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IWDM Study Library
The Rabb of all the Worlds

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Praise be to Allah, the one Lord, creator of all of us, and peace and blessings be upon the Universal Messenger, Prophet Muhammad, and all the righteous servants of Allah, that is of G-d.
Today, I had planned to come out and I learned that Imam Qasim Ahmed had invited the Imam of Cincinnati. Is he here today? The Imam from Cincinnati? I don't see him. Well, he might come, so if he come, we will hear from him perhaps, after I finish if it's not too late.
However, I did see Imam Qasim Ahmed before he left and he didn't mention to me that the Imam was coming from Cincinnati. So I was asked if I was coming out today by a couple of believers. I told them, yes. They said, "Well, will you talk? Will you be talking?" I said, yes. And then later I learned that Imam Basheer was coming. They say, "Well, Imam Basheer has been invited." I said, "Well, tell him good. Have a seat and listen to what we have to say today." So, just having a little fun. Believe me, I know him. He's a nice person. He would love to be here to hear what we have to say today. Yes.
Praise be to Allah. I want to begin, with a verse from Quran, and for the sake of us getting more interest in reading the Quran in its own language, in the original language and for my own personal benefit as well. We'll read it in Arabic and give translation. It is good to read the Quran in its original language, and it is good to hear it often. Even if you don't understand, it is good to hear it, because the more you hear it, it's like the child is born in the world. The child doesn't know our language, but hearing our language helps the child to learn our language. And if the child can't hear, then it can't learn our language. You see? So let me read this verse from Quran.
Now here, the verse from Quran, the words of Allah, that is the word of the one G-d, highly praised is He, questions the person who will deny or disbelieved in the G-d who has created the earth. It says in two periods, or in two days and have established in it, its foundation. It says, That is the Lord of all the world. So the Lord that has created the Earth, is the one that has treated everything else. He has created the earth and has given it its nature, its design and has also created everything above us. Everything.
Now, why is it so difficult for some people to believe in that G-d? It should be difficult for us to believe in a G-d that is superstition. This is not a G-d connected with superstition. The true G-d is connected with the real world, with the reality that we know. We call it the reality. The true G-d is connected with the earth and with everything we see in the visible world, the material surroundings, and everything that has come as a consequence of that. So that's not superstition. The belief of the Muslim in G-d, the Jew belief in G-d, the Christian belief in G-d. When we understand their belief properly, we don't believe in superstition. We believe in a real G-d, and it's based upon rational concept, rational ideas, as well as faith. Not faith alone, it is based also upon rational ideas, rational principles that can be proven.
Again, Allah Most High in Quran, He says, "And what would cause you to disbelieve in Allah, while the messenger of Allah is calling you to believe in your Rabb. It says Rabbikum. Your Rabb. Now, what is the logic here? They translate this word, Rabbikum, your Lord. But if you read every translation by all of the accepted translators, here we have a translation of Quran right before me here by Maulana Abdullah Yusuf Ali. There are many other translators, who have done the Quran into English, translated the Quran in English. They all will tell you that their translation is not sufficient. That their translation is not sufficient, that it falls short of giving the full meaning and full beauty of the original text, that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him.
So if we understand that, then let us discuss little more, see more in this word, Rabbikum. When we say Lord to an English speaking people, to an English speaking audience, you may think of Jesus right away as the Lord, but the people of Scripture, they called G-d Lord before the Christians called Jesus Lord. You see? And we find that in the political history of the people, they address certain governmental people with that term, or by that title, Lord. The Lords of London, the Lords in the Governmental Constitution of the English, the British people, they call them Lords. The House of Lords, the House of Commons as we have what? The Senate and the Congress, right? Yes, and they have the House of Lords and the House of Commons, you see?
So when we say, Lord, we feel obligated. Muslims that is, we feel obligated to explain to you in more detail, what this word means. Now we know the meaning of a word by studying that word in the context of which it is used. Many words take on different meanings, because we changed the context. There are scientific terms that when you use them in purely scientific language, they carry a scientific meaning, a purely scientific meaning, but the same term used in common language, in fact will not carry that same meaning.
So we know that the words have to be understood in their proper context, and I thank Allah that I have been permitted to live long enough and to keep up with sane mind to study this book and to read it over many times. So I will understand what a word means in the Quran, because if you read it in just one verse or in just one chapter, that's not enough. You have to read that same word in many verses and in many chapters to see how Allah revealed this word to Muhammad, peace be on him, and how that word is to be understood in this book, the Quran, in the context of the Quran.
