EP24 - Signs In The Heavens

In this episode of 'The Family Ties: A Prescription for Society,' co-hosts Frank Abdul Shaheed & Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown engage with two inspiring young minds, Nadia Thorton Mohammed and Adam Wallace Mohammed. Adam, a 21-year-old physics major at Georgia State University focused on astrophysics, and Nadia, a 22-year-old computer science major with aspirations in aerospace engineering, share their journeys and the pivotal role of family and community support in their successes. The discussion delves into embracing unique personal traits, overcoming educational challenges, respecting individual paths, and the importance of seeking help and forming supportive peer relationships. They also touch on the wonder of the natural world and the impact of technological advancements, like the James Webb Telescope and SpaceX, on space exploration. The episode concludes with reflections on nurturing children's talents, the power of staying true to oneself, and fostering environments that cultivate future leaders. The hosts express pride in the achievements of Adam and Nadia and look forward to future conversations.

00:00 Welcome to The Family Ties

01:15 Introducing Our Special Guests

02:53 Early Fascinations with Science

07:57 Parental Support and Overcoming Challenges

16:53 The Role of Community and Education

22:20 Navigating Academic and Career Paths

27:50 Navigating Peer Relationships in College

30:11 Building an Ethical Army

31:00 Adam's Perspective on Social Challenges

32:57 The Nature of Goodness and Community

34:52 Embracing the Natural World

40:38 Technological Advances and Space Exploration

48:33 Advice for Younger Selves

51:07 Closing Remarks and Reflections

This podcast is about family life as a means to address current problems in American society. A scripture based African American perspective. 

Welcome to The Family Ties, a Prescription for Society.
 Through this experience we invite you to join us in an exploration of the concept of family ties as a prescription for society.
 
 YOUR HOSTS:  Frank Abdul Shaheed &
 Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown
 
 This episode was edited by Darryl D Anderson of AMG - Ambassador Media Group visit https://www.ambassador-mediagroup.com/
__________________________________
Music Credit
Back Home by Ghostrifter Official | https://soundcloud.com/ghostrifter-official
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Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Copyright 2024

Transcript

Frank: 0:17

Peace be upon the family, as we welcome you to another experience of The Family Ties, a prescription for society. I am your co host, Frank Abdul Shahid.

Faridah: 0:28

And I am your co host, Farida Abdul Tawab Brown. Before we get started, don't forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date and get all the latest episodes.

Frank: 0:36

Sister Farida. Once again, we are back together doing another wonderful episode, I believe of this family ties, the prescription for society. And in this particular episode, we have been honored to have the presence of some young people who are doing some major things. things for our future. So we talk about the past and the importance of the past. And we talk about presently what we need to do in the day and age that we're in right now to make sure everything is good today. But we also need to know that all of that is designed for our future and what that future looks like for us. So we are honored today to have two special guests.

Faridah: 1:18

Yes. So joining us today, I, we are honored and we are excited to share with our listening audience Just a glimpse into a future that looks so bright for us. Yes. And so I have the pleasure of introducing one of our guests. His name is Adam Mohamed. He is 21 years old. He's a member of the class of 2025 at Georgia State University. Adam is a physics major and his interest is in pursuing astrophysics. And so we are excited to embark upon this conversation with Adam as a member of the panel because the considerations of the natural world and the space beyond give us so much insight into not only the family and society, but also what we need to do to secure the future.

Frank: 2:07

Absolutely. Welcome, Adam.

Faridah: 2:09

Thank you for

Frank: 2:09

having

Faridah: 2:09

me.

Frank: 2:10

And our other esteemed member of this panel is Nadia Thornton Muhammad, who is 22 years old. She is a senior. At Georgia state university with her graduation date being spring 2025. She is a computer science major and she looks to venture into engineering and aerospace, aerospace engineering. Once again, we both of our guests have a very interesting invitation to the natural world, and they are responding naturally to that natural world in their pursuits in their majors. So welcome, Nadia.

Nadia: 2:50

Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Faridah: 2:53

And so both of you have expressed an interest in the natural world or the natural sciences. So if we could just open up just briefly can you tell me Can you remember how young you were when you first began to express an interest in either the space, the moon, the sky, any aspect of the natural world, or even engineering? And Nadia, can you take

Nadia: 3:18

that question? I can, actually, because I think about it a lot. Ever since I was little, I would always read, like, these, like, super big encyclopedias for kids and stuff. And I always gravitated towards, like, the space ones. So I, as far back as like maybe first or second grade, I've wanted to be like an astronaut or do something involving space. And by the time I was like eight in third grade, that was when it was like solidified. And then when we moved down to Atlanta around 11 ish or so years ago, that was when it solidified into aerospace engineering to like design the rockets and making them instead of like being in them. So it's just a bit

Faridah: 4:02

too dangerous. Wow. Well, we'll return to that statement you just made a little later in the podcast. I promise you not yet. How about you, Adam?

