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IWDM Study Library
Success Through Moral Consistency

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As Salamu Alaikum, We will now give the English reading for Al-Fatihah the standard prayer titled The Opening.
In the name of G-d most gracious, most merciful, praise be to G-d the cherisher and sustainer of the worlds. Most gracious, most merciful master of the day of judgment, thee do we worship and thine aid we seek. Show us the straightway, the way of those on whom thou hast bestowed thy grace, those whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray. Amen.
Allah most high says in the Quran, the Book of Allah, to the Muslims. The last of the revelations, the completed revelation for all the worlds. In this chapter, which is the second chapter of the Quran , the Holy book, the title of this chapter in Arabic is Baqarah, and it means the cow.
The first verse of this chapter gives three mystical letters. Alif, lam, mim, and the English equivalent are A-L-M. There is the commentary or explanation for these mystical letters found in the commentary of the Quran . However, the judgment of most imams, scholars, and authorities in the religion is that there is nothing definite established regarding these mystical letters, except that they are attention getters. They get your attention so that the next whatever verse follows is heard with the greatest amount of attention.
And the next verse, the second verse reads, "This is the book. In it is guidance sure without doubt to those who fear G-d. Dhalikal kitabu la raiba fee he hudal lil Muttaqeen.
Hudan guidance. Lil Muttaqeen. We pronounced Le and Al together lil. And then Muttaqeen for the Muttaqeen. And it's translated here, those who fear G-d. However Muttaqeen means those who are regardful. But in this context here, it's first and most important that we understand that we're required to fear or regard our Lord G-d with the greatest regard. However, the same word is used by G-d in our Holy book, by Allah in our Holy book to teach us the proper regard for other things that are essential, and very necessary, very vital to our personal life and to the life of society or for our personal life. And for the life of society.
G-d says Muttaqi, taqula]. Reverence G-d, or give G-d the proper regard. Be regardful of G-d, Ittaqula. Be regardful of G-d, be regardful of Allah. And he also says, Wal Arham, and also the ties of relationship, the family ties. So G-d tells us in this Holy book to be regardful of the family ties, the relationship of husband and wife, the relationship of parent and children. Be regardful of the family ties.
Literally Arham means the womb of the female, that bore us. Whether we are male or female, we all had our life form in the wombs of our mothers. And we are all first delivered into the world from our mothers. And G-d require of us that we be regardful of our mother, our father, our husbands, our wives, our children. In this religion family has been given a very special place. In fact, in this religion, the first duty of the Muslim person is to G-d, and then to family. First to G-d, and then to family. No one is asked to help or support concerns outside of the family, before they have first been asked to help and support concerns in their own house.
And we find that the best supporters of matters and concerns of a community are public nature. And when I say public now, I'm speaking as the Muslim leader for the Muslim community. I'm speaking of our public, the Muslim public, not the general public. The best supporters of the public concern are those who are sensitive, who are alive to their family concerns. Those who are not supportive of their family concerns, are usually the same ones that are not supportive of the Muslim community. So G-d is the best knower, G-d knows best. And Allah has said in this Holy book, that family rights have a priority with G-d. Family rights have a priority with G-d.
This is the book and it is guidance for sure, without doubt to those who hold Allah with proper regard, proper respect. Deep regard, and deep respect. To better understand this term in Quran , regardful.Muttaqi, which is for one person, Muttaqeen, for the many people. Let us recall what the Quran says of such people, and what the prophet has said too on this subject. Allah most high says in the Quran that those real people who believe in G-d will hold him with the proper respect. Says that they feel a tremor, they feel a trembling inside at the mentioning of G-d's name.
So G-d's name is mentioned, it means just like when we are busy doing something else and our minds are not on G-d, and then someone mentions G-d's name. It brings a kind of tremor in our hearts, like a disturbance on the water when the name of G-d is mentioned. And another description of them given in Quran says, "and when they"... And mind you, this is not only a description of the Muslim. This is also a description of the devoted Christians according to this Quran. Says, "and when they hear the recital of G-d, they respond with crying. Tears can be seen running down their cheeks." "And the Holy men", says, "their beards become wet with tears".
This has happened to people in those days, and it has happened to people in these days. In fact, it is happening somewhere right now. Somewhere right now, there are men and women reading Quran, or listening to the recital. And at certain points in the recital, their button will be punched, will be mashed. We all have our own sensitive buttons. And at some point in the recital that button will be mashed, and when that button is mashed or punched, they will respond with that outpouring of emotions, and sentiments or whatever.
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the peace and the blessing be upon the prophet. He said that "The fear of G-d and the urge to do goodness are expressions of the same. When he pointed to the heart of the man, he pointed to his own heart to explain what he meant. He pointed to his heart, and they say he said that "the goodness is right here, and the Taqwa is right here in the heart, and Ihsan is right here in the heart. It's right here. And he said, not only when you pray to G-d, but know that when you pray to G-d, whatever your situation is, know that G-d is seeing you. Whether you are seeing him or not, know that G-d is seeing you.
