21. Shelter in every Storm- (Warning! This is A long one!) After losing Teacher, I began to reflect on how fragile life actually was. There are certain people in all of our lives that we never associate with death. These people are larger than life to us and have such an impact, that we falsely assume that they will be physically present always. For most of us, its our parents, but for some it is so for our “Spiritual Mentors.” That’s exactly what teacher and the other eminent people Ive mentioned throughout are…..Spiritual Mentors! When I thought it couldn’t get any worse for me, I received a call, while traveling to the Mid-west, from my sister in New York. She told me that 2 detectives had come by the restaurant with my picture, asking about my whereabouts. I didn’t take it serious and continued on my mission to “retire” from the business I was in. Retiring from the criminal life isn’t as easy as most may think. I mentioned some of the obstacles in an earlier post, but now it was different. I was trying to pull-out for real, that meant tying up loose ends so that I wouldn’t get bitten by them later. My crew was solidly in my corner with regards “retirement.” Alhamdulilah, Allah began working on all of our hearts. We had begun to experience a great deal of danger. Dangerously violent situations were taking place lately. Murders of “colleagues” were taking place almost daily. Allah was “talking” and we had begun to listen. One day as we were all out getting dinner, our driver made an illegal U-turn and the cops were on us. We pulled over, as directed by the police. They walked up to the car and saw 4 young black men in a car and assumed the worse. But we were clean and had nothing in our car or persons that would cause us any problems. The cops asked for all of our Identifications. We complied and they began to run our names through the police system to see if any of us had warrants for arrests or were wanted for any crimes. None of us were worried. The most that would happen, in our minds, would be a ticket. As the cops came back to us, they informed me that I had a federal warrant out for my arrest. DAMN!!! What!?!? For What!!?? I was taken to the detention center and was allowed to see a judge almost immediately to see if id get a bond or not. The judge informed me that the warrant was for a crime I was being accused of in Trenton New Jersey federal court. Since I was out of state, he would either hold me until federal Marshals from New Jersey came to pick me up or he would issue a high bond that I probably wouldn’t be able to pay. He issued the bond for $600,000. I would have to pay 10% of that ($60,000) cash to get out……I was out in less than an hour lol! I was instructed to report to court in New Jersey the next day for arraignment. I drove 10 hours that night to get to court in New Jersey on time. I found out that I was being charged for securities fraud, Bank Fraud and Investment Fraud. The governments evidence hinged upon the testimony of an old college buddy of mine that worked at the Investment Bank that I was accused of defrauding. You see, this friend of mine (named Coltrane) had approached me almost a year earlier regarding helping him out financially. He knew that my business was on the “dark side” and he wanted help to pay some bills and survive. I told him Id see what I can do. He said he had a plan, and I agreed to hear it out. After listening to his “plan”, I realized that it was a recipe for disaster, so I backed off. I told him that it wasn’t my area of expertise and that I didn’t want to go in with him on it. That was it. Without my knowledge or involvement, this guy (Coltrane) tries to pull off his scheme. He got caught (as I predicted) and was now facing Federal Felony charges. This guy was a total square. He was a regular guy that wanted to live-out some fantasy of being a big-time criminal. He was a fool. Anyone that thinks criminal life and activities is “cool”, is a damned fool. Anyway, in exchange for not being charged for the crime, he cut a deal with the federal authorities to inform them about who the actual mastermind of the crime was……He told them that it was ME! He put the whole thing on me and even went as far as to say that I forced him to comply at gun-point! I couldn’t believe that this was happening! How the hell was I being charged with something that I didn’t do… but not being charged with the many things that I had been doing??? It seemed so crazy to me…twisted. Either way, I hired the best lawyer in town and prepared for this round of court battles. I was innocent and had MONEY! Shoooot, I was gonna beat this stupid charge! But in reality, I was worried. They were trying to give me 20 years for this one. I kept this a secret from my family. I was not going to put them through another court battle. I couldn’t put that on my Mom. This one was sure to kill her…. I contemplated involving Shaykh Hassan, but I felt as if he’d be disappointed that I had gotten myself into another situation. I think the fact that I was leading a crime-filled life actually made me feel less worthy of receiving help from my family and from the Shaykhs. Its like, although I was innocent of this crime I was being accused of, I was in-fact guilty of so many others….. I threw caution to the wind and decided to use my wealth and top-of-the-line attorneys to get me out of this one. I actually stopped calling my Shaykh for fear that he would “read” me and know my situation lol. A few days before my first court date, I received a call… Ring Ring…Ring Ring…… Picked Up….. Ali…”Salaamualaikum Ibrahim” Me….”Walaikum Salaam Maalam Ali! How are you? How is Khalifa Alhaj Abdullahi?” (Ali was the Khadim/Personal assistant to the Oldest living son and First Khalifa of Shaykh Ibrahim Niass He was the caretaker of Shaykh Ibrahims town and Masjid) Ali…...”Im fine. Khalifa Alhaj Abdullahi told me to call you. He would like to talk to you. I will translate as he talks…ok?” ...Damn, Im nervous as hell now. This was a big-fish calling for me... Me…….”Yes sure.” (Khalifa Alhaj Abdullahi begins to talk in the background and Ali begins translating) Khalifa….”Salaamualaikum Warahmatullah, Ibrahim, how are you, how is your Mom and How is Osman?” Me…....”Im fine Shehu. How is your family, the Jammat?” Khalifa...