02/04/2000
IWDM Study Library
St. Louis MO

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
IWDM:
We praise G-d, the Lord, creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that exists including the man, and all of his resources that he has in his nature, his brain, his heart, his soul. We thank that G-d, he is one, he has no partner in the rule of the heavens and the earth. And as he says in our Holy Book, that revealed to Muhammad, a mercy to all the worlds, not just to our world but to all the worlds. Our prophet is a mercy to all the worlds. And G-d revealed that book to him. He says that he does not need anything. That he created everything for us. He needs nothing. He was not wanting anything, not in want, and says that any preacher who comes to him, that preacher comes to him only as a servant, not as a G-d.
IWDM:
We witness that Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets, as G-d has revealed in our Holy Book, mentioned both, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, called by us, the Muslims, who know the Qur'an, the religion and it's reference to this as the Torah, the book the Jews have, and the Gospel, or the Injil, the book that the Christians have. So our prophet is not a stranger to the rest of the prophets of the Scriptures. He is the continuation and the fulfillment and the completion. And I could tell you, it must be said, to make it very clear to you, that he come in the lineage, in the line of prophets, that he is the last of them. The seal of them.
IWDM:
And also, the book we call the Qur'an, the Holy Book of the Muslims, that book G-d says of it that this is no newly fabricated or put together message. But it is a continuation of what He revealed before, and it is a completion, a correction and a completion.
IWDM:
So with that said, we praise G-d, we say Alhamdulillah, we praise G-d, and we pray the prayers that peace be upon Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets. And that we have peace also. Ameen.
IWDM:
We want to thank you for inviting us for this program. We are honored. We are very pleased, and we want to thank all of those who have worked to make this day possible. For us here at the Muslim Student Association, the other organizations here, and the assistance that we have received from the administration from the members of thew faculty. And we thank the community of Muslims here. Imam Hassan, and those who have supported him and supported this invitation that have been extended to us.
IWDM:
This is Black History Month, and it is a month that we have because of an African American, a black person, black man, believing that we were held back because of incorrect knowledge that he called mis-education. In his book, Mis-education of the Negro, of the black man. And the nation of Islam called also the Holy Temple of Islam was founded, conceived and founded and built up with that belief too, that we have been mis-educated, that our minds have been guided in their own way and that our knowledge was incorrect and was not serving us to make us a people united, educated, forward moving, et cetera. It was expressed, a different name but the statement is the same the way I see it. We were told by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who was taught by his teacher, who was not a black man, or an African American, whose not even American, he's an immigrant. He said that we were meant to be dead, and he blamed this world for our mental death. Mental death.
IWDM:
And I believe that the teacher of my father, who you'll find in the Encyclopedia Britannica under the name Fard, F-A-R-D, pronounced Farad. I believe that this man was a very sincere man, and that he sympathized with us. I believe he suffered too under white rule as we did, until time changed for us here in this America, in these United States. And I think he was angry with the white world, and his heart went out to victims of the white world, the African American, the black man here.
IWDM:
And he looked at, he studied what was happening all around to address the condition of African American people. He studied W.E.B. Dubois, Whose work led to the organization, the establishment of the organization called the NAACP. He was the first leader of that. And he's also studied Booker T. Washington, who built Tuskegee Institute. And there's much to say for both of these men that I don't have time to say in this address. They both did wonderful work addressing different aspects of our life and problems. But in my opinion, both great men, making great contributions to us, and to our betterment.
IWDM:
He also studied Carter G. Woodson And he studied religious leaders, like Noble Drew Ali. He studied nationalist leaders like Marcus Garvey. He studied church leaders who were trying to address our condition, to put us in a situation to truly be liberated, free, mentored, free mentoring. He studied such religious leaders, church leaders, as Father Divine. And when you are aware of the time that this teacher of my father was living in and working in to better the condition of African Americans, and also the condition of the country for not only blacks but also for whites. He came in the time of the Depression, 1930. You have to come to the conclusion that when you read his teachings to Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was authorized to give to all of us. And he really was not saying too much new, but he was just putting what was being said in a more powerful package in terms of this ability to raise the volume, and speak louder those things that were being said.
IWDM:
To make clear what I'm saying is I have to tell you, that Mr. Fard told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that the black man is G-d. But before he told this to my father, Father Divine was already telling that to his Christian followers. He was saying that if you want to see Jesus you look at me, and he was calling himself Father Divine, which is [inaudible 00:11:31].