So dear beloved people, the word Rabb is used in many ways in the Quran. And when we study the many ways in which it is used, then we see the meaning of Rabb. Allah says in the Quran, that Allah, He is the Rabb of human beings. He is the Rabb also of Jinns. Now the Jinns refer to, they say spirits and some people believe that Jinn can be in man too. And if man is dominated by that spirit called Jinn, then at that time, that man is Jinn. You see? And Allah is also the Rabb, He is the Lord of men. And many people believe that in referring to men, Allah is not talking about just any man. He's talking about the children of Adam. And in talking about the children of Adam, He's not talking about just any man. He's talking about the people that have been following the Prophet. The people that have been following the Prophet.
Adam was a Prophet. In the Bible, New Testament, the genealogy of Jesus, that is his birth history, is traced back to Adam. So we understand that to be the history of the servants of G-d, the history of the servants of G-d. And we know all of us are said to have been born from Adam, right? They say Adam is the father of all of us. They say we all are born from Adam. Well, in one sense, yes. In another sense, no. Some of us in our biological makeup, we're from Adam. G-d only created one type of human, one human being, one human form. In our biological form, we are from Adam, but in our spirit, we are from the Jinn, right? We're not from Adam. We're the children of the Jinn, not Adam in our spirit. Because we don't behave like G-d-fearing people. We don't behave like rational human beings. We behave like wild animals, or devil. So then strictly speaking, we are not the children of Adam if we are like that. We are the children of the Jinn. You see?
Now, dear beloved people Rabb is the one who created us and the Jinn. So if Allah has created the Jinn, then can the Jinn be all bad? No. No, the Jinn is not all bad. In the Quran we are told, that are party of the Jinn heard the Quran as it was being recited and they got faith, faith entered their hearts, and they say, "We have heard a wonderful recital and we bear witnessed that no Jinn and no man should fabricate a lie against G-d." So they began to give a proper testimony. So that tells us that the Jinn are not inherently bad. The Jinn is inherently good, but the Jinn too gets off of his nature.
What is the proper nature of everything then? The proper nature of everything is to conform to the laws created by G-d. And Allah created the Jinn, Allah created the men, but then men get away, stray from that, and pretty soon, they don't only stray from the word of G-d, they stray from the behavioral tendencies that G-d established for them, and they began to take up destructive kind of habits. They give themselves to destructive kinds of involvement, involvement in destruction, self destruction, destruction of others, destruction of property, destruction of civilization and so on. So, this tells us that Allah has created everything. He is the Rabb of everything. Now, I think the meaning of Rabb is coming to you, without me telling you what it means. As we began to discuss how it's used, we will see the meaning.
So, Allah is the Rabb of the Jinn, He's the Rabb of men. And Allah says in the Quran, that He has not created a men, nor Jinn, for any purpose except to worship Him. So, Allah created Jinn to worship Him. Now, do we mean to make these superficial ritualistic prayers? No, that's just one expression of worship. Worship is much deeper than that. To worship Him is to serve the purpose that He has designed to bring excellence out, and to bring excellence to grow in the world. That's serving Him. He created everything, yes, but He also gave it a potential, a potential excellence. And we see in the study of the evolution of animals, the evolution of plants, the evolution of the very crust of the earth. We see in the evolution of matter, a growth toward more and more excellence.
Then when we study the animal kingdom and look at the cruelty in the animal. Look at the cruelty in the animals. They tell us that in earlier periods of history in the animal kingdom, animals were very vicious. Huge animals walking the earth, they call dinosaurs. Saber-toothed tigers, much bigger than the one we have now, much more vicious. They found its teeth, longer, much longer. Huge teeth. Where are they today? The process of evolving excellence has left them behind, has buried them as fossils in the ground and left what? The more livable creatures to hang around on the earth.
So, you see, He's the Rabb of everything. He is the Rabb of everything. And look, when we look at the man, the human race, the human being, we see him in the process of evolution too towards more excellence. We look around the world to see those wild hoards, the pirates of the seas and among those hoards, where are they? Gone from the earth. Where are those vicious, cruel human beings who used to just terrorize the earth and the sea, the land and the sea? They're not around here anymore. And we find more people talking about humanity, more people talking about humanism, more people talking about love, more people spreading peace, sharing peace abroad, in this time. Whereas many thousands of years ago, the wild man had the freedom to roam the earth, but now it is the peacemakers that's roaming the earth, and the wild people are almost in prison.
