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IWDM Study Library
The Life of Prophet Muhammad

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
... this world all about us, and the human, men, ourselves, all the creation of G-d. He deserves thanks for providing us with the things we enjoy. And with all of the resources we benefit from, including now the company we offer to each other. All of that wouldn't be possible without G-d having created the world and us, and designing it to be that way.
So we worship Him, we praise Him, we love Him with our whole being, and we feel in our souls, and our minds that we never can love Him enough, or serve Him enough. We thank Him, and praise Him for His gift to man, to the world, to all the worlds, of His last prophet, the seal of the prophets, Muhammad, to whom the Quran revealed, who was the model person for all of us, the model person for all mankind.
As G-d says in His holy book, that he is the most excellent model for any person who believes in G-d, and in the judgment day or in the last day. We know most of the good people who have made the biggest contributions over the long road of history, to the progress of human beings, and human society, we know that most of those persons, and the nations they have been people, persons, and nations that claim to believe in G-d.
They're the ones that have made the greatest contributions, which tells us that G-d is a really benefactor, and once men have G-d, his life will show, and the society will show more benefits that are worth to people than those societies that don't acknowledge G-d, or ignore faith in G-d.
We have seen that over the long road of history that it has been those people and those nations that said, "There is a G-d." And identified themselves as believers in G-d that have made the greatest contributions to the life, wellbeing and future of all people. That alone to me is enough evidence to prove that disbelief is nonsense, disbelief in G-d is foolishness, disbelief in G-d is nonsense. For me it's enough, maybe it's not for many other people, but for me that alone is enough as proof that man just act stupid when he ignores the worship of G-d, ignores the blessings of G-d in his life, and the life of his society, or his nation.
No matter how we look at these nations, these nations claim to believe in G-d. I don't know hardly a nation that doesn't claim to believe in G-d. America believes in G-d. That's the claim. In G-d the creator, and on every dollar, in G-d we trust. I don't know of any other nation, except the communist block that came in and lived a short period of time, span the time, and passed away. I don't know of any other nation that doesn't acknowledge that there is G-d. Everywhere I go we find people that say, "We believe in G-d."
Those that have done the most as I said to benefit the human person, and the human society, they are the ones who appear to be the most vocal, and the most devoted to the belief in G-d. We know of the great progress that we see in the modern world today. It was started, it was ignited, it was initiated by that religious movement, if we may cal it a movement, under our Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet, the seal of the prophets.
Within a relative short period of time a world that was lost from civilization, in the darkness of idolatry came out of that darkness and became the ambassadors, the emissaries, the heralds of enlightenment for the whole world. In time, there was a revival of the interest, in knowledge, in education, and the public interest.
The public interest itself had been forgotten. The public interest was revived, and institutions of learning popped up all of a sudden, great institutions of learning, colleges, universities in Damascus, Syria, in Baghdad, in Timbuktu, in Morocco, in Cairo Egypt, Al-Azhar. Soon there was the interest in the sciences, medicines, astronomy, geography, mathematics, algebra, and many other disciplines of the sciences. All of a sudden all of this appeared again. The world was excited again, the nations were excited again. The nations had faith again that the future can be great for them, and their citizens.
The west took up the sciences, but didn't take up the word of G-d revealed to Muhammad, the Quran, but they took up the benefit from the scientific studies, and discipline, research, studies, and disciplines that was introduced again to the world, and in a bigger way than it ever had been introduced before by Islamic scholars, Muslim scholars, Muslim scientists. Today we have automobiles, refineries, oil refineries. We have science and technology. We have all of this, but where did it start? What regenerated that interest and made it possible?
It was those men that were turned on by the revelation, the Quran that came through our prophet, the last prophet, the seal of the prophets Muhammad, prayers and the peace be on Him. It was his disciples, his students, the students of Quran, and the students of our prophet, those students were the ones that led the sleeping world back into the business of civilization industry, and science, and now technology.
All of it came, because of that rebirth that was made possible by the presence of the Quran. Allah says that he has not closed the gates of the worldly benefits to any who want them. Anyone who wants the worldly benefits, money and such, G-d says he doesn't close that door to you. I know some of you African-Americans you may say, "Well, it looks like it's closed to us." No, it's not.
Some of you African-Americans you get very rich, but the problem is, we don't know how to get rich all together, or don't know how to get rich as groups, or as communities, but we do get rich individually, and very rich. Allah doesn't deny anybody that if you want it, but G-d says He has a special favor, He has a special gift, special favor, special mercy, a special blessing that He will give only to his devoted worshipers.
It is always the devoted worshiper who makes possible the rebirth, or the regeneration for society, always. Others benefit, but they are not the ones that initiate it, they are not the ones that represent the beginning for it. They reap the benefits that was really the rewards given to the devoted servant of G-d, G-d's devotees.
We're thankful to Allah for our presence here today in this City of Detroit, a city that for decades, and I would say for much longer than that, has had a sizable population of muslims, mostly those that migrated from other parts of the world, Muslim lands, Lebanon, Yemen. It was a long time ago, in fact when I was born there was a strong Yemenite Muslim community here in this area. I understand that the Muslim from Yemen are still here, been here long time. Really our acquaintance with the Quran, That is those in our association, or in our group, our membership, it too began right here in this city of Detroit. The little pamphlets that we got as documents of the nation of Islam, we called supreme wisdom, says that it all started July 4th 1930.
I believe that time is really symbolic. It really has a meaning, or a hidden meaning. It doesn't necessarily have to be the calendar starting point, but the evidence supports that the late thirties, and definitely there is plenty evidence that supports that during the early 1931 there was activity in this city called The Temple of Islam.
This city was called by the members of the Temple of Islam; number one, temple number one was here. The first temple was here. Then the second temple was established in Chicago where I have lived most of my life. My mother said I was only 11 months old in her arms when she took me from here to Chicago. That's where my parents set up a house, a home, and that's where lived till we were grown men. And even till now, I live in the suburbs of Chicago.
I've lived in Philadelphia for about three years. I've lived in Oakland, California for about three years. I lived in Little Rock Arkansas for about three years. So you take about nine years or more out of my life, and the rest of those years, except 11 months in Detroit, was spent in Chicago.
To me, this city has special meaning. Special meaning in our history, special meaning for all muslims in America. And very special meaning for those who joined the Temple of Islam, or the nation of Islam under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and have stayed with Islam, it should have very, very special meaning in your heart, and in your mind, and your thoughts, very special meaning.
There is much I could say, but I want to keep to the subject as G-d has blessed me to see it. I pray G-d guide me, and protect me, and bless me to make my speech, my presentation in the way to please Him, and to be accepted by Him.