Adam: 4:12

For me, it's been as long as I can remember. I have pretty poor eyesight, so I'd always find myself really squinting at very small things because that's the thing I could really see. And so I took fascination in the the grass and the ants and things I could tangibly pick up and look close to. And then at night, the only thing being visible during that time would be the glowing ball in the sky. That would be like, what is that? The only thing illuminating up there. So for as long as I can remember, this, this natural world has fascinated me. And then throughout school. And as I got older, my interests fluctuated going from material with chemistry and anatomy, and then finally settling on astronomy, which has always been a passion of mine and integrating

Frank: 5:01

physics

Adam: 5:01

with

Frank: 5:01

that. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to give Adam and Nadia a little bit of background of myself. I am a graduate of Morgan State University class of 2003. With a degree in biology. So I am one who was very interested in the natural world himself. So I just want to let you know, there's nothing but scientists on this panel today. So this should make for a very good conversation.

Faridah: 5:26

I must say, I will not be sharing my great. date of graduation to date myself on this program, but I am a graduate of Lincoln University, another historically black college here in the Northeast. I know Maryland Morgan State is in technically in the South, but we'll, we'll claim proximity to one another. Okay. But. Anyway, I, I majored in physics. I have actually a BA. I did all the requirements for BS, but I also minored in Chinese. So I got the, the bachelor of arts designation, but my fascination too, as it sounds similar to the both of you in the sense that science and the natural world have always piqued my interest. So I am very excited about having this conversation with you all today.

Frank: 6:12

So I want to kind of go. To the left a little bit on our pattern to take us to the destination excellence. So I just wanted to say this. So without dating anyone, Sister Farda I remember when the parents of Nadia presented her to me. When she was born and I remember the joy of the parents, her father specifically, and even of her mother of knowing that they had something that was a promise from God having a brand new child and their interest was that they were going to do whatever they had to do to ensure that this child would have a good future and we would talk about it all the time and I would say that You know, talking to sister Nadia currently I think their parents kept their promise, but not only did they keep their promise as a, as parents, but I believe that sister Nadia kept her promise as a, as a daughter of the two and whether or not it was articulated or not. The sense of the soul itself was moving in that direction for obedience and it was moving in that direction for having great expression. And I just want to say specifically for her that we are all proud of you. The community itself is very proud of you. And we shared that same sensitivity when you were first prevented presented to the community many, many years ago. And I don't want to date you, but many, many, many years ago. So just want to say, you know, we're very proud. And for our audience, we just want to let them know that. We have some very special guests today.

Faridah: 7:47

Yeah. So that's, that's a, a glowing recommendation from brother Frank, but I'd like to delve a little bit into something you said earlier, Adam, about your interests. And I think it may be helpful for other young people as they're trying to determine their, their role, their purpose on this earth and what is available to them. You mentioned that you had. poor eyesight growing up, and that caused you to look more closely at the things that were close to you. And those happened to be in the natural world, like the grass and the ants. And so I really would like you, if you can, to speak a little bit to the, the idea that sometimes particularly as young people, we can feel disheartened by the things that seem like they are handicaps. But it seems as if you took what seems like a handicap and you allowed that to narrow your focus in a way to some, some direction that Allah was leading you to. So would you mind discussing a little bit that you know, how that awakening happened and what type of insights you may have gotten to the world based on that closer look?

Adam: 8:52

Yeah, of course, an interesting like stance to take is a lot of people take their you can call them inadequacies or necessarily, and they will see that in a bad light, but it's important to traverse through life. And when you look for your purpose and to take into consideration Everything that makes you essentially. And so those what people could call inadequacies or uniqueness. Those are important to take into consideration as they are a part of you. They're not a negative or downside. They are intrinsically one of your traits. So for me I had noticed in accordance to my peers back in, I think it was an elementary school. And I could see that I had to sit very close to the board and initially it was kind of embarrassing because like I was all the way up here with the teacher and not and while everybody else was in back and I felt singled out and excluded. But I took interest and fascination with how much detail I could see. So when bringing things close to me, I could make out things that you could easily pass over as if that was the only thing I could see. So looking at things closely and taking into what I could actually helps shape my appreciation for detail, goes into, I have another interest of art as well. And I would always draw things very intricately even if the, whatever I was copying or whatever I was looking at was particularly simple, always found interest and fascination in the sheer amount of detail that can be found in things. So, I would say that for individuals who aren't to, are, may feel themselves excluded by what they are born with, or what may have happened, or what they may take as downsides to themselves, I would say that they should instead utilize them for pursuing what they wish to.

Faridah: 10:41

Thank you for that insightful response. I think that will be very helpful, not only for young people, but for every human being, you know, that's, that's a very insightful response. If I could ask one follow up question before I toss it back to Frank is did your, it sounds to me as if this was something that that God put in your nature, you know, there's a sensitivity that was developed in you, but did your parents play any part in helping you to see this as just another pathway for you that was unique as opposed to being you know, a, a drawback or downside?