So, doesn't this tell you that there is a natural process? That there is a natural process being evolved and Allah, He is the Rabb of that. He is the Rabb of that. And what is wrong with you? You know, 'Wa ma lakum" That's a perfect grammar, perfect Arabic grammar, the best Arabic, fus-ha. But you know, that's a very simple statement, isn't it? Very simple question. That's a question that any common person would ask, when someone is going out of the natural behavior. "What's wrong with you?" And that's what Allah ask here, in perfect Arabic grammar. "Ma Lakum? What's the matter with you?" That you don't believe in G-d, Allah, the one Lord, while the messenger is calling you to believe in your Rabb"
He's not calling you to believe in superstition. He's calling you to believe in your Rabb, and your Rabb is also the Prophet's Rabb. It was the Rabb of Adam. And here it says, in the verse I read earlier, it says, "And He is the Lord of all the worlds." It says, "And this is the Lord, or the Rabb of all the worlds." Whatever world we know, political world. We speak of our political worlds as different worlds, don't we? We speak of our religious worlds as different worlds. And then we see them bodies floating in the space, we speak of them as different worlds. Well, this Quran say Allah is the Rabb of all of them. All of them. We speak of the world of living matter, the world of dead matter. We use this term, world, in many senses, don't we, in many application and Allah is the Rabb of all the worlds.
Dear beloved people, let us continue now. Allah most high, says in the Quran. Here, Allah Most High is saying, that He has certainly sent. He says we. Allah used the term we. We have sent. Now we know Allah in our religion. We don't believe Allah belongs to a Godhead. Or there's a government of G-d and a cabinet of some angels, or a Senate and a Congress of angels. We don't believe that. When Allah says, "We," it's the same usage, the same language usage, that you'll find when you go to Saudi Arabia, or to Sharjah, or to Egypt or to any country over there and the ruler when he speaks, he'll say, "We." Nah-nu, we.
When he says, "We," he mean I speak for everybody in here. I'm the boss, that's what he means when he says, "We." He speaks for his kingdom. So Allah says, "We," in the Quran, He speaks for His kingdom. Who's in His kingdom? The angels and all servants. Angels are servants, the spirits and all servants. No equals. No G-ds with Him, no equals, no other bosses.
All right. We wanted to say that because we know some Christians have misinterpreted the Bible where it says, "He said, "Let us make man." That not only do others have a share in the run of the creation, but they suggest that others had a share in even the creation of man. They say, "Let us make man." Allah in the Quran never says, "Let us make man." He says, He created man, and He created Jinn. He created both. In fact, the angels, they had to be told. In our religion, we're told that Allah had created the angels before He created men. And then He said to the angels, He said, "Come, look at the man I'm going to create." And He introduced the angels to the man He was going to create.
And the angels were shocked by that. They said, "How can any human being stand this test that you were going to give them?" And then G-d showed them, the angels, His great wisdom and the angels marveled at His great wisdom. But we know of another report is that, when He informed the angels that He was going to make man a ruler in earth, giving him a higher dignity than He gave the angels, then one of the angels ... Oh, pardon me. One among the angels who was leader of them, a Jinn called Iblis in the Quran, he refused to accept G-d's plan, for this dignified creature He was going to make in the earth. He got arrogant and proud, puffed up with pride, self-conceit, got self-important and he said, "I will not accept to submit to this man, to this creature that you were going to make from the ground, from earth, from the ground." So, different expressions are used, from clay, and another one says from mud, stinking mud or black mud fashioned into shape.
So, he refused, and Allah Most high, He said to him, "What is the matter with you, that you don't accept to submit to the leader that I have made, the man leader, ruler, that I have made with my two hands?" Meaning that the kingdom up there had been made with only one hand, only with spiritual power and the new man He was going to make, was going to be made with rational logic. He was going to be established on the principles of rational logic, material logic. So, they didn't want to accept him. And G-d said, "What's the matter with you, that you don't accept the man that I've made with two? I've made you with one, now I make him with two. Two, he's taller than you now, he's better than you. He's more wise. He's going to be more wiser than you, more informed than you. How come you don't submit to him?"
So you see the angels didn't have as much sense, did they? They didn't have the potential for as much sense as a human being got. So He said, "Get you down from here. This is no place for you." That was a moral realm. They were up in the realm of purity and he had let his self image make him arrogant. So, that broke the morals of the higher kingdom, didn't it? He broke the moral nature and the moral law of the higher kingdom, and he was cast down into the earth, to grow up again. Now you know, the scripture has many ways of saying things. The Bible and Jesus, is reported according to the Bible, that when Nicodemus wanted to be one of Jesus' disciples, Jesus told him, "You have to be born again." And Nicodemus said, "Well, how can I go back into my own mother?" And Jesus said, "Nevertheless, you have to be born again."
Now, Allah says, "And surely, Allah sent His messengers with revelation, clear signs, clear evidence, clear signs and sent with them, with His messengers, the book that is the revealed scripture, and also the Mizaan, that is the laws of justice, the balance, the universal principles of justice, that humanity should stand up for justice. That humanity should stand up for justice. So, we see here, that among the purposes that G-d has created us for, are in the purposes He has created us for, is justice.