IWDM:
And really, Mr Fard wasn't the first one to try to get the white man to repent his ways, the wrongs that he was doing to us by calling him the Devil. A slave by the name of Julia, is reported to have said, "White people look like G-d in their face, but act like devils in their hearts." So here is a woman, a black woman, a slave, who is wondering if the wondering if the white race was really the followers of Jesus Christ, people made in the image of G-d are devils. So Fard studied our life and history and he put together a powerful package that he called Magnetism, magnetic power. And it is magnetic power. It's very, very high magnetic power. It's very, very strong magnetic power. And if you've ever heard Fard talk, you know what I'm talking about. If you've ever heard me back in the 50's, you know what I'm talking about. If you've heard Malcolm back in the 50's and 60's, you know what I'm talking about. Powerful magnetism. So powerful that you can't hear anything else while you're listening to it.
IWDM:
Let me come back to the religion of Islam. But before having some comments from the religion of Islam, let me share with you another observation that I've made as a very, sincere, hard working student, studying the lessons or teachings of Mr. Fard, and also studying my father and his great works. I have come to the conclusion, and many immigrant Muslims, they don't like to hear this. They want to believe that my father did everything wrong, and his teacher did nothing but right. Because his teacher came from them, from their side of the world.
IWDM:
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not educated, he was from Sandersville, Georgia. He never got three years more of education. He said when he was a boy his father had to take him out of school and put him in the fields, like many of us were taking from the schools and put in the field so the family could survive. But he came to Detroit, my father. He came to Detroit looking for better material opportunities, a better chance to earn a living, so he could have more to take care of his family. But the Depression came, the Great Depression came, and then he was worse off than he was when he was in Macon, Georgia.
IWDM:
So he started to drink very heavily, this was told to me by my mother. He started to drink very heavily. My mother said that he was so ashamed of not have any money to help her with the family, with the children, he wouldn't even come home. He wouldn't eat with them. He would just be in the streets with his buddies, sharing the bottle that they would pass around, and eating mostly peanuts. And he told me himself, he said, "Son, sometimes I was so hungry I ate the peanut shells and all." That's what he told me.
IWDM:
Now without any education, not more than three years of formal education, this is Black History Month, isn't it? I'm talking about a man that Channel 11 Magazine, Chicago, recorded among 90 other persons, 99 other persons. I mean I told them 100 from me. As the persons who most influenced the history of Chicago in the last one century, the last 100 years. That's the man I'm talking about. I'm talking about the man that shocked Chicago Sun Times, saying is one of the 100 persons who were most influential during the 100 years, the last 100 years. That's the man I'm talking about. I'm talking about the man. Listen. I'm talking about the man whose responsible for Malcolm X, Malcolm Shabazz, coming from a prison life, a nobody, to the great man that we have come to know. I'm talking about Elijah Muhammad, the man who took Louis Walcott, and made him a minister Farrakhan, I'm talking about the man who raised me to be the man I am today.
IWDM:
How was he able to do that? He didn't have three years of elementary school education, from Georgia. Now what would that three years education be from Georgia? What would it be worth in Boston, or New York during those days? He told me, he said, "Son, I had to teach myself how to read." He said, "I had to teach myself how to write legibly." He said, "I started doing that after our savior came." Referring to that man, his teacher, Mr. Fard.
IWDM:
So he owed his life, his life and his greatness to his teacher, W.D. Fard. Because he, himself conceived the nation ofd Islam?. No. It was conceived by the teacher. The teacher put it together. When my father first heard his teacher, there was already teaching going on. He visited a home of African Americans, blacks. And he heard Mr. Fard for the first time. And my mother said, "Son, do you know ...". And she's saying this to keep me from going back out of the Nation of Islam. This matter of fact, I never went out, he put me out every time. I never wanted to go out, but I had to go out. He had to put me out and I had to get out.
IWDM:
Anyway, she said, "Son," she said, "the first time my husband heard our savior, [inaudible 00:19:40] Mr. Fard," she said, "he changed completely." One speech, one night hearing Mr. Fard talk changed his whole life. She said, "He never took a drink again, not even a drop." That's what my mother told me. Now that's what my mother told me but I know the power of that magnetism. I was in prison for not obeying a selective service order. And there was a brother in there who had accepted the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And he had black marks all on, and he told me, he said, "When there was no other place," and he told me there were other places where he stuck the needle to shoot himself up with heroin. Heroin an awful drug. He had no habit when he was in prison. They had locked him up for something else. He had no habit. He said, "Minister Wallace," he called me Minister at that time, he said, "Minister Wallace, I quit cold turkey after I heard the teachings of Honorable Elijah Muhammad."
