By Brian Brown
Rock Center
Put simply, this is just another striving, improbable, poetic American Dream story: How a family, venerating work and education, traveled from the notorious South Central LA of “Boyz In The Hood” to settle in Spielberg Americana in the shadow of the soaring San Bernardino Mountains—a family with not one but two brothers recruited to play Division I football at Washington State University, followed even more notably by NFL careers.
But this story has taken many more remarkable turns. Tonight on Rock Center with Brian Williams (10p ET), in a remarkable journey from Southern California to Saudi Arabia, correspondent Mary Carillo tells the story of Husain and Hamza Abdullah, who, at their athletic peak … associated with America’s most glamorous, most popular sport … walked away, for the glory of God.
“We’ve been playing football since we were 8 years old,” Husain Abdullah told Carillo, “from Pop Warner to high school, and to college, and into the NFL. And although we're knocking down all these barriers, doing things that people said you can't do, all of a sudden, it was like there's more to life than this. There's more. And we had to go for it.”
Their motivation arrived over a lifetime, and all at once. This past spring, Husain and Hamza felt an urgent need to more fully address the pillars of their Islamic faith, including the most difficult test of all, the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, an annual concentration of humanity unequaled on the planet.
In so doing, 27-year-old Husain (who had become a starter with the Minnesota Vikings), and 29-year-old Hamza (an established seven-year veteran last with the Arizona Cardinals) would sacrifice annual paychecks in the range of a million dollars. Instead, cognizant of their platforms as NFL players, they decided not only to seek greater spiritual fulfillment, but also to nurture a greater tolerance of their Islamic faith by spreading a greater understanding of its truths.
“In Islam,” Hamza Abdullah said, “the first word revealed was ikra, which means read or recite. So it's incumbent on all Muslims to gain knowledge. And, you know, if someone comes and asks me a question, ‘Hamsa, what's the five pillars of faith in Islam,’ I should be able to tell you: Shahada, the declaration of faith: Salat, the five prayers a day; Zakat, giving alms to the poor; Ramadan, fasting during the month of Ramadan; and then finally the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.”
Like many American Muslims, the Abdullah brothers have been falsely associated with versions of Islamic extremism they don’t recognize.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Hamza was a sophomore at Washington State, where he was an electrifying presence on the team’s defense. He received a call at 6 a.m. from a teammate telling him to turn on the TV and watch the breaking news about the attack on the World Trade Center towers. Not long after that day, both brothers would find themselves equated with the 9-11 hijackers—men with a distorted view of Islam and a deep hatred of America … men with whom the brothers had nothing in common.
WATCH VIDEO: Two Muslim brothers, one all-American success story
“I think 9/11 was an educational opportunity,” Hamza says. “It sounds crazy to say that. But it opened eyes for a lot of people, including myself. And people would ask me about Islam. They’d ask: ‘Can you guys kill people?’ And I would ask them: ‘In what book does it say that you can go and do acts of terrorism?’ The Quran doesn’t say that. Islam is a religion of peace.”
This past year, accustomed to thorough preparation and high performance, the brothers have been machine-like in their faithfulness. Along with their older brother Abbas, they spent the holy month of Ramadan on a multistate, cross-country tour: reaching 30 mosques in 30 days, but also stopping at food kitchens and holding teaching sessions with youth groups.
The climax of this year surrendered to the glory of God was the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudia Arabia, known as the Hajj. There, the brothers joined a multitude of millions.
“The first thing we noticed in Mecca was how much the other Muslims we met love Americans," said Hamsa. "They absolutely adore us. When you say, ‘America,’ they love you. And you really felt proud, like a sense of: ‘That’s my nation. That's my country.’ And, you know, a lot of the times that kind of gets lost in translation: that Islam is our religion, yes. But our country is the United States of America.”
WATCH VIDEO: NFL players take leave, make journey to Mecca
Will Hamza and Husain Abdullah, with the quiet force of their personalities and the depth of their integrity, be welcomed back into the NFL?
“We’d love to have Husain back,” said Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier. “A lot of things have to fall in place. But the door is not closed.”
“Time and time again, Hamza’s going to be the guy that’s going to encourage you,” said Cardinals veteran All-Pro safety Adrian Wilson. “He’s always said that football isn’t about him. It’s about playing for your brother. It’s about playing for the guy that’s beside you.”
Hamza offered these thoughts after his return from Mecca:
“You know, we're playing football, America's number one game. We went on a road trip. What's more American than a road trip?”
But this was hardly any ordinary road trip, as the Rock Center team would learn in this story about a remarkable leap of faith.
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What really surprises me is that everyone in faith tries to spread religion according to their beliefs. What most do not know is that The Bible and Jesus never taught this. The Bible and Jesus talk about the coming government of God here on earth. Jesus never talked about religion or tried to spread religion but tried to spread the news of the coming Kingdom (Government) of God. The bible teaches what one must do to prepare to qualify for admittance and or rulership in this Kindom along with the many examples of the stories and lessons in the bible to learn from. What sad is that most of us will not realize this until they see this happening before their very eyes at which time it will be too late. We will all answer for our doings both good and bad in front of the one true God which few people truly know. Finally, Jesus stated that his one and only true church would be very small so I would say most religions of this world do not fit this one clear profile.
Islam's not peaceful (Sura 47:4-6; 9:29)
link is for most commonly accepted chronological Quran (since Quran is not in chronological order).