We are directed to look at the universal order, to see how the universe is operating on principles that keep a balance. It may rain too much today, but there's a law working. It's going to stop raining. The balance is going to be kept. It may get too dry in one area, but there's a law working. The water is still here. A balance is going to be kept. You see? All right. Well, the same thing working outside of our bodies is working inside our bodies. We have a lot of turmoil in ourselves, a lot of anguish, but it's not going to stay there forever. If it does, it's going to kill that body and take it back into his mother and bring it up again.
Say, "Hey, drop this one. It can't be repaired. Send him into the recycling process. We got to make him again." So, you're recycled and made again, right? Praise be to Allah.
Now, dear beloved people, this brings us closer now to human purpose, human purpose. In our religion, we see two figures, or we are shown two figures by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Prophet for the Muslims, and also the mercy and guide for all the world. Prophet Muhammad, universal prophet. Not sent to any particular race. Now this a Quran report, the words of G-d concerning Abraham, the one that we see as our father. The same way Christian see. You hear Christians say, Abraham, our father. Jews, Abraham our father. Muslim, Abraham our father. Prophet Muhammad, he showed us in the revelation to him that he experienced in his ascension, and visit to the distant mosque in Jerusalem, Masjid Aqsa. He showed us in his ascension and travel there what Allah had showed him.
And Allah showed him Adam as the first father, and Abraham as the last father. Adam the first father of the human beings, and Abraham as the last father of the human beings. And here in this Quran, we are given the words of Abraham, the words of Allah and the words of Abraham. Abraham was asked, G-d said, become Muslim. Or become obedient. That's another word or way of saying it, become obedient. Obey peacefully and willingly. That's what it means. You know, you perhaps been trying to get your child to do something, and maybe your child was doing it, but the way your child was doing it, keep your heart in pain, huh? It kept your heart disturbed.
And sometimes, you get so dissatisfied with that you say, "Look, don't do it. Leave it alone." And rather than see them do it in that spirit, you tell them, "Leave it alone". And you do it yourself, or you get another child to do it. A more obedient, more willing child to do it. Or maybe strike that one on the butt, until it gets the message. I don't know. That might be your method. All right, so Abraham was told by G-d to become Muslim. Aslam means to consciously accept to obey G-d. We know, this religion tells us that we're all Muslim in our nature. He has created us Muslim, like He created the sun, the moon and stars and everything, Muslim. But G-d wants us to consciously be Muslim. Make a conscious commitment to obey Him in good spirit, not hating it, not fighting it.
So when Abraham was asked this, Allah says I'll give you know the words in the Quran, Qaala Aslamtu leRabbil Aalameen. Abraham said, I submit peacefully to the Lord of all the worlds. And he is called our father. Allah says in the Quran, through the Prophet, "What reason is there for us not to trust ourselves to Allah, when He has guided us to the avenues of resources." So, here again now, we see Allah. He has guided us to the avenues of resources. A lot of us don't understand that. I have read the report of scientist, I used to be a student in high school, I loved sciences, I loved general sciences. I loved chemistry, I loved physics, I loved the sciences. As a teenager I did. Still do. And I remember reading what difference scientist have said. Who was the guys who pasteurized the milk? Pasture, that's him. He pasteurized the milk. You can never forget his name, right?
He talked about how he was experimenting, and how certain things happened that he didn't calculate. He didn't pre-calculate it. And the other guy, excuse me for calling them guy. These are high people, big shots. Scientists, scholars. The other scientist who invented the penicillin. He said that he was really racking in his brain trying to find out how to complete the formula. And he left a sandwich on the window seal, and mold had formed on the sandwich. And the window was cracked, so the wind blew mold off the sandwich into his experiment, and killed the germ that he was trying to find bacteria to kill. And that's how we got penicillin. But they won't write no religious book to tells you how they got their knowledge. But they got it by miracles too.
See, Allah is the Rabb of all the worlds. He created everything, and He is the spirit and the protector. Guiding and ushering us forward into greater and greater progress. Praise be to Allah. And in another place, Allah says in the Quran, He is the one who created and guided. Again, this was through the mouth of the Prophet that this was said. He is the one who created and guided, or created and thereafter gave the guidance. So we should understand this now both in a spiritual sense and also in a practical sense, or in rational sense. What guidance do we have that didn't come out of this created world? If you have any guidance that didn't come out of this created world, you're in fantasy. You're in superstition and fantasy. You're not in touch with what Allah created. You've gotten out of touch with what Allah has created. Allah says in the Quran, "Think not man that your creation is bigger than this universe.