IWDM:
And cold turkey means he got no help from the hospital, he got no help from a medical doctor or anything. No treatment, no plan to come off drugs. He just said, "I'm never going to do it again, because Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that I am the black man. I am the original man, and I have been fooled. I didn't know my value. Now I know my value and I just won't treat myself like that again."
IWDM:
So I know the power of the message of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I know the power of that magnetism. It's powerful. It can draw you and snatch you from other things that are powerful and holding you, like drugs, like alcohol, like gambling, like lying, like stealing, like committing fornication and adultery. Yes, I don't owe my cleanliness to my new understanding of what Islam is. I owe my cleanliness to the teachings of Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I owe my moral obedience to that teaching. I owe my success as a person to that teaching. Yes.
IWDM:
Now here I am praising the works of Mr. Fard, and my father, when just a few ... Well not even a few, maybe one decade, 10 years ago, I was telling my people that this is very harmful, it's wrong, you have to come away from it. Tonight I be here praising, because we're free from the trouble of it, now we look with clear eyes and see the good of it.
IWDM:
So what I discovered as a real sincere student, and you ask my wife Shirley, was I a student and was I sincere, she'll tell you. She'll often tell some of the brothers, some of the ministers or some of the leaders when we are together, and she's there and they mention me. Say, "He must have studied to get this knowledge." I say, "You bet I studied." And she says, "He would stay up all day, sit at the table." I had a big table because I was having so many papers. I would have papers from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad saying, I'd have papers from the lessons of Mr. Fard, and I would have the Bible opened up there on the table, and I would have books of mythology, world mythology on the table. I was just searching everywhere. And I would be working all day, she's right, all day. I would eat, stay at the table, work until the sunrise sometimes.
IWDM:
And I remember her coming down one night, it was at the break of day coming, and she said, "Wallace, why don't you get some sleep?" She said, "You still here? You here all day." I was still there. G-d rewards sincere effort.
IWDM:
So I discovered that Mr. Fard built something to be temporary. And in the word temporary you have tempo, tempo which means time, something on time. And one of the great speeches that Honorable Elijah Muhammad made at the end of his life was put into a big book, those speeches were called, collected under the title, The Theology of Time. The Theology of Time. But how many of us would really know what he's talking about. The Theology of Time. I also discovered that Mr. Fard never said to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, or to my mother, or to anybody else, "I am G-d." He never said that. But I asked my mother, she was really almost in tears and I was too feeling the hurt, feeling her hurt, because my father told me I had to go out again. That was the second time he had put me out. And all the time for the same reason, disagreeing with the teachings that Mr. Fard is G-d.
IWDM:
So I said to her, I said to my mamma, I said, "Mamma," I called her Mamma. I said, "Mamma, did Mr. Fard ever tell you that he was G-d?" And for a couple of seconds she paused and it just looked like she was thinking and didn't want to say what was on her mind. She said, "Well son, no. In fact, he told us Prophet was too big a title for him." Prophet was too big a title for him. So I said, "Mamma," I almost got angry. I held my anger out of respect for her and love for her. I squashed my anger. I put the fire out and I said, "Mamma, how can you not ask me to go back in there and tell Dad that I believe that man is G-d. That Mr. Fard was G-d? And you telling me that he told you Prophet was too big a title for him?"
IWDM:
And I studied his works, his lessons, he introduced himself first as a teacher. And they later called him a Prophet. They called Mr. Fard a Prophet in the early days. 1931, 32, 33, 34. They called him the Prophet. But he himself, obviously, never said he was a Prophet. They called him a Prophet. And, he says in his lessons, "Hurry, learn the languages, learn the lessons. Your teacher want to hear from you at once." He was talking about himself. So he identified him as a teacher. He identified himself as a teacher. But mind you, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not a church goer. But his father had his own church in the South. My grandfather had his own church in the South. So the father of Honorable Elijah Muhammad was a pastor, he had his own church. So the Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn't have to go to that church, the preacher was always at home. So don't think the Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn't know something about the Bible. He knew a lot of Bible, at least he could recite it, or know when he was hearing it.
IWDM:
So, when Mr. Fard said this also of himself, he said, "And no y'all came to him," meaning us, "until the coming of the Son of Man." And the person of WD Fard, and when he said that what did my father hear? My father heard him say that he was the Son of Man. Now the only Son of Man my father know about is the Son of Man in the New Testament. When Jesus Christ said to his disciples, "Who do you say, I, the Son of Man am?" And the answer was, Peter the disciple said, was that he was the living G-d, the Son of G-d and the living G-d. That was the answer.
