9-1-95

The Quran is a River
Jumah Prayer
1995 Convention
Detroit, MI

Imam W. Deen Mohammed


Dear Muslims, dear brothers, sisters, Muslims, on this Jumah, As-Salaam Alaikum. We praise God, the One and Only Creator, Lord, Sustainer of the worlds. We witness that He is One. We put our trust in Him. We witness that Muhammed, to whom the Qur'an was revealed, is the seal of the prophets, the last of God's prophets. We pray that the prayers and the peace be on him and on his family, his descendents, his companions, and on the believers, the righteous, all be peace. Ameen.

Allah, Most High, sent Muhammed the Prophet to purify the believers; to purify the believers; that they should be purified; the believers in God. We know from the history of the Arabian peninsula where the city of Mecca, the venerated city of Mecca and the city of Madinah, the city of the Prophet, the city of the Light; or in that geography, that land that is mentioned in the scriptures that came before, in the Torah and in the Gospel, if we understand it-but certainly plainly in the Torah, or what is called the Old Testament now-that land is mentioned. And the people of Abraham had become lost people, given to the worship of idols, false gods, false deities, given to divisions, rivalries, gangs, gang-land make-up mentalities. Among them though were excellent individuals, individuals of great character, who didn't find pleasure in that way of life, the life of idol worship, and they were companions, the companions of the Prophet, most of them; like Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, and many others like Khadijr, like 'Ashia, may God be pleased with them.

At all times, when society falls into darkness, into corruption, there are always a small number, a few people that are displeased with it and no matter how prevalent or how widespread that ignorance and corruption may be, they never succumb to it, they never give in to it, they never take on the corrupt life. Among the companions of the Prophet we find those who were outstanding in their character and in their intelligence, in their behavior, their all around general behavior. They were outstanding persons, exceptional persons in that society at that time of ignorance, or at that time of darkness. And the Prophet was sent to call the people to faith.

God says that He sent him-that is, Muhammed, the last prophet-He sent him in answer to the scriptures; scriptures that had come before to Jews and the Christians, or to the people that are called Jews and Christians; scriptures that had come to them announcing the coming of one who would be a liberator, who would make their burdens light, who would take the shackles of slavery, and yokes off of them. And God says that He sent Muhammed to do that; that He sent Muhammed to purify them, to purify them with his spirit to obey God, with his spirit to obey God and worship none with God, associate none with God, put God above all. With that spirit of devotion to the One God we can be purified and that's what made it possible for the first followers of our Prophet, Muhammed, to be purified. It was their spirit to be devoted to Allah, to the worship of Him and Him Alone, and to obey Him over all others. This is what purified them!

But, he was also sent to extend that purification, extend that purification to the actual, practical thinking of the people, so that we have an ethical society, as well as a moral society. An ethical society is a society that believes in a moral, rational logic. A logic! They believe in the laws of reasoning-the laws of reasoning-that we should reason and think, but our thinking should be given to certain rules and those rules represent also the laws. The rules of logic, they establish laws that govern our moral behavior, in matters of thinking, of logic, and also in the practical life. So that we come to a point where we say, "That kind of political thinking is not ethical." It's not ethical, meaning that it's not good, it's not morally sound, and it's not rationally sound either. This is what the Prophet was sent with, with that teaching of Oneness, the Oneness of God and the worship of Him Alone, above anything else, that would give our spirit to God and in giving our spirit to God, above all else, the spirit becomes pure, the morals become good. Because as the Prophet said, "God is Good and accepts only good! God is Good and accepts only good!"

Also, we know that whatever the Prophet, the last Prophet has been sent to achieve or to accomplish in his mission or for his mission, or for his mission, it has a bearing on major issues for the people of the Book, for the Torah and for the Gospel, or for the Taurat and the Injeel. We read in the Bible that God will purify the people. God will purify them with a first purification, or with a first purifying and then behind that God will come with a second purifying; not just one purifying. There will be two processes for purifying. One will come first and the other one will come after. The one that comes first is easier on the people than the one that comes later. The one that comes later is harder on the people. So God doesn't want us to just be babies in religion, thinking "Pain/pleasure, bad/good, clean/dirty". That's the baby beginning in purification. God wants us to look at a man's wisdom and see if it is morally sound and if it is not correct it so that we will have an ethical doctrine; an ethical doctrine, an ethical piece of material that will hold us to rules and a law.

