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IWDM Study Library
A New Mind on Race

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As Salaam Alaikum. That is peace be on you. We give thanks and praise to G-d, the G-d of us all. Our creator, lord and sustainer, for the opportunity to be here today, to address you here in Robbins, Illinois. We appreciate the welcome that we've received from the mayor and from the townspeople. And we recall the day long ago when Elijah Muhammad, our late leader, honorable leader, my father visited this area, this town on a regular basis, introducing his message to the African-American people of Robbins, Illinois.
As a young man I recall him driving us down to this are. Not to a meeting, but her just took some time out to be with his family, and he drove us down to this area. I think we came down Blue Island. It was a long time ago, I was a very small child. But we talked about it after it happened. I think it was Blue Island. We drove down here and he told us about the people in this area. And then recently I had a conversation by way of communication letter with one of the first followers of the honorable Elijah Muhammad, brother Kareem Muhammad Abdullah, who we just used to call Brother Kareem Allah. I'm sure you know him. Many of you know him.
And he was telling me that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad also spoke in Harvey around that same time, and we are talking about 58 years ago. That's a good time back, about 58 years ago. Now, 58 years ago I was ... I guess I was still in Detroit. Maybe I was still in Detroit. But about 50 years ago I was with my father, and he drove us down here to this area. About 50 years ago. About 58 years ago I'm told that he was in Harvey, also preaching.
Now, at that time I do believe that his teacher was with him, and that is Farad himself. Professor Farad. He was called Prophet Farad in those early days, he was called Prophet Farad. And later came to be called G-d in the flesh or G-d in the person. I do believe that he was with Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And Honorable Elijah Muhammad was in Harvey, because I know he was with him on the west side of Chicago in that same year at that very same time.
There was a lot that I would like to say today in addressing the topic that we have chosen. A lot that I would like to say that would be of special interest to you who followed in this tradition of search for Islam and search for self. You who followed Honorable Elijah Muhammad as I did, was under his influence as I was under his influence, you have come along a road of pure tradition. Over a road in a tradition that's had us searching for our self, and searching for Islam. Studying Islam, wanting to know Islam, wanting to ruminate our minds with knowledge of self and knowledge of the way G-d wants for us on this earth. And to us Muslims, that is Islam.
While looking at your faces and recognizing so many of you, I have to repeat that I tend to want to address respective interests that I believe you have, because we must be the same, we came through the same experience, and I'm sure the way I feel and think is very much the same as yours. I have learned that from contact and discussions with you, or conversations with you, that your feelings and your interests, your thinking as a Muslim is very much like mine. We are the same. We are the product of the same history, the same experience. So I tend to want to address the subjects which you admire. So bare with me while I try to keep this midway straight down the middle road.
We want to talk about direction for African-Americans. A growing view of the direction for African-Americans. A growing view on race and opportunity. The direction for African-Americans. We should first ... Or I think recall what we set out to accomplish as a people when we were freed from physical enslavement, from physical bondage in these United States. What did we set out to achieve? What was our motivation at that time? We set out to achieve freedom you would say, and that is correct. But it was not just any kind of freedom. We didn't set out to achieve just any kind of freedom, it was the definite idea of freedom that we set out to accomplish, or to realize.
And we also were motivated by something. Something within ourselves. We were motivated by it. So the expression, "Freedom Movement", I'm sure that you understand the freedom movement to be that movement of the African-Americans people, or the black people on this continent from slavery til today. I would say the freedom movement continues today. It is not the readily observed or readily identified today, but in us is stirring the same spirit, the same motivation that stirred in our forefather who were born in slavery like Frederick Douglass, and Booker T. Washington, and other well noted persons. Like Sojourner Truth and many others that came to be our leaders.
That same motivation that stirred in them at that time, I'm sure still is stirring in some of us. We still have that in us. And that is a motivation to improve our space, our life. And to improve the conditions for our life. To better the condition of our life, and to better the conditions of our environment so we would have a life at an environment savoring that life. Now, from that time to now circumstances have greatly changed. We are not anymore in physical bondage. Not to the white man. We might be in physical bondage to ourselves, our way of thinking. But we are not in physical bondage to the white man anymore.
We are not anymore suffering Jim Crow Law, two courts, two justices, two laws. Two justices, two courts, one for white people and one for black. Or one for European-Americans and one for African-Americans. We're no more suffering that. And we can no more blame all of our problems on another race, but the slave could always blame all of his problems on the slave master, because he is the property of the slave master. His body, his energy, his mind, everything he has is claimed by his slave master as property. And the slave master has authority over his whole life, so if the life is bad, the slave can certainly point to his slave master. If he's not getting enough to eat, he can point to his slave master. If he has not suitable clothes to wear, he can point to his slave master. If he has not the opportunity to enrich his mind, to be educated, he can point to his slave master. If he is in a situation where he can't serve G-d as his soul bids him to, he can point to his slave master.
But once you are not under that kind of authority, we can not point to others and blame others for all of our problems. So I think the first thing we need to do is recall what we set out for. Our people were motivated by a desire to be free, and to be free, to understand the kind of freedom that they want or what they meant when they said, "Free to be free." They meant free to become the creature they believed G-d created them to be. Now, let us hold it right there for a while. They wanted to be free to become the men and the women that G-d created them to be. So they had in their soul a sense of being, a sense of inherent worth, and a sense of purpose on this earth, and a sense of destiny.
Though it has not illumine completely and totally in their minds way back there at that time, there were white minds, special minds among them line Fredrick Douglass, and Booker T. Washington who were both born in slavery. There were men like that, even before we were freed, who's minds were tough, and they had the genius to question the order of their days. To question the authority of another race to own them as slaves and to take complete charge of their existence and their destiny. They wanted their existence and their destiny in their own hands. They wanted responsibility for their own existence, and for their own future. That was the freedom they wanted. They wanted the freedom to some into a situation where they would be responsible for themselves, for their own existence and for their own future.
To me, that is the motivation that we should keep. That is the motivation that we should hold before us. That is the motivation that will keep us going forward. That is the motivation that lifts us up. And when we ignore that, or turn from that motivation, then we suffer bad consequences. The result is we don't have any direction in our lives as a people, and all of us are subject to follow the influences of the world. Some have better opportunity than others, so they are more successful. But the majority are taken by the destructive influences in the world. So for that reason, the state of the African-Americans race today is bad. Is bad. It is not good. It's good for a few, but it's bad for the many.
too many of our youngsters have no direction, no hope. They are going to jail. They are going to imprisonment and they are dying like a war is going on in these big cities. So this is something that we cannot be satisfied with. We cannot even tolerate it. We have to change this state of affairs. So how are we going to do it? We are going to do it with the same motivations that brought us this far. It is the motivation to come into a situation that allows us to take responsibility four our existence and for our future, or four our lives that we want to establish. And for the environment that we want to establish it in. And for the destiny that we want in our souls.