IWDM:
So that told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to believe, that you must believe now that this man who comes mysteriously, mysteriously to you, is the Son of G-d and G-d. So what did he tell us? He said, "The G-d always passes the G-dship on to the next one, to another." So his father, the father of Mr. Fard was G-d. And he passed the G-dship to Mr. Fard. I'm saying this, but he didn't say this. He said, "To our savior." That's what he would say, and that's what my mother would say all the time, "Our Savior." And he passed it on to his son, he even told the name of his father, Alfonso. That's some name for G-d, that his name was Alfonso.
IWDM:
And by the way, my name Wallace come from that same man. He wanted the name Wallace, Wallace D. Fard. We have cards from him right now that my cousin Wilmont has shared with me, my mother has passed it on to me. I have cards from him where he signed his name, Wallace D. Just Wallace D. Not even Fard, on the post card, Wallace D. And I told that he told my father, he said, "If you have a son, will you promise me that you will give him my name? And raise him to help us in this work?" That's what he told my father, and my father agreed to it.
IWDM:
My sister, Lottie we called her until a few years ago, because she wanted another name. So she asked me what was a good name? So I said Rayya, and now she's called Rayya. She said to me, she said, "Wallace," she said, "before you were born, Mr. Fard wrote your name on the wall behind the door," she said. When you open the door, the door would touch the wall, she said, "Most of the time the door would be open, so you wouldn't see your name behind the door. But if you just open the door from the inside, or close the door from the inside, pardon me, she say, you would see your name in chalk written by Mr. Fard." She said, "Our savior" too. She said, "By our savior". Or by "Him," she would say, "Him", you know. Afraid to say the wrong thing, she would say, "By him on the wall." She said and I would get chalk, you know chalk doesn't stay too long on a black board even, it starts to get dim. She said, "I would trace over it so it doesn't fade, and stays on the wall clearly for us to see."
IWDM:
Now it just so happened that my mother did have a boy. They didn't have the sound method they use to tell if it's a girl or boy. They didn't have that. And it turned out I was a boy. And I was given the name Wallace D. Muhammad, Wallace D. Muhammad. Now, what I'm saying to you is that this man had no personal interest in being called by any big titles. Had no personal interest. Obviously he had no personal interest because he had my mother believing that he didn't want to be called even Prophet. But on the other hand, he certainly had an interest in leaving a big picture of himself with my father. Why? So that my father would be in a position of power himself and bring influence. And my father say, "Well, I am the messenger of a teacher. No African Americans going to listen to him telling them to separate themselves from the white man, from the white mans world. But if he says to them, "I am the messenger of G-d, and the person of Master WD Fard," now they will listen to him.
IWDM:
If Father Divine has said, "I'm just another preacher," he wouldn't have had the following he had. But he said, "I'm Father Divine. I'm Divine. And when you look at me you're looking at Jesus." A lot of blacks sure want to see Jesus up close. Though the brother has to do with this subject religion and race, it has all to do with it. It has everything to do with it.
IWDM:
Now, let me get back to Islam, Islam proper, Islam. What is Islam? Let us first take ... What is religion? What is religion for every human being throughout the world? What is religion? You can get an answer, but I'm going to give you my answer. Religion is the language of the spiritual life, and it's way of expression in the world of matter, or material things. That's not all. Religion is worship, worship. A worship that brings the soul to be at peace with its worship, and that is to say with its obedience to a higher authority. Religion is the souls' sincerity. Muhammad, The Prophet, peace be upon him, one of his statements of what religion is, is quote, "Religion is sincerity." Sincere relations, sincere bonds of interests, sincere relations with my parents, sincere relations with my family, and definitely sincere relations with my G-d. Sincere relations. But also, sincere relations with my brothers and sisters. Sincere relations with the Imam, or my religious leader. Sincere relations. Sincere bonds of loyalty, we don't break these bonds. Sincere bonds of loyalty. Religion is sincerity.
IWDM:
The Prophet also answered the question, what is Islam? Islam is religion too. But he also answered the question of what is Islam? He looked at the simple answer. Very simple quick answer. He said, "Islam, peace be upon him. Islam is to witness only one G-d. There is only one G-d. And it is to pray." And we know it is to pray the prayers as he prayed them, as he taught us to pray, five daily prayers in congregation and also alone. And thirdly he said, "To give charity." Fourth, he said, "To fast." And we know it means to fast in the month of Ramadan. But he just said to fast. To fast the month of Ramadan.