And God followed that up with, "And to teach them the Book and the Wisdom", that he is sent to purify them, to give them good, decent behavior by having their spirit conform to the Will of God. Then they become people relaxing and finding it easy to obey moral behavior that God wants in us. Then God wants the people to be educated-educated'-educated, so that they have a higher perception of what is man's obligation, morally, so that his wisdom, his teachings, his education, his ideologies all come under the purifying fire! Fire!...Fire of the logic of what God wants for us. Then he will "Teach them the Book and the Wisdom"; to teach them the Book and the Wisdom. "Al Kitab, the Book, the Qur'an"; to teach them the Book, the Quran. God could have said, "To teach them the Qur'an!" But God didn't say, "To teach them the Qur'an!" We know that's what God is referring to, because that is the Book that was revealed to Muhammed, the Prophet. It is the Qur'an. But God is telling us that the Qur'an is the Book! The Qur'an is the Book, meaning that whatever was in the Taurat, whatever was in the Injeel is in this Qur'an! 

And God wanted it to be revealed or to be given to His servant. "To teach them the Book!" If you teach the Qur'an as God inspired and guided and taught Muhammed to teach the Qur'an, you're going to also teach the people the Torah. You're going to teach people the Gospel. And you will be the best and the clearest teachers of the Torah and the Gospel, if you teach the Qur'an with the knowledge that God blessed Muhammed with, as the recipient of revelation, the last revelation, the final Book, the Qur'an! Praise be to God!

Now, we want to live a virtuous life, a virtuous life. A virtuous life begins with us like it began with the prophet, Jonah, when he finally decided that he was going to go to his calling and stop wandering out at sea. When he decided that he was going to answer his calling, the boat couldn't hold him anymore. The boat threw him out into the water, into the sea and the sea couldn't hold him anymore. And a big fish came and swallowed him up, and the fish couldn't hold him anymore. So, the fish ran to the shakr(??), the seashore, or to the riverbank. The fish ran to the bank and spat him out on the bank. Then he fell out on the bank. You know the bank is where the water and the sand meet, where the water and the fine earth meet; granulated earth. Granulated, fine and washed so clean; where they meet is the water just washing that earth, just keeps washing that bank all the time. It's in a washing machine twenty-four hours a day.

And we know that that wasn't the end for Jonah, because the book of the people of the Book says that Jonah said, in that state, on the shakr?? "I have a three day's journey", meaning, "I can't stay here". And God tells us in the Qur'an that He had mercy on Jonah in that state. The sun was beating down on his head. Because out there on the bank, especially the bank that is depicted in that story, or narration, we see a bank where the trees are far away, no buildings are nearby, the city is a great distance away, you know, and there is just the riverbank, or the seashore, whatever you want to believe that it was, and he's out there with no tree to shade his head. So, Allah, the Most High God, causes a new gourd plant-that's a vine kind of thing-to grow up his body and come to the top of his head and produce leaves above his head to give him a little shade from the burning sun. God had mercy on him.

Now, with this picture from the Qur'an, from the revelation from Muhammed, the Prophet, let us look at Jonah. Here he is now. He's out there and he's just be thrown up there and he doesn't know where he is. I guess he's like a man thrown into Waterworld all of a sudden. He's out there and the sun is beaming down on his head and he realizes that God has given him a protection, a kind of umbrella, with his gourd plant, to protect his head from the heat of the sun, and he says, "I have a three day journey...! have a three day journey."

Yes, when we decide to be clean and decent people we have to grow to a point where we recognize that the society needs our purification. The society needs our decency. The society needs our virtues, our virtuous life. The society is badly in need of virtuous people to come and help strengthen the society against corruption. So, the three day journey is the journey from yourself to the path??, to the community, to the society. You have to take that virtuous life and put it in the society and let it be a structure of support for the society that is troubled enough with sin, corruption, filth, vulgarity, etc. That's the journey we have to accept! We have to accept that Allah has not purified us and made up a conscious people, wanting virtuous life, for us to have that virtuous life only when we meet each other; for us to exercise that life, or demonstrate that life only when we're in each other's company, at home with our families or at a masjid, or at the Jumah, like we are now, or at some function where Muslims are all together. No! Your strength, the strength of your new moral life is needed more in the society of those who don't have what you have. You will be as the Prophet. The Prophet is a Mercy to all the worlds, God says; that He has not sent him except that he be a Mercy to all the worlds. "Rahmatal lin naas, a mercy to all the people; rahmatil lal 'aalatneen, a mercy to all the worlds".