Adam: 11:16

Yes, I would certainly say so. So while, you know, there's, you could take in, or the individual can receive the, the appearance being there and attributing to that is very important. Quite A juxtaposition. My mother was the one who took me to get my glasses. And so, before, I could only see small details of what I could hold close. When I received my glasses for the first time, it was like a brand new world opening up for me. I can see everything now. So yes, and that, and then as well as the parents being the guiding hand in correcting or to steering you in the correct direction. I would say is very important.

Faridah: 12:00

Wonderful. Thank you so much.

Frank: 12:02

So for Adam, I just want to say in the same breath, in the same spirit, I spoke about Nadia your parents, when you were born, your parents having the The excitement of understanding this new birth that comes to now extend their interests and extend the things that they have been working for and the excitement that they presented you to our community. Firstly, by just naming you, Adam, and the fact that Adam was the first picture that we see of the thinking man in creation and him having a natural disposition with the creation to study the creation and to engage it. That's putting all of us on that pattern of having natural scientific inclinations to build the life, to build the life of society, to build the life of families and, and, and, and all of those pathways. So your name, as we were taught by your parents to the whole community about how special Adam was. So Adam Muhammad himself had a special place in our hearts and in our community because they saw that our future would be secure. Through this particular individual and through this particular sensitivity. So I just want to say on behalf of the community themselves, that we are very proud that Adam Muhammad is living to the name that he was given and understanding the weight of such a name and the weight of such expectations. So I just want to say thank you for that, Adam. So for Nadia, I want to ask you the same question that we gave Adam about You know, what, how your parents helped you develop into this natural sense of wanting to engage the natural world the way you have.

Nadia: 13:42

So they were actually really integral in me staying on track because I bounced schools around a lot. I moved from place to place. So it, and I'm starting to realize that that process kind of sort of ruptured my relationship with. other people my age, but the one thing that stayed consistent was, well, you know, I, I always like science. I always like looking up at the stars in the sky and I always want to find a way to get there and understand more about it. And so they, when I was, you know, You know, tease for it in school, my parents were always consistently encouraging and saying, you know, you're going to go to a place where other people just do not have the mind to understand. And yeah, they're just always encouraging and they were always, they'd never, they never lost faith in what I was able to do. And even now that's very warm to think about. Like I, I. I'm happy and grateful that they have always been there for me.

Faridah: 14:54

So I wanted to follow that up. I, I. It sounds as if both of you are conscious and aware of the the role that your families played, your parents in particular played in supporting the development of what was placed in you intrinsically, the interests and the sensitivities that were given to you inherently. So I wanted to ask you a similar question that I asked Adam, and that is for him, it was his vision. For you, it sounds like the moving around and having a rupture of sorts with peers and then having the experience of, you know, being teased or, you know, in, in some respect for your interests. I, it sounds as if you gained some type of internal strength that was fortified by your parents in terms of this being a strength of yours and not necessarily something to look at negatively because your peers did. Could you speak a little bit more to that type of strength you developed?

Nadia: 15:50

Yeah. I mean, I don't, I'm, I'm growing up and getting older and realizing that it is a strength to prevail with the dreams that you have despite having a billion hurdles along the way. And It, it hurts it that the dream that you would want to have is a lot harder to maintain when there's tons of other kids in your ear telling you that it's boring or that it's too or it's just you, the things that kids want to do aren't the things that you want to do and it, it makes you waver in what you want to achieve and I'm, I'm, I'm I'm starting to realize that, like, despite all of that, I never broke. So, I never changed, I never shifted my ideals to be something else. So, that is something that I'm

Faridah: 16:49

grateful for. So, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. You're, you're defining, and I think for our listening audience, I hope that we're all paying close attention to these voices because this is our future and what you just defined, Nadia, in terms of your integrity, your personal integrity that was supported in your development by your parents, but it's something that is necessary for all success. You know, that's this recognition that difficulty is part of the path, but you were willing to endure the difficulty in spite of the discomfort or the pain that it may have caused you. So we indeed not having been there at your introduction to the community, I must say, indeed, I am proud of what you are sharing with our listening audience today in terms of the character that you're demonstrating and the wisdom. that is coming from the mouths of 22 and 21 year olds.

Frank: 17:41

Just listening to them present themselves in a very articulate way we, we realize that there are processes in our environment that will stunt that growth. Part of the educational system is, is part of that part of our just culture in general, the general popular culture sometimes stunts these levels of growth, doesn't give a lot of interest to, to specified Pathways for a child to have their best life and to have the best life. We see these hurdles all around the society. Is it anything that you think and we'll, we'll get their perspective, but is it anything that you think we should be more sensitive to when it comes to understanding how unique. Every child is, and as we know that we are taught in the Qur'an, that every child is honorable. Is it anything that we can do as, as adults, as, as leaders of families as people in society to create clearer or cleaner pathways to give more support to such specified circumstances for children to be, young adults to be, college students to be their best selves?