IWDM:
And we find all of these devotions or all of these acts of obedience to G-d, are universal. Everywhere on this earth there are religions, and those religions acknowledge a G-d. Except some, we know some don't. But we listen to what they say, they obey. You have to see it that that's their G-d. They're going to say that's their G-d. But those who actually believe in a G-d, will say, "Hey, what you mean you don't have a G-d? Your perception of what you say, you follow, you obey, you live your whole life and obedience to, and the kind of respect, sacred respect that you have that? To us, that's your G-d." But they won't say it's their G-d. And I'm thinking of very numerous religions. Religions with many, many millions of followers right now. But they won't say they acknowledge a G-d. And I don't think they even call their spiritual life of discipline a religion. They accept that the world calls them a religion but I don't think they accept that.
IWDM:
So, they have, all religions, all people of the earth, have some idea of a G-d that they believe is the higher authority for them. That every other authority should become under, they owe their obedience to that authority. And they have their prayer, they have some form of prayer. And they believe in helping others, being charitable, being good by others. And they have some fast, some idea of fast, some form of fasting where they need stay away from food, or do with a little for some spiritual benefit. And we have pilgrimage, pilgrimage to the sacred house built by Prophet Abraham, Ibrahim, in our Holy Book. And this one here called Ishmael in the Bible, peace be upon them.
IWDM:
So these were the five structures that the prophet gave, or principals that Muhammad, The Prophet gave, peace be upon him. When he was asked what is Islam? Islam is to witness there is only one G-d. To pray, to give into in charity, to fast, and to make a visit to the house, that's what he said, it means pilgrimage, the annual pilgrimage that we make to the Sacred House. The symbol of our beginning as human beings with a social nature, with mom and dad and children in a family situation, symbolizing the unity of all people, that really, mankind is one family. So, that is Islam. And we have nothing else to say about that. The Prophet has said what Islam is.
IWDM:
Now we go astray from Islam, what is Islam, what makes us go astray? Sometimes we innocently go astray, and some people are guilty of looking for the wrong thing and going astray. But many innocent people, they'll will read the scripture and their mind have been conditioned already to look for certain things, to be attracted to certain things. And most often, the mind has been conditioned to be attracted to mystery, mysticism, the unknown. So we prefer those passages that are mystifying to those that are just plain common language.
IWDM:
But what does G-d say of these two features in the Qur'an? G-d says, that the Qur'an has two features. One is the mystic features or the mystifying features. The allegorical text, the metaphorical writing that have picture language. And the other is the plain common sense language. Plain common person language. But it has a logic. It's a revealed logic, it's a divine logic. And it is described as that that is plain and has a definite, clear logic. It says, those who prefer the picture language, the picture language. I'm not saying allegorical. Allegorical is a big word. The picture language. Those who prefer the picture language over the plain, simple, logic language, have in their hearts a defect, a defect, somethings wrong in their heart. Now you may not get that defect on your own, maybe the world caused you to have that defect. Maybe your experiences with religion caused you to have that defect. Nevertheless, if you prefer the stories that are in pictures, to the plain language that all of us can understand, that's a defect. According to G-d's word in the Qur'an.
IWDM:
Let me come back to something else now, back to tempo Since Honorable Elijah Muhammad, now the son of a preacher, and really not a church boy. I have to repeat that again. He was not a great church goer. I'll tell you what they say of him, he said too. He used to give his father hell. His father be trying to preach, his son would be disagreeing with him. And the son told his father long before my father met his teacher, Fard, who was from outside of the United States. He told his father, "I don't believe you preachers are preaching the Bible like you're supposed to preach it." So obviously the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not all excited about scripture, G-d and scripture. What was bothering his head was the conditions of human beings in the streets. So I'm sure he liked what Moses was saying to Pharaoh ...
IWDM:
... who was from outside of the United States. He told his father, "I don't believe you preachers are preaching the Bible like you're supposed to preach it." So obviously the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not all excited about scripture, G-d and scripture. What was bothering his head was the conditions of human beings in the streets. So I'm sure he liked what Moses was saying to Pharaoh. Perhaps what his father was saying to the congregation. And Moses was saying to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Tempo, time, tempo.
IWDM:
The Bible says of Jesus Christ, "Destroy this temple, and I will restore it in three days. Destroy this temple, and I will restore it in three days." I don't know if the Honorable Elijah Muhammad connected this with Mr. Fard, his teacher, who said he was the Son of Man. And with those words he said to Honorable Elijah Muhammad, "I am Jesus Christ. I'm G-d in the flesh." I don't know if the Honorable Elijah Muhammad thought that, but I did. I said, when he said, "This temple," when Jesus says, "This temple, destroy this temple." Fard, if he's coming in that role now, not that he actually thought himself as Jesus Christ, I know he didn't. But he has a role that he discovers in Scripture. So he comes in that role, to have the same power with the people that that one had with the people. So he would be able to achieve his purpose, to do his work and get obedience from his followers.