This is our Prophet, Muhammed. You can begin being a mercy to your society by letting good, Islamic decency be seen and witnessed by them. You want to do dawa? That's doing dawa. You want to help Allah save the world? That will be helping Allah save the world. But when you just walk through the world like you're one of them until you get to the Jumah and you're one of us, and then we see that good, virtuous life, and then we see that beautiful spirit, then we see that obedience to the purity that God wants. But when you walk out of here, you blend in with the world, you're not a mercy to the society. You're not a mercy to the worlds! You're cheating them! And it's so easy for you to get it. You don't even have to reach into your pocket; just be a natural, good Muslim, be a natural, good follower of Muhammed, have the natural, common decency that Allah sent Muhammed to cultivate in us. That's all you have to do.

So, we have to do more than preach with our mouths. Preaching with the mouth can only get so much. When you preach with your lifestyle, that's a powerful preaching and the lifestyle of the Muslim is a lifestyle of a man and a woman, a girl and a boy of character. You know that word used to be a powerful word among the educated, a powerful word among the bankers of America, "character"; a powerful word among the politicians and the policymakers, character, and it still is for many. Character is a powerful word and Allah says of Muhammed that He sends him expressly to do what? "To build, to establish good character!" Good character! And God says of him that, "We have seen you-God's speaking for the angels and all of those that have eyes to see, with the righteous-We have seen you, that you certainly stand on a mighty foundation of character!" Huh? "Khuliqan adheem", that you're standing on a mighty character!" That's what God says of him. It says, "adheem". You know what adheem says? "Power power!" When you have the Muslim decency and the Muslim character, you have power. Don't underestimate these things. Praise be to Allah!

Now, dear believers, let us realize that the Qur'an has in its language treatment, medicine for all kinds of moral ills in the man, in the woman, in the child, in the society. It is not enough to come and hear a khutbah, even on Jumah day. Read the Qur'an! Read it. Learn to read it if you don't know how to. Read the Qur'an, hear the Qur'an, daily, and often. Because the Qur'an is a river, washing the sand, a twenty-four hour washing machine. Read it and you will be cleansed. Read it often, so you will be cleansed often, because it's not enough to take the water and make wudu'. The wudu' doesn't go over all the body and it doesn't go through all the body. So, the light will be shining on your hands and your feet and your face and maybe you won't be clean down in other places. Huh? Praise be to Allah!

In our conclusion, we mentioned that there were two kinds of purification processes. One comes with the common senses. The other comes with the weighty word. And God says to Muhammed, "And We're going to entrust you with a weighty word!" That's the Book, al-Kitab, the Qur'an. Now, that weighty word it requires more than just common sense. It requires that you seek to be educated; that you seek to be elevated in knowledge, in learning, that you don't neglect your intellect, your rational mind that hungers for understanding in language-in the language of man and in the language of revelation!   If you will study the Qur'an, read it daily, your brain will be turned on, your intellect will open up like a sponge and start soaking up the great healing agents that's in the Qur'an and you will find yourself being intelligent above what you imagined that you could be.

And one day you will be amazed that, "I never thought I could have that kind of good sense!    I never thought I could have that kind of good reasoning!   I never thought I could have that kind of tool for solving problems!    I never thought my mind could penetrate darkness like it's doing now!"    You'll be amazed.   You'll discover yourself a new self, a new intellect, a wonderful person!    And it all begins with us remembering God and saying, "God should be first in my life, not this woman, not this girl, not this man, not this boy, not this car, not this house, not this bank account, not this business, not this trip I'm going to make, not this government.   God is the First in my life!"   That's where it begins. Until that happens, your boat won't be disturbed! Thank you very much!
Let us pray to God and seek Him, Allah Most High, Allah, subhana, wata 'Alaa. Let us seek Him for guidance always and let us always be repentent, ready to repent our sins, our wrongs, our errors, our shortcomings to God. Let us repent to Him and let us ask Him for His Mercy and let us ask Him for His Guidance. Allahu maghfir lana wal hamdna. Allahumma aateena fid dunya hasanatan, wa fil 'akhirata hasanatan wa kina adha bannaar. Ameen.


