1983
IWDM Study Library
Interview Panel Women Community 
Houston TX 


Voice over: That you may know each other, not that you may despise each 
other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of G-d is he who is the most 
righteous of you and G-d has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all 
things. 
The American Muslim Mission in focus. This program deals with the 
misunderstandings that exist in this country about the Muslim religion. We hope 
this program will bring about a better understanding of the religion of Al Islam. 
We also hope this program will encourage all people to begin to know each other 
better so that we can work together to ensure the survival of our country. Now 
your host Imam Ibrahim Kamaludeen.
Imam Ibrahim Kamaludeen: As Salaam Alaikum, may the Lord bless you. 
[inaudible 00:00:57] and blessings of all mighty G-d be upon you. I am Imam 
Ibrahim Kamaludeen. I will be, for the next 30 minutes your host on American 
Muslim Mission in focus. This is a program which is designed to bring pertinent 
information to the society that will enable us to correct our lives and establish 
good self-government in our lives. Most people think of government as being 
cities, state or national, but most of us are not concerned about the government 
within our own individual life.
I would like to welcome you to the American Muslim Mission in Focus. We have a 
very special treat for you today, and what I mean by a special treat, I mean we 
have a special guest. A man who is well known in America and around the world. 
His name is Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. He's a leader of the American 
Muslim Mission which is the largest Muslim community in the Western 
Hemisphere. We also have two other guests. They are Imam Abdul Saboor 
Hasan who is the Resident Imam of the Houston Masjid of Al-Islam and Sister 
Rasheeda Shabazz who is a member of the Houston Masjid of Al-Islam.
Brother Imam, I would like to welcome you to our city of Houston.
Imam Mohammed: Thank you.
Ibrahim: We feel very honored and pleased that you accepted our invitation to 
come here. We feel that this interview will give you an opportunity to share with 
everyone, your views and answers which are solutions to many, many of the 
problems that we're suffering today in our society. We know that you are very 
busy traveling all over the country fulfilling all of the invitations that you receive 
from the colleges, universities and high schools and churches, leadership 
conferences and other organizations. We want to thank you again for coming 
here.
Imam Mohammed: Thank you, Imam, Kamaludeen.
Ibrahim: I would like to begin our session here with a question that I know is very 
important to everyone. It's concerning education, the importance of education. 
We know that in the American Muslim Mission, ever since you assumed the 
leadership of our community, which was in 1975, that that is the first thing that 
you established in our community as first priority, was education. what I would 
like for you to explain to us is why you established education as the first priority? 
What is so important about education? We all know that education is important, 
but I believe that many of us don't really know what the reason is for the 
importance of education.
Imam Mohammed: It's understood that the answer to the question is best 
understood when we understand the makeup of the membership of our 
community, from the very inception of the movement back in the 30s when it 
began as the Nation of Islam and later became what is now the American Muslim 
Mission. Its appeal was to the poor, the culturally deprived people of the big 
cities, Detroit, Chicago. The membership has remained very much the same in 
terms of what class of what is the background of the members.
As you know, the organization began with the establishment of a private school. 
It was called, at that time, University of Islam, and actually, it was just an effort to 
give better education to youngsters and also to adults. There was adult and 
youngster's program. What we have done, is continued that effort of trying to 
improve the knowledge of education, general education of our membership. We 
feel that that's the answer to that, the world is becoming more crowded, life is 
becoming more difficult for individuals to live. The cost and the crowding of life, 
the complex world we are living in is becoming more and more complex as we 
live.
Technology and all these great demands of life. If we don't keep promoting 
education, improve the education improvement and the education of our 
community, we're going to find ourselves further and further behind the world.
Ibrahim: That's right.
Imam Mohammed: It should be a priority, in our religion, education is a priority.
Ibrahim: Yes sir, I think we have a very good understanding now of the 
importance of education. I'd also like to go to our other guests. I'm sure they have 
some questions to ask you, we want to take advantage of your visit here. I'd like 
to begin with Sister Rasheeda Shabazz.
Sister Rasheeda Shabazz: Okay. Brother Imam, before I came into the 
community, I had certain ideas about Muslim women. I know that a lot of other 
people still have these ideas, would you address some of the misconceptions like 
our freedom and the way we dress?