Faridah: 18:55

Oh, well, you know, that's a big ask, but no, I, I do, I do think that God tells us in the Quran and the scripture of the Muslims, he tells us that he is the one who gives to individuals and that we're not to be jealous of, of the degree of greatness that he might give a different individuals. The only time that we should be jealous of, of others is. in their piety, that we want to attain their level of closeness to him. But in every other sense, what I think that adults can do, what parents can do, and what we can do now now that you two are, are young adults, is walk along with you and advise you and guide you. And is that when you see an interest that your child has, that you recognize it, you support it, and you invite everyone else in your, with not just in the family unit, but also their teachers and others in their community to respect the the unique interests of that child and recognize that we should not prioritize one child's intelligence over another. So today we are speaking with two highly intelligent young people whom it is clear based upon the virtues, not just the area of interest, but based upon how they have expressed themselves today and the insight that they have as to what is necessary for accomplishment, what what goes into the successful individual. It is, a parent that they have been singled out by their Lord for leadership in one capacity or another. Every child is not necessarily going to be singled out for leadership, but every child is singled out by God, the creator of mankind, for some contribution to be beneficial to mankind. And so it is up to us as parents and other adults in that community to recognize what it is that your child what special interest or sensitivity that your child has and to support that. And so if one child is, Adam mentioned that he's an artist along with his interest in the sciences. Nadia talked about her lifelong interest in the sciences and space and then how it shifted from being an astronaut and being Designing, desiring to align that interest with her personality. So she doesn't want to be the woman who goes into space, but she wants to be the woman who designs the crafts and the systems that take a person into space. And that's a result of recognizing who she is and what her strengths are. And so I think you might have the child who is connected to nature. You might have the child who loves to cook. You might have, oh, who might want to be a chef. We are in the, in the, business, I think, in our society of saying one endeavor is inherently or intrinsically more valuable than the other. Well, I think that's where we, we lose the ability to support our children in the best manner possible. It is to recognize, to pay enough attention to our children, to identify their interests. And it sounds like both of these young people's parents witnessed, understood, and did whatever they could to open up pathways for these young people to pursue their dreams, no matter what their peers were saying, or no matter what other type of barrier might have stood in the way. And to also support them in saying, well, if you want this dream, we'll support you in going after it. So I think the importance is to recognize, recognize the, the sensitivities of your children and do whatever it takes to support them in pursuing that.

Frank: 22:18

Beautiful, beautiful. So Adam, I would like to ask you this question. So in your pursuit of physics, what has been some of the wouldn't say barriers, but what challenges, I'm sorry, what has been some of the challenges that you faced in And in your pursuit in this, in the, in this field of physics that you, you either are wrangling with, or you may have possibly overcome, or you're possibly want to see a situation where you can actually use physics to actually improve something or improve a process.

Adam: 22:50

barriers. So when it comes to what's actually interesting, I've never really had a difficulty when it came to understanding the natural world and the scientific processes that are described in it. But physics in of itself, I find it is, I guess the most natural of them as physics is the study of motion between not just particles, but human beings, animals to celestial bodies. And it's something that's entwined with everything with reality itself. Okay. And so I find the both intricate nature and the broadness of it, the challenging aspect, it's like learning a different language. So when it comes to physics is the, material itself and just how the, that not, well, everybody lives in it, but not everybody can't. Teach it or understand it fully. So to try and learn it in of itself, I find is the most difficult and the hurdle that I've had to come over the most.

Frank: 23:54

That's interesting. My son, my oldest son, who is a he was a, he graduated with a math major. He very, math came very easy for him, but the thing that challenged him was to create language to help those who didn't understand math, understand math. So on one hand, it became very second nature for him to be able to use computations and move stuff and be able to understand what that language looked like. But it was another challenge for him to now put it in a language that now the person who didn't understand it could now actually understand it. And then gave him an even greater appreciation and a greater depth to understand the laws and logic of math of mathematics. So I can definitely understand exactly what you're saying in that in that in that function. So, so Nadia same question for you. Has there been any challenges, any barriers or anything in your processes of learning computer science and wanting to actually move towards the aerospace engineering field and, and, and what you can do to kind of improve that. Circumstance and that type of endeavor.