I'm not presenting the life of the prophet today. I'll be addressing the prophet as a reference, and as a light, as a key for really addressing, and benefiting from, an address or a discussion of issues in the life of men, or in the life of society. I would like to first give you some of the subject headings that I would like to dwell on today. The topic being the prophet as the last prophet, the seal of the prophets.
All the notes or references that I'll be quoting for this address on Prophet Muhammad, not because this reference, or this little booklet is much better than any other book, or other books. That's not why, but it was just convenient. What I wanted was very convenient, so I'll be taking my quotes from the book.
The book is titled The Personality of Allah's Last Messenger, but I choose to say Last Prophet. That's the topic. The personality of a last prophet, and the writer, or the one who compiled this work is Abdul Waheed Khan. Let us quickly go over some details in the life of the prophet as a support on introduction for what I hope to present.
His birth, prayers and peace be on him. He was born in what is called the peninsula of Arabia, where there is a lot of desert, a lot of sand, and where there is a city mentioned in the scriptures. He himself was a native son of that city. The city that's mentioned in the scriptures, I mean, the bible is Mecca. But it's not called Mecca in the bible, you wouldn't find there as Mecca, you'll find it there under a name that alludes to the name Mecca in the bible.
He was born in that city, and the Bible says of that city, and that desert land, in a prophetic way, in fact as a prophecy, it says that waters will flow, streams will come, and waters will flow in that desert. The desert of Arabia. Our prophet was born there, and we call it Mecca, Al Mukarrama, venerated Mecca, sacred Mecca, highly respected Mecca. That's what it is called. He was born there. His father's name was Abdullah. Abdullah his father died before his birth. His mother, Amina, she departed when he was only six years old, leaving him an orphan.
In his early childhood he was breastfed by a poor servant-like woman, a countrywoman named Halima. As a boy, he used to go daily to work as a shepherd to graze goats, and sheep in the outskirts of Mecca. His people called him Al-Amin when he was just a young man, years before he was called to be the last prophet, the messenger of G-d. They called him Al-Amin. Al-Amin means the trustworthy one, the one worthy to be trusted.
They called him as-Sadiq, means the truthful one. They were common names for him among his people, Al Amin and the truthful one. In his manhood, he noticed that the Arabs ... That's what his people are called, Arabs, because they speak Arabic. They're not all the same race. Don't think if you say an Arab you mean a particular race, it doesn't mean that, it never did mean that. They say that an Arab is a descendant of Prophet Ishmael. But if that's true then, Prophet Ishmael must have had some black wives, because we know some black African looking people have been in the peninsula of Arabia, speaking Arabic for so long. Some of the Arabs say that they really outdate the typical Arab. The Arab that most of us look and, "Oh, he's an Arab."
I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that I have met nappy headed black skinned men in the Mecca, and in Arabia in Mecca. I said, "Well, are you Arab?" They said, "Yes." I said, "Where do you come from?" They say, "I've always been here." They don't know when their family came, they've always been there.
Where is Yemen? Yemen is a country that we believe Queen Sheba had kingdom in, Yemen. We believe according to history, what's left of the evidence, that that kingdom was in Southern Yemen. The Kingdom of Sheba called Saba in the Quran. Saba, and who were those people? Africans.
Actually, when you look at the piece of land we call Arabia, and the big piece of land we call Africa, they're so close to each other, until even the scientists that study continental floor, and the origin of continents, they say that it appears that that all was one piece at one time, and it's connected now.
A great conqueror, if he gets power over Africa, most likely he will also take Arabia. Or in reverse, if a great conqueror gets power over Arabia, most likely he'd take Africa. It's just too close to rest for the hostile neighbor. They're too close together. You wouldn't a hostile neighbor that close to you.
It is my belief that the history of ancient Cush included not only the continent of Africa, but also the peninsula of Arabia. I believe the Cushites, and I think you'll find enough evidence in history to bear this out. Those people called the Cushites of Africa are believed that their kingdom extended into Arabia, and other kingdoms of the Africans I do believe extended into Arabia.
The Yemenite people were part of that great ancient pass in the great ancient history. Who knows that one time maybe the Yemenites were also commanding not only Arabia, and the territory there, but perhaps even a big portion of Africa. Who knows? We know little Japan took a big piece of Asia. And small Germany, small land masses, was on the march and about to take a big piece of Europe.
We know that small nations have had the power to expand and take over much of the territory within their sigfhts, or within their reach. This is history. We should understand this, that people that govern society ... I'm not saying presidents, just people that govern society, because many times it is the pressure that comes from the business people, or from people in other areas of interest that brings the government to have a policy that hurt a particular people.
We know for a fact from seeing with our own eyes that most Americans, not African-Americans, other Americans, fear African-Americans coming together, and having something independent as an idea or culture. They fear that. They fear not because they're racist, they fear because they know our history. And they that if they put themselves in our place, and they say, "Well, I know what we would do if we got a situation to grow, and be independent."
So, they think that we would do the same. We are very special people, we're not like any other people I know. We're very special people. Even while there was slavery still in America, still in the United States, in North America, there were Africa-Americans who had identified with America, identified with the newcomers, and were doing their best to support the life, and the future of the colonies of this country while their people were slaves. They were friendly to the white bosses, they were friendly to the white government leaders, they befriended the white mansion owners, or the white plantation owners, they befriended them, loved their children, cared for their white children, helped members of the white race that had us as slaves, they helped them raise their children, helped them have a nice pleasant home. They did that. We're very strange people.
I'm not saying this to criticize us, or to take anything from us. I think that's a compliment to us, that we don't judge a race by the wrong ones in the race. That if we find a good person we don't care if they're the same color of the person that enslaved the majority of us. If we found a good person we judge that person one on one based upon how that person treats us, and how that person appealed to us. I think that's a good thing. That's excellent. That means that there is a human innocence in us. That is very special. Praise be to Allah.
We know that many did it to survive, they were just pretending. That's what the white man knows too, that many of them were just pretending. That's why he fears us coming together in any great numbers, and doing something on our own.
They don't fear me, and they don't fear those that they believe think with me, but they fear others. It's this religion that has brought about a development, a growth, and a maturing for our minds, and our hearts, and our souls that make it possible now for us to not only have faith in our existence here in America, but we have faith now in our possibilities to rise up in the system of America, and take positions of responsibility, like the position of mayor, position of governor, position of judge on the supreme court bench, the position of banker, the position of developer, investor in the development of the society, position of scientist, policy maker for education, policy maker for politics, and government.