___________________________________________________________________

Part  II

Bismillaahir Rahmanir Raheem. We witness that God is One and One Alone. We seek His Protection against false worship. We Trust Him for guidance. We know we cannot have guidance without Him guiding us. We seek obedience and more obedience to Him and we seek His Guidance and His Protection in prayer. And we seek obedience to His Prophet, His Messenger, the last Prophet, Muhammed, salallahu alaihe was sallam, the prayers and the peace be on him. We seek to obey God, His Word, His Scripture and His Book, the Qur'an and seek God to obey His Prophet, His Messenger, Muhammed; His Servant, Muhammed, the last prophet. We seek God to establish ourselves individually, personally. We seek God to establish our families. We seek God to establish our relationship with our wives. 

We seek God for every establishment and we know without God, without Allah, we cannot be successful in anything. We ask Him to strengthen us as Muslims, to strengthen us in our position as Muslim Americans; meaning that we want Allah's Help to come to us generously to make us an extraordinary people so that we will have the strength and the competitive sense, intelligence and goodness, decency and strength to establish ourselves as a model of human excellence and community excellence in this America. We seek Allah for our visions and for our future, our destiny as American citizens. We seek Allah because we're Muslims. We seek Allah and we turn to the guidance and we pray that God will strengthen us and clear our vision, clear our eyes and our perception
so that we can see better how to live this religion as Muhammed, the Prophet and the best of his companions lived it 1415 years or so ago.

We seek God for a rare, very rare, very unusual mission that comes to man.   And that is, the mission to be in an inferior position, to be a minority people in an inferior position, worldly speaking, in terms of worldly achievements, and yet accept the mighty task, the mighty mission to be the model and the example to this great society.   Let us not play this opportunity cheap that we have.   We are Muslims in a non-Muslim world. It is predominantly non-Muslim. We are Muslims with a mission and that mission is to teach, practice, live Islam, in America, and to do it with a double interest; to present the best to each other so that we become mirrors for each other, and supports for each other, cooperate with each other; and on the other hand, to do it so that we attract the attention of the many, of the majority of the citizens of this country to us that are not Muslim; so that they will look at us and say, "Their God must be The God!" And in time, with Allah's Favors on us-and we will get Allah's Favor if we do that-in time, who knows. As someone said to me on the plane, as we were coming over here today, "Who knows. Maybe one day America will be majority Muslim!"

When I started out I didn't see this many people coming for Jumah! And I see people for as far as the walls are. I see people, extending from here, about eight feet from my finger or less, all the way back to that wall back there and it looks like to me it's as far as a block. Now, you know as excited as I am on Jumah day, I'm sure that it's appearing to be more distant that what it is. I'm sure of that. I'm sure that it's not quite a block. But, it looks like it's a block wide and a block deep! And I don't mind being fooled like that. I love it. You know, that kind of treatment of the mind that comes to one who is in love with God, in love with His Word, in love with His Prophet, and in love with the religion and the life of the Muslims, when you're in love with that Brother, that kind of treatment of the mind works positively for us. It works to strengthen us. But, understand too, it's a weapon in the hands of the believer. Because those who hate you they will look, too. And when they see your strength, when they see your faith, when they see your intention and your determination, they get the same results that I just got. They look out there and they see two blocks. I saw one block. They'll see two blocks. "Hey! They had two blocks of people there on the Jumah, on their Friday day! Allahu Akbar! Glorify God! God is Greater!

Yes. So, we have a great mission.   We have a mission as Muslims and we have a mission as African-Americans. We have a mission as Muslims and we have a mission as Africans, lost and now found in America. Praise be to Allah! And we will pick up the covenant that the Civil Rights Movement dropped. We'll pick up the covenant that the separatists dropped, that the black nationalists dropped. We'll pick up that covenant that was once in the hands of Federick Douglass and others. We'll pick up that covenant and we will stand like they stood and say, "God is my Staff!"   Huh?   "God is my support!   God is my Guide!    God is my Friend and I know God is against wrong! I know God is against evil!    I know God is against injustice! I know God is against falsehood!     And I'm determined to be a fighter on the side of God and I know I can't lose, I've got God on my side!!  