This is what we should watch. Now, I'm going to now turn from that note to scripture, and I want to for a few minutes talk to you about the hope in scripture. The hope in scripture. And I say scripture because I see this hope in the scripture of Christians and in the scripture of Muslims, and also in the scripture of Jews. But I don't think there are many Jews here today. So I'll just forget about the Jewish scripture for right now. Now, when we look at nations and their achievements, we see right now as we have seen for decades now, the great achievements of "White nations." White nations. But when we study the history of nations on this earth, we find that before Europe had such achievements to the white man's credit, Africa was enjoying great civilization, advanced civilization, and had great achievements to its credit.
And we find that the people we call third world people now, most of them Muslims, once enjoyed their days of glory, or their day of community pride, of national pride, Muslims would say the pride of the Ummah. The pride of the international community established by Islam. The religion revealed in the Quran. The book revealed to Muhammad the Prophet, on him be the pray and the peace. You see, so they had their glory, and we find that each one has benefited by the previous one. The Greeks had a great civilization, but they were benefited by the people of Kush who had a great civilization before them, of the people of Africa. And after the Greeks and the Romans of the European family tree, the Muslims, the rainbow tree. Yes. It experienced and enjoyed it's great day on the page of history. It's great day of glory. And that achievement for Muslims continued up until even the 19th century, and many of us don't know it.
It continued up until the 19th century. The country of the nation Turkey was still having great influence, global influence in the 19th century. We find that each one that defeated the other left something that the other benefited by. So the time and glory of one nation or one people is aided by the time and glory of the people that was before it. When we look at America's pride right now, and when I think of America's pride, I think of America's pride not as the invention of automobiles, airplanes, nuclear weapons, rockets that go outer space, those that travel between the stars. That's not what I think of firstly. When I think of the pride of the American people, I think first of the idea. The idea that feeds their life, nourish their life and inspire them.
The idea that nourish them and inspire them. And the idea that nourish and inspire American citizens, American people, is the special idea of freedom that we have inherited as citizens of this country from those persons called the founding fathers. That special idea of freedom. And I find, just like the achievements for our nation, industrial achievements, the intellectual achievements, et cetera, just like those achievements that our nation takes pride in, are most likely owed to a nation or nations that went before them. I find that this great idea that motivates the American people to continue to live, make great sacrifice, even sacrifice their lives, their son's lives on the battle field for this idea of freedom, democracy, human dignity.
I find that that idea also has its origin if not in the complete text of that idea, in sufficient text of that idea, it has its origin also in knowledge of people that were before the Americans. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable life. Among these, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I can find you the likeness of that in the forms of ancient people. I can find you the likeness of that on the pages of the Quran, the Bible, the Holy Book of the Muslims. I can find you the likeness of that idea. That's no new idea. That is the newly stated idea, but it's no new idea. We believe as muslims that we are born with inalienable rights. And we believe as Muslims that we are inherently motivated to pursue life, liberty and happiness. And we even include the interpretation of happiness that is in the constitution, and that is ownership of reap property.
Yeah, so we don't differ with that. We have the same motivation in our religion as in Quran. Prophet Muhammad motivated us in that way. The Quran motivates us in that way. Now for a moment let me talk about the state of life we want for ourselves, and the situation we want for that stage of life. We've been deprived of freedoms in America, on this continent when we were slaves, after slavery we were still deprived. And some would say we are still deprived. But I agree with you, there are still barriers in our way. But those barriers are not nearly as hard to remove as the barriers faced by people who were in chains and slavery on plantations, and those who discriminated by the law of this land and could not expect justice in the court for this land. Could not expect to even open their mouths and speak truths without being told to shut up, or being whipped, or beaten or put in the lock up again just for speaking truths in the court, you see?
So that time is gone. The barriers are not the same, they're not nearly as serious. But I do admit that there are barriers and there will be barriers. Do you think the newcomers that are coming over here now to America, do you think they're not facing any barriers? Do you think the Koreans don't face any barriers? Do you think the Indians that come from India, the far East, are not facing any barriers? Do you think the Haitians that come over here are not facing any barriers? The Ethiopians that come here, do you think they're facing no barrier? The Jews when they came here, they faced barriers. And they faced very serious barriers. And they're still somewhat persecuted by many people in the world, including the Americans. Some Americans, not all Americans but some Americans.
So don't think you don't face some barriers. For a man to come over here, whether his color is accepted or not, if he is a Muslim, don't you think when he comes to Christian America he faces some barriers? Yes. So as a people, as a African-American people, as a Black people, we have to come out of this crying syndrome. Lamentation syndrome. We have to come out of that and realize that we have now reached a point in our demand for freedom from bondage. We have now reached a point where our situation is no more different than any other people's situation. Now I know what they say, they say, "Well, black skin is so readily identifiable so our situation is the worst." Well tell me how come a Nigerian can come over here with the same black skin and make progress, and getting money, and start renting apartments to us?
He's blacker than I am, the Nigerian. He's blacker than I am. He's black, he's really black. He shouldn't say anything when I call him a black man. He's black, yeah. And I can go on to name others who've come here. In fact, the Haitians, the Haitians that came here. You don't hear them complaining anymore. In fact, they're so quiet it makes you suspicious. And the reason why they are that quiet is because they don't want nobody to see how much money they've gotten in the short time they've been here. But something in us is hindering us, not something outside of us. When we had the right thing in us, we were doing well. We were doing a great work of liberating ourselves, or standing ourselves up, of moving ourselves forward, of motivating ourselves in the right direction. And that is in a direction of excellence.
We were doing a great job. Our Christian leaders in the church and in politics, they were doing a great job. And then after them came the black nationalist movement who did a great job, though they anger some people, they did a great job. And after them came Elijah Muhammad, The Farad, and Elijah Muhammad. The Nation of Islam, who angered them even more but did a great job. So something has been missing since those great times. Something has been missing in the spirit, in the soul spirit of the African-Americans people. And that's what we want to awaken again. That's what we want to call back. It's there but it's latent. It's lying there asleep. It wants to wake up, but the conditions in the world that we allow to occupy our thinking, our mind and our sentiments and our feelings all the time, those conditions are shutting out, overpowering our minds, overpowering our hearts, overpowering even the senses of the soul. We can't really let that light wake up again in us.
And that is the light to be motivated toward real freedom. Freedom should always be what man is seeking. We should always seek more freedom. When the body is free, we should seek more freedom for the mind. Ah yes, once the body is free you want to seek freedom for the mind. And that was the motivation in the slaves, they wanted to be free with their bodies so they could best serve their minds. We believe as Muslims that the mind is the most precious gift that G-d gave us. Now, we know the heart. But the heart is the core. Well, I would describe the heart in this way. The heart is the hope of the mind. And if the heart is bad, the mind's hope is gone. You're going to have a miserable life, believe me. You may fool yourself with false happiness, but you will definitely one day have a miserable life because the hope of the mind is the heart. What I mean by the hope of the mind is the heart, the heart ...
... had the hope of the mind and the heart. The heart, it guides the mind to its productive fields of interest. The heart directs the mind to its productive fields of interest. We have to first love in our heart, music, and then the mind will devote itself to it. We have to serve love in our heart, lecturing, and then our mind will devote itself to it. We have to first love in our heart, art, industry, and our mind will devote itself to it. You see? So the heart is the entity that leads the intellect or the mind into its promised fields of production. When I say promise, I'm talking about an inherent promise that G-d gave us when he created us. An inherent promise.