Imam Mohammed: Yes, again, I feel that we have a very good situation 
because of our unique ideas about the woman in Al-Islam, that we inherited from 
the old organization. In the old organization, the women were not denied 
leadership. In fact, women were the leaders of their own society. The society of 
the women came under a woman leader, and the society of men came under a 
man leader. Raymond Sharief was the man leader for the whole nation.
As the different sisters, I believe the last sister, I'm not sure, I've heard names. 
She was a leader, we had several. I can't recall her name who was the last 
leader for the women. Anyway, what this did for me was, it made me sensitive to 
the need for women to be recognized for what they have to contribute. I studied 
the Quran and I studied the life of Prophet Muhammad and the early leaders 
under Prophet Muhammad. The Kalifs of the religion, during the early days of the 
history of Al Islam, which started back, better than 1,400 years ago now.
I found that there was a movement to bring justice to women by Prophet 
Muhammad and his early successors. I think that that movement, in time, got 
misplaced, overlooked. As a consequence of that, we haven't seen enough 
progress to justify Muslim's claim, civilization to excellence. As a civilized 
community, we haven't seen enough progress in most of the Muslim world for 
women. Equal education was established for women during the days of the 
Prophet, peace be on him.
[inaudible 00:08:55] big business just like a man [inaudible 00:08:58] 
established. They established business into the political [inaudible 00:09:05] 
lifetime.The prophet of [inaudible 00:09:12]. It was written that throughout the 
religion men, spiritual men because man is spiritual and perhaps [inaudible 
00:09:24] more inclined towards mysticism than women, I think. [inaudible 
00:09:29] women and the palm readers [inaudible 00:09:33]. Really I think that 
men are more inclined to mysticism than women and I [inaudible 00:09:38] is 
that we have to understand [inaudible 00:09:43] facts, that is, that G-d created 
us as a nation.
It says, one leader [inaudible 00:09:50] one nation, and that[inaudible 
00:09:53] for both of us have the potential[inaudible 00:09:57] possibility 
[inaudible 00:10:26]
(Unclear section)
Ibrahim: Because that will [inaudible 00:14:38] that people have especially 
women. Thank you very much, I would like to ask you one more question before I 
go to Imam [unintelligible 00:14:49] and I think maybe [inaudible 00:14:54] we 
want to bring up [inaudible 00:15:02] this I think everybody is aware, crime is 
running [inaudible 00:15:15] and some of the most [unintelligible 00:15:18] 
abuses [unintelligible 00:15:23] all types of incurable diseases. Have in our 
society many people and women who have waited from what degrees 
[unintelligible 00:15:38] but they don’t seem to have that in our society. Plunge 
in deeper into moral decadence, we know that there's something else that's 
needed, there's something else that's missing. What do you see as the reason 
for this problem and what do you see as the solution?
Imam Mohammed: First, I don’t claim to have all the answers. I think the growth 
of the world is making life more complicated for us, population what we call 
population growth, population explosion is making life more complicated for all of 
us. It is a pity that we don't hold on to the best that history has taught us, the best 
that history have given us. The best that history has given us is an appreciation 
for G-d, the concept of G-d and a appreciation for moral excellence, for virtuous 
life. What you're talking about disturbed me a lot in my younger years of my 
ministry that is about eight years old now and in my younger years of the 
ministry, these conditions bothered me a lot.
Now I have come to accept them as just seasonal conditions and I think that 
trends that we're seeing now in the religious society is indicating that society is 
aware that this has gone too far and we're going to see more positive leadership 
on the part of religious established religion. I think it's going downhill now it's not 
climbing, I don't think so. Although here in Houston, you might be experiencing 
maybe the peak of crime, criminal crime problem, problem of crime and 
immorality in the life of the people here. You might be experiencing the peak of it 
but for the whole country, I think it's on the decline.
Ibrahim: All right, I appreciate that very much because we're on the job here in 
Houston, like you're going all over the country and we're sharing with the people 
the knowledge that we have on the holy Quran and what the practices of our 
religion and I find that it's benefiting many people like it benefits us.
Warith: Yes it does.
Ibrahim: I'd like to go to Imam Hassan who is the resident Imam of the Houston 
Masjid of Al Islam and I'm sure that you've got many questions that you would 
like to address to our leader Imam Warith Deen Mohammed.
Imam Hassan: Yes I certainly have a lot of questions that I would like to ask I 
know that we don’t have that much time to just go off into a lot of questions. One 
question that I would like to just address to him is about getting back to 
education. That of what kind of education can the world as a whole expect to get 
for its children apart from religion?