Nadia: 24:58

Yeah. So a problem, the first, and I feel like the biggest issue for me was that I started college in 2020, which means that if, yes, I started during the pandemic year, and in hindsight, I would have told myself, wait, wait out a year. So you don't have to force yourself to try and basically teach yourself the fundamentals of code. And so I kind of had to start. from scratch and kind of like Adam, where it's like, you know, a lot of maths and sciences came easy to me for a long time and coding languages and rules are totally different. And it's like a completely different ball game. So I'm still to this day, struggling with telling myself that it's okay that I don't know. Yeah. The answer to this coding problem out the gate. It's okay that it might take a couple hours on top of the fact that GSU does not have an engineering program. So I tried to force myself and scramble to go to another school that did. And when that didn't work out, I was super upset. I wanted to give up. I was aimless and it just. I was just not okay. So the other half of this is definitely telling myself, Hey, there's other options. The path to success isn't always linear, and it isn't always in the direction that you think it's going to be in. And that there's nothing wrong with, you know, taking your time or graduating a little bit later, as long as you know the material and you understand what you're doing. It's okay, you're doing the right thing, and it's also okay to ask for help, too. That's

Faridah: 26:43

That's, that's very important to understand at your age, you know, and at this stage of your growth is that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, that it is indeed the way that questions are answered. And, you know, for us as Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad prayers and peace be upon him, he encouraged questions. He always wanted people to ask and be certain rather than to be uncertain. So along those lines, in terms of Figuring out where you are and and what I heard from you at the tail end of what you were sharing is that telling yourself that it's okay if you're, you know, not necessarily following the schedule that our society has set out, right? You know, Oh, I'm a year behind, or I'm doing this a year late. So it sounds as if you're following the timetable that will get you to your destination. And you're pretty, even though you might have doubts sometimes, it sounds as if the both of you sound pretty confident in the fact that this is something that has been with you, an interest that's been with you, that you've acknowledged that God has put in you. from a young age. And so you have to pursue it, whatever the cost. So my question is for you. And then for Adam is you've mentioned a little bit, you've alluded to how your peers have responded. Sometimes, especially I'm guessing middle school and high school to your area of interest and how that might set you apart. And I'm wondering, where do you see yourself now in terms of your peer group, in terms of what you want to study and how that connects to. your path for your life. Do you see any significant differences? And if so, can you share with, with our audience, especially the young people in our listening audience, you know, what, what type of thinking do you have to do? What ways do you have to support yourself, especially being a college student with being okay with being different?

Nadia: 28:37

Yeah, I had a lot of issues with just friends in general for a really long time, but I can confidently say that my friends that I've met in college now are, they may not be Muslim, but they are still aligned with, you know, Islam. Wanting to strive for stability and making the right choices and not doing like irresponsible things like all of my friends are majoring in either biology or computer science or even the more liberal arts students still want to focus on their education and focus on the right things and keeping themselves on track. And another thing is that with the fact that they're not Muslim, they still respect the fact that I am. And that's something that I value and cherish very dearly because I went through a lot of friend groups where that wasn't respected. And I would, back then I would essentially put the Islamic part of me to the side to appease other people. And as an adult, I realized that's fine. Not a good thing because you know, I, I want to be Muslim. I like, I love being Muslim. So it's like, I, I don't want to give that up just because some people don't understand why I'm not doing this thing or, you know, or something like that. But the friends that I have now are the ones that I cherish very dearly and I am grateful for them very much. So.

Faridah: 30:11

It's so heartening to hear this because if you're not aware, with the podcast where our aim is not just to have a conversation or to hear ourselves speak, or even to just hear our illustrious guests, such as yourselves, to hear you all speak, it is to, to build a movement toward establishing an ethical army. And that means an army of, of human beings, in particular, the American context of people across faiths. who are looking for the good life, the best life, and are willing to stand up in society and do what it takes to work together toward that vision. So it sounds like you are well on your way toward finding not just friends, but to help us build that ethical army. by joining with other people who want what is best in life. So I'll throw that question over to you, Adam. A similar question in terms of how you see yourself in terms of your peers. Has it been a challenge? Do you see yourself in a unique setting? What is it like for you to be or what advice do you have to help young people grapple with being okay, being different. And then also similar to what if you could wrap up with what Nadia said You know, who, who are the people that you've gathered around you? And have you found it difficult to do so? Or what does that circle around you look like?

Adam: 31:30

Interestingly enough the social aspects of college and life in general have been more of a challenge for me. So I can't quite say that I have a group of peers that I'm close to. I could say, I can't say that, but I have found that While solitude does help certain things in terms of pursuits of interest, working together with other individuals do make things easier, especially it is important to surround yourself with people who are Not necessarily similar, but are more so oriented in the same way you are. Some people are goal oriented. Some people have dreams, other people just want to mess around. So it's important to surround yourself with people that are think similarly in terms of where they want to go and to surround yourself with people who are better. To so as you can see a way to improve upon what you have and where you can go forward to so there is a difficulty in both avenues of being both solitary and having a group of differing opinions or differing backgrounds or pursuits, but it's important to know that there is. Good in both in both doing things to your for yourself doing things for others and having others help you forward

Faridah: 32:55

the balance

Adam: 32:56

Yes

Faridah: 32:56

a balance. Thank you.