Now, if I may, I want to back up a little bit and go back to the point I wanted to make to you in that scripture. Talk to you from scripture. Actually, I'm talking to you from scripture now. I am. I'm talking to you from scripture now. To better understand this life we want to keep alive in us. This life we want to wake up from a sleep, I'm going to scripture. Now, every one of us, you may think it's poetic, you may think it's philosophical, but I think it is real, practical. Every one of us is born first an orphan. An orphan. I think it's spelled O-R-P-H-A-N. An orphan, O-R-P-H-A-N-T, an orphan.
Every one of us... You see, Negro language drops whatever it can drop. It's a lazy language. It doesn't want to... It's going to drop whatever load it can drop. I dropped the "T" off of "orphant", see? That's cause I got that from my environment, it's the Negro language, like black English. I called the spelling then I realized that I was not putting all of it there. Yes. Every one of us born and orphan.
Now, what is an orphan? An orphan is a child without parents, right? An orphan is a child without parents. Now you say, "Well Mister, how can you say that all of us are born an orphan?" When a wet nurse... what do they call it? Midwife. When the midwife, or the doctor take you from the mother, you are not in the hands of your parents, and even if your mother could take you from the womb herself, do it all by herself and take you into her hands, you have some moments there, or some time that separates you from a parent. Am I correct or not?
So if there's nothing but a second, every one of us, for at least a second is born orphan. And really we are born orphan for longer than that, because that baby has to get acquainted with it's his mother that baby doesn't come here knowing mother, that baby can go to anybody and accept that person. That baby has to have time to be, to become acquainted with his mother, and it becomes acquainted with Daddy much later. That dude could walk out of the house, ten months later, probably the baby might not even wonder, might not even miss anything. Especially these dudes that's walking around here in Chicago now, and in New York, and Los Angeles, in fact, they can walk out after five years and they might not be missed, nothing. Might not notice anything at all! You see? Yeah. Every one of us is born orphan.
Now I see the birth really taking place in the womb over that period of nine months. That's where I see the birth taking place. Now, there is a living fetus. There is a living child in the womb, especially after about six or seven months, there's a full developed child there. Fully developed child there and just kept there, cause some come out seven months and they're fine. They didn't need any longer. They didn't need any more time. They're just fine. Eight months, sure many, eight months everything's fine. They didn't need any more time, but then the average time is nine months.
So we are kept there like we're detained a little bit, aren't we? Everything's finished and he's detained there. Detained there for what reasons? For you to want something in the womb. That baby get dissatisfied with captivity, it realized it has a potential for more than this space that its locked up in. It has the potential for more, for more than this environment, it's locked up in and it begins to flex its muscles and punch at the womb. "Let me out of here" Giving that karate knee. and the mother says, "This child is ready to come out of here."
We all born orphan. We are created first orphan. Now I would go to scripture, whether we do Christian or Muslim, we all believe that Adam is the name in scripture for the first man, for the first man. Don't worry it, they have the problem in good hands. It will become a problem bigger than it is if all of us give our attention to it. Now, because if all of us go and take care of it, we will mess it up. We will create problems for us.
Yes. So if there is any trouble, we pray Allah will give them the help they need and they will be alright soon and say, "Allah, G-d willing". Yes. Whether we do preaching in Muslim, we all identify a first father, my first father and we call his name, Muslims say "Adam" and English is "Adam". And I think a Jewish pronunciation is very similar. "Adam", "Adam".
Now, was Adam born and given to parents? Was he born and delivered to mother and father? No... So he was born an orphan wasn't he? So Adam was created an orphan, and orphan, and G-d had to give him all the care he needed directly, directly! Not through another man... Not through a man or through a woman. He has to give that Adam, the new creative person, all the care he needed, G-d had to give it directly. Yes.
Now we have a Surah, a chapter, in Quran, and it reads Ara-ayta alladhi yukadhibu bil dini. "Have you observed the one who denies or make a lie of religion?" yukadhibu bil dini from "lie" .. lie. Deny, falsely state, et cetera.
fadhalika alladhi yadu'u yatim That is the one who yadu'u yatim Who placed the orphan out of good circumstances. Who put the orphan in bad circumstances. yadu'u yatim He puts the orphan in bad circumstance. Or more directly to what G-d want us to hear, he puts the orphan in circumstances that G-d did not design for the orphan. yadu'u yatim, and in putting the orphan in circumstances that G-d did not plan for the orphan, he puts the orphan in circumstances that will not favor the orphan's life and future. yadu'u yatim...and he does not encourage or promote the feeding of the one in bad fortune or the one who suffers no opportunity. No opportunity, or very poor opportunity. He does not encourage the feeding of the one, or promote the feeding of the one who is in bad circumstances, in bad circumstances. He is a Miskeen It means a person who suffered misfortune. A person who suffers misfortune.
Now he does not encourage the feeding of this person who suffers misfortune. I'm going back to the first, but first we want to talk about this spot right here. He does not encourage the feeding of the person or promote the feeding of the person who suffers misfortune, the orphan, and the person who suffers misfortune. But we have two here, don't we? We have the orphan and we have this person who suffers misfortune. The orphan is one without father and mother, without parents. To give it what G-d intended for it; natural support, natural nourishment, nourishment from the mother's hand, and the mother's heart, the mother's life and the father's strength and the father's industry, et cetera. But if the child is deprived of that, given from a natural parent that care for it and has no prejudice against it, has no prejudice and no hesitation to give it all it can give it. You see? This is very serious. He does not encourage, does not promote the feeding of the one who suffers misfortune.
This feeding... Doesn't the orphan suffer misfortune? We see two but both of these can be the orphan. First you are the orphan, and then you become the Miskeen. You see? First as the orphan, and then in time, the orphan becomes the Miskeen the person who is miserable, poor, without health because of its circumstances, because of his or her circumstances, the bad circumstances, misfortunes.
This feeding is more than what we would think, right? It is addressing food, physical food, vegetables, meat, vegetables, et cetera, is addressing that, but more importantly is addressing the food of the intellect. Food for the intellect.
Now you say, "Well, where are you coming up with these two ways of translating?" It is in the tradition and the son of the prophet in his saying, traditional saying, that "For every verse, there is a direct meaning and an implied meaning." A direct meaning and an implied meaning. A direct reference and a hinted reference.
Here, people, we talk about ourselves as soul people, soul folk, and the establishment must have liked it, because they promoted Soul Train.
Let me tell you something about my understanding of the soul. And when I say mine, I mean what I have learned from study, from searching and pleading to G-d for understanding.
The soul is a very vague, very vague entity. You know, if you ask five of these people to tell you what soul is most likely you're going to get at least three different descriptions, or three different answers when they tell you what soul is, but most of us will say, our soul is deep, something deep in me. Or we all know it's something deep. Soul is something deep in me, something deep in me that makes me feel, it makes me worry. It makes me feel lonesome and this and that. That's correct, but if your soul is something deep in you, that has an awareness, can't you accept that soul is also a conscience? Soul has to be a conscience.