IWDM:
If he now saw himself too as one who was building something to be destroyed then that supports my findings and other language of this particular person that tells me that what he had done was on time, temporary, and that he himself had planted the seeds for the destruction of his own works. He, Mr. Fard, planted the seeds in his teachings for the destruction of his own works. And if that wouldn't work, if his own seeds, the seeds he put in here to destroy in time, if that didn't work, then he also prayed. How do I know this? I know this. He prayed to G-d to protect his work. He prayed to G-d to protect his strategy. He prayed to G-d to make his strategy successful. He prayed to G-d. He was a firm believer in G-d.
IWDM:
When he gave us the only picture of him, is a picture of him piously holding the Holy Book the Qur'an,, open as though he's reading it for his own benefit, not for someone else's benefit. That's what the picture says. So I know he prayed to the G-d that he believed in and trusted. He prayed to that G-d to protect his strategy, his scheme, a hidden scheme, a covered strategy to protect it, and if it itself wouldn't do the job of bringing us free of the magnetism in a time known for us to be broke free from that magnetism, then he prayed for the destruction of it.
IWDM:
And he cleverly hid himself even from my father. And yet, kept communication with my father. My father didn't even know who was communicating with him. He didn't know it was the same man. And this same person was influencing my father. It was the same person who told my father he should have more wives. The same person who told my father he should have more wives. Told him he should do certain things, and he did those things. And those things brought about the downfall. He told me, because I was around my father, it was around 1965 I believe, he says, "Son, the good record is broken." He told his ministes, Minister Farrakhan, and many others. He said, "We're going to lose everything. The nation is going to fall." But he said it will rise again. "It will rise again," he said, but it was going to fall.
IWDM:
And he put out a little book, one of the last books he wrote, a new sun is rising. A new sun is rising. "The fall of America," he wrote, and also, "A new sun is rising." So I'm trying to give you all this, especially you who follow the teaching of the Nation of Islam. I'm giving you all this, to strengthen your hearts, to heal your wounds, and to get you to stand up in the name of the one and only G-d. Following the way of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad to whom the Qur'an was written. And be happy that you were chosen for the strategy. That we will use, we will actually use.
IWDM:
But I'm happy. I thank the Lord that I was used. If I hadn't been used I wouldn't be the man I am now. Now if a good man use you, that good man going to also try and pay you off. He won't use you, work you, use you and not give you something more or less equal to what he's taken from you or better or more than what he took from you. So how have we been rewarded since we were used? We were used. We were used by Mr. Fard for him to kill the model, a kind of theater so to speak, a theater, a living theater, a model and a living theater. A model of life, a model of community life, a living theater that has a message for the Muslim world, and it has a message for the Christian world. Powerful message to the Muslim world and the Christian world.
IWDM:
He didn't have any way to address the Muslim world and tell the Muslim world what he wanted to tell them. Of their shortcomings, of their incorrect Islam, of their un-Muslim behavior, et cetera. And he didn't have anyway to get an audience, to get the Christian world to listen to him, to tell them, "Your Christianity that you have, that you are practicing, is not the Christianity of Jesus Christ, or the religion of Jesus Christ Peace be upon you. That you've gone astray. You're not reflecting your best. You've hurt your inner sterling." He wanted to tell them that. "You don't even see your own religion. You see it in part, but you missed the great beauty and the great hidden meanings in your religion, therefore you miss your universal calling." He wanted to tell them that. But he couldn't speak to them.
IWDM:
But he knew if he could create a model of strange people, a model that would get their attention, that the wise among them would start to read the message. And believe me they have. They're saying the works of Mr. Fard. They are saying the works of Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and now they are saying the works of his son who discovered the hidden strategy and they're starting to hear the message. And they are starting to clean up their house. Since I have been your leader, they have gotten away with saying so much Jesus, Jesus the Lord, Jesus this. And they start to say more, G-d, G-d, and less Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I led a demonstration against idol worship in the religion. Images in Christianity. Now you see many churches have done away with the images.
IWDM:
I'm not one to look at me and give me some credit. No. That would make me very uncomfortable, if you start to give me some credit. I don't want any credit. I am not that important at all. What has been done is what's important, that has affected my life, and that is affecting now the Christian world and the Muslim world. Do you think these learned people in Islam, among the what we call the Ulema, the learned scientists, the learned people in Islam, Islamic leadership, Islamic thought, Islamic schools of thought. Do you think those persons are not attracted to what has happened in America? To make me the man I am, from my father Elijah Muhammad, who says Fard, WD Fard was his teacher, G-d in a person.