Frank: 32:57

The nature of goodness is It's expressed in people Coming together to display it. I, I can't be good by myself. There is no proof of me being good all alone or being by myself. So the nature of goodness is that we are coming together community forming, if you want to use that term to express our goodness to one another. And that goodness oftentimes is checked in a sense with, with a regardfulness and accountability. On that sense that the things that I do, I'm gonna be accountable for what I do ultimately, because I want to give something so I'm not giving it to you because I want something in the, in the, in return, I'm giving it to you because my soul is expressing that I must give, I must create these environments for you to accept the charity that I'm giving you. So we see. College for our youngsters, our young people as an opportunity for them to now go into the world, the working world to be able to make a contribution into the working world. And ultimately, that contribution is to move us forward. So we give these steps in our education to be able to give them the tools that they need to be able to go forward with that. And we hope that in, in them pursuing these. Interest that people will be gravitated towards them to give each other support because they all in that that womb like situation in college is really a womb in college. You learn things that you've never, ever learned. Before about yourself when you're in college and it has absolutely nothing to do with what you learn in the, in the classroom. So it gives you a different sense of life and it prepares you for the next steps in the, in the, in life. So we really applaud, you know, our young people who are actively pursuing the things that come very natural to them. Now when I was a young man, well, even younger than that Comets was something that I was always fascinated about, and it just so happens that a particular comment was close to entering our, our solar system. And because my mother sensitized me to the natural world you know, every time we walked outside at night, she would always make me look up to look at the stars, look at the sun. Let me look at the moon and, and how the moon reflect the phases of the moon. So. When this particular comic was coming, my mom brought me this really expensive telescope. I had no idea how much she paid for it at the time, but it was really expensive because she knew I had a fascination with the stars, with the sky, with the heavens, the heavenly bodies and God's creation in general. And interesting enough, when the comic came, it was cloudy. So I never got a chance to see the comet. So you know, but hate to pop the balloon on that one, but

Faridah: 35:48

was that Haley's comment?

Frank: 35:49

Haley's Comet, yes, yes, yes. Haley's come. Yes. So but I was able to fortunately see two other comets after that. But that particular comment, but that was as a young. Mind that was engaging the natural world and wanting to answer the call to respond to the world to see who I was and what interest had for me. That was just like one of my first calls and my mom, you know, introduced me to that. And scripture tells us to look into the stars and observe the heavenly bodies and how they run their course and also look at them and see that there is nothing holding them up. Do you see nothing? actually holding them up, except their obedience to the creator who created them to be in their nature. So so as we are going through this episode of this podcast you know, we want to strongly emphasize to our audience, our audience, our wonderful audience, that the natural was natural for us to have a disposition towards the natural world. And unfortunately, the circumstances we live in today has taken us away from our natural. Disposition to the natural world. We don't even have any engagement with it anymore. So I just wanted to highlight that to say how special our guests are today, that they have this natural urge to just go right to the natural world. And that's what we will find our, our salvation. That's what we'll find our development. That's what we will find our creativity for us to build these bonds, these family bonds that ultimately lead to a good social life.

Faridah: 37:19

Hi, I agree. I have a question for each of you. Maybe I'll start with Adam this time and then go to Nadia. And that is, can you tell us about a time or whoever would like to answer it first about a time that a natural, as Frank shared with us just now that a natural phenomenon excited you. And you know, either meaning you truly were enthusiastic about it or it excited something in your thinking or or woke, awoke something in your, your, the thinking of your heart. Was there something either recently or in your childhood, some natural phenomenon that really caused you to think deeply or become very excited?

Adam: 37:59

And a recent memory Or at least in one particular instance, I've been blessed to have seen not one but two solar eclipses. So those are, as a single instance, are definitely something I would put as a very strong tipping point into the my interests. But the good, or at least the The thing about being a person attuned to the natural world and the natural sciences is that even the smallest things and the thing that many people may look over are the things that fascinate me the most. Simply asking questions as to why does the truck salt the road? Or why does the sky look this color at this time of day? Small, Everyday occurrences like that are the things that entice me the most because those are the things that you see the most often and understanding that every day's phenomena is what truly inspires me to continue forward.