We don't see any position, or any opportunity in this country closed to us. We believe if we qualify we can manage any of those positions. I feel that the people who think like we think, if we qualify we can take over the responsibility for the United States itself.
I think that's very special for a people with our history to come to that position only about ... Well, how long has it been since we were slaves? Not that long. A little better than a hundred years. About 130 years or so, we were slaves. That is, slaves in our parents' loins. We were slaves.
Now here in a relative short period of time based upon what we see in history, or what we know of history, in a relative short period of time there is Colin Powell, a man that some very powerful whites are looking at as a possibility for president of these United States, or vice president of these United States. In fact, some of them are saying very openly that he's the man that they would like to see run for the presidency of these United States, an African-American, Colin Powell. Chief of staff. That's some progress.
The prophet noticed that the Arabs were sunk deep in ignorance, bigotry, and disbelief, superstitions. There was the degrading of the human soul. Instead of worshiping the one true G-d, people had begun to worship idols, deities, stones, stars, et cetera.
The last prophet, the seal of the prophets, the servant, and messenger of G-d, he came to bring the golden era of righteousness, and enlightenment. Enlightenment means useful knowledge. Knowledge that you need if you're going to have a nation, a government. If you're going to have trade with other people, if you're going to have a system, economic system. If you're going to have business, commerce, et cetera, if you're going to have hospitals to care for the sick, and a law to protect the people, their rights, and their properties.
The knowledge that makes all that possible in a good way for us, or for any people is enlightenment. At that time there was not enlightenment, there was paganism, idol worship, tribal feuding, ignorance, backwardness, et cetera. It was through Muhammad the prophet that the enlightenment came. Righteousness, and enlightenment began to flourish as the prophet made progress, and as the message of the Quran reached more and more people in that particular area, Arabia, and the nearby vicinity.
He came to emancipate the human soul. Now, this is not my language, I told you I'm quoting the book. He came to emancipate the human soul. We were told that we were emancipated. When was it? 1865 we were emancipated. As I said, about 130 years ago. 1865, 130 years, we were emancipated we were told.
But we had so much difficulty, so many problems. The road for us after 1865 has been a rough road. For many it is still a rough road, but we were emancipated. Many of us cry today like we were not emancipated. Many of us complain today like we're still slaves, like we're still in bondage, like we're still denied our freedom, like we're still denied opportunity.
What could be the problem? What could be the answer? What could be it? The soul is not free. The soul is not liberated, the soul is not emancipated. You can take an animal and let Him loose, it doesn't mean that he's going to have progress, he's an animal, same thing he did in confinement he's going to do it in freedom. He's just going to do more of it, but if you liberate a human being's soul, you bring about the possibility for that human being to come into human excellence for the intellect to be established, the mind to be sharpened, the vision sharpened, the future brightened, faith in self to increase, nearness to G-d to be sought, devotion to G-d will come as a result of that when you emancipate the soul.
G-d says never will He change the condition of a people, until they change what is bothering their souls. Our prophet is a true liberator, he liberates the soul, not just the flesh. Bilal was already liberated while he was still in shackles. Bilal, may G-d be pleased with him. Radi Allahu Anhu.
Bilal the African who was under his slave master, when the prophet was preaching Islam in Arabia. The slave master he saw Bilal with his finger like this. He saw Bilal, he heard Bilal saying things, and he knew that the message of Islam had reached Bilal. Then he wanted to break Bilal's spirit. So began to torture Bilal physically.
Bilal was prepared to have his physical body burned in the hot sun with a big heavy stone on his chest, bare stripped out there in the heat of the Arabian sun. He was willing to suffer that rather than to give up what he believed in. Was his soul enslaved? No. The prophet's message had reached him, and his soul was liberated, but his body was still in bondage.
And because his soul was liberated, G-d came to his aid through Abu Bakr, may G-d be pleased with him. For Abu Bakr learned of Bilal, and he came, and paid his master a very generous price that his master couldn't refuse, and Bilal's body was taken from bondage.
But that wasn't any new freedom really for Bilal, the real true new freedom for Bilal was when he heard the message of Islam from Prophet Muhammad, and accepted it in his soul, accepted it in his heart, that was a real liberation for him. He didn't care whether the man destroyed his physical body, or burned him to death, he was free.
That's what made us great too. That's what made all people great. What did one of the leaders of this nation say? One of those who were key factor in bringing about the freedom from the Great Britain. He said, "Give me liberty, or give me death." He wasn't talking about the freedom for the physical body. His physical body was already free. He wasn't restricted to any plantation. He roamed all over the colonies, but he saw himself a slave, not free. He told the British empire ... It probably wasn't called that by that time, I don't think. He told the Great Britain, "Give me liberty, or give me death."
We are free just like that man was. He was free to go all over this land. We're free too African-American brothers, and sisters. We're free to go all over this land. I want you to stand up and say, "Give us liberty, or give us death." We'd want our souls to be free so our intellects can grow, and be established. Our neighborhoods will change to neighborhoods that we can be proud of.
Our image as a people will be changed. The prophet had to face all sorts of difficulties, threats, boycott. Yes, they boycotted the prophet, restricted him and his followers to a small area of land for three years. Refused to have trade with him, tried to starve him out. During that terrible period, Lady Khadija, she died. It was just too hard, too difficult. May G-d be pleased with her. I'm sure she's in a high place in paradise.
They tried their best to offer temptations of wealth, and beautiful women to the last prophet to dissuade him from preaching the religion, to bring him back to the idol worship, to ignorance and disbelief. He refused all of that. He refused money, wealth, and pretty women.
He faced persecution after persecution, insult after insult, danger to his own life, the life of his loved ones, his close relatives, and loved ones, also the loss of life. He braved their hostilities, their taunts, their harassments, their ridicule, and their evil designs. He braved them in the most honorable way, in the most manly way.
He went to a nearby town called Taif to preach to them, only to be insulted, harassed, stoned, wounded, and returned from that place bleeding. The recorders of the history say that people heard the wet sound of blood in his sandals as he was walking away from that place. He suffered all that. He knew they were ignorant, he was trying to appeal to their good senses.
He was alone by himself, except for G-d as his company, until relatives and companions ... Actually, Lady Khadija was with him from the very beginning. Soon there was his friend Abu Bakr Sadiq, and his cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib ,may G-d be pleased with them.
In time we know others came, but for about 11 years or more, he had only a very few followers. They were outnumbered so much by the disbelievers, that their lives was made very miserable for all those years.