Yes, and I'm fighting for Islam; and I'm fighting for Muslims; and I'm fighting for African-Americans; and I'm fighting for all Americans; and I'm fighting for all people!    Huh?   Ohh buddy!   That's a mighty friend of God!   That's the friend that we want to become. We want to become that friend who will stand up and face first things, accept first things, first obligations to self, to family, to your people, to your neighborhood, to the block you're living on; but also extend, extend that goodness, extend it so that no human being on the face of this earth is left out of it.   Then that's the true Muslim!   That's the universal man!    That mission is the mission of the African-American who embraces Islam.    That is our Mission!

Why did those who call themselves Christian drop the covenant? Because it was not their mission! That mission was to come to the Black Man that would stand up and say, "Allahu Akbar! Laa ilaaha illallaah. Muhammedar rasuulallaah!" That's the man that was to take up that covenant! The future belongs to God. and we have a great mission in that future; a great mission.

And as I conclude this khutbah, you are no ordinary people!   You're not in any ordinary time.   You're not in any ordinary country.   Your history is not ordinary.   This country's history is not ordinary.   You are caught up in a whole lot of extraordinary and you have the most extraordinary ideology on earth, al-Islam!    Oh, you may not know where you should be, but I do.   And quite a number with me now, they know too.   And believe me we are determined.   We are determined!   It's out of our hands. It's not in our hands anymore.   We can't even make any decisions over it anymore.   No!   It has caught us up like a great power too big for our spirits, too big for our minds, too big for our bodies.   We're just caught up in it.   It is out of our hands!   We're going all the way for Allah!   We're going to see America become a greater America, a greater America for Allah!

Yes, our shame was not a small thing.   It was a big thing.   This world reduced us, shamed us, shamed our human worth.   It was not a small thing.   It was a big thing. Now, opportunity has come.   Allah's Mercy and His Blessings have come to us-the Blessing of Islam-and we find ourselves now in this great time, and in this great country-powerful country, still.    We shouldn't underestimate ourselves.   We are a people with an extraordinary mission, with a very rare mission hardly ever given to people, where a little people so small that nobody regarded them in big things, is now given the biggest responsibility of all; that is, responsibility for the life and the good future of the life, for ourselves and for the society.

God made Muhanuned a Mercy to all the worlds! And God says of his excellent character and lifestyle that, "Surely, whoever believes in God and in the hereafter, the last day, or judgment, they will find in Muhammed an excellent model, Usawaatan hasana." And Allah says what? We believers, we are supposed to be witnesses for God. We're supposed to be witnesses for God.   How are we going to witness God? With our behavior, with our determination, with our goals that we set, that's how we witness Allah. We are to be witnesses for Allah. It says, "And they will be a witness for Muhammed", too, and, "he will be a witness for or against them in the day of judgment". Huh? Yes, to be a witness means that we have to accept the mission entrusted to our Prophet. The Prophet is not here physically, as a person, as that person that was born in Mecca, in 571 A.D. about. 

No! But, in terms of his mission, what he was all about, he's not here in one body.   He's here in one billion bodies!    One billion bodies! One billion Muslims or more populate the world today. So, he's here in one billion bodies. So, if each of us, if we have the Prophet in our hearts and we studied his life, and we studied the Qur'an, we are going to feel obligated to live this religion as the Prophet would live it if he were here.   Now, as much as we perfect that, the Prophet will be present, not in one body, but in millions. So, don't think the Prophet has gone. "Speak not of My servants as dead, for they are alive and you perceive it not!" They're not only alive with God, in God's care, returned to Him, as they say. They're not only alive in that sense. They are alive in their mission and in their purpose and that's what's bigger; that's what's more important!    They're still alive in their mission and in their purpose.   And if you be a receptor for them, for the Word and for the Prophet, then that is alive in you.

Yes! I can look in the mirror and see the Prophet now. I know that when I look in the mirror, I see myself and my mother told me my name a long time ago! I know who I see in that glass. But, I love this religion so much.    I've studied the Prophet's life. I love him so much until I feel his presence more than I feel the presence of those closest to me!   Yes I do!    I feel his presence so close that sometimes it's spooky!    It is so close I greet him.   And sometimes I can't help but cry.   I shed tears. I say, "Oh wonderful man! Perfect man! The greatest man God created! I love to follow you! Yes! I say to him, like I'm talking to him. He doesn't talk back. I'm not...He doesn't talk back, but I talk to him. I say, "I love you! I wish I had lived when you were living, so that I could have been by your side and so that I could have gone to battle and fought some of the enemies that were mistreating you and being ugly to you. I wish I had a chance at some of them".

