02/17/1998
IWDM Study Library
Living with Honor for Community Establishment

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1: The lecture titled "Living with honor is the best chance for community establishment empowerment" was recorded Tuesday, February 17, 1998, in Chicago Illinois. The lecturer is Imam W.D. Mohammed, Muslim American spokesman. Now, Imam Mohammed.
Audience: [applause]
Imam Mohammed: As-Salaam-Alaikum. thank you. Peace be unto you, as Muslims greet, As-Salaam-Alaikum.
Audience: Wa-Alaikum-as-Salaam
Imam Mohammed: We praise G-d, the one Lord, creator of us all who cares about all of his creation and, particularly, about his human creation. Who has created all of us of one soul we call Adam and his mate Eve in English, in the east, in the Christian world and spread, as Allah says in the Quran, G-d says the Quran, in our Holy Book, "From them, He has spread many men and women all over the world." We come together tonight recognizing that we are one family, as Brother Kasmi emphasized, we are one family, the human family and G-d says, He has made our identity or our picture, and He has made it beautiful and most excellent.
I remember my Arabic teacher giving me a grade once and this time he put it in Arabic, he didn't put it in English. I was just learning Arabic, I thought I understood what he put there but I wasn't sure so I took the paper to the professor and I said, "Will you tell me what that is?" He said, "That says, you have done excellent." He said [Arabic language] that's what he wrote. Those who speak Arabic here, they know that [Arabic language] he wrote on my paper. He said [Arabic language], you have performed in excellent way, that's what it means. G-d has taught us, in all of our great religions especially Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, G-d has taught us through his servants the Prophets, peace be upon them, that He made us excellent.
I remember reading writings on Christian theology and I remember reading where Adam has seen, is still seen, by the learned people in Christian theology, as being a bright creature. He was created a bright creature, full of light. Bright creatures, beautiful and bright creature, full of light. That's how they picture him, depict him in this publication that I was reading, and G-d says, in our Holy Scriptures, that G-d has certainly made honorable all the descendants of Adam. In Christianity, and Judaism, and Islam, we believe that all people are descendants of Adam. G-d is saying, therefore, that He made every people honorable.
He made the Africans honorable, He made the Europeans honorable, He made the Asians honorable, He made all people, He made the Americans, the native Americans of this particular continent we are on right now, He made them honorable. He made all people honorable. G-d says also to us, "The most worthy of honor among you is the one who is most righteous, or the one who is most regardful," most respectful, most regardful, and respect is first for G-d, if we understand. Respect is first for G-d and then we respect all that G-d has ordered to be respected. That means our parents, we respect our parents and we respect each other in the family.
The family that shares the close quarters of an apartment, our home, and that's all assigned to us that G-d has created us all. Our Hispanic brothers and us, our Indian brothers, our Pakistani brothers, our Arab brothers, all of us. I could even say now with a with no strain, our Polish brothers, all of us. In Chicago, that's difficult for a black man, especially, if he has some political understanding. Yes. All one family and G-d has made all of us honorable. Honor is taken from us sometimes and we are captured in an environment that mother us, but mothers us cruelly and we grow up bad people without any sense of our native honor, our inherent dignity.
G-d always bless us with some voice, someone who is strong in his humanity, is strong in his spirit, or strong in her humanity and her spirit as Macleod Bethune was, and leave us a word of good advice, and, no matter what you achieve of the material world, if you lose your virtues, you lose everything in the end. Progress with honor, G-d made us honorable. We have an inborn honor that G-d created us with and that honor produced, even during the days of enslavement on this continent, great statesmen like Frederick Douglass. That honor produced the servants of G-d that we, the people of faith, follow.
His prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad, that honor produced them. The honor that G-d gave Muhammad the prophet, and I focus on Him because He is the prophet of Islam, the last prophet to us, to the world, and Muslims are here in many numbers tonight. We thank you for coming from far distances and near. Muhammad was not yet aware that he was going to be the messenger of G-d and that he was the last prophet, he was not aware that. He had lived 40 years, that's a pretty long time, especially back then when life expectancy was not as long as it is the today.
He had lived 40 years and he did not know that he was going to be the last prophet, the seal of the prophets. He did not know he was going to be a messenger of G-d to the world, he didn't know that but his countrymen had already called him El-Amin, the honorable, the trustworthy one. El-Amin, the trustworthy one and they called him, also, [Arabic language], the truthful one." They called him the truthful one, the trustworthy one. It was just not a respect that they paid in word, it was not seen in action, history tells us that in those days there were no banks, they had no system like we have.
They would seek, a person that was traveling would seek and an honest, trustworthy person to protect their properties or their interests while they were gone. History tells us that Muhammad was that one, before he was called to be a prophet or message of G-d, he was the one that they would come to and leave their belongings with him. Trustworthy person, honorable person, trustworthy person. G-d has created each and every one of us for honor and respect. If we live to keep that, to keep a virtuous life, to have a virtuous life, we will be successful if our interest is in the community, wanting to see the community better. G-d says also to us, I know, believe me, I know your Bible pretty well. I could be a powerful Baptist preacher, you'd be surprised what I can say to these people in the name of the gospel, but I'm a Muslim and that's where my power is, my power is in belief in G-d as a Muslim. Our faiths, if we recognize our faith, respect them, come to know your own religion better, that's what we need to do, respect your own religion even more. A virtuous life will save us. G-d created us not to live as an island, not to live as a hermit to ourselves. The world has not progressed because men have separated, the world has progressed because men have come together.
