Ramadan Mubarak everyone!

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

The sighting of the moon for the blessed month of Ramadan yesterday (Saturday night)has not been confirmed, so Sunday will be the completion of 30 days of the month of Sha’ban. Monday will be the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan.

Bukhari and Muslim reported on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) mentioned Ramadan and said: "Do not fast till you see the new moon, and do not break fast till you see it; but if the weather is cloudy complete it (thirty days)."


“The Month of Ramadhan, in which the Qur’an was revealed, is guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadhan), he must fast that month, and whoever is ill or on in a state of traveling, then the missed days must be made up from other days. Allah intends for you ease and not difficulty. (He wants that you) complete the number of days and glorify Him for having guided you, and that you may be thankful to Him.” [Al-Baqarah: 185]

“Whoever witnesses the crescent of the month, he must fast the month." [TMQ 2:185]

In the narration of Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "The month of Ramadhan may consist of twenty-nine days. So do not fast until you have sighted it (the new moon) and do not break fast, until you have sighted it (the new moon of Shawwal), and if the sky is cloudy for you, then complete it (thirty days)."

Muslim also reported on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Omar that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “The month of Ramadhan may consist of twenty-nine days; so when you see the new moon observe fast and when you see (the new moon again at the commencement of the month of Shawwal) then break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then calculate it (and complete thirty days)."

O Allah, allow us to complete Ramadan and do not exclude us from its reward; O Allah, make us amongst those saved by You on this month of forgiveness; O Allah, allow us to witness the night of Al-Qadar and honor us with its reward; O Allah, unify the Muslim Ummah and gather us under the shade of the flag of the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him, Ameen.

Ramadan Reruns

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

226 Facebook Friend Requests (yeah two hundred and twenty six!)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I just checked my facebook and there is 226 Friend Requests. As much as I would like to add everyone, Facebook has a limit of 5000 friends which I maxed out last year. Facebook was close to closing our account because the large of the number of friends was a spam flag. Unfortunately, when you get a friend request you basically have two choices "Accept" or "Deny" and I feel guilty saying "Deny" because it just doesn't seem right (even though we have no choice). Anyways, I figured I would just post it here (in case you got a denied request). I just wanted to apologize.

Baba Ali - Behind the Scenes Video (San Jose)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I'll be in Brooklyn, NY on August 23rd InshAllah and then I'm taking almost all of Ramadan off InshAllah. I hope to start preparing for a 3rd season of the Reminder InshAllah during Ramadan.

I'll be back on tour in October InshAllah and during that month I hope to speak/perform at in October are Charlotte (North Carolina), Jackson (Michigan), Cincinnati (Ohio), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and London (England). I'll continue to make updates as new events come along on alistandup.com InshAllah

Ummah Films Video Removed - Copyrighted? JOKE!

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

About an hour ago, I get an email from YouTube notifying me that my video "How I converted to Islam" has been removed due to Copyright violations. I emailed YouTube today about the error and asked them to review the video and verify if any copyrighted rules were violated.

So I'm thinking to myself, "wow...I guess the videos are really making an impact". First, they tried to flood the comment section with negative comments by making up lies about Islam but that didn't really work. Then, they tried making counter videos challenging me to respond but I refused to fall into their trap of useless arguing (I much rather discuss with sincere people rather than argue with ignorant people). So now, they're trying to claim copyright over my material which is hilarious because I don't use even use any audio or video from outside sources. If you watch my videos, its just me sitting in my chair behind a blank wall. What did they copyright? my chair? my wall? haha..

The fact that such losers put so much effort trying to stop the videos tells us that the videos are making an impact Alhamdulillah. I'm not upset but rather find it humorous that people have so much free time to worry about my videos. By videos have been uploaded by Yusuf to over 20 websites and they are broadcast on TV in the middle east and in the UK on a weekly basis (good luck on stopping that). Plus, as long as people don't edit the videos, I've allowed FREE distribution of them, which means that people can upload and videos to websites, blogs, and even show it on TV. In results, the videos have spread to millions and millions of people. So for those who are working hard trying to stop the spread of these videos, we'll... you got your work cut out for you.

By the way, I hope to do another series of videos after Eid InshAllah so I guess I'm going to continue making work for them hahahaha....

Baba Ali launches alistandup.com

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

What started off as a few videos in my 2nd bedroom, ended up as gigs to perform at live events. I keep telling myself that this is probably the last event but the phone calls and emails are still consistently coming in. I don't have an agent, or manager, or even a publicist so I'm not sure how people randomly find me. Anyways, I figure I need to better organize the live events because I have found myself double booking too many times for live shows so I just launched my new website alistandup.com

Sweaty Rocks, Sweaty Audience, Sweaty Baba

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

On Saturday, I found myself in Houston (where its hot and humid) to perform at the Muslim Youth Olympics. I arrived a few hours early and after watching a games, I found myself next door...rock climbing. I have tried rock climbing before but for some reason, I found harder than before (maybe because the rocks felt slippery). I quickly learned the difference between an amateur (me) and a person who does this regularly (basically everyone else). (1) they climb the high wall like spiders while I climb it like an old man (2) they were using chalk to get better grip and I was playing slip and slide trying to climb rocks that feel like I'm touching someone's sweaty hands.

Anyways, a few hours later I was performing in a gym with one of those portable mic & speaker kits. Usually I'm doing my thing on a stage with people around me but today, I was speaking to an audience sitting across the wall. You can tell the crowd wasn't in the mood for a talk (let alone comedy) because they were physically exhausted and more sweatier than the rocks I just climbed.

The interesting element in all of this was the last game went into overtime and I didn't start speaking until 5:20 and my flight was leaving at 6:25 with or without me haha. Also, the event was also about 15 minutes away from the airport and that I was scheduled to speak for for 20 minutes (now guess whose sweating).

While I'm speaking, I see the bro whose giving me a ride to the airport giving me the signal and pacing in the hallway while looking at his watch. He looks more nervous than a person whose lost his passport in a 3rd world country, which starts to make me nervous. I don't ever rambling so much random things in any talk before haha but eventually the talk ended at 5:45 and we found ourselves driving insanely to the airport. Alhamdulillah the plane was 20 minutes late and I made my flight. I text message the organizer and apologized for my awkward performance but apparently they didn't think I was doing bad at all. They invited me back on November 8th.