Faridah: 39:02

Wow, I feel exactly the same way, Adam, about the everyday natural phenomena. Nadia, is there anything you can think of? Yeah,

Nadia: 39:11

I have to, I have to piggyback on the two solar eclipses. That I have been blessed to see because but well, I have a lot of things, but but mainly the two solar eclipses are like the phenomena and I'll never forget that time we were in 10th grade and school literally stopped to let all of the kids walk out onto the field to look up at the solar eclipse with the protective gear, of course. So but I remember everyone in class was so excited and we were all talking about just how strange and how dark it got and how cool that was. And But it's also the discoveries that we're making with advancements of technology. So like the James Webb telescope being launched out and taking beautiful in depth pictures of planets within our own solar system and how clear and crisp they are and and discovering pictures of black holes and stuff. And so it's just, it's so much that we've. that we're able to see with the advancements of society and technology. And it just makes me so excited to want to eventually be a part of that. So,

Faridah: 40:26

yeah, I can feel your excitement. I, both of you, and I know you both have different modes of expressing yourself, but I can literally feel, you know, the enthusiasm that both you and Adam just shared. And, and I like that you were able to connect it to the technological advances because a lot of times we can you know, in our, as adults, we recognize sometimes the, the harms of technology, and we recognize that sometimes technology may separate us from the world. from appreciation of the natural world. But what you're returning our attention to is the fact that and like you, the James Webb Telescope, I look at these pictures and it's like art. And I don't know if you appreciate it in that manner, Adam, as well as an artist. But some of those pictures of the universe and the planets that you mentioned, Nadia, they are, I mean, it's Gorgeous. You can't find anything more beautiful in the Louvre, you know, than, than these pictures of space. So it, it is amazing. And so I, I wanted to maybe make that connection. I have another question for you all, but Adam, is there anything as an artist that connects to you in terms of the perception of beauty or definitions of beauty that you find in this, your appreciation of natural phenomena or the natural world itself?

Adam: 41:43

Yes, I certainly can. Just the notation of the the images that the James Webb telescope has taken in the black holes and galaxies and everything. In my personal opinion, I find anything, anything that humans can create is in a pale comparison to the. The space itself in the two laws creation, the images that have been taken by these telescopes to that detail our universe, and not only the ways that we can see, but also in the spectrums that we can't are. is almost indescribable. Their sheer, the scale of them is something to truly behold. And to understand these movements, the shapes that they take, and trying to replicate that onto paper is something I found difficult because I've, I've tried. So it is certainly something to marvel at and to appreciate both from a scientific standpoint, an artistic standpoint, and just a existing one.

Faridah: 42:48

Wonderful. Yeah, that was kind of, it's a, just a sunset every day, you know. So like you said, those pictures, you try to replicate that and we can't even come close, you know, it's, it's, it's amazing. Frank, did you have a question? No, because I know I have several more, but I

Frank: 43:04

No, I'm, I'm gonna let you get with the questions, but I just wanna say the great conjecture. Is that what It's conjuncture conjecture. I can't show, I can forgot the term of it, conjuncture, but when we was able to see Saturn and the lining, I think it was Jupiter and Saturn or something, not too long ago, I can't think of the name, I'm sorry. But you can actually see Saturn's rings without any telescopes, but the naked eye, you can actually see it. And that really just kind of blew me away with that. So.

Faridah: 43:29

Yeah, I mean, there's, there's nothing quite like it to witness the beauty of, of God's creation and to understand that it can awaken something in you. So I have a question for you all, and it's a little bit related to you know, what's in the news today. So what are your thoughts on SpaceX rescuing NASA astronauts? You know, what, in terms of your understanding, Nadia, both of the the potential that's Available to us in terms of just the the technological innovation that happens in the private sector a lot. And then how that affects our endeavors as human beings to gain knowledge that's not just beneficial to one country or one company, but for mankind. You have any thoughts on that? I

Nadia: 44:18

have

Faridah: 44:19

a

Nadia: 44:19

lot of thoughts about this whole subject as a whole, because I remember seeing so much discourse about SpaceX existing as a whole, and I'm of the opinion of it is not okay that it is being run by greedy, mongrel, billionaires. But however, the concept of people using resource, the abundance of resources that they have to progress the astronomical industry in the first place is really, really important. So SpaceX going, using their resources to save astronauts is fantastic. I'm so glad that they're finally getting out of there because they've been stranded for, you know, More than a hundred days, I want to say, and It's just the, it's important to recognize that we need to use, we need to see that people are using are having resources and with those resources, we can collaborate with them and kind of build our own team. innovations along with the resources that come from not the most desirable of places. So yeah.

Faridah: 45:35

Yeah. No, thank, thank you. I, I think that's very insightful speaking to the resources that, that God has made available to all of mankind and using them to benefit all of mankind. So your point is very well taken. Adam, do you have any thoughts on either the recent developments with SpaceX rescuing the NASA astronauts or in general? this idea of privatization and do you have any thoughts on, on where, where we are going as, as a nation and as humanity with regards to space exploration?

Adam: 46:06

Yes, a few the interesting thing about the, the the stranding of the astronauts is a testament to two companies, one being interested in trying to save them and the other one that put them up there in the first place. Not to name any names of a Boeing, but the it is important. The privatization of. of exploration in this expanse into this field can be looked at negatively. It's, and it's understandable that to have this so much influence so, so centered around us in a single individual. But it's important to, to remember that these, Leaps in technological advancement and science, scientific exploration, it starts from an individual, from one person who's taken interest in this world and wants to use either what they have or to collaborate with others to initiate it. Now, are the certain individuals the most perfect people? Not necessarily, but It's important to see what they've contributed with the resources that they've been blessed with and to take advantage of it, to be along with it and to give feedback and opinion onto where it can go. Because with technology, technology is nothing more than a tool that humans have access to. And there's individuals who can use it for whichever way. So it's important to voice your opinions, voice your, the, context of it and to integrate yourself with your, with what's being developed. So it may be used to where it needs to.