Um...all I can say is these two guys are dopes. Let them make a pilgramage when they are ready to get out of the game. You have a God given talent and yet you piss it all away, becuause you had this feeling? Dumb and dumber in my book.
Obviously all a matter of priorities, which are different to different people.
What is needed is a better understanding of Islam by the general population through exposure (active and publicized actions of Muslims in contrast to terrorists) and more condemnation (active and publicized) by Muslims of the Terrorists falsely using Islam as their justification (Jihad). Then the knowledge that provides understanding could create more acceptance.
The only good thing that would come out of this story is if the two converts to Islam stay in the Arabian peninsula and not return to the U.S.
These guys are obviously not the extremists that perpetrated 9/11, however I think that religion is used as an excuse to commit terrible crimes and that their journey away from football should be admired but religion as an institution certainly should not be.
it won't let me post a link.
google "Arberry Quran"
I am so glad that they are taking a pilgrimage to seek their Muslim heritage. I hope that they take all their Muslim friends with them. Then maybe they will be happy and decide to just stay there !
Boy, now that would be a great Christmas present for America !
Peaceful! Doesn't sound like Islam to me. Beat their wife's and murder their children. So many turn to islam so that they are justified in their hideous treatment of women. A religion based on the teaching of a admitted pedophile. The next news story on them will be when the turn terrorist.
btw Muslims aren't terrorists. extremists have taken Quran out of context but Islam still isn't a peaceful religion
It's great to see football players who's life was nothing but football from child to adult realize it is nothing more than a game. An ones peace can not be solved by money. Todd Marinovich who life parallelled these individuals life didn't take faith route, he took to drugs route.
Just saw the Todd Marinovich story over the weekend and made me think of this
As the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster says, "Mekka-lekka-hi! Mekka-hiney-ho!", which makes a lot more sense than any religion in the world. Eat more pasta, and you will be saved! From what, nobody knows.
These two clowns will be strapping TNT to their chest and trying to blow up something in the world in no time...
Why would you say that? Actually, suicide bombers are rare, but they get A LOT of attention when it's Muslim vs. USA.
These young men have made a choice that they believe in. I, certainly, am not in a position to judge them.
If I was asked to make an educated guess, I would say that I think they are trying to help the world, to see people as people - not as a religion or a race. May peace be with them.
These are all comments made by men and women about two young men who have a belief system they chose to follow instead of playing a game that too many people treat as a religion and hold those individuals who play it in too high a place than they should be. We do the same with Politicians and celebrities and at the end of the day they care nothing about all of us who hold them in so high esteem. I am a Christian by my faith that Jesus Christ was the one true son of the living God, who came down to earth and became a man of flesh and Blood, went up on the Cross and died for all the sins of the world. At the end of the day or our lives, nothing we have done in our lives will minutely or remotely as signifigant as that one act of love. I will never be able to completely comprehend that act of love, but I believe it happened for a people like me to have faith that there is a much greater thing after this life is over, you can be certain that none of us who are commenting about these two young men will live on this earth in these bodies forever and when you stand before whatever God or entity you choose to believe in, none of the things you have done in this life will be good enough and when you know where you will end up for eternity, non of the things we are saying right now will mean anything at all. God Bless you all!
Unbelievable. Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh (the order is alphabetical, not anything else!) must all be shaking Their heads at just about every single one of these posts. Have we, as a civilization, learned nothing? All told, through history, more people have been killed in the name of God (you pick, I'm not typing every name humans use) than for EVERY OTHER REASON COMBINED. Somehow, we still haven't figured it out.
What, you ask? The one common thread of those religions is "love one another." Guess what. We aren't.
Oh, and before you bother, no, I am not a Satanist just because of my username. My personal beliefs are none of your business.
If Islam is such a peaceful religion, why are muslims killing each other in Syria in the name of their God?
why do they bomb schools and try to assassinate girls in Afghanistan when they just want an education?
why do they bomb funeral processions/mosque just because they can't decide who should lead Islam after Mohammad died?
Why do we?
I beleive they're good people of every faith, denomination, etc..., however, there is only one Lord and Savior. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him. One one else has made that claim, nor can they. Dispute it if you will, but the truth is still the truth.
Or in your case, the truth is what you say it is. That is factual to you, and only you. Everyone who can think critically doesn't believe so.
Misleading headline, they didn't give up millions for God, they gave them up for Allah.
um, ok...#puzzled
more people have been killed in the name of GOD than any other reason since these "religions got their start" what idiocy from the same three religions started in the same place same stories of hate
LOL, seriously? They gave up the NFL for that? LOL.. what a couple of bone heads.. lets give up a life's quest where we make a great living playing a game and tread off to dumazz land to worship some fantasy, of by which millions worship who are so dismayed and educationally ignorant.. come on bro, it will be fun... stupid! In 6 months we will read about these 2 idiots trying to bomb the capital.. watch and see.
Pick your gods and bibles from among the 100s of them. Makes the gullible and weak-minded feel better. Also makes the bigoted feel as if they are justified.
kill them both, then their families....fkn sleeper cell.
Think they would have done it before they made millions in the NFL. Doubt it For them the money was first then their God. Hypocrites is all they are.
Good for them. Ihope they don't get killed or recruited over there.
The only difference between Organized Religion and Organized Crime is the second word. Other than that, their belief systems are the same -"We need to expand our turf, and will do whatever it takes to do so. Otherwise, how are we gonna make more millions? Killing off the competition works, every time!"
Ain't that what was done to the Native Americans?