we are simultaneously also teaching Islam in a more traditional fashion through Straight Path Academy. By working in person with different institutions, by publishing videos and courses, by offering workshops and training sessions, part of the collaboration between this channel and Straight Path Academy is that as people start learning the truth about Islam,

3:03they can then go and formally study if they choose. If somebody embraces Islam, they have access to all sorts of free education. And especially for those of us with Muslim children who are already going to school, a major focus of Straight Path Academy is providing resources for Islamic schools, for parents who homeschool their children. And part of the main reasons we've been able to accomplish as much as we have over the years, is because of generous viewers like yourself. JazakAllah Hukaran may Allah grant you all the best of both worlds. One of the most important things about creating this sort of content is trying to remain as independent as possible. We don't run ads, we don't do paid promotions, we don't have organizations funding us, trying to influence us, the level of independence that we have been able to maintain has been from the generosity of viewers such as yourself. And of course, this also greatly benefits the donors because through these sorts of platforms, we can reach literally hundreds of thousands of people. So the potential to be rewarded for facilitating these projects,

4:03for your contributions to the creation of this content, only Allah knows, only Allah can calculate the reward. And we know that Allah is the most generous. Allah is aware of every single person that learns something about Islam through these videos. So I really just wanted to thank everyone who has supported us over the years and also provide an update and inform any new subscribers and viewers that if you would like to support the content that you see on these channels, you can do so by contributing to Straight Path Academy. It's a 501-C3 non-profit organization, so your donations are tax deductible. And through your support in Shah Allah, we can keep the content coming and we can keep it free of charge. So please check out Straight Path Academy.org slash donate. And finally, I have to mention the fact that another thing that we have collectively accomplished over the years is establishing a full-time Islamic school in Gambia. What started as a bare piece of land due to your generosity in your donations as this was 100% funded by donors

5:05and subscribers of this channel. We built an Islamic school, we installed a water well and we have watched enrollment increase year after year. So in order to keep everyone more informed regarding that project, you can also visit GambiaSchool.com. And together in Shah Allah, we can keep that school thriving. So Alhamdulillah, that does it for this video. Again, thank you so much everyone for your support over the years. We ask that Allah continue to guide all of us, that Allah continue to bless us, that Allah use all of us as a means to guide others, to educate them about Islam, about the truth. Allah knows best, thank you for watching. Subhan Allah,