I wonder, would we still be here if we were tested like that? I don't compare myself with our great leader, and model human being, the prophet, but I can compare the events in my life, and in our life with the events in his life, and the first followers life of our prophet.
I started out, and as long as everybody thought that I was going to go in the same old way of the nation of Islam, they're ready to give me that money, and everything else. But as soon as they found out I wasn't going to do that they started saying, "He's messing up everything."
Really, we haven't suffered, nobody has been beating us up, torturing us, causing us physical loss of life, of property. Well, did they cause us some lost property, but I don't blame that on the whole people, I blame it on Hoover's plan that was carried out. The FBI chief at that time, I blame it on him. And those that went along and committed themselves to carry out that plan.
I blame it on you who came in as friends, but you were enemies, who came into the Temple of Islam, nation of Islam as friends but really were enemies, serving the enemy. And you came in and made it possible for them to carry out that plan against us, the Temple of Islam at that time. I blame you, I blame them, the Hoover plan, and I blame you who came among us and made it very easy for them to carry it out.
But, Nobody will see Hoover, because they don't have the old nation of Islam anymore. Nobody will see the infiltrators that came among us, and were part of the leadership, the national leadership, they won't see that. They say, "He did it." Talking about me, and they point to me.
Let me continue giving these notes. Our prophet finally got an opportunity, G-d gave him friends in Medina, supporters from the neighboring city, Medina. That is now called Madina Al Monawara. It means the City of Enlightenment. Madina Al Monawara, the City of Enlightenment, because the prophet taught there, and established the first Muslim community there in Medina, and from that city the light shone, the light extended to many parts of the world, brought the revival and civilization back to the lost nations, or lost communities of men, and eventually sparked the rebirth of what is called the Renaissance for Europe, and the west. All started there.
It was from that City of Enlightenment, that illuminated city. That's what it means, the illuminated city. Munawara Illuminative with the virtues, and principles, and sciences of Islam as revealed in the Quran, and taught by the last prophet, the seal of the Prophet Muhammad. All of this is very important in our picture of Islam. You want to see Islam you should see these important details in the life history of muslims, followers of the prophet, and in the life of the prophet of course, prayers and peace be on him.
It was there in Medina the first mosque of Islam was constructed at Quba. I made pilgrimage and Umrah, and I'm sure that you have too. Perhaps many of you out here that made hajj, you also the visited the the Quba mosque, the first mosque. I have. Those small simple mosques, Quba Mosque.
Our prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, he used to say, "Allah has not created anything better than reason." Listen, our prophet said this, "If I say it in a Khutba, and the so called Ulama, the socalled person who claims that he is Ulama, he's a scholar, he hears me say this, and I don't know that they're connected with the prophet, or even if I do he might say I'm lying.
Reason is not the greatest thing created. No. R-E-S-O-N (reason), that's what I got from the book. I got it because I like it, I got it because that's the way I think. I got it because that's the way I was believing already. When the Quran tells us to think, the Quran is not telling us to think without any particular discipline for our mind. It doesn't mean just think. A lot of us are thinking all the time, and sinking deeper, and deeper. ain't going nowhere, just keep getting more miserable, and more miserable.
We're thinking all the time. When Allah says to us in the Quran, "Think." G-d means use the rational faculties, be men and women of reason, use the power of reason, because that's the precious tool that G-d has given you for your establishment, for your progress, for the decisions that you have to make in life.
This is the prophet who is saying this. I quote, "Allah has not created anything better than reason, R-E-A-S-O-N. When is that reasoning really the best? Where is that reasoning really worth that time of recognition? We can have faulty reasoning, flawed reasoning, foolish reasoning, reasoning that takes us to bad consequences. That's why Allah says, "And surely the reasoning, or the thinking on G-d is the most rewarding." It is the best, because that's the reasoning that brings us to correct our reasoning.
If you begin reasoning on G-d, begin with G-d, G-d will connect you with everything else, because he is the initiator of everything, he is the creator of everything. He is the starter, the designer of everything. If you start with Him He will unravel the knots for you in the rope of your thinking, no matter where you take your thinking, because you can't take your thinking outside of G-d's handy works.
So He says, "Surely, thinking on G-d, reasoning on G-d, with G-d in the view, and G-d in the mind, is the most powerful, the most rewarding, Itr's Al Akbar greater." Inna Drikr AllahuAkbar Is the Greater, Praise be to Allah. Speaking of our prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, he came to blend together, he came to bringing about an association, a cooperation involving peoples of all tongues, all colors, all persuasions, all races, and nationality. This is our prophet, praise and peace be upon him.
He brought about revolutionary change. The goal of life was changed for the people who were in darkness and ignorance before the light of Quran, and the prophet the teacher it came. Man was changed into a human being with a distinctive badge of Islamic identity. He was made man at that time. He was taken from being just a wanderer, a lost vessel, to being a excellent human person, human being with a distinct Islamic identity.
It was through the strength of its truth, conceptual superiority, and its dynamism that Islam spread. I would like to pause here to say this, Islam has not been spreading like that upon those factors, or influences for centuries, for many centuries.
Not to discredit, or to take anything away from those who have been propagating the religion, who've actually brought it to America even before W. Fard Muhammad came to Detroit. There were Ahmadiyya, and there were Yemenites, and there were others who were preaching Islam quietly in America, we know that, but only a very few have followed the method of our prophet, prayers and peace be on him, very few.
I repeat, it was through the strength of its truth, conceptual superiority, and its dynamism that Islam spread. We mentioned earlier those science institutions of learning, those universities of Damascus, Baghdad, Fez, Morocco, Timbuktu, Cairo Egypt. We mentioned those great universities that were in the forefront of the new movement to bring civilization, enlightenment, and decency, and high morality, high morals, and ethical light back on this earth to man. We mentioned them.
It was such movement, and the rational teaching of belief in G-d. We know belief in G-d is faith, and must be supported by faith, but belief in G-d in Islam also have rational basis. For they were just not appealing to our souls' emotions, or emotional nature of man. Those early teachers, they were not just appealing to that, they were appealing to the rational faculty, to the reasoning power of man, and to get him to see that there are sound rational basis for belief in a creator of this world, G-d. The designer of it all.
That is how the religion spread. Love for education. Actually, public education began with the prophet's teaching. There was no public education before. This modern world didn't have public education until very recent in its history. Is that not a fact? Public education is a recent of development, even for the west. The prophet started public education from the time he received the revelation. He started public education.