Excuse me one moment, let me take this. When you're thirsty and you got all your taste buds and everything in the normal condition, there's no drink like clean, clear water. Thank you. Progress with honor, when we look at the progress made for us from slavery to freedom, emancipation proclamation, and even till now. The progress that was made was made for us by leaders that we thought were honorable leaders. Frederick Douglass was an honorable man, Benjamin E. Mays, is a Christian leader that I have great respect for, I got to know him before he passed, an honorable man. The honorable Elijah Muhammad, that's what we call him, - the honorable Elijah Muhammad.
The honorable Marcus Garvey. We have made a lot of progress because we have supported persons like Mary McLeod Bethune and others. Persons that we believe to be honorable. We believed that they held certain principles, to be more valuable to them than even their flesh and blood, physical life. That they would lose their own physical life in the name of the principal that they held very high. Yes, honorable people. If we would study the growth of civilization, the growth of progress, we would have to study it in the collective body, not in the single body. If you study the single body, you can't see progress, - how we have progressed as human beings on this earth.
We have some individuals that have been giants when it comes to wealth. Someone, in fact during the time of capitalism, you can find one man, more wealthy than a whole nation. You can find some small nations, maybe some pretty sizable nations, not as wealthy as the one man. One was the Rockefellers, and one in particular, I will never call his name, but he bought up lands. He bought an island, very wealthy individual. You can learn a lot from studying his coming into wealth, and how he became so wealthy and powerful from a boy to a schoolboy, and then, from a young businessman and then, a wealthy businessman.
You can learn a lot studying him as an individual who made great progress, but you will not learn, hardly, anything of the movement of civilization, the progress of civilization, unless you study people in a group. You study the Islamic movement in history, you will learn a lot about Islamic civilization and you will learn about Islam’s contribution to Western civilization, to our civilization. You'll learn a lot, you will see how civilization comes into existence and progresses. Similarly, if you would study the ancient nations, you will see that, you study the Romans, you will see that, but study any person, no, you can't see that. That tells us that real progress for man and for mankind comes only from group efforts.
It's the group effort that really benefits us on this planet earth, and we are all indebted to the group effort. That's what we're indebted to, the group effort. As individuals, no matter how much we contribute, we have to do it inside the group. As part of the group, we make our contribution with the group. Our contribution goes into the group, it belongs to the group, and it's remembered long after we are dead and gone as the group’s possession, not as our individual possession. G-d has created us with a soul, a human soul. Some of us, the soul is so small, the soul is like a seed and a seed dies when the fruit drops off the tree, the seed dies and, sometimes, dries up.
Well, the farmer wants it like that, because the farmer takes it and he puts it where it can dry out, he wants to dry it out. It dries off, comes like a dead little pebble or something, a little dead grains of salt or something or pepper or something, just a little dead stuff, dried out dead stuff. You put it where it can get life and it starts to swell. Moisture starts to swell and, as it swells, it begins to reveal itself, it wants to express what it has inside. It opens up and it starts-you can’t see it first it's in the ground, already, it's releasing something in the ground. It's expressing something that was locked up inside of it.
It's not enough to express it in the ground, it wants it above the ground. Rises up little bitty, delicate thing, push up a big clog of earth, pops up through it, spreads out, keep stretching out, more freedom, more expression, until it has completed its picture. Then, it stands there rooted in the earth and has expressed itself, have found its freedom of expression in the light of the sun. How beautiful, and G-d says that He has created us, the human family, like a plant. That's what G-d says to us, and we know that all through the Bible, you can read of the metaphors of the pictures of human beings as plants, trees, grass, fruit, wheat, and tares.
That description of that, and in the Quran, we have the same. The group picture. Who really, when I say grass, who really thinks, right away, of one blade of grass? You don't think of one blade of grass, you think of grass. It's the many and there is a saying in Islam, "The hand of G-d or G-ds control is on the collective body." What does that mean for us? It means that Muslims are not to have a dictator. It means that Muslims are not to have a holy man that we listen to and we don't get any guidance except from him, and he makes all of the decisions for us, we make no decisions together. It means that Muslims are to have a democratic rule, a democratic order, a consensus, the opinion of the best of the people taken together. That's what we have to have, a consensus of the best minds and best characters, best people of character. We were progressing with honor, as a people, when we were following Frederick Douglass, and when we were following Du Bois, an honorable intellectual, and when we were following Booker T. Washington.
