I often feel that the power of dua is way beyond our scope of understanding. When I returned from performing Umrah in Dec, I made the decision to limit the amount of music I listen to.

Being an artist and former rapper, I can’t explain the impact music, particularly HipHop, has had on my life, and the significance of the choice I was making.

I’ve been an artist since the age of 9, in and out of studios since a pre-teen, and my career (of 2 decades) has evolved from rapping to producing, engineering and also ghostwriting. To say it plainly, before accepting Islam, music was my religion.

For about 2 months I had completely stopped [listening to music] and was only listening to Quran in the car, until I began giving a new colleague a ride to and from work.

This transpired for about 3 weeks until he got his car situation in order, then once again I began driving alone. In the morning I always listen to Quran, but on the way home, I had resumed listening to music.

One day as I was driving home, I thought about how just a month prior I wasn’t listening to any music, and how some significant things began to occur in my life. I was more focused during my salat, my duas were more intense, and I had increased the amount of thikr I was doing.

I made a dua which I have in the past, where I ask Allah to guide me to the deeds that gain me more of His favor. Afterwards I pondered on what inspired me to make this particular dua, because it isn’t one that I regularly make.

The very next day, out of the blue and without any previous signs or warnings, my car stalled out while I was driving home. I had it towed to the shop where they diagnosed the problem, and ascertained that it would take at least a few days to make the repairs.

So for a week while my car was in the shop, my coworker was now giving me a ride to and from work. The first day an interesting conversation came up. He mentioned how he noticed when I first began giving him a ride, that I always had Quran playing.

Then the questions about how I became a Muslim followed. For the next few days on our ride to and fro, we talked about Islam and Alhamdulillah, he began expressing his interest in the religion.

He mentioned how he wanted to read the Quran for himself and asked where he could find a good one. Ironically [to take a few steps back], when I was in Mecca I bought a nice Quran for this very reason. I found one that I thought would be a perfect gift for a new Muslim.

The next day when he picked me up, we talked more about Islam and I presented him the Quran. He was extremely grateful, and excited about reading it.
As of now I’m patiently waiting for him to initiate a conversation about what he’s been reading.

All I ask of those of you that are reading this thread is to make dua and ask Allah to guide this brother, and Insha’Allah he accepts Islam.

As for me, I got my vehicle out of the shop yesterday, Alhamdulillah. On Sunday I will resume my commute to and from work Insha’Allah, and my intentions are to do so without my Apple music playlists.