Yes! Yes! And that grows, and as that grows in our hearts and in our children hearts Allah is going to love us more. Allah will love us for loving Him. Yes, Allah loves you for loving God. God loves you. But, God loves you more for loving another human being and especially the best human being, Muhammed the Prophet; because God doesn't need us. God doesn't need us! Our loving God does not touch, or reach God, like our loving Muhammed, the one that He gave us...And believe me you will love Muhammed because you understand God's gift to mankind. Yes, that's what will increase your love. So, it won't decrease your love for God as you increase your love for Muhammed. You will only be able to increase that love continuously and endlessy as you come to see him more and more; and not just as Muhammed to Muslims, or Muhammed to you, but as Muhammed to every living person walking the face of the earth.   

That's what makes the mission a heavy obligation on your shoulders, a heavy weight on your body.  And you say, "Hey, God sent Muhammed to be all that the whole humanity needs...! have to make this religion available to the world. And I can't just do this by preaching". By the way you live, by your lifestyle. That's the powerful dawa, your lifestyle! And your lifestyle will not be an impoverished lifestyle. You educators, seek more growth. Seek more accomplishment. Medicine people, doctors, do the same. Law people do the same. Yes, business people do the same. And if all of us will seek to be extraordinary in all the things that we're involved in, or in all the good things that we're involved in, then we will steadily grow, not only in numbers, but in significance, in work to ourselves, our Muslim community and to the society at large.   We'll become support for ourselves with our accomplishments.    We'll become support that will enable the society to rest at night, to wake up feeling good, to have a future everyday, to have another day; everyday.

This is a big mission and I can talk about it for a long, long time. But, I'm going to conclude with these words. That God has given us a good life, a Muslim life. He has preferred this life for us. He says He prefers this life for us, meaning that there are other lives that He doesn't do away with. He doesn't say, "This is trashy life. I don't want it anymore!" But, there's one that He looks at and He says, "That one I prefer!" He prefers Islam for us. He prefers the religion of Islam for us. He prefers the Muslim life in Islam for us. This is God's preference! When God says, "I preferred it", it means that's His Preference. This is God preference. Now, God has preferred us for Islam and God has said that He will give us for our deeds, the good that we earn and also the harm that we earn; the benefits and the bad consequences. And He says He gives it to us in this life. But you won't get the fullness of that until after this life. But you get it in this life. So, don't be like the average spiritual person, worrying about, "I am I going to hell?" Ask, "Am I in Hell?" It starts right here!  Ask, "Am I in hell? If I am, can I get help? 

Have I been neglecting my prayers? Have I been neglecting my wudu'? Have I been neglecting my Qur'an reading? Have I been neglecting my Jumah? Have I been neglecting my community?" Ask these questions, after asking, "Am I in hell?" And some of you may say, "No, I'm not in hell, I got a piece of paradise". Then say, "Thank you God. Forgive me for my errors and my sins and my wrongs, and don't take this blessing away from me. Let me continue living this small piece of paradise." Yes, and then hope that others will have the same. One of my prayers is this. That God forgive and have mercy on people and give the condition of Jannah, in their souls; the condition of Jannah, the paradise for their souls. You can have that in this world, everyday, in America, in Harlem, on 125th street, on 116th street. Yes, you can have that, paradise as a condition for your soul. This is possible for anyone who devotes themselves wholly to God, as Abraham did, and though he was in the fire the fire couldn't touch him. God said, "Let the fire be cool for Abraham!". This is Qur'an. Allah said, "Fire, be cool for Abraham!"

So, we thank Allah for the blessings of this religion, for this gift of this religion on us, that is a Mercy. And we thank Him for guiding us and waking us up from corruption, from sin, from ignorance, from foolishness, from wasting our lives and standing us up as Muslims. We thank Allah for all of those who have made some effort, poorly equipped, some not equipped at all, but their intentions were good. We thank Allah for their efforts over these many years-sixty some years now-that we have been pursuing Qur'an, pursuing Islam, pursuing the life of Islam and the life of Muslims. We thank Allah for all the help that has come to us over this long period. And we thank Him for now purifying us and I conclude with these words. I can stand on top of the world and tell anyone that the most beautiful community is here in the wilds of North America!

"Rabbana laa tuzig quluubanaa ba'da idh hadaitanaa, wa hab lanaa mil ladunka rahmatan; innaka antal wahhaab..."