A vocational man, but an honorable man, who built Tuskegee University, Tuskegee colleges, honorable people. Progress came when we follow such persons. Now, when you look at those who then think they could have progressed, with the system or within the system, those who separated, the separatists, black nationalists, we were making progress when we followed honorable Marcus Garvey. We were making progress when we followed honorable Elijah Muhammad, honorable Malcolm X, we were making progress, but when '70s came, by the time of the early '70s, we had forgot what the freedom struggle really was.
We had forgot what real leadership for African-American people is and we start to follow show business people. Whoever could talk the baddest, put on the best show for us, that's our leader. I'm not directing this at any particular person, so you who hate Farrakhan, I'll tell you right now, I'm not talking about Farrakhan, but we start following the show business, whoever can make the best show. My dear Christian, Baptist preachers, ministers, I'm sorry, I have to say that you too. Go to church and nothing but a big show, whoever put on the best show, get the most followers, and the most in offering. We forgot that most important for us was faith in G-d.
We were introduced to Christianity by our white brothers and sisters of America, who were responsible for us being in slavery, they were the ones who introduced us. All of them weren't responsible for us being slavery now, but it so happened that that minority was imposing their will upon the majority, for a long, long time. I'm not directing my criticism that any person or persons, only at errors, wrongdoings, and error in thinking, but here, we were making progress by telling this great American society, at a time when we were ourselves slaves that we believe in G-d, that's what the slave said, and we don't believe that G-d wants for us, what you imposing on us. That's what the slaves said.
The slave, to make his protest, to put his argument before his slave master, he relied upon, what his slave master claimed, and that is that G-d exists and that G-d is a G-d of justice, and mercy, and kindness et cetera. He brought his master to look at himself, and look at his claim. Frederick Douglass says, "You claim to be civilizers, you claim to be believers in Christ Jesus, and your behavior is such that would shame a nation of savages," that's what Frederick Douglass said. He didn't have an army to go to war and free the slave, no.
He didn't have people on his side, that "I know I got the majority on my--" no, but he had truth on his side, he had honor on his side, and he believed that if he came with honor, and address those who are claiming honor, and get them to see that the treatment of the blacks, denied them the right to be called honorable, that they would, one day, look in the mirror, and say, "Well, the man, Fredrick Douglas, is right," and walk out of the house with a different mind, and join abolitionists to end slavery on this continent, that's what he had faith in and it worked.
Now we want to have a piece of the pie. Well, that's your language, only pie I know about is the one they taught me in math and the one I eat on the table, and that's not the pie that I want. I want a piece of this pie, that's the earth, that's the pie I want a piece of. The earth, this big round spherical body mass they call the earth, because G-d put us all on this earth, and G-d says in the Holy Scripture, that He made this earth as a table, a table. Now we come to the table to fill our stomachs, eat a good meal that makes us feel good for the night sleep, before going to sleep, eat a good meal so we'll rest in peace.
G-d says in Scripture, in the holy sacred Scripture to us, not to the black, not to the whites, but to all of us. Seek what G-d promised us for the hereafter, the end destiny, the end destination, the end, the destiny. Seek what G-d has promised you for the destiny, but don't forget your share of the earth. G-d has given each and every one of us, a share of the earth. Am I a Martian? No, I'm from earth, I was born here, this is my home. Where is my room? I need some room.
[applause]
We don't need to go to Karl Marx or to Lenin -, go to G-d. When my father put me out and it got to be a real problem believing in the idea of G-d that he gave me in the Black Muslim Temple of Islam, when that became a big problem for me, I said, "I'm lonesome," and I was very lonesome. I started reading some of the communist literature, but then, it wasn't a laughing matter, they have some serious stuff too. Then I start, - I said, "Well I'm going get some of the best books" so I got books, Karl Marx, Engels, Hegel. I got the books, I read the books. I appreciate a lot of what they said, but, at the same time, I was reading the holy Sacred Scripture, and I was reading it in the same way that.
I wasn't reading to get a quick charge like some of you all do, read the Scripture to get a quick charge. I was reading it to plug into the power source so I could keep going and never have to charge a battery. I want to put down batteries and go right directly to the power source. That's how I was reading the Holy Scripture. I started registering the compliments that my creator was paying to me. I say, “Oh boy, all of these other flatterers who flatter my identity, who flatter my makeup, who flatter my contents, who flatter my nature, they're just borrowing from my Master who created me."
I saw that, that they were only stealing and borrowing from my Master, the Lord of the heavens and earth who created this world and me. It made me so strong as a believer in G-d. I believer in G-d, not only in heaven, but in Earth, and that's what the sacred Scripture tells us, that G-d is the G-d of the heavens and the earth. Praise be to Allah, and that G-d says that He has made everything in the skies and everything below in the earth to accommodate his human creation. Isn't it that wonderful? [Arabic language], for you who speak Arabic. [Arabic language] He has made whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth to accommodate his human creation.
He says, and He has created us with honor when He was making us. Dr. King, he says, "Don't judge a man by the color of his skin, but by the contents." Well, when G-d was making the contents, He put honor in the contents, He put intelligence in the contents. He put sound reasoning in the contents, He put virtues in the contents, the finest virtues, he put in the contents. He put everything in the contents that was needed to influence the whole sky and the whole earth to pay tribute to this wonderful creature.