He made education a duty on every citizen, male and female as G-d guided him. He made every person who learned a little of the Quran, the wisdom, the sciences, et cetera, he made them obligated to spread it to another person, take it to another person, no matter how little the amount is that you have, the world is in darkness. Your neighbors all around you are in ignorance. So you have a little bit? Take it to them, they're in need of it. Everybody is in need of it. Take it to them, don't have them in darkness anymore. Don't wait till you get a PhD.
You already have one line of the master wisdom. You got one line, one verse one Aya of the master wisdom, the supreme wisdom, the highest knowledge, the highest science. Don't wait till you get a PhD, take that to the starving brother, whose brain is starving, dead, dusty. Take that to him so he will have some sense, and be educated. Let the education process begin with the first line of revelation, that was the prophet. And spread it so every member of the society, the whole public has it. That was the prophet.
You can understand that being a revolution, a cultural revolution, a spiritual revolution, a cultural revolution, and eventually a total revolution. Allah's last prophet remained extremely preoccupied with answering the tasks upon him, and his followers by his enemies. Soon, when he established the society the Ummah in Medina, right away they thought that their armies could wipe him out. In fact, the Meccans were after him before he left Mecca, and pursued him, hoping to destroy him before he even got to Medina, but G-d protected him always.
So they engaged him in fights, and battles, and wars, tied him up, all the time in that. But even with that great burden on him, the religion continued to grow, he kept preaching, he kept building the society, even while being engaged in war all the time, because of the aggressive, hateful idol worshipers, and their friends.
That continued from the age of 53 to the age of 63, 10 years, that terrible kind of circumstance continued for our prophet, 10 long years. From he was 53, and it wasn't until he was 63 when the victory came. In fact, victory came just a few little while we would say, before his death. Victory came, and he gave the last sermon in the hajj, and actually we'll be taking from that sermon too for this presentation.
We know the record of battles, the hostility towards Islam. At the time of the conquest, victory for our prophet, and his followers in Mecca, what did he do? To fulfill answering prophecy, calling to that particular liberator that would be given victory over his enemies, he forgave, and pardoned his enemies.
The prophet of Islam practiced religious tolerance. This is something that we are just beginning to become aware of again. I mean, muslims. The enemies of Islam had entangled us so much in a kind of religious combat with them, that we lost really a sense of just who we are, and what Islam is.
Most Muslim of the world until here just recently, we thought that Islam is here to wipe out Christianity, Islam is here to wipe out Judaism, Islam is here to wipe out all religion. And that we ought to take up a physical weapon of sort, or something, and go to war with them, that that is the real jihad, to just get swords, or weapons, and just fight Christians, and fight Jews, and fight other people belonging to other religions. That's what we thought. But listen to what this man is saying, not from me, not from you, not from America, from overseas, about Islam and about our prophet.
He says, the prophet of Islam practiced religious tolerance towards Non-Muslim as an ideal. I'm understanding him to be saying that as a sign of what is the ideal dignified human behavior, he did not force, or compel the people of other religions to embrace Islam. This writer says, it would have been against the very dictates of the Quran if the prophet had done that.
As the ruler of the state, speaking of our prophet, the seal of the prophets, he used to meet the lowliest of the society on equal footing, as he himself was the leader, the leveler of the society. He was to bring equality, that's what leveler means. He was to bring the arrogant ones down with the teachings of Islam, with the teachings of the Quran, the words of G-d, and his own model, his own example.
He was to bring the arrogant ones down to the place where they should be, and bring the degraded ones, those with inferiority complexes up from their degradation, from their shame, to bring them up to the level where they should be. He was the leveler of society. That's what this author says. I like the way he puts that. He called our prophet the leveler of society. The one to bring about a leveling by bringing the arrogant ones who got their nose in the sky turned up looking down on us. He was to bring them down to the place where they should be on the plane of common human excellence.
He was to bring us up from our fears, shame, that had been put on us, because we were called black, slaves, inferior, dumb bells, ignorant, et cetera. You didn't have to be black, they called you that no matter what color you were. People look down on you because you're not educated like they're educated. They will look down on you because you are not of their culture. They will look down on you, and they will reject you and say, "You are fit for nothing, but to shine my boots." Or, "To clean my carpet," or, "Take out my garbage." That's the way it was back then.
The prophet was the leveler, he was the one to bring the high was down, put Him where he's supposed to be in his natural place of human excellence, not in the sky as an angel, or as a G-d, but bring his whole porky tail right down here and seat him on the seat of humanity. And bring that fallen humanity that had no sense nobility, no sense of inherent worth, or inherent excellence, bring him up from the bottom, and set him up there too, and they all sit together.
In the fifth year, after the migration to Medina, the Hijra, Allah's last Prophet Muhammad delivered his last sermon. It was a first universal declaration, a charter of human rights. You hear that? We're not joking, we're very serious.
This writer was very serious when he wrote this. Believe me, all of the scholars that know this they are very serious when they say this. And as a student I'm very serious when I say it. And I have seen a lot of those who call themselves scholars that I would like to invite to grow up by inviting them to be my students, but I don't claim to be a scholar.
Yes. So, with this declaration of human rights, we get the words from our prophet in the 10th year after the migration. So that's about in the 22nd or 23rd year of his life as the last prophet, the seal of the prophets.
...from the bottom and sent him up there too, and they all sit together.
In the 10th year after the migration to Medina, the Hijra, Allah's last prophet Muhammad delivered his last sermon. It was the first universal declaration or charter of human rights.
You hear that? We're not joking; we're very serious. This writer was very serious when he wrote this. And believe me, all of the scholars that know this, they are very serious when they say this. And as a student, I'm very serious when I say it. And I've seen a lot of those who call themselves scholars that I would to invite to grow up, by inviting them to be my students. But I don't claim to be a scholar. I don't claim to be a scholar.
Yes. So with this declaration of human rights we get the words from our Prophet. In the 10th year after the migration... so that's about in the 23rd year, 22nd or 23rd year of his life as the last prophet, the Seal of the Prophets. This is near the end of his life with us on this earth, now.
And he says, "O people..." Now couldn't he have said, "O Muslims"? How would we say it? I don't think we would say, "O people." If we got a big victory like that after 13 years of suffering persecution, you know, and being put down and kept out of the Haram, denied the permission to make pilgrimage. If we had been suffering like that and all of a sudden now G-d has blessed us to be victorious, with an army too big for them to deal with, I don't think most of us would have said on that day, I mean the best of us, I mean the most saintly of us. I don't think the best of us could have done what the Prophet did, prayers and peace be upon him. I don't think we could have looked at that great multitude of our followers, of our members, and said, "O people."