….”Alhamdulilah, they are all well……Why do you stay so long without calling me? Don’t you know I am your father to?” …I laugh Khalifa….”Anyway, I thought about you and wanted to say hello. Don’t forget us here. Whatever you need, we will pray for you. Any problems you have, call me and I will pray. I ask Imam Shaykh Hassan about you often. He tells me you are well. “ Me…..”Shehu, I have a situation here with the federal government. They are trying to accuse me of something and trying to give me 20 years in prison for it.” Khalifa…..”They can never do it. They don’t have permission for that. Your Mother and Father have worked hard for Allah and Rasullulah. They can never do it. No permission…No permission. What Allah will do to you will bring you closer to him. Be patient until you realize the decree….” Click…Phone Hangs Up …..Im thinking…..Hmmm….Whats that mean?? Damn, I was expecting some prayers or some zikr to do!! Danmit!! Lol…I couldn’t understand exactly what he was trying to tell me…until much later in life. Khalifah Alhaj Abdullahi Died a month after we talked. Subhanallah…..He called to talk to my trifling a!@#!..... Allah is Merciful even to a foul dude like me. I know that many of you know very little about Khalifah Shaykh Abdullahi Niass, so let me help you with a few accounts regarding this Wali (Saint)….. -Former President of Senegal Abdou Diouff has famously said…..”If the Angel Jibril were to come down and question all of the scholars of Islam with the threat of destroying the human race if these scholars could not answer his questions about Allah, He (Abdou Diouff) would not fear failure in the least bit as long as Shaykh Abdullahi Niass was amongst the scholars being questioned” -One day as Shaykh Ibrahim Niass was in the middle of delivering the Friday Khutbah, he abruptly stopped and told Shaykh Abdullahi Niass to come up and finish the Khutbah and lead the prayer! -A scholar appeared in Chad, with the claim that he was the long awaited Mahdi. The people began to believe this man because of his astounding knowledge. He began to preach and teach things that were not correct, and began to win the population over to believe that he was in-fact the Mahdi. The news came to Shaykh Ibrahim Niass of what was being claimed by this man. Shaykh Ibrahim immediately dispatched 2 of his students to go and confront and prove to the people that this man was an imposter. The 2 students were Shaykh Hassan Dem and Shaykh Abdullahi Niass. As they got close to arriving to Chad, they had the following conversation. Sh. Abdullahi………”As you are much older than me, and more knowledgeable than me. I believe it would be wise if you allow me to engage this imposter in the debate first. If they see that that smaller fighter amongst us has vanquished the beast, then they will all be amazed and curious at the potential strength of the the bigger fighter!” Sh. Hassan dem….”Ok I agree” They set up the debate in the town square for all to witness. The false Mahdi began and Shaykh Abdullahi finished him off. It was not even a fare contest. The imposter was quickly dispatched and the people received the proof they required. They realized that the man was indeed an imposter. After the debate, Shaykh Hassan Dem famously remarked….”The knowledge that I heard from the lips of Shaykh Abdullahi was even greater than what I know. That day, not only did he prove that the man was an imposter….he also taught me what I did not know!” The veracity of each of these accounts can be verified by any of our Shaykhs. And these are the stories that you can handle! If I were to really go in on the life of this Shaykh, most of you would say Im crazy LOL…so Ill stop there. When the Khalifa passed away, I had no choice but to call his entire family to express my condolences. I had to call Shaykh Hassan. Ring….Ring…. Picked Up Me….”Salaamualaikum Shaykh” Sh. Hassan……”Walaikum Salaam Baye, how are you, your mother and the family?” Me…..”They are fine Shaykh. “ Sh. Hassan…..”Alhamdulilah.” Me….” I just wanted to call and express my condolences for the loss of your uncle Khalifa Shaykh Abdullahi…..” Sh. Hassan…..”Thank You very much Baye. He loved your father and loved your family very much. Especially you and Osman.” Me….”Alhamdulilah” Sh. Hassan…..” Baye, you know that you cannot hide anything from me. I know whenever any of you are in a problem situation. You should never feel ashamed to tell me about your big problems no matter what. Ok?” Me….”Yes Shaykh.” Sh. Hassan……” Ok, we will talk about it later” Click. That same night, I dreamed of Shaykh Hassan and Shaykh Abdullahi Niass. They came into my house together and sat down. They asked me to get a pen and paper and to sit down also. I did as they asked. They both began discussing what prayers Ithey should give me to help with my court case. I wrote everything down as they told me to. Sh. Hassan asked me in what month was my trial? I told him September.He remained quiet for some time and then told me that it was not possible for September and that it would be postponed… I didn’t want to disagree, so I remained quiet. After some time, I woke up. I was happy to have had such a wonderful dream. As I woke up to get ready for Salat, I rolled over a bunch of papers on in my bed…..lol….True story……It was the prayers I had written down in my dream! As my court date of September approached and not hearing anything about a postponement, I began to feel like perhaps Shaykh Hassan was wrong in my dream about the date being postponed. And if he was wrong about that, how about the prayers that were on the sheets of paper…where they also wrong??? The day after I had that doubtful thought, (9/11)-the world trade center got attacked by 2 planes and both buildings completely collapsed ……..My trial date was postponed until the following year! I never doubted my Shaykhs ever again………Allah has placed them to be my Shelter in every storm…….
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:58:44 +0000
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