If it's something deep in you that make you feel something, make you aware of something, because when you sad, you say you're down in the soul. When you happy you say he's up in his soul, right? When he's lazy, you say he dying in his soul. When he's aggressive and industrially, et cetera, you say he's alive in his soul! So can't we see soul as soul is another name for also conscience? Yes, it is a first conscience. Soul, and that's the meaning I'm giving you right here today. Soul is original conscience, original conscience. First conscience that you're created with, that soul, and the doctor in the hospital may tell you it's psyche, P-S-Y-C-H-E, it's psyche. You know? And he might say, "well, the problem is in your psychology", he said, "I think I can help you. But the problem is right in your psychology". And another man will say, a preacher will say "right in your soul". Right in your soul.
So that the soul is the first conscience, and we have been told that Satan wants to purchase the souls of the people. Satan comes and offers us a price. He said, "all I want is for you to just sell me your soul", that's all he wants. He doesn't want to buy your mind, and I can understand him not buying a lot of our minds today, but they won't even help, these minds won't even help Satan today. Then Him sit in that house, but Satan wants to buy our souls, he doesn't want to buy your brains. He doesn't care how stupid you are. He wants to buy your soul. He just wants that soul, because once he gets that soul, he has not only you presently, but he has you also in the future. If he gets your soul, he has the future person because the soul is like to seed that the farmer will plant, or the gardener will plant and get the maximum maturity of that potential in that seed. We'll get a tree, a corn stock with six or seven years of corn, I will get a crop of some cotton, or whatever, you know?
So the soul is like the seed of your life. The soul is like the seed of your life and the intellect. The intellect is that digestive system of your soul. When I say intellect now I'm speaking of your rational, mind, your rational mind, not just your mind, because you can have a mind and someone at the doctor's office will say, "He's out of his mind", but you still have a mind, but they'll tell you you're out of your mind. Your mind. I guess they meant the one G-d created you to have. Yeah.
So the intellect is the digestive system. That digestive system, and the conscious intellect is the mouth. The mouth. The mouth.
Now, your mouth is conscious of what goes into it, to the nose is supposed to sense it. The nose is what they call a sixth sense, symbolic of a sixth sense.
If sometimes it sniffs and detects something that shouldn't go in the mouth before it can even reach the mouth. It has a tech, something that says, "No, don't let that in". A sixth sense. The mouth, it takes it in, and if it's dirty tasting then it spits it out, if it's fowl tasting, it wants to spit it out. If it's too hot for the teeth, for the mouth to handle, it wants to get rid of it right away, or break it down, take it and hit it with a hammer or something, or send it through a grinder and get it ready for the mouth.
So the mouth is the checkpoint, isn't it? Mouth is a checkpoint. The nose is a checkpoint too, but the nose is a checkpoint for things that may fool the mouth. Things that may fool the mouth. You know, sometimes something smells bad, but tastes good. Sometimes something smells good but tastes bad, you see? So the nose is a checkpoint for things that may deceive the mouth, and the nose has a history of checking things. So it tells the mouth, "Look, I've checked that a thousand times, don't put that in your mouth. Hey don't take that, don't open your mouth for that."
You know, if we can think about our soul as consciousness, I think we can refer to ourselves as soul people and get positive results. But this talking about ourselves as soul people, since the time we started this habit, has not had positive results. It has had negative results. Why? Because soul to us, its unconscious life, not conscious life. When we think of ourselves as soul people, we think of the unconscious side of our life and we give more credit and more interest, pay more attention and glorified... have more pride in ourselves being soulful than we have in ourselves being rational people, and that's a serious, serious costly mistake. Believe me, believe me. Yes, and then the establishment help us in that direction by making it easy for us to have Soul Train on the television. Soul Train comes on. Soul Train! I think they signed and modernized that train. Long after the steam engine was antiquated, it would still have that "poof, poof, poof", the steam. Puffing steam "choo, choo, choo, poof, poof, poof", and that's what we became. A people that, "Choo, choo, choo, poof, poof, poof. Choo, choo, choo, poof, poof, poof." Blowing off steam and choking on our words instead of speaking clearly, choking out what we have to say. So much for that.
Let me go back now to a part in scripture, and that is, we want to realize the materialization for that potential that G-d created us with, and that is the motivation to be free. That should be the motivation to be free. Free to realize that original potential that G-d created us with.
So let me go back now to Adam. In our Islam, and in our religion, in Islam, we are told that Adam was created in heaven. G-d created him in heaven, and I believe the other religions see it that way. Created him in heaven. What does that mean? I tell you what it means. Go to the nursery in a hospital and see the babies just put there. That baby is in heaven. That baby's in heaven.
The baby in the womb is really in heaven. The baby in the mother's womb is really in heaven. It knows no misery. It feeds on his mother's system. It lives on his mother's system until it develops to the point where it's too big to be satisfied by that small environment, then it becomes uncomfortable, and as I said, it begins to want to knock on the door of the womb, and push on it and punch at it and tear on it to get out of there. Yeah, but even when it comes out the baby that comes delivered today from his mother will accept to go directly from her African American womb or from her European American womb to the womb of another race, I mean to the parent of another race, and actually it's a womb too because the care that's provided by the parents at the birth from the physical womb is also a womb of care, a womb of parent care, parental care. Isn't it? Yes. So when the baby is delivered from the physical womb of his parent, it is ready to accept to be parented by any parent, no matter what the color is, and it comes here with the expression that is universal. There isn't no Japanese born speaking Japanese.
No, all of them come here with baby language. They cry, the baby, the cry of babies. They will make the attention for notice. That is the language of babies universally found on this earth, huh? Yes. So, and they come here with no motivation to be criminal, no motivation to be criminal. Now, if you study the history of crime, criminology, in America's.. In the history of American... American legal system, you will find that American authorities ruled at one time, a long time ago, that criminal behavior cannot be inherited. Criminal behavior cannot be inherited. Now, isn't that a wonderful G-d?
Now a plant, an apple, an apple seed will inherit everything in the apple before it. It's taste and everything, but the human seed does not have to come with the taste of his father, or with the taste of his mother, or with the things of some parents that was in his past. Every human being born comes with independent choice, and the ability to develop its own taste. What will decide it is not first in the womb, but its circumstances in the environment of those who have come from the original life, the original inherent excellence. The environment that its placed in. So if its placed in an environment of criminals, it still has a 10, but it's chances are much slimmer now, huh?
Now we know that a child can be born to a prostitute and not become a prostitute. A child could be born to a murderer and not become a murderer. So we know that even the chance of people in the good life after you're put in a bad environment is still there and there is some chance that you don't have to come under the influence of a criminal or murderer or a cheating or a lying or a vulgar...
Murderous, or a cheating, or a lying, or a vulgar environment. Huh? Because many of survived that doing. Many of us were put in such circumstances and we survived it, in spite of our mothers being just a person that had no care, no kind of interest, no kind of responsibility; accepted no responsibility whatsoever gave her life to the suction. We didn't follow our mother. Some of us saw a father that did nothing but break laws and go to jail. After this back and forth, always going in and out of jail. And we did not follow father. We had some fathers who were radicals, oppressive extremes, that they made trouble for society and killed innocent people, but we didn't follow them. Eh? Yes!