You won't know that if you stay in the farmer's bin with the dried seeds, left away from the life that you need, the contact with the life that you need.
You will never know that unless you get help from G-d or someone that G-d has helped. That's what we need to do, we need to realize what is the tradition of human excellence, whether it's in a black man or a white man, whether it's on the continent of Africa, or the continent of Asia. What is the tradition of human excellence, whether it's on the plantations, from the plantation to where we are now in Chicago, where is the history, the tradition of human excellence? Where is that role of progress for human excellence that brings fractions to whole numbers?
They said to us, trying to make us believe it too, said, "You blacks are not worthy to be equals with us in our white society, because you are only three-fifths of a human being." Put that in the constitution, that you're only three-fifths of a human being. Well, if any of your descendants are still around here, who believes that, I want to tell you, that your whole America was only three-fifths of the human being until you recognized us as a whole being, now, you're becoming a whole being. See, this human creation that G-d made as one, and you can single out one group of people in the soul that's a cosmic hole.
You can single out one people in that soul that's a cosmic hole and you can throw a mess on them, but eventually, that mess, if they hold onto their purity, that mess is going to leave them and come right on you because you deserve it. That's what's has happened, and I believe those who like to pick on others have learned their lesson. The world is beginning to be too small and we got too many abolitionists now, abolitionists are everywhere. What I want to say to you is that everything is growing from fractions to wholeness, the world itself is growing from a fractured world to a whole world.
What broke up the wholeness? G-d designed wholeness for our life. What cause it to fracture, Satan, the devil. You who believe, like we believe in religion, you Christians and others, Satan fractured it. G-d, in our, well, theology if you could call it that, showed the Angel Jibril or Gabriel, his creation, I guess, like on a screen, if we can use that technology to help us out a little bit. Like on a great screen, G-d showed Jibril, Gabriel, Jibril, in our religious language and Gabriel in yours, His creation that He was going to make. He showed Gabriel the world and the man in it.
He said-- No, pardon me, before we put the man in, I'm sorry, He showed him just the world, that He's going to put His special creation in, man. When Gabriel saw it, he said, "My Lord." See, many Muslim don't know Gabriel has a lord too, same lord we have, Allah. Gabriel said, "My Lord, how can any soul go wrong in a world like this?" Then, Allah said, "Now look at a Gabriel, I'm going to show it to you after Satan has got in there and influenced it." When Gabriel saw the world bearing Satan's influences, he said, "My Lord, how will any soul go straight in a world like that?" Now, we are trying to raise children and the environment is just too much for us.
The strict parent who wanted to raise the child so that the child would be loved by G-d and cared for by G-d, could that responsibility in the small towns, in the south, in the north too, when this world hadn't got as confusing as it is now. See, it's so confusing now, people forget what gender they belonged to, and I'm not talking about homosexuals, I'm talking about normal, so-called normal people, forgetting what gender they belong to. They don't realize what they have done until they wake up the next morning, and then, they're ashamed. Very confused world, where a 35-year-old woman falls in love with a 12-year-old boy, and ready to go to jail for it, very confused world.
We are living in a time like that and Allah, G-d told us a time was coming like this. Yes, it's in the Bible, it's also in our holy book. G-d told us a time was coming like this. G-d says, to man, so he will avoid the mistake, but G-d knows man, he can't avoid it, he has to make that mistake, but he'll repent later. "My will is too much for him, he'll have to repent later." G-d says, “Man." Who is He talking to, who is G-d talking to here? In sacred Scripture, G-d is here, talking to a man who assumes authority on this earth over other men, over other nations, over the resources that G-d provides, he assumes authority.
G-d says to him, "Oh man, think not that the human creation is a bigger creation than the heavens and the earth. One day, the bigger environment is going to defeat you if you don't follow my way for your life on this earth." That’s exactly what has happened. The Church is at a loss to save our teenagers. The synagogue is at a loss to save their teenagers. The mosques, is at a lost, the masjid, the mosques, the Muslim’s house of worship is at a loss to save our teenagers. We have to recover from the spell that Satan has cast over the world, and the only way to recover is to come back to the light, to the light of G-d.
Comes back to the common decencies that society once embraced, the common decencies. Wake up the common decent person in you, and don’t be ashamed to face the pressure, the peer pressure. Allah says, "Let there arise out of you." G-d knows that the world is going to become such a hard burden on the people because Satan is going to be leading it. That the many will be lost and there will only be a remnant, as the bible says, there will only be a few left to lead the way. G-d knew that the times are going to become so confusing that we can’t expect many people to respond to the call.
Most of them will hear it and even, if they understand it, they can’t accept it because they don’t have enough going for them internally to meet this strong challenge, that is external, we have to depend on just a few. G-d says we have to work on this, when G-d asks us to do something, we have to work on it. G-d says let that form out of you. Out of the Muslim community, out of the big Muslim community let their form out of you, a special group, a special group working for G-d. Working for justice and fair dealings among people, believing in G-d and not deviating. Not fearing the criticism of any criticizer, living by the most excellent known standards of civilization.