We would have said, "O Muslims." "O Muslim victors that have vanquished the kaffir." That's how we would have begun, and we would have preached and preached in that spirit. But the Prophet, he knew they were Muslims, he knew they were believers, he knew that they had been converted, by G-d, converted by his effort under G-d to this religion, to the religion of Al Islam.
But he didn't say, "O Muslims... O believers YA Muminoon." No he didn't. He said, " O people." People. "O people," he said, "listen to me." Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? "O people, listen to me."
Here is a man that has such excellent, perfect human character, that he is the victor, he has power. Any one of us wouldn't get there and say, "Listen to me." We'd just start talking. And if they didn't listen, say, "Go there and chop his head off. That one over there isn't listening to me, go and chop his head off. Shoot that son of a gun." Yeah, if we had that kind of victory in our power, we'd be crazy in our power.
No, but he said, "O people," and then asked them, like the Roman, "Lend me your ears." "Lend me your ears," like the Roman Emperor, he said, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." The Prophet, who's supposed to have been uneducated, a child that never got formal education, raised to that high station by G-d. Doesn't have the background of the Romans and their excellence, and their knowledge and their cultural excellence, you know? Although they were savages on one side. They were like that guy in this new movie. On one side you see a presentable human being, on the other side you see a beast, you know? I don't know what happened over there in Europe. Something happened. Looked like they couldn't get the whole body into civilization. One side would be civilized and the other side would be savage. A monster on the one half and a human being on the other half.
But anyway, they knew how to slip into the other side, you know? They slip into the other side. "Friends, Romans, countrymen." I showed you that side. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." Now he better keep looking like that at the audience. He better not do this. We understand that condition, believe me. G-d has blessed us to understand that condition. And he's healed us. We don't have to suffer that.
He said, "All praise is for Allah." He didn't claim praise. He let them know right away, the credit for this victory goes to G-d. He said, "All praise is for Allah. We praise him, seek him, seek his pardon, and we turn to him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guides aright, there is none to lead him astray, and there is none to guide him against whom Allah leads astray." None to guide him whom Allah leads astray.
Now you may say, "Well G-d lead a person astray?" Yes. If G-d gives you guidance and mercy and guidance, and have patience with you and have mercy on you over and over again, and pardon you over and over again, the very thing that was meant to guide you aright will then be changed and it will be your guide to hell. It will be your guide to hell. And you brought that on yourself, not G-d.
Yes. And it says, "And there is none to guide aright whom Allah leads astray. I bear witness that there is no G-d but Allah, the only one. He fulfilled his promise and granted victory to his servant, and he alone routed the enemies." He didn't say, "I'm your general. I am victor. I am the victor here." He didn't say to his army, "Under your general, we have defeated them. We have routed them." He said, "G-d routed the enemy. G-d defeated the enemy. G-d hemmed them in. G-d brought them down. G-d vanquished them. G-d did it."
He says, go on to say... that the Prophet delivered this last sermon or this last speech to the multitudes on Mount Arafat. And you who've made Hajj like I have, you have visited Mount Arafat, I'm sure. That is where our Prophet spoke, and I'm sure the guides there, they guided you to just where he stood, on a raised level there, where he stood and he gave his speech, there on Arafat.
And the Prophet went on to address the treatment of women and also the treatment of slaves. And what he said, which I want to conclude so I can not spend too much time today here. What he said in effect was that women have been held back from their dignity, their G-d-given respect and dignity, inherent value and honor, and men have been responsible for it. Men have imposed themself upon women and denied them their rights as equal human beings with men. Do you hear what I said? Equal human beings with males. That's what the Prophet said, in effect.
Yes. And the Prophet appealed very earnestly to the men to accept the responsibility to correct that wrong and to treat their women with the proper respect and to recognize their women's rights, to engage in business, to inherit wealth from their parents, to be educated, to participate in the vital processes, to have roles in the vital institutions of the society, to have a public voice, a public voice, that will enable them to influence the state and course of the state or the nation. This is what our Prophet did, along with what G-d revealed, Allahu Akbar. Whenever a sister say Takbir, you respond to her just like you respond to a brother who says Takbir.
We're going to get there. We're making a lot of progress on the road. We're going to get there. He made it, our Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, he made it impossible for slavery to continue. He didn't prohibit people from having servants. You can have servants, but not that servant that is... the typical slave, whose ego has been crushed, whose sense of personal value has been destroyed, and who think that you now is almighty in his life.
He did away with that. You can't have servants as your properties anymore. The servant is not your property. He's G-d's creation. He belongs to G-d. You want to keep him as your servant? All right, feed him the food you yourself eat. This is what the Prophet said. And that goes a long ways, brother. Feed your servant the food you yourself eat.
And dress him in the clothes you yourself wear. And don't say to him, "My slave." But say to him, "My dependent." "My dependent." Meaning he's like a child depending on you for certain needs, but he's not your slave. In other words, treat him just like you would your own boy, from your wife and your own loins. That's what the Prophet was saying. Treat him like you would your own child from your own loins and from your wife. Treat him like that. Don't say, "My slave." So don't say "Abdi." This is the Prophet's teaching.
So it is reported that one man said, what did he say? Asking about the Prophet. What did he say regarding the slave? They told him he said, "You have to feed him the food you yourself eat and you have to clothe him in the clothes that you yourself wear. You have to make education a possibility for him just like you make it a possibility for your own children." He said, "What? Well I don't want my slave anymore." And that was the purpose. That's what it was designed to do. It was designed to make the slave owner or the slave master be fed up, not find it desirable anymore.
"Oh it's not desirable anymore to have him as my slave. I got to feed him now the food I eat. Now I'm going to buy lamb chops today, he got to eat some lamb chops? And I wear these clothes here, they cost a little money. I can't give that I throw away anymore, rags and tattered rags to wear? I can't let him find sandals on the roadside that somebody threw away? Well I don't want him anymore. He's not profitable. It's no more business or profitable to keep him."
So many of them gave up slaves right away. And those who kept slaves, their slaves were not slaves anymore by our definition of what a slave is. No. Not by our definition of what a slave is. But they were working, they were employed in the employment of that person to do certain jobs. But were respected and embraced as brothers and sisters. They would greet them, "As-salamu alaykum, brother." Treated them as members of their own household, as family members.
Yeah. And the Prophet went on... I'm trying to wrap up things, there's lots more I have here. The Prophet went on and made it an obligation that a slave and a black man, or a slave or a black man, had to be respected as having the rights to qualify for ascension in government and no office was barred against them. No office was restricted. The slave could rise up as high as he wanted to go. The Prophet said if a slave of Africa become your leader, that means the slave of Africa, a black man or a slave, has a right to become the leader of all the Muslims, of all the Muslims. He said if a slave of Africa... with black skin and nappy hair. He made it plain he wasn't talking about a straight-hair Arab living in Africa, Indian, Asian, living in Africa. He made it plain that he was talking about a slave, a person who had been a slave, and also black with nappy hair. He made that very clear.