And really, if you examine the history of this problem that I'm talking about right now, that I'm addressing right now, you'll find that it's a better chance than 50/50. Even after you come into an environment that is against your original nature, is a better chance than 50/50 that you will survive it and still prosper. That is possible with the excellence G-d created you with. Better than 50/50. You might say, well, Mr. Mohammad, if the chances are better (you don't have to call me Mr, but you all say that). You might say, well, Mr. Muhammad a W. Deen Mohammad or whatever you call me, say, if chances are that good, then how come we don't have 50% of our race that's in good shape? You have more than 50% of our race in good shape. There is more than 50% of our people that are in good shape.
If it wasn't, there would be 50% of us dying, going to jail, being killed, selling dope; we don't have that great percentage doing that. It's a much smaller percentage of us that's going to jail and selling narcotics, or being the victims of drugs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Or are out on alcohol, or alcoholic, or into prostitution. Those of us that are wasting our life in those illegal avenues of the world, are not nearly 50% of us. And those who are turned off to decency and turned off to intelligence, are much less than 50% of us. So we have much better chance than 50. I just dare say 50, but we have a better chance than that. We have better than a 50%, or a 50/50 chance of surviving even after we are put in bad circumstances.
Our whole race today, when we look at the race of people on the whole, we see a race that can be commended, complimented. And in spite of the bad turn that we had taken over the last 10 or 20 years, to go to drugs and violence, and destruction and self-destruction, and forget the original direction, or the original vision or motivation in our life as people on this continent. Yes. In spite of that, we still can say our race is a race to be complimented.
Colin Powell, Carol Moseley Braun, Roland Burris and on and on and on. I can name them in politics, in education, in the culture even. We have some excellent people in entertainment culture, and in the general culture of American society. We have some excellent people. We have some women, African American women. So one of these days I'm going to bring their names before you. I've been doing some research with the help of my assistant, brother Abdul Malik Muhammad, we've been doing some research. We have some African American women in the movement to protect the global environment, the global environment.
Now knowing the state of our race and the complaints that we are constantly voicing, we wouldn't say that we had some women, some African-American women, that would be concerned to the extent that they would devote much of their life and attention to serving the improvement of the physical environment, the natural environment for the globe, not just for America, but for the globe! Not to mention for their own race. So we have people who are working for the global interest. Among our women and among our men. And with the job situation the way it is, with the economy drastically changed, from the time 30 years or more behind us. What I mean by that is that, 30 years or more behind us, America was a privileged nation on this earth.
A privileged nation on this earth. America and her European counterparts were doing with this globe pretty much whatever they wanted to do. But with the emergence of what we call the third world nation and the rise of Russia and China superpowers, in time, that began to change. And it wasn't until recently that America began to feel the economic effect of this change. Now she has to compete and not bulldoze her way around. She has to accept to compete with the nations of the world, for the markets of the world, instead of bulldozing her way around. So as a consequence, we are having poorer economic times and a slow-up of industry. And the drainage on job in light of what has happened, drastically to change the economic order of this planet. And those African American leaders who just come to you and appeal to your hurt, appeal to your woes, appeal to your need to cry, or charge somebody else with all your problems; they are not doing a service to you or to us. They are doing a terrible disservice. And they are to blame much for the bad state of our race.
Cause as I'm addressing this original potential, I'm going to bring out a point that's very clearly stated in scripture; if we can just read it and understand it. And that is, that man is not, essentially or most importantly, a physical entity. Most importantly, he is a soul. He is a spiritual entity. And the fate of his existence is determined, not so much by his physical circumstances, or by even his opportunity to learn, his intellectual circumstances. But that fate is determined by his spiritual circumstance, spiritual circumstances. He is most vulnerable spiritually.
Let me give you an example, a little illustration. The average fixer, that wants to pull a trick on you, they want you to give up your money or do something. And he knows that if he allows you to be still with your mind and your soul, that he won't be able to pull this trick off. So the average trickster, what he tries to do? He tries to either divert the attention, redirect or direct the weight, the attention of your thinking, from what do you want to pull over. Or he try to convince you, most often, he'll try to convince you that he's acceptable. So he comes with voice, language, and expression to get into your soul. He wants to touch your emotion and get you to feeling good! Right?
And some of the biggest tricksters you'll find are in churches, and in mosques, and in synagogues, and in Catholic churches. They in all of them! Don't think just the cause is quiet and ghostly looking in there that he ain't working on your spirit. They are working on your spirit. Now I'm not saying that we should suspect religion, suspect the church, suspect the synagogues, suspect them all, no. I'm not saying it for that part. But I'm saying that to tell you that this particular vulnerability, it is so universal. It is so universal, that we find in even the holiest corners of the society. Same vulnerability, same tricksters. Same vulnerability, the same tricksters.
So if our politicians, if our preachers in these churches, and many of them are guilty of this. If our ministers in the mosques, we are a small minority. We know that we are not responsible for all this trouble in society because our numbers haven't multiplied that much. But if our numbers continue to multiply, and if we can say we have 30 mosques in roving, if we don't straighten up brothers and sisters, we'll be charged equally. We'll be as equally guilty. Because I can go to mosque right now, to masjid. Do you all speak in Arabic? Now I have to slow down and say mosque. I can go to masjid right now and find a con man, delivering the prayer, giving the prayer, leading the service, given the khutbah, given the service. I can go to mosque right now. And I find him doing the same thing. He's going through the door of your vulnerability, through your spiritual opening.
So, in spite of great opportunity, we find that we are not advancing in this country as a people in spite of great opportunity. I'm not the only one addressing this. That's why I called it a new mind. A growing view on race and opportunity. We find two or three intellectuals in California. Two I know are professors in California, they addressing this problem. One have a book that's very popular right now. His last name is Steele. What is his first name? Shelby Steele. He has a book right now that's very popular selling, on our people, where he identifies the problem; addresses this problem. He comes up with this answer. That in spite of opportunity, of unheard of opportunities, never have we enjoyed the amount of opportunity that we have today. Since we've been in America, there's never been a time we had more opportunity. No.
I got a correspondence, he's in correspondence with me right now. One of our Muslim brothers started a spice business, spice exporting business. I guess, about seven to eight years or more ago. Recently he merged with another one and they combined their businesses. Now they're exporting spices overseas. And he has sent me a letter telling me that his distributors have agreed, and they're now approaching the number five; it's going to be five of them. And they were growing, Allah bless, G-d bless his business. The business, their business, they will grow.
They have agreed every six months, they are going to make a contribution to IWDM ministry of $2,000; each distributor, every six months. That's $4,000 that they have pledged without me even knowing them. I haven't even responded to the correspondence. I still have it. I just opened it today. Something told me open that, you know? You know, those antennas go up, like the little insect guys tend to go up, you know? Something said open that, yeah. So I open it and that's what I found; good news. So just imagine now, if five of them donate $4,000 a year, that's $20,000 a year. $20,000 a year! So that will greatly improve the funds in our account, or for our business; for the business of the ministry.