Imam Mohammed: When you say the world, no education. The only thing that 
will educate the world is true religion because everybody doesn't have an interest 
in computers, everybody never, you're not going to get all the people to have an 
interest, an academic interest. Some people are going to go in their separate 
ways and it's not going to be towards the colleges or towards the institutions of 
higher learning. They're going to be going in their separate ways. If you expect to 
educate the world, you have to appeal to the best side of their nature and to do 
that, you have to appeal to their need for faith and that brings us back to G-d and 
religion.
Really, G-d and religion is the answer, G-d and correct religion is the answer for 
raising the level of knowledge of the masses as far as the kind of, I would say 
scientific kinds of concepts. You can improve those scientific concept but it 
doesn’t mean that life, the human life is going to be lifted, I believe we have a 
higher awareness. Perhaps society have never had a higher awareness of the 
scientific nature of scientific workings or order then the masters have -- that we 
have right now. I'm talking about the masses now but look at the conduct of the 
masses in terms of what he was talking about, respecting the government, the 
need for government in the self, a government of the self. You can hardly get 
your children's attention, they're so taken by things that are happening on their 
level. On all level, you can hardly get their attention to see that they have 
prepared for a higher level, for adulthood, and married life etcetera. It's hard to 
get them to understand that the lights have to be paid for, that the electricity bill is 
coming. It's hard to get them understand those things although they are made 
more aware of the, perhaps of the nature of electricity and etcetera. Then the 
masses have been in the history of humanity. What I'm saying is that G-d hadn't 
left us alone on our own, G-d didn't leave us on our own. We need G-d and 
unless we come to faith, we'll never improve the condition of the world, we can 
prove the condition of our separate worlds.
But the big world of the masses will be neglected unless we bring them back to a 
healthy idea of what moral life is and what responsibility, yes and life tells me that 
I can't manage for myself. I have my limitations. Me, this person here W. D. 
Mohammed, I have my limitations and I know I'm getting all kind of trouble if I 
don't have an authority over my life. So this is what we have to do, we have to tell 
the people that.
Ibrahim: Well brother Imam that statement that you made about G-d is still 
watching over us.
Imam Mohammed: Yes.
Ibrahim: I know that that's a great message for everybody especially for people 
who are in trouble.
Imam Mohammed: And he's never going to leave us.
Ibrahim: That's right. [chuckles]
Imam Mohammed: We leave him but he's not going to leave us. [laughs]
Ibrahim: That's right. I'd like to go to sister Rasheeda again.
Rasheeda: I was thinking while you were talking about how people get away 
from having G-d in their life and they want to force things to happen the way they 
want them to happen and if they would just let G-d back in or just relax and let it 
take over.
Imam Mohammed: Yes.
Rasheeda: But they want to force things the way they want.
Imam Mohammed: Yes and I said these conditions are seasonal. I know when I 
was a youngster, we weren't as near as argumentative and the defient as 
youngsters are now and well I'm not saying that our youngsters are lost, I think 
older people are more lost. I think people my age are more lost than the 
youngsters [laughs] but as a father, and I know my wife, I know the problem she 
has to deal with daily and really it hurts to the heart, it hurts me in my heart to see 
that kind of burden on my wife and there's nothing we can do about it hardly.
You can hardly do anything about it it's because it's the permissiveness of 
society and the insistence I think on so a lot of people in media although the 
media has its excellence too. I think there's a lot of negligence on the part of 
media also and they have contributed a lot to this defiance in the children. 
Defying established authority, defying the parent, defying any attempt to correct 
their behavior. It's just a spirit of defiance in the society nowadays and it's 
affecting the children I think more than it's affected us.
People of my age, although I wonder what made a 67-year-old man go in a 
tavern three blocks from our gift shop in Chicago and stick up the place and the 
police came, he shot the police, they killed him. Police didn't die luckily the officer 
didn't die, he was shot but he didn't die. That's a man, 67 years old they say he 
had a life of crime. At 67 he still hasn't changed he's still thinking, go ahead an 
take people's money. We need more responsible people and than we are 
[inaudible 00:24:36] but there's a lot of things that don't support that the 
president is doing. I do appreciate the new, moral, a sensitivity that has come 
with them with president Reagan.