He said, "If that person become your leader, if he follows the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and Prophet's way, then obey him. Obey him." This is what the Prophet said. So here we are, 130 years from slavery. And we're still waiting on one of us to become President of these United States, right? Now we have the rights to become President of the United States, but we don't think the people are ready.
And here we are 14 centuries almost from that time when the Prophet made it a law that a black man or a slave... it didn't just mean a black slave, any slave, any slave could ascend in the system, or the structure of the government and become the top man or leader of that nation or that government of Muslims, all the Muslims of the world, if they would accept him. It was not just any black slave; any slave could do that, was given that right, that freedom, if he becomes educated and if he qualified upon the Qur'an and the teachings and way of our Prophet. If he qualified by that criteria, he was to be accepted.
And I say, 14 centuries later, just about, and the Muslim world is not ready for that. In America, as citizens of this country, 130 years from that day when we were freed. And maybe, when did the law come into effect ending segregation and discrimination? About thirty-some years. It's been about thirty-some, it's thirty-some years ago.
Thirty-some years ago, laws were brought into play that gave us equal citizenship in this country, South and North, South and North. But even today, we don't feel that this society is ready for a black man to be President of these United States. Many of us feel that way. In fact, I think more of us doubt that a black man could be President than whites do. Because I find more whites coming out saying, "Colin Powell would make a great President." I haven't found a black saying it yet.
I'm sure a lot of us are thinking it, but it hasn't reached the media. If it has, I haven't heard it yet. So we have to be educated. You want me to be the President? You keep wanting it. Praise be to Allah. Praise be to Allah. I think I would make an excellent President. Praise be to Allah. All right. Praise be to Allah. Praise be to Allah. Allahu Akbar. Praise be to Allah.
I know, that's my sister there, I know her very well. And believe me, she's in control of herself. Allahu Akbar. Thank you sister. Thank you sister. That's soul power. That's soul power. That's right, sister, and proud to be that, too. That's right.
Now, I have some subject headings that really go with what I've presented from this book by [Waheed Khan. And when you get this tape, the audio tape, or if you get a book. Maybe sometime this will appear in the paper or a book or something, in the newspaper, the journal, the Muslim journal. Please study what I gave from the book describing in some important detail the last prophet, the Seal of the Prophets. And read it as a preparation for what I'm going to say from this point on.
Now, I have some subject headings here. One is the role of the character of the last prophet, the Seal of the Prophets. The role of the character of the last prophet. The last prophet as the leader in the road, in route to the destiny.
Now I know this language, destiny, because the Christian world use this and popularized this term 'destiny,' Muslims just frown on anything the West says. It makes him sound like the Western thinkers when he's talking about destiny. Or some of the big ulama, some of the big chiefs, the big thinkers in Islam, I know they have said this of me. They say, "Oh he's coming from the Western idea," when I say 'destiny.'
No I'm not. I'm coming from the Islamic idea. And if anything, the West copied Islam when it gave this idea of the destiny, and that man should work for the destiny, should hope for the destiny, and should order his society so that society is realized for him as the destiny. This is a Western idea, it certainly is. This is the Western democracy.
The West, those that were working over here for the Destiny, in the literature they called it the Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny. Meaning something that had not been seen yet, something that they wanted to realize, that they wanted to see, that they wanted to have materialize in their eyes and for their life. It had come about, they called the Manifest Destiny.
Now you know for real Christians, the West, America, has not come to any Manifest Destiny yet. This is not the destiny yet. They still hope to see the destiny. But progress has been made toward the destiny. And if any of us can't see that, we are dumb, we are in the dark ourselves. They made great progress toward the destiny. In spite of the sins and corruptions and the duplicity in the character and morals and makeup of this society, that shows us a devil on one side and an angel on the other side. Righteousness on one side and wickedness on the other side. A system to support the righteous and a system to support the criminals. Huh?
We know all that exists. But we know that is not what the real Christian wants. And we know that is not what the true, decent, American citizen wants. That's how come they fight crime, they fight lies, they fight corruption, they fight immorality, they fight all of these things, as decent American citizens. Because that's not what they want.
So we are talking about the last prophet. Let's look at the very word, 'prophet.' Prophet in English, when we see the word 'prophet,' P-R-O-P-H-E-T, when we see that word in English and look it up in the dictionary, it tells us about someone who prophesies. Someone who can see into the future and make predictions. And it may give us other descriptions, some other description, but that's the main description, that's the main meaning for the term 'prophet.'
But when we look at the word Qur'anic Arabic, an-Nabi, an-Nabi. And how that word is used, grammatically, in the context of the Qur'an or in the text, the whole text of the Qur'an, we come to know the true meaning of this word. And this words means, 'to warn.' To warn. It means one who is a warner.
So the prophet is the warner. That's what he is essentially. The prophet is a warner. Muhammad is the last warner. G-d is not sending us anybody else from him to warn us. You've been warned enough.
He is the Seal of the Prophets, through the Seal of the Prophets. What does the seal mean? 'Seal' means he makes clear their validity. He makes clear their validity. He established their credibility. He establishes their credits. He gives respect to the prophets. He gives respect to the prophets. He is the Seal of the Prophets.
He's that last prophet that G-d will bring into the world, and that prophet will be blessed by G-d and given the final message by G-d that will bring clarity and honor and respect to the lineage of prophets, to the line of prophets, to the lineage of prophets. That's the Seal of the Prophets.
But there are prophets all through the scripture. The Torah and even the Gospel, even Jesus the Christ, the Christ prophet. They are moaning and they're groaning and they're complaining that the world has not recognized them. Has disrespected them. Have not seen their legitimacy. Have not seen their genuineness. Has not seen their credits. But has dismissed them as fools and madmen.
But that prophet will come with such a convincing appeal, with such a convincing message, such a natural message, such a rationally supported message. He will come with a message that can be supported by a common man's thinking.
And it will be so, so clear, and so rational, that the common man will stand up and say, "Hey, don't speak against Moses. You have no right to say that man was crazy. He was a rational man; you are the crazy one. You are irrational. Moses was rational. You are irrational. Christ Jesus was rational. Your secular world is crazy. Muhammad is rational." Oh, buddy, buddy, buddy.
