May 30th 1998

Individuals Promoting Our Worlds
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Part 1a

00:10 Speaker 1: The following lecture titled "Faith and Good Works, A Plan for Strong Families and Strong Communities" was recorded Sunday, May the 31st 1998 at the Ramada Inn South in Harvey, Illinois. The lecturer is Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim American spokesman. And now Imam Mohammed.

00:32 W. Deen Mohammed: Thank you. We certainly enjoyed this evening, the fashion show. The group entertained us with their music and songs of the young man, son and father, father and son, and daughters joined them too. I think that young man got a future. Yes, he got a future. He got a very exceptional voice. Rare to come along with a voice like that and spirit and rhythm, good rhythm, good spirit. I think he's got genius there. I think there has been a genius there. And by the way, as you've seen he's blind... Well, he's partially blind, but it's hereditary. His father is blind but that doesn't stop his father from being industrious and successful as a businessman. He has a piece of land, a farm, and he takes care of bees and sells honey, that's his business. And he gives so much honey and bee products to us, I wonder how he's making money.

02:00 IWDM: We have more than enough for ourselves. We shared with others, family members, staff members, workers. I even took some to a neighbor. And I certainly enjoyed that fashion show, it's very promising. I understand that the Shabazz group, the brother and his wife, wife is the creator of all those wonderful fashions, wants to join us to make business for the community. So soon we hope to meet with them and see if we can work out a plan to have their fashions in catalog sheets for our distributors, so that the whole community will be ale to select their creations, if you choose to. There is a demand on me too, I was told to limit my talk to 10 minutes or 15 minutes, but my young son here, Mohammad, once about a year, so maybe two years ago. I was getting ready to go to speak and had him with me, as I have him with me tonight, and he said, "Daddy," he said, "don't talk long."

[laughter]

03:47 IWDM: So, he looked at me and looked like he felt sorry for me. He said, "Daddy, talk good, but don't talk long." [laughter] So I promised him... He asked me again tonight, he said, "Is that all you're gonna say?" He looked at the paper here. [laughter] He said, "Is that all you're gonna say?" I said, "Well these notes...," I said, "I speak on these notes, but these are just notes." I said, "But since you're concerned, I'll just speak from a few of these notes." So he's waiting for me to close out right now.

[laughter]

04:34 IWDM: I don't know if all of us realize this, but we have come from an insignificant community in the world scene. In the world scene, we are in a significant community. We are not an insignificant anymore... Community anymore on the world scene or in the world picture, we are not an insignificant community anymore. Brother Imam Plemon, the convener of our Council of Imams, the Shura, our Council of Imams in the Masjid, the religious houses and schools, etcetera. He just has been telling us about the plan to take our students from our schools, our private schools, to Malaysia. Again, they've already gone once, a very successful trip before with Imam Plemon and a selected group of adults along with a selected group of students.

05:47 IWDM: And you've heard of the kind of relationship that's developed for our students and our community with Malaysia, Southeast... Far East or Southeast country. The country that I just returned from is very near there. In fact, I could have taken a plane and perhaps been in Malaysia in about a couple... Two hours, less than two hours by plane. And it took us about 22 hours to go from the US to where I live in Bangladesh, Bangladesh. And Bangladesh is thought of as a poor country. We always think of Bangladesh as a poor country, not well developed industrially, but they have very excellent plan for developing. And from what I have seen during the days that I spent there, Brother Rafah and myself, they are really doing a marvelous job. I walked to, looked like to me, at least a block, one block long, factories making clothing, more than one level, all done by them, Bangladesh people.

07:31 IWDM: I saw the overseer of operations who introduced himself to us. He's also the owner. And he told us how he spent about 17 years, I believe he said, abroad and most of that time in the US, studying the garment making industry. And he told us that what he did was just take what they were doing... He said he was fortunate to work with a very excellent organization. And he took what they were doing and just brought it out of America and put it in Bangladesh. Knowing the spirit of those people, the spirit of the Indian people -- he's Indian, Far Eastern Indian -- knowing the spirit of those people, I am convinced, without having to go and search America to see if what I believe is true. I'm convinced that he has definitely made improvements on the operation that he saw and studied and learned.

08:59 IWDM: And that improvement is only explained, in my understanding, by a factor operating in those people causing them to excel. And that factor is that the world is so far ahead of them and they have awakened to that fact. Any people who will awake to the reality of their condition and not be pleased with it, they'll be fired by nature with a determination and with a power to excel. I've been speaking around the country, I guess, you'd say, "Well, are you speaking on that subject?" That subject was really for this occasion, this event. This is what this event has shown you, that subject, people working together as a family, embracing all humanity as we do. Yes.