Your creation is not bigger than the creation of the heavens and earth. So, this is a very rational religion. It's not different from the religion Allah gave Adam, Moses, Abraham, Jesus. It's no different from the one he gave all the Prophets. Allah tells us in this religion that, "think not man that you are bigger than this creation that I have made outside of your body. Don't think that you're some kind of special supernatural being. No, you got your creation from this creation I made here. And because of Me and My plan for you, you have evolved outside of that creation. I'm your Rabb. I'm the one who is responsible for evolving you out of this material world." And Allah says in another place in the Quran that, He has established the human being on the pattern of which He established the creation itself." The design for our behavior, the design for our possibilities, are the same design that Allah put in this creation itself. The whole creation.
And we have been raised up or evolved upon that design. And whatever we get, whatever we use, whatever possibilities we have intellectually or any other way, they come out of the vast great creation. This is no superstition. This is rational religion. This is the only true religion, the only true religion. You can do mathematics? You couldn't do it without the creation. You can read? You couldn't do it without creation. Talk, couldn't do it without the creation. You can walk? Couldn't do it without creation. You can sing? You couldn't do it without the creation. You can write fiction stories you couldn't do it without the creation. A fiction story ain't nothing but reality changed around. You can dream? You couldn't do it without the creation. Dream ain't nothing but a bad report from the computer. Yeah, it's just a mixed up report from the computer, that's all. We have to try to figure it out.
So don't think you do anything outside of the creation. Allah made the creation, He made you. And whatever is possible for you, it's possible for you within the possibilities of creation. He says, He created us, that's something. He created us. We have no possibilities outside of creation. Praise be to Allah. Allah has made the creation, He made the world, and He has made the scientists. He made the scientists. It's the knowledge of science locked up in the creation, He made the scientist. And then another place Allah says, He created then reconciled what He created. Then He freed the potential in what He created. Then He guided His creatures. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that wonderful? That's what Allah says in the Qur'an. Khalaqa faswwa, Qadara fahada . Therefore, it is Allah that gave us form and gave life. Everything that has form is not living. There's animate and inanimate matter. But Allah gave form, and the scientists, they believe that form was created before life, is that right?
Yes. They believe that the universe was created, then life evolved out of that universe, out of that material, lifeless universe. And Allah says in the Quran, "See how He brings the living from dead matter, and then dead matter from the living. And that can be understood in so many ways. But once I was thinking and I realized that right in me is the fact of that. My hair is dead matter. Ain't no life in hair, dead matter. My finger nails, dead matter. The top skin, dead matter. Ain't no life in the top skin, dead matter. So we see how Allah has shown us right in our own selves, that we are walking bodies of living and dead matter. And both are growing inside of us. Yes, the living matter is growing upon dead matter. If you didn't eat no dead matter, you wouldn't have no living matter for long. So, the living matter is growing on dead matter. And then I looked at my body and it's growing dead matter. Hair dead, fingernails dead, top skin dead. Sometimes the brain dead.
Praise be to Allah. I didn't know I was going to like you so much today. We should like each other. We don't have to love each other, but we should at least like each other. I don't want you getting passionate with me. So, we're going stomach to each other. Because we have to get our heads together and our hearts together, and make progress for human beings. And I mean all kinds of progress. We can't limit ourselves to just coming here praying. We have to make all kinds of progress. And believe me, it's the people that have their head on their shoulders right who make all kinds of progress. Those are the people that make all kinds of progress. You can't expect a ghetto or an inner city, central city to have citizens that are really responsible for their lives and responsible for the foundations of society and for the advancement of society, and they don't have their heads on right. It's impossible.
They may get a PhD, but their head was never put on right. So, they make no real progress, they don't change the conditions in their community. So, we have to turn to Allah for that, that is turn to the one G-d for that, and we will be successful inshaAllah. G-d willing. Let me continue now with this. It says, "Then He will give you death." After He formed you out of the dead matter into life, then He will give you death. These are natural processes. This is a religion that doesn't spook you up on death. It wants its followers, its believers, its adherents, to accept death as a natural process. We don't hate death, we don't fear death. We have an obligation in life to build a good record of obedience to Allah. So, we want to live because that obligation is on us. If we didn't have respect for that obligation, we would snort cocaine. We would maybe shoot a little heroin. We would maybe become Evel Knievel. We would maybe get into these death wishes, and give ourselves to the tendency of death, and leave this earth.
But good, sound thinking people, they don't do that. They remain sane, and live intelligent life. They guard against the wild crazy extremes because they value life. They value G-d, the principle of G-d and worship. And they value life, they value what this life holds for them. "Oh, maybe I didn't make it today, maybe I didn't accomplish much today, but if G-d gives me a tomorrow, I'm going to do better." So, they are people of life, but not fearing death, accepting it as a natural process. See how much more productive we'll be in a real truthful way if we get off of our backs the burden of the mythology, superstition and all the other spookism of this world, has given us? This is the religion to do it. Believe me, if you've ever been kissed by the sweetest kiss in the world, if you've ever had the warmest, tender and most thrilling kiss in the world. Now I'm talking to Bilalian People, the African-American people. Buddy this religion is that kiss.