The Seal of the Prophet, the last prophet, the Seal of the Prophets. When I relate all this to the destiny, the destiny. What is Islam in this life, in this world? It is the life upon the path of G-d, isn't it? It is life upon the path of G-d. And G-d says call to the path of G-d, with your imams and your preachers, you Dai's. When you invite people to the religion, G-d says (italu call. ila sabil Allah. To the path of G-d, to the way of G-d. Call to the way of G-d.
So a path indicates or suggests a point of origin and a destiny. If there's a path there's a point of origin. That's where I start. Now I don't mean I start where you start. Some of us are farther away from the destiny than others. But for all of us, it's a start, we have to start where we are, don't we? We start where we are, depending on how we're equipped for the path. We start where we are.
So it indicates or it suggests a starting point and a destiny. Sabilillah. The Prophet said in this world he's a traveler, didn't he? Yes. So the real destiny is the destiny for the human soul. The real destiny is the destiny for the human soul.
And in this world, we have a destiny for ourselves individually, for our personal life, for my personal, mind, for my personal heart, my sensitivities and everything, I have a destiny for that. That's not the major destiny. That's not the classical destiny. That's my personal destiny.
If I just have that and seek that, I'm not going to be qualified for the destiny that Allah promises. The destiny that Allah promises the Muslims, that is. The destiny that Allah promises the Muslims is a community destiny. It's not just a destiny for my spirit or a destiny for my soul in myself; it is a destiny for my soul that is a monitor, a kind of monitor for the collective body of people.
My soul, every man's soul, every woman's soul, is a kind of monitor, monitoring what is good and bad, not only for individuals but what is good and bad for the whole society, for the whole human world. It's that group soul. It's that group sensitive soul. That group kin soul. It's a kin to the group. It's really one life, one life with the whole group.
But I have it in me, personally, separately. And it monitors for me and monitors for the whole world of human beings what is good and what is bad, if it is responding as G-d intends for it to respond. So this is the soul. That's the real end for the soul. That's the complete goal of the soul.
The complete goal of the soul is not to have paradise and nobody there but me. The complete goal of the soul is to have paradise and see Beena and so-and-so, and I'm going to get in trouble, and so-and-so, and all my children and all my loved ones and my friends and everything. The real goal is to see all of them there.
And as the soul expands, as the soul expands, as the way G-d wants it to expand, it won't be happy until it see every decent human being there. It don't matter what their color is, no matter what their national origin is, the soul wants to see every decent human being in that blessed state, in that blissful state, in that paradise.
So this is the goal of the community of Muslims, to work for that on earth. To work for that on earth. We know that G-d promise us hereafter, the greater life and the end beyond the material world. But we want a community of Islam on earth that satisfies the soul needs, that brings us to have peace in our soul because we have an ideal society, ideal society designed for us by G-d himself. We want that society. That's a destiny we want on earth.
And G-d brought us Muhammad and brought us the Qur'an and invited us to Islam for no other reason than that. That is the end, that we should be a community evolved out of the world. A community evolved out of the world, obeying G-d, worshiping G-d, following and obeying his last prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and being what? Of good, of benefit to the whole of mankind.
That's what Allah says in the Qur'an. So you tell me that's not Manifest Destiny? Will any one of you scholars argue with me and tell me that my religion doesn't suggest that we should be on the path toward Manifest Destiny, a great society on this earth, that will be a model community resembling paradise that G-d promises us in the afterlife. I say to you, if you don't know that, man, let me teach you. Let me be the scholar, you be the student.
You can't have a great society on this earth dealing with the material environment, making a home for the soul and for the body and for the whole life, the intellect and everything, in this material environment, unless you have a rational mind, and authentic human nature, and authentic, real human character. A rational mind of a natural human being in his excellence. A thirst for knowledge, a desire to become educated. An interest in nature and in the sciences. You can't have it without that.
So part of our journey, part of our steps on this journey includes working to establish high institutions of learning. They did it in the beginning of the Ummah, in Baghdad, in Damascus, in Cairo, in Fez, Morocco, in Timbuktu way down there in the nappy haired land. It has scholars coming way down there in the nappy haired land, coming with straight hair, white skin. What were they coming for? Coming to be taught under those black nappy haired teachers of Timbuktu.
You may say, what happened to that great progress for you blacks? What happened to it? White supremacy rolls up to do the final battle with the human model. And now we're living in the days of the final curtain for white supremacy.
It happened. But that old wicked thing is dead now. It's dead now. We can have a Timbuktu now and it will never be crushed again. But we won't call it Timbuktu because the white man, he made it a slang. Timbuktu, he made a slang. For him it's mockery. When he says 'Timbuktu,' he's laughing at you. He's making mockery.
The Prophet also told us to have an interest in nature. To have an interest in nature. And to think on, ponder the complexity of the natural world. That's what the Prophet told... these are the keys. These are the keys for coming into the great intellect, for becoming scientists. These are the keys. Be interested in the nature that G-d created.
Study the nature of the animals. Study the nature of the plants. Study the nature of the rocks. Study the nature of the atmosphere. Study the nature of everything. And think about it, ponder on it. Think deeply and think seriously on the complexity.
Complexity means it's not simple to see and understand. That's what complexity means. It's not easy and simple to see and understand. Don't back up off it, don't be afraid, don't be intimidated. Bring your brain, bring your brain, that great tool. Bring that rational faculty that Muhammad said of it, "G-d didn't create a better thing than that."
Bring that great tool and let it meet the challenge of this material world, its nature and all of its complexity. Because those are keys. Those are keys for further progress towards the destiny, towards the destiny.
I have no fear in this world anymore. I am not afraid for anything anymore. I know I can be killed, I know I can die, I know I can catch a cold and die. I know I can walk out there and be hit by a car. I know all that. I know if by putting order of society enough, that they will have somebody shoot me with a needle and claim I was a dope addict. I know they can do all these things. I know all that.
But I don't fear. I don't fear. I don't fear that we can't make progress on the road towards victory as a community. And that's what Allah wants for all Muslims. We must not be victorious as nations. We must not be only victorious as races and nationalities, our culture, our ethnic group. We must be victorious as a Muslim community.
And for us to be victorious as a Muslim community, we must take on the responsibility and have the courage to say, "I don't care what law prevails. I don't care what circumstances prevail. My obligation is to establish a new government, a new community, a new society, a new way of law and obedience to G-d. That's my obligation." That's my obligation.
Now I'm not going to do it like a fool. You don't come into new territory and tear down what you can use. There's a lot in America we can use. Let's go forward to the destiny. As-salamu alaykum, peace be upon you.
Takbir. Takbir. Takbir.