Ordering and commanding, by the highest and best-known standards of civilization in its excellence. [Arabic language], it’s Arabic, that's some Arabic here. I can speak a little Spanish but I don’t like to. I don’t like and it'll be very embarrassing if I make a mistake but I can speak a little Spanish. I understood Buenos Notches, I understood that.
[Laughter]
Progress with honor, we have to realize that we are not complete until the soul says "I’m at peace." If you ask any African-American, whether he’s poor, educated or uneducated, poor or rich, ask him is his soul at peace? Ask Bill Cosby, if his soul is at peace, ask my friend John from the neighborhood of 61st and Michigan. I go back there, that’s where I came from and I see the people in the same condition they were in when I was a boy. Neighborhood, same condition almost, no change. Ask him if his soul is at peace, no, his soul is not at peace.
I’m not talking about personal peace with G-d now, I know some of you're good faithful people like I am. I have peace with my G-d and my soul is at peace when I’m resting, but if I get up and go out in the day to meet the people and to do the work or whatever, get about my business in the world, that soul is not at peace. No, indeed, in fact, I just wake up and you say,” Hey, do you think the condition of African-American people is good?” You’ve broken my peace. My peace is gone just that fast. Our condition will be good when we progress with honor.
If we insist upon honor in those that we accept as our leader, if we can insist that they be men and women of good character, we can get rid of drugs, as problem in our neighborhoods, we can end poverty in our neighborhoods. We have opportunities today, we didn’t have opportunities when Frederick Douglass was leading, we didn’t even have enough opportunities when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was leading, but today, we’ve got the opportunity. In fact, I hear that the law that has been passed and the rules that they go by and live by now are requiring that they include more of us in business, in business opportunities.
To bid on contracts, government contracts, to do different things, and there are not enough of us to even fill the request for persons of our color our race to come in there and take advantage of those opportunities. There are not enough of us. Some of us just don’t have what it takes, we don’t have the energy, the spirit, the drive, but it’s mostly because we don’t have the money, we don’t have enough money. That doesn’t have to be, we are going to change that.
In my conclusion, I want to say to this audience here. This beautiful audience as the speaker, one of the speakers said before me, this very, very beautiful audience. It is very, very beautiful because it shows the family of mankind. I want to say to you that when I came into leadership of those in my association called Muslims, almost 100% African-American, I didn't believe that we were prepared spiritually, morally, mentally to engage the world as competitors for a piece of this earth that G-d says is ours and we shouldn't forget it, G-d said that. G-d says is ours and we shouldn't forget it. [Arabic language] Don't forget your share of this material world. That's what G-d says in sacred scripture.
I was believing that we just weren't prepared, so I said, "This is G-d's doing," to put us on the right course for the first time because we were on the wrong course. We had a religious spirit, we had fear of G-d just as church people do, under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
We had a religious fear, we had fear of G-d, no matter how we pictured G-d or perceived G-d, we had fear of G-d. I know I did, following Elijah Muhammad, my father. I know I had that, I had a religious spirit, I had a fear of G-d in me.
I have to say, I believe it was G-d's doing to have us come off a spiritual basis and go just rushing in the world for the material things and for pride, black power. Personal pride, group pride, and money.
It was G-d's doing to let us be taken off on that tangent, away from our spiritual foundation, away from believing in G-d as we should, away from us believing in decency as we should, away from us fearing consequences as we should. We left that so that we would fail and lose what G-d wants in us most of all and that is decency, honor, our true humanity.
So that we would turn back to Him for that. Nobody can give you that but G-d. I know because we have pleaded with one or two of our children, especially one of them, pleaded for them to come back, "Please come back from your bad life and your bad habits. Please come back," couldn't budge him.
We want him to believe in G-d. We would try to reach him, make him wake up as a believer in G-d, couldn't reach him. In fact, he looked at us and say, "I don't think you even represent religion the way you are supposed to be representing." Didn't want to hear a thing we had to say. G-d says to us in our holy sacred scriptures that you can't make anyone believe, it is G-d who brings them to believe.
We couldn't turn each other around, but G-d had to put us in a situation where we'd call out to him again. I had plenty of people saying, "Well, our leader is gone and we were told that once dead, they never come back." That's what Honorable Elijah Muhammad told his followers. I don't know where they [current followers of NOI] get this stuff about Elijah’s coming back. I don't know what they talking about.
[laughter]
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told his followers. I think is something in the Bible. There used to be a group among the Jews called the Sadducees. I don't know if they still live or not, but look like I see one occasionally.
[laughter]
Imam: Yes. The Sadducees. They didn't believe in no life after death. They believe in only material reality. That's how come it was so easy for Karl Marx to come up with that material base idea, because there are already some Sadducees. Karl Marx was another Sadducee, he survived. The Sadducees didn't believe in a hereafter. They didn't believe. When you die, that's it, you finish, that's it, your gone. Material is the reality and that's it, but they still believed in G-d.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad followers were taught to believe that way. He said it's stupid, it's ridiculous to believe that after somebody dies and put in the earth and become dirt that they are going to live again, they don't ever expect that to happen. He say, "That is stupid," he said that's for stupid children. He paid it down, he ridiculed it, something terrible.