IWDM:
You think they haven't studied this? You think they're not studying this now? Do you think they're running in Christian churches are not looking at this? Not only to learn it, have learned it. African American, do you think they're not secretly studying what's happening here? A marvelous thing has happened here that has never happened on the world, on this earth, perhaps through the whole world can see it, but maybe two times, or maybe three times. Now it has happened again.
IWDM:
So he used us, how we repeat. There was a saying in the Bible, again I'm referring to Jesus Christ because this man come in the world of Christ, he said the great Mahdi,. Mahdi means Christ, it's the Arabic word, guided one. And he said that he was the Messiah, and Messiah means Christ directly. Mahdi means guided one. So this man comes in this role now. He's not important ... He's not seeking any importance in himself, he just sees a strategy that he believes is going to work. He uses this strategy and he puts this together, he puts this community together. And he knows his Bible, he studied the Bible. Obviously he studied the Bible.
IWDM:
So he says, he says, "Destroy this temple, and I'll build it up in three days." And he says also, "Take this sick victim to the inn, this is in Bible." Jesus, the intervention of Jesus Christ. "Take this sick victim to the inn." Now an inn can be a hotel, like Holiday Inn. But it was a place where you got attention no matter what was bothering you. If you were bleeding they tried to stop the blood from flowing and heal the wound. If you're sick they'll try to give you medicine and feed you, if you're hungry they feed you. "Take him to the inn." Inn, inn, inn. Take him to the inn. Take one of those [inaudible 00:58:36]. Take him to the inn. I am in. Take him to the inside and take care of him from the outside, because now they are neglected. Take him in and take care of him.
IWDM:
Saying to him, "When I return, I'm going to pay you. I will pay you." So here's this mysterious one that's in the world to help humanity. Promising you, the people he was talking to, if you would just take this poor victim in and take care of him, when I return ..." obviously he was going to return from the language. "I will pay you, or repay you."
IWDM:
So here is Mr. Fard saying also, "Here are these poor people, these victims of society. Take them in. Care for them, Mr. Elijah Muhammad, and when I return I will repay you." So the Honorable Elijah Muhammad took us in, obeying the man who charged him to do that. Now how is the Honorable Elijah Muhammad re-payed? How are we re-payed? We are, for the first time, free. For the first time, free. I'm concluding this now. For the first time we are free. You lock a man up physically, you put the chain on me to limit my physical movement. Certainly you are restricting my freedom. But that doesn't mean that my greatest freedom has been taken from me. My greatest freedom is not my freedom to move physically from this spot to that spot. My greatest freedom is my freedom to move spiritually and mentally from worse conditions to better conditions of mind and spirit.
IWDM:
Now, thank you. Now, when you have been mis-educated, as part of you have been, and made a mental slave to the culture and to the order that misguided you, your freedom can't come and take the chain off of you, the physical chain off of you. Your freedom doesn't come when they say you have equal rights now and you can vote. That's not your freedom yet. Your freedom can only come when you are free mentally. And everybody is contained by language more than they are contained by anything else. So Fard put us in a restricted language. He put us in a language to contain us, to hold us right there. And what he put in that language a key, to open the door to come out of the prison of that language. But once you come out of the prison of that language you come out an independent free thinker for the first time in your existence. Independent free thinker for the first time in your existence. Now I know I am a free man. Allah u Akbar.
IWDM:
No ideology was able to get me. When I found flaw in my fathers teacher. Yes, I heard about communism in its idea, of directing materialism, so I wanted to know more about it. So I got books on it. I studied Marx, I studied Engels, I studied the Communist Masters of that ideology, I studied that. None of them could get my soul. None of them could get my soul. It was not my mind only that I wanted to free, I wanted to feel good in my soul that I'm now where I should be in my mind and in my heart. They couldn't do it for me.
IWDM:
But when I came out with an independent urge to search the world for myself, not following a Magi, a Guru, a Sheik from Arabia or any other place. But following my own urge to search for the truth. I came out. Fard's teachings did this for me. And Honorable Elijah Muhammad's work did this to me. It made me think that I had to trust my own and not trust other than my own, because other than my own had misguided me. Other than my own had misguided my people and had enslaved my people. Not only physically but mentally, and spiritually. So I wouldn't trust them.