As you know, we don't only support my activity, but we support also the activities of productive ministers in our community. And we support our schools. And we support qualifying individuals who suffer misfortune or who have a desire to go back to school. So it depends on how much we have available. We support a lot. We support a lot. We are there as a charity, goal is specifically for my support, for the support of my ministry, we see it as a charity. It used to be called the MACA fund; Muslim American Community Assistance fund. Now it's called W. Deen Mohammad ministry. Yes. But the way it will be used will not change, only the name has changed. Name has changed so that it will more clearly convey the truth. That's it!
Yeah, but I had people question me, what are you doing with our money brother Imam? Where's our money? Where's our MACA fund? I didn't introduce it that way. When I introduced it, I introduced it as a fund that would support Imam W. Deen Mohammad and his works and that the surplus we had at the end of the year, or at any time, would go to other needy, qualified persons or sources. You see? But it gave us problems. And then I found that some of the overseas people, they were misreading it too. So it forced me to go out and do what my mind wants to do all the time, and that was identified W. Deen Mohammad's ministry. As you know, over the last 10 years or more now, what I've been doing is making a point, making it a point to establish myself, my office, my work as independent of any other mosque, administration, whatever. Independent of it.
And you know, what gave me the freedom to do this? I'm kind of going off the subject a little bit. You know, what gave me the freedom to do this? I say the freedom to do it because it was in me to do it. I wanted to do it. I thought it would be best for me and best for all of our people; for all of the Muslims. But what gave me the freedom to do it, was when I kept reading over and over again, what Allah says of Mohammad, glorified as Allah, highly glorified and the prayers and peace be on Muhammad. Allah says, Muhammad is no regulator of your affairs.
You know, the person you choose to be a regulator of your special interests should not be burdened with national responsibilities. You can't accept national responsibilities if you're going to be tied down with local administration; responsibilities to local administration. No way! That's why the president of these United States, he doesn't run Illinois. He doesn't run Chicago. He can't. If he tried to do that, he'd be finished overnight. He'd go babbling his way right on out of the United States. He'd go to Mexico or something. Yeah. He couldn't take it! So we like to have one man. That's how come many churches are so successful. They have a preacher in there who stands in the space of G-d, like the Pope or somebody, and he just takes everybody's problem on himself. And that's what Hagar's children like. They want somebody to accept responsibility and tell me what to do.
Yeah. Okay, you got the responsibility, now tell me what to do. You know? That's Hagar's children. But you see what G-d did for Hagar? Made Sarah throw her out in the desert. See now, see who you are going to ask to accept responsibility. Allahu akbar! But again, that's a tendency that is in us, the cost of conditioning, the costs of conditioning, the bad circumstances of the office. I'm going to conclude this in a few minutes, but let me go back to my point, that this particular position that I'm taking, is not a Muslim position. It is not W. Deen Mohammad's position, it is a new view that we are hearing when we listen to people like Shelby Steele and many others, especially in California.
Yes. Yes. Thomas Sowell, Sowell. Yes, and others, as he is not the only one. There's about three or four of them just in that area. Intellectual professors, intellectuals who have that view. But in politics you have those who are having that view. In the Republican party, we have those who have that view. Now the African-Americans in the Republican party, they turned most of us off, because we are gospel Democrats. We are gospel Democrats. We are Jesus Christ Democrats! Peace be upon Jesus Christ the prophet. We are gospel Democrats. So we follow the Democrats like we should be following Allah or following Muhammad or following Jesus Christ if you're a Christian; peace be upon them. Yeah.
So, you know, we follow the Democrats, blindly. Whatever is democratic is sanctioned automatically. Especially if it's contracted or put in conflict with what is Republican. Right away, what's Democratic is right, what's Republican is wrong. And we forget that when we were freed from slavery, it was Democratic, pardon me, Republican party and Republican leadership that was promoting the acceptance of our freedom and promoting the emancipation that we eventually came to realize. Yes, it was Republican. And we forget that some of the cruelest states to the African-American people, or to the black Americans, were the democratic states of the south. They were violently democratic, violently democratic. They was as democratic as we are now! And they believed in lynching blacks and sending you kangaroo court
So we should sober up a little bit, do some rethinking, reexamination. Yes. Now what I want to say to you in concluding this talk, is that opportunity is always here. I don't care how bad our circumstances are, opportunity is already here. Especially if everybody is put in the same situation. Now, if you in a poor country, like Liberia or a few others, if you have the conscience that we are trying to promote with this address, your situation in Liberia cannot be worse than anybody else's situation in Liberia. It will be as good and better than anybody else's situation in Liberia. I don't care if they have business accomplishments or political accomplishments. Once you have this kind of thinking in your mind, once you have this mind, then you are put on an equal footing with all of them. It's just a matter of time, and you'll catch up with them. You can compete with them even where you are today.
Even if I had nothing, if I had no money, if I had no backers like you; see I'm a powerful little man. I'm a powerful little man. I got a lot of, I got a lot of backers. I got people that will just feed me, clothe me, romance me too if I let them. So, you know, I'm a powerful little man because of the support I get from you; because of your support. But if I didn't have any of your support, if I had nothing like that, I would never be sad, I would never be downhearted. I would have hope, my face would be bright when I wake up in the morning, because I know my potential.
See, what set us back more than anything else wasn't denial of physical opportunity, it was denial of a sense of value for our person, for my own black self. What the white man was saying and doing was so powerful, he was the speaker, his voice was heard, his opinions were accepted. Even in education, his opinions were established and accepted. I mean, the opinion of the racist now, that minority that impose their will on the majority of American people and put us in bondage and kept us in bondage.
It was a minority, don't ever think all white people were responsible for that. They weren't. It only take a minority. Look what one man Hitler did for Germany. One man, Hitler and his core of supporters. Look what that small number did for Germany and the world. Look what small ancient Roman empire did for the world. They were a small number of people, weren't they? You look at the Roman empire, it's original territory is very small, like the islands of Japan, almost right. That was bigger. But you know what I mean, right? Relatively very small, not big, not a big man. They didn't have a big landmass, but the cost of their enthusiasm, that fervor for what they wanted to achieve, they had a spiritual force working for them that was much stronger than the spiritual force working in others, that weren't turned on like that.
So the costs of that, they were successful in influencing minds and conquering people, defeating nations, and eventually they commanded the whole globe. Great Britain once said the sun never sets on my empire. That's what Great Britain said. This is recorded. That Great Britain said, the sun never sets on my empire. Meaning that they had established territory, possessions, lands, under them all the way around the world, all over the world. Sun never sets on their empire. So don't think it would take many to pick only a few. Right now the state of our people that we cry over, that we moan over, that we feel downhearted about, it's the responsibility of a handful of people. If we could execute them tonight, tomorrow, we'd be in good shape. But we can't execute them tonight because I can't identify all of them. Believe me, if I could identify all of them, I think they'd be executed tonight. Yeah. But I'm afraid I'll just get a few and the problem will still be here.