I come from Christian parents. My parents were Christian. They came into an Islamic idea of life, and they lived moral life that is very much like Islamic. But in their theology, in their religious ideas, they were Christian. They were not even changed. Christians believe in "man-G-d." Christians believe G-d manifests in Jesus, a human being, a human man on earth. And that that man should be accepted as G-d. We were taught that a man named Fard was a "man-G-d". That G-d was transferred to him from his father, and that he was a "man-G-d" on earth, and that we should worship him, and we should trust him for our salvation. For deliverance, for everything. That's what we were told. And we called him savior. And just as the Christians celebrate Jesus' birthday every year, we were celebrating this man's birthday every February. And we called him savior.
The only thing we didn't do it put him on a cross. If we had put him on a cross, it'd be identical, the same theology, identical theology that the Christian church has. I think he put himself on the cross before we could do it. And good, the sin is not on us. He did it. Well, what do you mean by that? Well, you know cross, double cross. Mess yourself up. Yeah, that's crossing isn't it? Killing the progress. If we have a plan to do something, and you double cross me or cross me, then I needed you in that plan, then you have caused that plan to be aborted. Aborted, or killed or checked, right? Yes, you see. So, a cross means a lot of things. To stop, to block, to check. We should be finished here in a few minutes, don't worry.
All right. Now, He says, "And He calls you to death, give you life, give you form, give you life, then cause you to die, give death to you. And then He promise a resurrection from the dead. Is that right? He promises a resurrection from the dead. And Allah tells us in the Quran, "How they can't believe in a resurrection from the dead? Can't they see that their living matter was once dead?" And then again, He shows us another parable of it. He says, "See how Allah sends the fertile clouds with a rain to a dead land, parched earth without water. And calls rain to come down on it and up comes life. Is that not right? And then another sign He gives to us, He says, "See a town neglected, the roof's of the buildings all caved in, all sunk in. That's a dead town. Now, if intelligent people come there, industrious, intelligent-minded people come there, they can raise that town up again, can't they? But they can do it only with the tools and with the potential that Allah has given them.
He's the resurrection not man, in more since than you know. In a greater sense than you know. He is the Resurrector of the dead. You know, sometimes we can pass by little things we see in our life. And those things may hold great meaning. Revelations. Little babies just born into the world cry. Why cry? Seem like it was very peaceful in his mother. In fact, the mother sometimes worry. She wants to get a response from it. She'll be checking around her stomach, saying hey, do something. You're supposed to be there, we're supposed to be all together now. What's happening? Sometimes we see an elbow maybe, the print of it will show outside her stomach. He might be turning over a little bit, getting a better, another position, or something. You, see? But ain't no violence going on in the stomach. There's no violence going on in the stomach. The baby is delivered out here and the doctor examines it. And over many, many times of examination, we finally learn that the baby comes here with a purity.
A purity. No germs. And an immunity, an immunity against the ordinary germs that bother us. I think they say it's six months immunity. Yeah. See how wonderful Allah is? A baby comes here and is looking so wonderful. And you may say, "Oh, what about those that don't come here so wonderful?" There are few. And when you consider the way most of us live, we should have more coming here irregular. It's only the blessings of Allah that we have so many coming here regular, considering the way we live. We have abused the machine that Allah made for the babies to come into and come out of. Yeah. All right, dear beloved people. The baby cries, what makes it cry? Oh, the baby, it doesn't like cruelty. The baby dislike cruelty, it doesn't like cruelty. What else makes it cry? The baby dislikes filth. The baby doesn't like filth. You say, "The baby's crying, go see what's the matter.
I just fed it, it shouldn't be hungry. Maybe the diaper needs changing." The baby doesn't like filth. "Check the bed and see if there's a hard object under the baby." The baby doesn't like cruelty. So, Allah has created a child and has treated that child well. Scientific proof that G-d has not been treating that child cruel because that child comes here disliking cruelty. Scientific proof that G-d hasn't subjected that child to a filthy environment, because that child comes here disliking filth. Scientific proof that Allah did not subject that child to confusion, because that baby comes here disliking confusion. The new baby, you start a lot of confusion. The baby starts crying. Baby doesn't like confusion, baby doesn't like filth, baby doesn't like cruelty. You start beating on each other, baby starts crying. That should tell us something. Allah says, "See signs in the heavens above you? See My signs in the earth below you, see My signs in you? But most people go on heedless, not paying attention to my signs.