Then I read the Quran, and the Quran says, "They say will we be brought back to life after we have become dust and G-d says even if you have become something harder in your imagination to resurrect than dust, you shall be brought back." All your whole self shall be brought back, even your fingerprints. That's what G-d says to us in the Quran, even your fingerprints shall be brought back.
So, I said to myself, thank Allah that he revealed this book. Thank Him for Muhammad, the mortal in human excellence, par excellence, worthy to receive this book for all of us, thank Allah for him, thank G-d for this revelation that saved the son of Elijah Muhammad.
When the Nation of Islam failed his soul, failed his intellect, failed his moral nature, G-d picked the son of Elijah Muhammad up with the light of the Quran, the light of the revealed book and the excellent human model, Muhammad the son of Abdullah. Prayers and peace be upon him, I was saved.
That's what I want to share with all of you in this audience. Now that I am saved, I'm free, I'm saved and I feel that my people now are healthy spiritually. I go all over this country, I was in Fayetteville just a couple of days ago. I was in Durham North Carolina the day before that. I go all over this country and I'm seeing those who were in our following, those who were in our association, but I can tell you here that the United States Muslim members belonging to this association who identify with the leadership you identify with are in good shape.
[cheers and applause]
We are back on human basis. We have back on faith in G-d. We have back on respect, regardfulness for G-d in sacred matters. Yes. We have back on that foundation again. We have back in our humanity again. Now we are ready to make progress with honor and get our share of this earth. Thank you very much, peace.
[cheers and applause]
Speaker 2: All praise is due to Allah. Can we have your attention for a minute? Brothers, can we have your attention for a few minutes? We're going to continue to the conclusion of this program for the day. Can we have your attention, please? We need your attention. We're about to conclude the program for today. We're going to go as scheduled, but we want to cut some of the time a little short. However, the Imam was going to honor us with some questions from the audience. Those who have questions, the Imam is going to entertain questions for about 10 or 15 minutes. The brother right here at the mic, brother Ribani right here at the mic, those who have any questions, could you come to the mic so he'll be able to hear the questions? Over here is where mic is at. Those who have any questions, can you come to the mic over here? Is the mic connected, brother? Can we have your attention for a minute, please? Is it connected?
Tuhutay: One, two, yes, connected. Could I proceed?
Host: Yes.
Tuhutay: Okay, my name is Tuhutay. I'm not a Muslim or anything like that, but I got three short questions for the Imam. I write for a underground newspaper called Frontline and we do investigative work on certain activities that's detrimental to the black community, and I'd like for you to address these three points here. We have situations-- We have hidden concentration camps in the black community that nobody seems to know about.
That's one, and two is, a situation now with a black women just being killed and nobody's talking about, none of the leaders. We have a situation now where these black women are being killed and the media and the police department has suppressed this information for years. In Washington DC at least 300 black women have been killed. The murders are going unsolved and the killings have been occurring around the full moon.
The third point I'd like you to address is, everybody's talking about the economic collapse. I'm talking about everybody. I got a short-band radio, I listen to everybody talk. The white people talk, the Jews talk, and everybody's talking about the economic situation around the world. Those are the three points I'd like you to address.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, for the first part, let me first say that we expect that there would be some persons, young men and women, who would respond to these situations and make some contribution to relieving us of these bad conditions in our community or in our community life. Congratulations to you, we thank you very much, first I would like to say that. Persons who are are hurting us, individuals who are hurting us, leaders or persons who have the public attention or get the public attention and who are hurting us.
Yes, I agree too that we that that is a problem and we do have people who're living in kind of a concentration camp. We do have that, but let me share something with you. When prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was giving the message of G-d to his countrymen who were mostly Arabs- who were Arabs, but there were a few non-Arabs among them. Bilal, may G-d be pleased with him, who later became a very popular figure in the history of Islam, was a black person.
He was from the land of Ethiopia called the land of the Habesha. He had such a master over him, but when he heard the message of truth from Mohammed the prophet, he accepted it and he resisted his master, though his master still had him as his property. He was the property of his master. His master tortured him for that, tortured him severely for resisting him, for wanting to be a Muslim. He tortured him so severely so Bilal was too weak to even speak anymore.
He just yelled out one thing to say to his master, "I still believe in the one G-d." We live in a time now, when the voice of freedom and humanity is ringing loud and clear all over America and all over this world. If there are people who choose to have such leaders over them and they won't have the courage of Bilal, I say leave them there for a little longer. They'll change their minds. When they change their minds, we'll help rescue them, as I will Abu Bekr came and got Bilal from his slave master.
We will come rescue them, but as long as they like it, we are going to leave them right there. Now, black women being killed. We have heard black women being killed. That responsibility is on the system, is on the law department. If they are not doing something about it, you and us and all of us should get together and make sure that they do their job, to find those killers. Things should be done in the right way. When we don't get the respect or help from the system, then we have language in the constitution that permits us to challenge even the constitution and rewrite it if we have to.