IWDM:
I'm not saying this to discredited the teachers of Islam and the Arabic world or the Islamic world outside of America. I'm not saying it for that purpose. Or the immigrant Muslims here. I'm not saying it for that purpose. Believe me, my struggle contention part me, an argument with things, have never been personal and have never been aimed at any person. It had been for the sake of truth, justice, righteousness, freedom. For I am not ... Mine is not personal.
IWDM:
All right. So here I am free for the first time. The jailhouse of language, brother, that's what we have to come out of. You by the language of the people that has been designed to support them, that has been designed to lift them above you. You are buying your own jailhouse and locking your own self up in it. But I started studying the Qur'an with this independent position that I took. I started seeing it for the first time. Perfect guidance. The truth that my soul had been waiting for. The logic that my soul had been waiting for. The respect for my humanity that my soul had been waiting for. The encouragement for my spirit that my soul had been waiting for. The honor for my ego that my soul had been waiting for. I found it all. I find the argument to testify my own value as an equal person with other persons and with all other people on this earth. I found it. I found the logic to throw against all the false hood mongers. Yes. I found it.
IWDM:
I wouldn't have been able to find it if I wouldn't have been free first, by putting me into a prison. They put us into a prison to free us, because the world outside was killing us mentally, spiritually, it was killing us. So they lock us up in the refrigerator, or lock us up in the something. Close the door, lock it up, lock you up so you wouldn't have any influences coming to you from the outside. Language did that. Language did that.
IWDM:
A new language from Mr. Fard, Mr. Fard. It wasn't temple doors holding us in. It wasn't my parents locking me up in the house that kept me from the world, that the white world influences, the world that had influences. It was the language that I was born in and that I was contained by that came from Mr. Fard and Honorable Elijah Muhammad. It was that language that helped me. So that I could be with you, I could be with my friend, my Christian friend, I could be with a Professor of Sociology, a Professor of Psychology. He would try to reach me with his ideas. Couldn't penetrate. Brick wall of magnetism all around me. It's repelling anything threatening to come in and change. All right? Yeah, so only because of me having that kind of protection, and when I broke through that, boy I'm superman. I'm superman.
IWDM:
I broke out of the maze of Mr. Fard. I broke from out of the language of Mr. Fard. Who do you think going to teach me now. Who can say bigger things to me than he said about my reality? And on my own, I rejected all that flattery. You know what he said? "The black man is the original man. The owner, the maker, cream of the planet earth, father of civilization, G-d of the Universe." That's some big talk, man. [crosstalk 01:08:09] me a white man. Now I break through his jailhouse of language, I break out of his jailhouse of language and what can you say to me? Oh, you going to seduce me to come into your thing? You're going to say something bigger than I am the original man? The owner? The maker? The cream of the earth? The father of civilization? G-d of the universe? You going to say something bigger than that? You can't man. Give mine up baby..
IWDM:
I rejected that. And I accepted that I am nothing but a common human being. But now I see the light, I have the truth, I follow my holy book, I follow the messenger of G-d, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And I'm happy, and I'm at peace. For the first time my soul is at home. With G-d and me, and with mankind. That's a wonderful feeling. I have heaven on earth already, and I'm looking for the greater heaven when I die and pass away from this physical world. Thank you. Have faith. We have been greatly rewarded. And we are a model that's so special they never will see another one like this maybe in a million, ten million years. Peace, As Salaamu Alaikum.
Speaker 2:
Can I have a few minute please? We have a special part of our program we'd like to institute right here.
Speaker 3:
As-Salaam-u-Alaikum. On behalf on the Muslim Student Association, we want to give a ... Show our appreciation to Imam Warith Deen. Muhammad. Muslim America's spokesperson of human salvation. And this goes for his now, 25 years of outstanding services to humanity. As the president of this association, we now award you Imam Warith Deen Muhammad.
Speaker 3:
At this time, we'd like for the people in the audience to get their questions and answers together. About 15 minutes of questions and answers. I think we have a mic over here, and we have a mic over there. And if you'd just stand in line, one at a time we'll take your questions. 15 minutes. 5 minutes.
IWDM:
I need 5 minutes just to get the head straight. Whenever we share information like I tend to do on the Nation of Islam started, and how it was put together to be successful, success will bring us to the real religion of Islam, or Muhammad's way, peace be upon him. And it's so different, it is so different, and it is so powerful and his message to your mind, and in his reference to the evils of this world and to the power of G-d's word to be victorious against all odds. It's so powerful that you are actually now astonished, rendered immobile, must be still. And it's okay with me. You'll come out all right tomorrow morning. So can I go home? Thank you very much. Peace. We've had a good time here. Peace. And let us celebrate African American History Month on this campus and throughout the United States.


