Like many Afghans, Imam Yama Niazi's family left Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. By the '90s, he was an 18 year old aspiring rapper in Santa Barbara, California, a typical American teen who knew little about the religion but made a dua that changed the course of his life. One day, perhaps in answer to that dua, a mysterious visitor stopped by the family business. The visitor, a convert and former rapper, befriended him. He taught him how to pray, the basic tenets of the religion and mentored him. Imam Yama gave up rapping, began practicing Islam and eventually sought sacred knowledge. Through an ISNA catalogue, he learned about Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and started driving five hours weekly to the take classes with Shaykh Hamza in the Bay area. The classes introduced him to other scholars including Shaykh Salek ibn Siddina and Shaykh Muhammad Yaqoubi and a whole new world. In this episode, Imam Yama narrates an emotional story of how Allah SWT guided him. He gives important and nua...