Now, this kind of instruction from the prophet was given to the Muslims, given to believers. Not to people who don't believe in G-d, to people who believe in G-d. So if you believe in G-d, prophet Mohammad is saying, know that G-d is seeing you. Whether you see him or not know that he is seeing you. Those who live with that awareness are the Muttaqeen, are those who are regardful of Allah. If you are regardful of Allah in the right way, in the true sense, you won't be better in your behavior when someone is looking at you, than you are when you're by yourself. You will be at your best behavior all the time. Because you know Allah is looking at you. He's aware of everything you're doing.
Now, let me give a little explanation for this. Or let's say elaborate a little bit on this. Because, certain situations make us behave falsely. And many times, the false behavior is not really be a sin in us, but I must say it's a weakness in us. Now I'll explain. There are some people who are shamed to be as conscious of Allah before others, as they are when they're by themselves. So just like you have the hypocrite who, before us, he's Holy. And away from us he's a sinner. You also have the weak Muslim who, before G-d, he is Holy. But before his associates, he's kind of weak. He's afraid to appear before them as good as he is. He fears that they would say, "Oh, you're too good." So he doesn't like to be uncomfortable with his associates. He doesn't like to have them looking at him and thinking he's too good for their company. So when he's in that company, he's less regardful than he is when he's alone with his Lord.
Now I said that that person shouldn't be called a sinner, they should just be called weak. Because they mean well, but that weakness can carry you into sin. Because, if that weakness become too strong, you will do a sinful thing to please your associates. And you won't want to do it. It won't be in your spirit to do it. You'll be doing it to take the pressure of your associates off of you in that situation.
I remember being a victim of that. I never smoked, I never liked to smoke. But I was a young teenager and trying to keep up with the teenagers. Was out there enjoying life, social life with them, dancing at the parties. So they were smoking, I danced. Wasn't supposed to be dancing, but I thought I could get by with dancing. Since I wasn't doing a lot of other things that other people were doing. So I danced. And this time they say "Hey man, why don't you take a smoke. Have you ever smoked?" I said, "No, I haven't smoked". "Don't you want a smoke man? Take a smoke. Yeah". They gave me a cigarette. So I took a cigarette. I said, "Look I don't smoke, I don't want a smoke". I said, "not because of anything other than that, I don't want a smoke. I don't like smoke". I said, "but just to show you all that I'm not afraid of this cigarette". I took it and I puffed a few times. I never did it since, but I did it then.
Now, suppose they were having also drinking. "Hey man, you ever took a drink?" And I said, "No, man. But just to show you all that I'm not afraid to take a drink". Now take a drink. Say, "Hey man, have you ever had sex?" Said, "No, man. I don't believe in doing it. I don't want to do that. But just to show you all I'm not afraid of sex. Okay girl, come on we have sex". See that can lead you, and you can stretch out there. And before you know it, you're in trouble with your Lord.
I didn't let it go that far. In fact I stopped with a cigarette. I didn't let it go, and later I thought about what I did and I said, "if I'm never in a situation again like that, I'll make the wise decision. I'll be stronger for my Lord. I won't do it." This kind of weakness of caring all the time, for some of us it's maybe more serious. But I'm sure all of you have had a situation in your life where you have done something. Didn't show the strength that your spirit had. Your spirit was strong, but in that situation, in that social situation, you went against your spirit and did something to satisfy that situation.
SO we have to guard against that, but know that you are better off than those who are sinners with Allah, they're sinners in the sight of Allah, and when they come around us they Holy. That's the worst one. That's the true hypocrite, that's the real hypocrite.
So with this note from Quran, we want to set the tone and the spirit for this Taleem or this address today. That is that in this book, there is no doubt, no mistakes, no errors, no defect. Pure And perfect. And it is for the regardful. Now, anybody can get it, anybody can have it. But it wasn't revealed for anybody. It was revealed for the regardful. Say, "well, do I have to believe in G-d? Did G-d reveal this only for people who believe in him?" No. He revealed it for people who don't believe in him as well. But he revealed it for the regardful.
Now there are many people who are regardful of their mothers, but they are not regard full of G-d. And if you are sincerely and truly regardful of your mother, you will also be regardful of G-d if religion is brought to you in a proper way. Many people are not regardful of G-d because they have had a bad encounter with religion. They got religion from a bad source, and were turned off to G-d. G-d could have given the verse said, "Those who ittaqula". He could've put it that way. "This is the book without doubt, for those who fear Allah", he could have put it that way, but he didn't put it that way. He said, this is the book without doubt for those who are regardful.
There are men in the field of science, they respect knowledge. They're regardful of knowledge. They have great regard and deep appreciation, and deep respect and regard for knowledge. And many of those men have been turned off to religion, turned off to G-d. If they will give this book the same respect they give that field of knowledge, G-d says, "And why do they not research the Quran?" Many men who did not believe in G-d, some of them of the West, , recently have out of curiosity done research in the Quran. And we have their names and their history, that they were converted. Not by a minister, not by an imam, not by preaching from anyone. They were converted while they were doing their research.