Faridah: 47:41

Well, we hope to see future endeavors and corporations started by people such as yourselves. We may one day see Nadia and Adam at the helm of a company at era, you know engineering and, and aero astrophysics research and development that will benefit humanity because as you said it is the result of human beings going into the earth going into the material reality and drawing out benefit for all of us and sometimes it's not the nicest people doing so but the principle remains the same nonetheless so we are looking forward to the day when Adam Muhammad and and Nadia Thornton Muhammad they are are working to establish this for the good of all humanity and and getting some material gain in the process to benefit themselves, their families and society as well. So we look forward to that day. I would like to know if you all have any in closing as we wrap up this episode and head toward the end, I'm wondering, would you have any advice either, for your younger sisters and brothers, if you have any, or for your younger self, what would you say to Nadia, you know, who is seven years old? What advice would you have for her? And, and Adam, what would you have, what advice would you have for yourself as a young man or your, your siblings? And who, Nadia, if you could go first, that would be great.

Nadia: 49:04

It's so funny that you mentioned what I would say to a seven year old me because I literally can see a picture of seven year old me across the room. I keep it next to my bed. But I would just tell her that she should never stop being herself. You know, she, you, everyone is made with a very specific flavor in mind. And, and. That is very unique and special to who you are and nobody else can do the things that you do. Nobody else can make the things that you make. And there's a reason you've been put here and that reason is valuable. That reason is important and you should keep moving forward. Keep. the dream in mind and never let it go, you know, no matter it'll tweak, it'll change, it'll shift. But that initial dream that you want to lock into should never fade away.

Adam: 50:03

Beautiful

Faridah: 50:06

indeed. Yes.

Adam: 50:08

For me, I would say that to not be swayed by if other people aren't like you. I was aware to find other individuals who took the same interest or similar interests as I did, and I would tell my younger self to not feel the need to be like other people, that you are put here for a certain reason, and it's up to you to find it. When you find it, to not give it up, to always hold firm to your beliefs, to what guides you, and to make sure you follow it through. There's many opportunities that I've had doors closed because of either shyness or feeling that maybe I shouldn't do this or this isn't really me, maybe I should do this instead. But to really affirm that, just to stay focused, I would say, to experience different things but know where, what caused you and to keep on to that no matter what.

Faridah: 51:07

Wise words from our two guests. That's excellent advice. Excellent advice. May, may God reward you in this life and the next. May he keep you steadfast, you know, connected to him, turn to him always and continuing to do good. And I would just add, the only thing I can add to that is that for our listening audience is that this is the job of parents is to create the environment that nurtures. Produces Adam and Nadia. Yes. This wisdom that they can express so articulately at 21 and 22 years old. This, this happens because God secures it and makes it possible and because we create the environment. That allows it to flourish as it was intended to do so.

Frank: 51:53

Yes. And as a reminder to, to the, to the parents out there, this should be the standard of how all of our children communicate. This shouldn't be something that we look as, as an outlier or just a unique situation, the exception. We should work diligently with everything we have to make sure that this is the standard and not the exception. But just as a form of correction to correct myself. It was the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that I was mentioning earlier that we were able to see Saturn. So I wanted to correct myself on that one as well. So Adam and Nadia, you are taking the motto of the great TV show Star Trek, and it would say to boldly go where no man has gone before. That type of determination and strength is something that is in our soul and you both are expressing it. Truly with, with, with the God consciousness in mind and, and taking it as far as you can possibly take it, which is farther than we could ever even dream. So once again, I want to congratulate you both and let you know just how much of a community we are proud of you both. So thank you. Thank you.

Faridah: 53:02

Yes.

Nadia: 53:02

Thank you.

Faridah: 53:03

And we would just like to let, let you know that you are welcome back anytime this conversation could have gone on for hours, but we hope that you would accept our invitation to join us again on the podcast because you have much to offer.

Frank: 53:18

Well, Farida, the praise is for God always. We have moved one step closer to destination excellence.

Faridah: 53:26

Until next time, let us remain conscious of our Creator, of the sacred relationship of parent and child, and of the family ties that bind us. Subscribe to the podcast and come back next time for a new episode of The Family Ties.

Frank: 53:40

From Frank Abdul Shahid

Faridah: 53:43

and Farida Abdul Tawab Brown. Peace. Peace

Frank: 53:49

be a upon be

Faridah: 53:50

upon

Frank: 53:51

the family, the family.