See, the founding fathers envisioned a society, a group of people, a nation that could survive even the constitution of the United States. If they stick to the excellence that those founding fathers envisioned, and the constitution failed them somewhere along the road, we have language in the constitution that give us legal justification to rewrite it. Now, there's a judge there, he knows. Okay. I agree with you. I agree with your interests. I'm with you in your interests, but I don't think I agree with you and you methods, brother. Okay, yes.
Albi: As-Salamu Alaikum. My name is Albi Gyze Abdullah. I'm 17 years old. I was born a Muslim and my mother's Kalilah Abdullah. A couple years ago I just moved from the city to Park Forest. I don't have any questions but just to ask you this one favor, to please pray with my mother, my family because she's a single woman who's taking care of four kids and she's trying to keep this house because we're trying to stay out there, away from all the violence, trying to give me a good education so I may graduate, so I may go to college and provide for my family as well. Along the road, we're having a little trouble.
Imam Mohammed: What situation the house is in?
Albi: Well, she's trying to keep the house and the payments are building up and building up. Like I said, she's only one woman and she's trying very hard to provide for the family, but it's just more--
Imam Mohammed: It's just the mother and the children?
Albi: Just the mother, yes.
Iman: Yes. Well, give your name and address to-- Let's see if we have one here. Brother Rafa, go get the name and address of brother there. We're going to get some help for you right away.
[applause]
Speaker 2: I can't speak. The doctor bad, and then I can't speak. Brother Kareem, I can't speak, but brother, could you-- I can't speak, but could you-- What his name? What his name be, because I can speak. Been eight years. Yes, right, I can't speak eight years. Because they say here.
Imam Mohammed: I can hear. I can hear.
Participant 1: Yes.
Imam Mohammed:I can hear. Ears are open for you right now. I can hear.
Participant 1: I can't speak but write here.
Participant 3: Donnell Karim.
Participant 1: Yes.
Imam Mohammed:He's getting some help. Imam Karim, who's that?
Participant 1: Here.
Imam Mohammed: Imam Donnell Karim?
Participant 1: Yes, I'm writing it down for me.
Imam Mohammed: All right. I'll ask Imam Donnell Karim to give me your message, give me your words. All right.
Participant 1: Yes, and then, well, it's true.
Imam Mohammed: I understand. Yes. You want to say more, don't you?
Participant 1: Well, it's close.
Imam Mohammed: You would like to say more? Wouldn't you like to say more? Yes or no?
Participant 1: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: Well, keep desiring. You will speak.
Participant 1: Okay. All right.
[applause]
Imam Mohammed: Inshallah he will overcome that. He has what it takes. We have those in other areas who are asking questions too. I don't know how, whether it's working. It must not be working. Yes, how many minutes? We have to make up about five more minutes, I think, of this.
Marcel: All right, my name is Marcel [unintelligible 01:10:12] and I greet you in the name of [unintelligible 01:10:15] the Most High G-d. I would like to say that what the brother had talked on earlier, there is economic collapse coming. Within the next year or so. Now, according to the stock market charts and all the documentary that we have and we are researching, we've got government documents to prove everything we said.
There are concentration camps in this country. There are black-uniformed officers running around, kicking people's doors down, doing search procedures without warrants. That's going out throughout this country and not referendums. People don't believe that the biological chemical weapon in this country within the next year or so.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, we can make our questions or our comments very short and brief, right to the point.
Participant 5: I salute you, brother Imam.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, let me respond to his comment very quickly. If you plan your own life and future, and you're aware of what's happening, you shouldn't despair, you shouldn't feel that the world is going to be gloomy and things are going to be bad. You should be able to chart your way through the storms and through the gloom and through all of that. While others are suffering, you should be fairing well. G-d says, "The believers shall succeed. They shall be successful."
[applause]
Imam Mohammed: I wish you would get acquainted with our collective purchasing program. It doesn't see any gloom at all. It sees nothing but bright sunlight. The sun is rising and we're rising with it.
Derek Abdullah: As-Salaam Alaikum, brother Imam.
Imam Mohammed: Wa Alaikum Salaam.
Derek: My name is, Derek Abdullah. My wife and I, we've been Muslims now for over 21 years. We're grateful to Allah to be Muslim. My question concerns some literature. We don't believe that your teachings has a time or fashion. I've been out to the universities in different places, handing out literature that you printed. I go to different Masjids and people tell me not to pass out the literature. I understand it because I don't want to be controversial. I want to be helpful.
I wanted to submit this. If I could get somebody to look at these, are your words. As far as I know, if there is anything different in the literature that my wife and I have been putting out through the years, we would like to have it corrected like any other believing Muslim would.
Imam Mohammed: All right. Just get copies of it to me.
Derek: I have a present copy. If I can give it to Rabani, you could- if you get an opportunity, give it to him and let us know if the literature that we're passing out is proper. We believe it's proper because it's from your teachings and we whole pass by Allah to that.