Why was it possible for them to be really converted? Because they were people who were regardful of something. If you are regardful of anything, you are given this book as your salvation. This is the book for your salvation. If you are regardful of anything that should be regarded. G-d says in this Holy book "And be regardful of the fire". You know, if you fear for your life, and you fear for your life with a respect, with a fear of the consequences that are coming, of the consequences to your life, that will save you. If you get religion in the proper way, you most likely will accept it.
But then some people, they're not regardful of anything. You show them fire, they want to see just how big a fire they can make with it. You tell them, "Hey, that'll burn". You take it and put it on his skin. Burn, blisters off. Just to show you, "I don't respect what you're talking about". "Hey, that fire will burn you!" "See it didn't hurt". Arm all blistered up. "Didn't hurt".
So some people they're just rebels. Their spirit is to be a rebel. And one of the titles, one of the names of the devil is a rebel. That's what he is, that's one of his titles, the rebel. So some people are just given to be a rebel, their spirit is to rebel. And they don't care what it is they've got to rebel against it. The only way they won't rebel against it, you got to keep them out of a situation where it's challenging them. But anything that challenge them, they got to rebel again. You say the sky is blue, they take that as a challenge. They look up and say, "Well, it ain't blue to me". And you say, "It is blue!". "That's your opinion". They're crazy people that those hospitals are built for.
Those who are regardful. Now with that recognition, let us now begin this presentation, which I hope will be concluded in the next 20 minutes.
For all religions, and not only religion. For all ideology, all philosophies of life, there is points of emphasis. And in my study as a student of this religion, I have come to find out that no, and I feel obligated to tell people after finding out. That the distinction in your religion, what distinguishes you in your religion is the religious emphasis. Because in a general sense, Muslim, Christians, and Jews, and even other people are very much alike.
We say we believe in G-d, don't think you have an exclusive on that. Christians believe in G-d just as much as you do. We believe in righteousness, so do other people. Say, "Well, we don't eat pork", and other people don't eat pork too. "Well we dress modest", so do other people. But somewhere, there is the Muslim distinction. And the distinction comes where the emphases are. Certainly, the other religious groups, they believe in righteousness, but our distinction is a consistent righteousness. They believe in high morals, they believe in moral excellence, but our distinction is a consistent moral excellence. I hope I'm making myself clear.
Our religion also emphasize work. illa ladhina amanu. Wa amilus salihat Except that they be faithful believers, and doers of good work. That's repeated in our Holy book over and over again. So often that we know in our religion, faith alone is not accepted. Faith must be supported and backed up verified. And good works, deeds of righteousness, deeds of goodness and excellence.
So our religion has emphasis on works. Says, "and those who come up in the judgment with their left hand, they will be given the fire" what is the left hand? The left hand is symbolic of impulsive behavior. Your left hand cooperates with the right hand because it is natural impulse that it does that. So the left hand is impulsive blind behavior. This is blind impulsive behavior, in the left hand. The right hand has been trained to do what it does. This is learned behavior for most people, most of us are right-handed. For the left hand person, you have to switch it around. You make your left hand right and your right hand left. But for most of us, we are right-handed so this is for us. This hand is the hand that learned, this is the student. And this here is just the blind follower. And if you come up in the judgment with only a credit in this hand, you go to the fire.
So our religion require that we be workers. To learn with this hand, you're going to have to work. You're going to have to work your mind, you're going to have to be disciplined. You're going to have to work your mind, you're going to have to be a worker to have credit with this hand. Am I right or wrong? All right.
And also we must understand that our religion places emphasis on planned work. Not just work, but also planned work. And our strongest emphasis, are on planned work. Society requires planned work, family requires planned work. The best work in our religion is that work that is planned. It is the work that has an aim for the future. That's the best work. And G-d says those who believe in the latter, we must believe in the future. Muslims are required to believe in the future. Those who work for the future end, Al-Akhirah. We must be people who are working for the future ends. Hmm? That's where our emphasis are.
And G-d says, comparing the future with the present, or the latter with the present, he says, "And surely the latter is better, greater. It's better in grades, it's better in quantity". It's better in quality and it's better in quantity. It's better in both ways. And it's better in durability, it's more lasting. The things that achieved for the latter is more durable, more lasting. And I repeat, better in quantity. He says, "But surely the present life in comparison with the future end, is Qaleel. Little, just a little bit, small.
We find that people who work, and have activities, or have jobs and they work for nothing but their immediate needs, immediate benefits, they have little. But those men and women of great foresight, who work for the end down the road. Sometimes it's five years down the road, sometimes it's 25 years down the road. Sometimes it's so far down the road, they don't expect to even harvest it in their lifetime. But we find that they are the heavyweights. They're accomplishments of and great. Whereas accomplishments for those who seek only their immediate results, the immediate gains, are small. As Allah says in his Holy book, [foreign language Qaleel very small.
So we must understand that working for Al-Akhirah, while it require us to work for admission into G-d's presence, into paradise, it also require of us that we use that as a principle affecting our whole life.