But He also speaks to us through His signs in the universe, in ourselves, but most of us go on heedless not paying attention to the sign. If we believe in a creator, Allah in creating babies had told us that He doesn't want us in a filthy environment. And shouldn't we like peace and orderliness rather than chaos and confusion? Allah has told us that. And should we pulling the baby's mind off kind of fancy fairytales about how he was created all these fancy fairytales about how good things come. We're approaching now Christmas and a big fairytale about how gifts comes to the children. We need children to love parents. If they want to do something to help the family situation today for men and for women, for relatives, they should declare Santa Clause outlawed.
Say, "This is no time to afford this kind of lie, when children needs to be drawn closer to their parents. Say, "Let us tell them on national TV, that Santa Claus has stolen from you, have robbed your father, have robbed your mother out of the appreciation that is meant for your father and mother, that your father and mother worked hard and they will buy you this present. And they will put that present under a tree. And ain't no white, red dressed up, White man come down no dam chimney, nowhere. Excuse my language. Ain't no fat belly cherry-face White man came down from nowhere and gave your child nothing. That's your parents that give you that. Now, love them on Christmas for working hard and trying to give you a little present."
But they don't want to bring proper life, proper family life to the people, as much as they want to bring dollars into their pockets from the lie, that creates in us an impulse to just spend. "Oh, if I don't do it, Santa Clause, you know, Santa Clause." We should go out there and take a cross, two sticks, a cross. And every Santa Clause we see in the street, go to his head and put it on there.
Yeah, put the cross to his blood sucker head. They say, "Hell, you people Christians?" Say, "No, we not Christians, but we think the cross has something to do with this Santa Clause." Or take some kerosene and through on it and tell them the matches is coming if you don't hurry up and undress. Or have a cigarette lighter. Something that won't go out if you throw it on it. Now, that's all in a little fun. Just having a little fun, that's all. But be careful having those Santa Clause down there. I don't care White or Black. Putting their hand all in your baby's face. You don't know what the dude might have syphilis or something worse. They don't get no big salary. They get them dudes cheap.
Yeah. I remember white people, when they used to think they could put their hand in our baby's mouth anytime. It didn't have to be Santa Clause. You know, just speak to our child, stick his hand right in your baby's face. They didn't get by with that with us. Because we were some crazy Muslims, under my father.
New Speaker:
He come sticking his hand, and I say, "Hey, don't you put your nasty hand in my little brother's face. Get your hand out of my little brother's face, sucker. You about to get a whipping."
Yeah, my little brother, Akbar. I'm about six years older than he is. A little old white man. "Hi," and stick his hand out. I said, "Hey, what you're doing? Get your hand out of his face. Don't put your nasty hands in his face." In my heart I was saying, you know that you don't like my brother. And I can see it in him. Now some of them, you know, are nice, but the nice ones, they intelligent enough to say, "May I touch him?" They won't just go stick their hand in your baby's face. That one that stick their hand in your baby's face, they ain't nice at all. He might be crazy. It don't matter what the case is. We should teach them a lesson. They crazy, still need a lesson. Yeah.
They have different degrees of insanity, don't they? They do. And when you get down to very low, you're very, very much beneath the rational level of behavior. They call you like an animal. They identify you like on an animal level, right? Then you get much, much lower. Pretty soon, you're not even animal. You're just all out of order. You're completely strayed from nature. They can't find you with a natural classification at all. You crazy as hell. But on a certain level, they say your an animal like a brute. Like a brute animal. Now, what do you do to a brute animal to make him understand? You whack him if you have to, don't you? Right, you whack him if you have to.
Most of the public now, about at least 45% of them, maybe 55%. They've just turned into brute animals. And people say, "Oh, don't bother him, they're just you know." No, don't bother them, get a stick and whack them. Rather than have him take over my life, I ain't going to let him take over my life. I'm going to beat him back.
Now, what we have been showing is that Allah, is One Lord. He's the Rabb of us and everything. That is Evolver, Creator, and also the one responsible for that creation rising up to high levels of dignity and worth. That's the meaning of Rabb. Cares for it and raise it up. In fact, a term very close to it has been used for parents. Because isn't that the responsibility of parents to take a child when that child is helpless and care for that child, supervise that child's life and urge it on to greater and greater possibility. You see?
Now, Allah says in the Quran, "There may be something you dislike while it is beneficial and good for you. And there may be something you like while it is harmful to you." And it says, "And it is Allah who knows while you do not know." So, you see what Allah is telling us here? That even our moral choices have been determined by Allah. Everything is determined. He created everything, He has determined everything, even our moral choices. So, don't be big headed just because you say, "I'm grown", or "I've been to school". Some of us with college degrees, we act like little children. "Oh, hell, I'm educated. I don't need nobody in the religion telling me anything."
Do you have to be educated in this religion because you educated in physics? A lot of people can manage physics can't manage their lives. We find a lot of people in skid row who were not only students, but they were professional people. They had gotten that degree and then had started their practice. And we find him and his degree in his license also to practice in the gutter. He's a wine head on skid row.