Imam Mohammed: You must understand that we in the leadership, we have not only words, but we have a strategy. We have plans and strategies. Sometimes the strategy that have already succeeded and done its job is not needed anymore. You might have old strategies that have already done their work and they might cause a problem for the new time and the new circumstances.
Derek: That's what we want to prevent, such a case. Thank you.
Participant 7: As-Salaam Alaikum.
Imam Mohammed: Wa Alaikum Salaam.
Participant 7: My dear Imam, I had to write this down because every time I see you, I have so much to say, I can't say anything. My dear Imam, the Gayu foundation, I think, this thing is when it first came to me a long, long time ago. It's for the elevation of the female, but as you speak, you're speaking about everyone and that's what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about all of the women and I have to really sit down and talk to you about this. It's so big-- It's so much to it that I just can't say in a few words. Because it's very, very important. It's very, very important.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, well, I would like to have an opportunity to see what you have there and listen-
Participant 7: Please, the subject is very important.
Imam Mohammed: -and for you to share it with me. Whatever I could do to assist you, I would be happy to do it.
Participant 7: I've been trying to give it to you since 1977.
Imam Mohammed: It's been a [unintelligible 01:14:36] No problem, my secretary can come and get it for you.
Participant 7: All right. Thank you.
Imam Mohammed: You need to give him a contact number.
Participant 7: I sure will.
Imam Mohammed: And your name. He's coming now.
Participant 7: Yes, sir.
Imam Mohammed: The next, please. I think we can only have one more. Time is out.
Participant 8: As-Salaam Alaikum.
Imam Mohammed: Wa Alaikum Salaam.
Participant 8: I used to be brother Robert 12X [chuckles].
Imam Mohammed: Yes, I do remember you. How are you?
Participant 8: I'm fine. [unintelligible 01:15:07]
Imam Mohammed: Good to see you.
Participant 8: Yes, good to see you. [unintelligible 01:15:16] some needs have happened [unintelligible 01:15:21]
Imam Mohammed: All right. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. We're planning meeting soon in [unintelligible 01:15:26] this year.
Participant 8: Yes sir, I appreciate that.
Imam Mohammed: All right.
Participant 8: As-Salaam Alaikum.
Imam Mohammed: Thank you, brother [unintelligible 01:15:30] Good to see you again. I have a question here.
Imam Mohammed: This will be the last question. Time is out, time is overspent. The question is, does the Imam have any comments on the situation regarding Iraq and the potential bombing of Iraq? Yes, I do. We're sending a statement to the president of the United States, our dear president, Mr. Bill Clinton. The statement says that we do not feel or believe that bombing Iraq or the targets that they have identified will help American interests in the long run and will certainly not defeat Saddam, but would only boost him up and make him even a bigger hero in the Islamic world among radicals and also among sober-minded Muslims. We're against that. We don't think it'll help at all. We think it's only going to hurt in the long run.
[applause]
If we would conduct war as G-d orders us to conduct war, then we would take care, not to kill innocent people. We would not risk killing children and old women, and young women and families that are perhaps as much against the situation there as we are, but they can't do anything about it. There's a different reality too this time. It's not like it was when the Gulf War took place. The Western nations are not even all together on this. Several of them are opposed to it, some of them won't commit themselves, few of them are with the decision to hit those targets; the dwellings of Saddam himself. They call it Pallacious structures, or palace or homes and they'll try to find where these weapons are and strike there. It's too big a risk to innocent people, to innocent lives, in addition to that, we believe that the sanctions should be lifted, the embargo should be lifted.
[applause]
Great powers should also take risk in the name of justice, in the name of compassion on human being, in the name of justice and mercy, they should also take this big risk. I would only approve of striking or bombing Iraq if Iraq starts to attack or bomb or use those terrible weapons on somebody. Only at that time. We're not the big robo cop of the earth, to go in and force our way on people. That's not the way to do it. If we don't fall into the trap, and it's a trap, that Saddam is setting.
If we don't fall into the trap and say, "Well, we thought this situation out and we have come to the conclusion that we should seek to settle this problem we have here, to solve the problem we have here for the inspection or whatever diplomatically. With diplomacy, with discussions, with help from your neighbors in the discussions et cetera. With everything possible short of actually killing on that land again, killing people on Iraqi soil again."
If that would happen and they stick to that decision, our country and the allies would stick to that decision, in time, Saddam will become so unpopular, especially if the sanctions- if the embargo is lifted, he will become so unpopular that if keeps his mind, he'll kill himself. Yes, I really feel the burden on our president, I feel the burden on our president. When they invent new weapons and they are told that these weapons can do this and that, there's a strong temptation to use them just to see what they can do.
I wish all the Muslim would write the president of these United States, State Department and the president and tell him that we are strongly against bombing Iraq and we hope that you will lift the embargo, we believe that you can defeat Saddam with super human excellence.
[applause]
Thank you very much. I have to leave so that you may leave, peace As-Salaam-Alaikum.
[01:22:30] [END OF AUDIO]