Ibrahim: You know that I was thinking that when your speaking of morals that 
always seems to come up and I understand that often I've heard you say that if 
you don't have a good strong moral base then you can't have healthy human 
growth and development. I figured some kind of way that must be the key to our 
problems, the crime and what you just got through mentioning.
Imam Mohammed: Sir, when we lose our moral discretion there's no more 
feeling, no more sensitivity for what is morally right. Then, in the religious 
language, we're dead.
Ibrahim: Yes, yes so now I see what they mean by being resurrected from the 
dead.
Imam Mohammed: Yes and dead bodies they deteriorate fast don't they.
Ibrahim: That's right. [laughs] and also, I noticed that there seems to be a 
degeneration of the respect for motherhood, for women in general and I noticed 
on television and different magazines and posters, everywhere you look they 
show the woman and well practically naked in some cases naked. I noticed it 
was a great disrespect for the women and it makes them objects, more or less.
Imam Mohammed: Yes. A lot of harm has done right by disrespecting 
[inaudible 00:26:22] to a woman that's mother, to me that's mother. I see a 
woman as mother. Mother has been more important in my life, it's been more 
than by my life to [inaudible 00:26:35]
Speaker 1: Right.
Imam: And any time they [inaudible 00:26:41] women [inaudible 00:26:42] so 
deeply commodity [inaudible 00:26:47] to sell this. It has to have an effect on 
the youngster [inaudible 00:26:53] it has to have an effect.
Ibrahim: You know, also I would like to [inaudible 00:26:58] short time but one 
[inaudible 00:27:02] an opportunity to do ask another question. [inaudible 
00:27:07]
Hassan: [inaudible 00:27:09] being a director of education, that's what I be 
saying about education. I know you are [inaudible 00:27:18] and the question I 
ask you were, why is it so necessary for [inaudible 00:27:24] about educating 
our own [inaudible 00:27:30]
(unclear section)
Imam Mohammed: They said [inaudible 00:27:33] not to present but it's more 
important [inaudible 00:27:42] for the president [inaudible 00:27:43] when we 
[inaudible 00:27:44]
… this is the story of the man who passed an olive tree. He passed the olive tree, 
not to eat from that tree himself because the tree matures at such time in the 
long year. It takes long years to mature but he doesn't expect to eat from it. The 
average man had passed olive trees, he's planting the tree for the next 
generation to eat.
And He says "We eat from what they planted and we plant so they will eat". 
That's the idea, we come in this world and what we are able to survive because 
someone had provided an apartment or a house, means of living for us. We 
should feel an obligation, there's an obligation on us. To live the same way we 
didn't come into life and found nothing. We came in life, we found something. 
Now, what should you do be trying to do? You should be trying to leave life, 
leaving something. You should be preparing to leave life and leave something 
behind.
So that the future focus is more important for us than the present. In our religion, 
it says, and those who look to the hereafter. right? Not to this present but those 
who look to the hereafter. So the future life for us is more important than the 
present to all our work, what we do as workers, it should be in the spirit of old 
time people, the old folks, the old-timers. They were working hard so why are you 
working so hard man? So well, I want to leave something for my children. right?
Yes, that should be our spirit. You don't want to leave that. If we leave that, then 
we lose hope for the future. Our people become so weak, non-productive, so 
weak, unfit for the employment, the labor market, unfit for the skilled mark, unfit 
for everything. If you don't care about anything, about preparing for the future, 
then you're not fit for the labor market. You're not fit for the skilled market, you're 
not fit to anything.
Ibrahim: I hate very much to stop you but we're at the end of the program. 
[laughs]
Warith: Well, that's it. I'm sorry I took so much time.
Ibrahim: I want to thank you so much for being with us, you know, and I'd also 
would like to say to you, beloved viewers, that we appreciate you tuning in on us 
today, and most of all we appreciate you're sticking with us until the end of the 
program, and we're going to be bringing more programs to you with more 
information that we hope will help you to solve your problems. We want to thank 
you again and I'll close as I opened, as-salaam-alaikum, which means, may the 
peace and blessings of Almighty G-d Be upon you.
Voice over: The American Muslim Mission in Focus. This program has dealt with 
the misunderstandings that exist in this country about the Muslim religion. We 
hope this program will bring about a better understanding of the religion of Al 
Islam. We also hope this program will encourage all people to begin to know 
each other better, so that we can work together to assure the survival of our 
country.