National Achievement. What makes a person have race pride, or race arrogance; racial arrogance or race arrogance. What makes the people have that kind of arrogance? It is their national achievement. The European people weren't always having racism. That came later. They became racist after they came into Great national glory.
... came into great national glory. Then they thought themselves to be the special people of G-d, that they were better than everybody else. Now, before them, there was the Aryans of ancient history. The Aryans of ancient history of the far East. They also thought that they were the superior race. Why? Because they were drunk on their own power. They became wine drinkers of their own power and glory, and they thought that they were special, that they were inherently different, that they were better than other people by birth or by creation.
Now, we know that this also took place in this religious quarter of society, where men studying the wisdom, divine wisdom, revelation and its hidden secrets, they thought that they had come in for something nobody else had, nobody else could get. So they thought that they were the special creation of G-d and that people that didn't have that were not equal to them.
In the history of the West, we find that it was the church that first established its arrogance over not only other societies, but over its own subjects. It establishes arrogance over its own subjects. It didn't even allow all of the citizens to become educated because it determined that certain citizens were not even created for that excellence or for that opportunity, so you shouldn't waste money and time on them.
This is not to attack the church because we find that same mentality also in the Muslim society today. There are Muslim countries that we can go to right today, and they treat the common man like he's animal property, like he's just property, animal, domestic animal. They treat him like he is a domestic animal. And they will not spend money to improve the total lot of their citizens. No, they're not interested in that.
They focus on a special few, a special few, and they spend money on them. And money that they spend on those that are not in their special few, on their select few, they spend money on them because it is a necessity. The person they value as a common laborer, they will spend enough money on him according to necessity. The person they value as a driver, or as an errand boy, or a pager or whatever, or a secretary or whatever he is, if he's outside of that select group or that elected group, they will spend money on him according to necessity, only according to necessity.
Now, if he comes into that group, then he's treated differently, if he proves acceptable to their group. And how does he prove acceptable to that group? He has to first worship them as little G-ds. When he acknowledges that they are little G-ds, then they will bring him into that group and raise him as one of their children. He has become a divine child. But first he has to show willingness to accept them as little G-ds. He has to do ruku to them.
And occasionally a sajda. Sajda means complete prostration like the Africans did when the Pope came over to Africa, the Africans laid their bodies out on the ground like dead snakes. I don't care if they hear that. I'd like them to know that I saw them as dead snake. Pressing their bodies out on the ground before the Pope. Now, thank G-d, he was a decent Pope. He discouraged that practice. That was the present Pope, I believe. I believe it was the present Pope. Yeah. Yeah. After that happened, I remember reading about it in the paper. He discouraged that. So, when he came over, he didn't prostrate, he just kneeled down and kissed the ground. Yeah. He kneeled down, he kissed the ground, and he got up. They do that, but it was like they were dead. Dead snakes.
So, a country becomes big headed after it has realized great achievement. Not all countries will become big headed, like not all individuals become big headed, are before falled by their successors. But we find many individuals who will be falled by their successes. And likewise many nations are falled by their successors. I remember hearing on the news once, when I was a young man, I don't believe I'd even come out of my teens, I couldn't have, no, I was in my teens, early teens at that I remember hearing on the news America saying, "Let's sue the boss of a commentator" or the person on the radio, I can't recall right now. I can't identify the person. Even at that time, I don't think I was that interested in news and current issues and fast to try to remember whether the person was a government person or whatever or something else.
I don't remember that. But I remember the person saying this. I heard this person with my own young ears. He said, "We can police the world." Now, isn't that an ugly statement for any citizen to make, anywhere on this planet? Even if you could, why would you want to say that? "We can police the world."
So that tells us that, if people get big headed and get a lot of power, many of them can be influenced to the point that they want to become G-d for everybody else on this Earth. So be aware of that, be aware of that. And don't give your soul, your full obedience to anybody but Allah. That's what it means to say Mukhliseen. means that I've given my whole self, that I'm holy for G-d and his purpose. laha deen For him is religion. For him is really good. Why are you in religions? To enrich W. Deen Mohammad? Why are you in religion? To make me popular? Why are you in religion? So I will be a special guy? No, you're in religion to live the life that you believe Allah wants for you.
So your religion is not for W. Deen, your religion is for Allah. Some people want to make the religion for economics, that it might sound good to some of this, because you don't have any economics. You don't have even any eco. But it might sound good to. But that's not good. Any movement away from the purpose G-d established for religion, eventually corrupts religion. And when religion is corrupted, it's the most powerful influence on Earth for oppressing the human beings. The intellect particularly. The incident. Allah says inna shirka lazulmun azimun Surely corrupting the religion is the worst form of oppression. The mightiest, the most powerful form of oppression. Now, what made slavery such a big, strong influence for us to break from in America? It was the subtle message to African-American people that G-d intended that class or that status for us, that we were created for that status.
And many of us, until recently, we weren't literate. We were illiterate. We were illiterate. We couldn't read. So whatever came to us from the wight man, it was just automatically accepted. So, the white man suggested that we were inferior by nature. Even if we didn't tell anybody, it crushed our soul, it crushed this esteem and our spirit was crushed by it. So that's what made slavery for African-Americans so difficult. Right now, you'd be surprised how many of us are right now in the same state that the slaves were in. What I mean by that? We are waiting on the white world to give us the indication, how to think, what to think, where to go, when to go, who to like, who to dislike, what idea to accept, what idea to reject, what ethnic group to like, what ethnic group to dislike, to not like, what religion chose, what religion to turtle down as, as an anti-Christ or whatever.
Yeah, we are ready for the white men to tell us Jesus is not G-d, he's a human being like you are, he's a Prophet. We are waiting for the white men to tell us that. Never. Now, why I pick on you like that? Because you did not come in this country as bishops, ministers of the church. You did not come in this country like that. You have no right to claim kinship with Christianity over the white man. Because it was the circumstance that the white man put you in that explains you becoming Christian. So you have no right to claim more kinship, stronger ties with Christian history. I won't say church, because to me this church is something separated from Christian history.
And Christianity, as I see it, is something separated from Christian thinking. So I will correct what I said. You have no right to claim a kinship to Christian thinking over the white man who puts you in circumstances to get that thinking. Now, isn't that a fact? We can't deny that, that's a fact. And let me tell you, if you want your soul to really be free, question your allegiance to Christianity all over again. If you never questioned it, please do. Question your allegiance to Christianity, because we want... Don't you know white the white man gave us? Inferior education, he gave us inferior religion. How can you expect the man who gave you inferior existence and inferior education to give you superior religion? I can't understand that.
The white man that had us under his influence was not only the immediate slave master, but he was the remote slave master. And they're not. Don't think they're innocent. He was also the remote slave master and believe me, those slave masters condition up to by Soul Train Christianity.
