Hi is an American Muslim. He was born in 1982 in Sumter, South Carolina. He is of French Canadian and also American descent. He was born into a Christian family then later after his studies chose to revert to Islam when he was 17 years old. After reverting to Islam he chose the name Mateen which in Arabic means strong, firm and unshakeable. His first language is English and he also learned Quranic Arabic. At age 26 he moved to Washington, DC and has been an active part of the Muslim community. He took part in a documentary by Anwar Al-Hussain TV entitled “Journey of the Spirit” where he narrated his incredible story on how he became a Shia Muslim. In 2012 he had the opportunity to travel with the members of Anwar Al-Hussain TV to visit the Holy shrines of Imam Ali (as) and Imam Hussain (as) in Iraq for Ziyarat Arbaeen. He has also compiled and self-published two books through Amazon entitled “The Suffering of the Ahl ul Bayt and their Followers throughout History” and “Christians who defended and Died for Prophet Muhammad and his Family.”

These two books are a compilation of many of the famous books on this subject matter. After doing research on Shia Islam for over 12 years he was able to find all of the references for the topics and quote all of the sources for each thing quoted in the book. When you look at Islamic history you notice that the complete story of any incident is rarely ever in one book alone, but rather it is spread out through numerous books. The idea was to gather all of the different sources from each book and consolidate them into one book making it easy for the reader who may not know where to look.

The first book “The Suffering of the Ahl ul Bayt and their Followers throughout History” was mainly inspired by the fact that most of the non-Shia criticizes the Shia on the basis that we criticize certain companions of the Prophet (saww). They do not know why we do this though, and by compiling all of the stories of what happened to the Ahl ul Bayt (as) (The Prophet and his family) and their followers is a good way to be able to prove the injustices that took place against them. When we read these heart breaking events that took place it makes us grow closer to our Imam’s (as) and also allows us to appreciate and be grateful for what they have sacrificed so that we are able to have the Islam that we have today.

The idea for the second book “Christians who defended and Died for Prophet Muhammad and his Family” came while compiling the first book, because in researching Islamic history you find in many cases that some of the Christian’s who lived during the time of the Holy Prophet (saww), and also during the times of the 12 imam’s from his Holy household (as), stood up for them when they were being oppressed. It makes you wonder, why did these people stand up to defend the Prophet and his family when they belonged to a different religion? The Prophet and his family’s character were so impressive to people that even the idol worshippers, who hated him, could not come up with anything bad to say about his morals. The Prophet’s title, even before the Prophet hood, was Al-Ameen (the trustworthy) and As-Saadiq (the truthful). These Holy personalities shined their light on everyone they came in contact with. It was amazing for people to witness such sublime morality in a human being. Also during their times they treated everyone equitably and just. The Christian’s felt safe under the Prophet and Imam Ali’s rule and they were taken care of by them. The Ahl ul Bayt (The Prophet and his family) felt it their duty to help their fellow human being if they were able to do so. When the Christians witnessed the Prophet’s family being oppressed some of the monks acknowledged the right of their Imamate (divine leadership) and they stood up for justice and died defending them.

Most Christians in the west think that all the Muslims want to cause harm to the Christians and they think that we do not believe in Jesus Christ (as), so through this work these misunderstandings can be cleared up. Also, most books dealing with Christianity and Islam are always trying to prove each other wrong and show the flaws in the other side. This book was written with a different approach. The goal of this book was to show the similarities that we as Muslims share with the Christians, the Quranic verses that speak highly of some Christians and the Prophet’s (saww) and his family’s (as) interaction with the Christians of their time and how we are waiting on our Savior Imam Mahdi (atf) similar to the way the Christians are waiting on Jesus (as).

My future goals are to be able to spread the message of Ahl ul Bayt (as) to as many people as possible. My main focus is on the English speaking people especially those who are in the prisons, the poverty stricken areas of America and for the people who need guidance the most. People tend to neglect these above mentioned groups and cast them to the side, but when you study the scriptures these are the very people all the Prophets (as) came to help and to teach. With the guidance of Allah through the teachings of Ahl ul Bayt (as) we can rise out of any situation and find the solution to all of life’s challenges.