I'll never preach Christianity. If I do, I won't be in this same mind that I'm in now. But I tell you this, that I believe right now that I could do more good for all people on the whole preaching Christianity than all the ministers I'm hearing combined. I say, I'm hearing. Maybe there's something I'm not hearing, but all I'm hearing and I do look at TV, I look at evangelists on TV, there someone called Price, he's terrific. Evangelist, got a big following, big trip. Yeah. And then many of others. And I've gone to church, believe me, I used to go to church and sit in the service. I wanted to learn for myself. What is it? Yes. And from what I'm seeing and hearing, I do believe that I can start preaching Christianity today, and after a month I would accomplish more as a Christian minister, in terms of really improving and bettering by putting our people, mind, and soul and spirit in better situation, I would accomplished more than all of them are accomplishing combined. That's something that I believe a hundred percent in.
Somebody might say, "Well, why don't you do that? If you know you can do more good preaching Christianity, why don't you do that?" In the Qur'an there's a lesson given in Solomon. Solomon wanted to accomplish something, and that was to bring the throne of Sheba to him. And he was offered help that could get it right like that. But he turned it down. My conscience wouldn't allow me to do that. That's why Solomon turned down the help that he could get immediately, and that's why I would turn down that kind of service of decision, it is because my conscience would bother me. I just couldn't do it. I would be an impostor. I would be an impostor. I wouldn't be coming straight. I couldn't do it.
But, if any of you can, if I can help supply you, let me know, come to me, I'll qualify you to do it. If you want to do it, I'll qualify you, because it needs to be done. I can't do it, but I'd still make available to you what I have. And if you have the content, you need strength, you need real strong human content. If you have that, I can help you. And you could do wonders with Christianity.
I know a lot of Muslims. They're saying, "Why would Imam say that?" Because I'm an honest man. I'm an honest man. That's why I say that. And I don't care if every one of you will walk out on me right now and leave me up here by this mic. I'll just go home feeling bad inside, but I'll be doing the same thing tomorrow. If G-d keeps addressing me, I'd be doing the same thing tomorrow. I wouldn't change me, not at all. Yes. Because I'm an honest man. You say, "Well, can Islam do that?" Yes, but our people are not turn on to Islam. They turn on to the church and to Christianity. If someone could take the prejudice out of them against Islam and against Arabs and against Muslims, certainly we could do it overnight. We could change the state of our people overnight.
So, in spite of great opportunity, we are not realizing the benefit that we should be realizing. And if the cost, we are motivated not by the original motivation, that is the motivation to free our excellence, to free ourselves, to realize our excellence. Don't you know the Muslim is said so by G-d, Allah kataba Al Ihsaan ala kulli shay'anthat G-d has inscribed upon everything, prescribed for everything, endowed everything. It means all of that, with excellence. Excellence.
So, if we were motivated by excellence and, brothers and sisters, specially who you say the Qur'an and who are trying to qualify to teach the religion. Brothers and sisters, I'll tell you what I already know from self study, from experience. The Qur'an directs us into many ways. First of all, the first for success is that you devote yourself wholly to Allah. That's the first for success. To devote yourself wholly to Allah as a Muslim means to accept all that Allah has established in the Qur'an. So that means Muhammad the Prophet profits, as he's established in the Qur'an, the articles of faith and the articles of practice, as they are found in the Qur'an, the important as you find that important in the Qur'an. So don't just read the Qur'an or learn about Islam and don't look for where importance is places. Islam talks about a lot of things.
In the Qur'an say this book misses nothing big or small. It doesn't say itself. But it says that those who witness it, they say "This revelation misses nothing big or small." So that means that Qur'an takes up a lot of small matters, like washing the hands and the arms, and the elbow and the face and the feet. It takes up a lot of small manners. What did the Prophet says? The Prophet says, "Stay away from the big things. Don't give yourself to all things." I got to be careful. This cheese is not Halal.
But your statement that you just made wasn't Halal and the statement has worse consequences to this, to you and to the household, to the members of the household, than you eating a cheese that's not Halal. "Oh, I got to watch it. I better not eat this cheese. This cheese's not Halal. Oh, where that toothpaste come from? I don't want to use that toothpaste. That toothpaste may not be Halal." This is not only in Islam, because also in Christianity the Bible says that the people have been influenced or conditioned to make trivial things the big things. And, when Jesus Christ the Prophet came, he had to address that problem. He say, "You make all this fuss over the washing of socks and where to hang the socks." Now I'm using my language
And you ignore the major things that G-d hasn't has ordered for you. You see? So that's what I signed that to be a tendency now and the Islamic world. You meet a Muslim, he says, "As-salamu alaykum." "Wa alaykum as-salam." "Alhamdulillah." "Alhamdulillah." "Where are you from, brother?" "I'm from America." "Ooh, America, America, America, America." He say, "A Muslim can't live in America. Muslim can't progress in America. There's no opportunity for a Muslim in America. The Dajjal is there" The Dajjal is the one who rides the donkey, it means the traitor to the interest of the donkey-headed people. He rides the donkey there, you see? "The Dajjal is there, the Dajjal is there." And then he finally comes over. He finally comes over here. He didn't want to come to America, live in America. "Oh, you come to America?" "Yes, brother. Yes, brother. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. It's a terrible place, it's a terrible place. I'm here." And he says, "You be careful. What kind of toothpaste you use?" "Colgate." "Not Halal, not Halal, brother. Not Halal."
That problem is our too. Watch the major thing. Keep your eye on the major thing. The most important thing. Allah did not give Muhammad a description of our religion that includes the trivial. The Prophet gave this answer, when asked "What is Islam?" He said "It is to believe in G-d, to worship him, whether you see him or no. It is to witness that Muhammad is his Prophet. It is to make prayer as established. It is to pay the tax, to give in charity. And it is to fast the month of Ramadan, the month in which the Qur'an is revealed. And it is to make visit to the sacred house, the inviolable mosque." And he concluded it there, didn't he? He gave a definition, he gave his answer. "What it Islam?" And that's what he answered. But he didn't say "It is to brush your teeth and test it in the laboratory to see if it's Halal. It is to wear a veil made out of imported silk from my country." He got a monopoly on veil making. So he's advocating that every Muslim must wear their veil It's Sunnah.
"The veil, the veil. The sister must wear the veil It's Sunnah. . I can show you in the Sunnah. The sisters must wear the veil. Haram, haram, haram." "Imam, I must leave your meeting now. All of your sisters are haram. Haram, haram."
So how can you benefit from opportunity if you're not recognizing where emphasis should be placed, where priorities should be established, where important things are important, where important openings are, where important meanings are? First of all, where important meanings are? I'm not just a black skinned man. I am a black human being. And human being goes to the content, doesn't it? When I say I'm a black human being, it sends the mind to the content of the purpose. I'm a black human being, because I could be a black animal. But I'm a black human being. You see?
So, if we put importance on surface things and not go to the heart of the matter or more important meaning, we lose that qualification that G-d created us with. We lose that qualification to meet challenge, to surmount obstacles, to overcome barriers, to progress in spite of bad times and bad conditions. We lose that power. We lose that content for that times of survival and progress on this Earth when we give our mind to simple meanings and simple things and fail to see what emphasis are in important matters.
I hope that this address has served its purpose. And that was to strengthen us who are already in this consciousness and to awaken us that are out of this consciousness. So we pray to G-d always for forgiveness, guidance, mercy, and guidance. Ameen. As-salamu alaykum. peace be upon you