So, is that any proof that you know how to manage life just because you got a degree? No, it's not proof. We have to understand that we need help. And many times we get so involved into a career or so involved with our own personal private little projects, that we lose sense and we can't realize it anymore, that we are in need ourselves of some supervision. And we should turn to Allah for that supervision and should respect him.
The Muslim is not to be beheaded. When we make the Hajj and we make the circles around, the circuits around the Kaaba. We say, "Allah, it is you who know. We do not know." But don't wait till you make Hajj to do that, make the confession now and make it anytime you feel arrogant or beheaded. Please do not interfere with the brother's praying. That's not right. We can't do that. They're praying. You can't interfere with it. May Allah forgive us.
So, dear beloved people, when we make the circuits around the Kaa'ba, we make that confession. "Allah, it is you who know, we do not know. Whatever we have, We have gotten it from you through your creation, your messenger, your prophets, et cetera. We don't know."
So, dear beloved people, we have not had good supervisors. Commercial white people, profiteering white people went to the Motherland and brought our ancestors over here. And they subjected them to the worst kind of human experiences. The worst kind of experience for a living creature. And then after declaring us to be free, they have not given us decent supervision. They have left us to bad environmental conditions. They have encouraged the development of bad environmental conditions for us. They have almost been willing to go to physical combat, to physical war to keep us out of better environments. We haven't had decent supervision.
Now, why should we look for that one White man or that one White woman that is Christ-like. That's sweet and trust ourselves to them when there are so many of us, all we need is just to show each other that we appreciate each other. And we have the resources, moral resources, spiritual resources, intellectual resources. We have all the resources right here among ourselves to establish proper people and give them proper roles, fitting roles in our own community. And they will be good models, good supervisors for us.
You all tell me that you are proud of me. You happy now, you got a Imam, you got to leader you can trust. I like to hear that. But I would feel much better if I saw you trusting each other too. Because I'm one, I can die anytime. You have to trust each other. And dear brothers, we want to ask you to forgive us for interrupting you while you were praying. The brother shouldn't have done that. We are sorry for that. Allah forgive us. Astaghfirallah, Allah forgive us. They shouldn't have bothered you while you're praying. The brother didn't know. He didn't know. Yeah, so please forgive us.
The Muslim have a right to pray in any Masjid. If you say this is a Masjid, any Muslims coming down that street has a right to come to this Masjid and pray. We say in this religion, the Masjids belongs to Allah not to us. Once we establish a Masjid it's not ours as such. It's only ours to supervise and to see that the rules for that Masjid are protected. And the rule is that any Muslim can come in here and pray. And if anybody come in here whether you know him to be a Muslim or not, he can pray. You can't interfere with him.
Because again, Allah established in Quran and also in Hadith. Some people were brought to Prophet Muhammad and they were charged with something. And Prophet Muhammad says, "Allah has not given me the power to look inside their breast and see what is there." If there is no evidence, then they're dismissed. You can't charge people on what you suspect. You got to charge them on what you know. All right. So, so much for that.
I've been abroad in countries and I go to any Masjid and I pray. I've been alone more than once traveling abroad in Muslim countries. And I didn't know anybody. I walked into the Masjid and I prayed and nobody will stop you from praying. In fact, most of them would, if they see you a stranger, most likely you will be approached and somebody will welcome you and want to get to know you and introduce you to the rest of the people. Yeah. And you know, we supposed to have a high level of civilization over here, don't we? Sometime, I think we ain't nothing but a savage beast dressed up in civilization.
See, you can take a savage and dress him up like a Pope of Rome. And he'll be a crazy wild savage up under all of those Pope garbs. I think they had a few Popes like that, didn't they? Yeah, I believe history tells us. They had a few Pope like that. They thought they were Popes, these dudes were nothing but maniacs up under those garments, savages.
Now getting back to the line of discussion. That is that Allah is Rabb of everything, that we owe Him worship, and appreciation for everything we have because we could have nothing without Him. If He hadn't created matter and the possibilities for that matter, we would have nothing.
I was watching television this morning and it had a program on South Africa. Exposing the evils of apartheid in South Africa. And I was impressed by a man, he's a Black man, but he's really not an African, he's from India. I guess his people have lived there in South Africa for some time because they have a sizeable population of Indians there in South Africa.
Anyhow, this Reverend, he's a Reverend. His name is Reverend Desmond Tutu. T-U-T-U. He impressed me with his courage. He's not afraid. He talked about how he had been threatened by the people who want to keep the situation as it is in South Africa. He said that the child got the phone call that was meant for him. It terrorized the child. But do you think he was ready to quit? No, no. He said, "they can't stop this." He said, "G-d is behind it." He said, "I'm not afraid." He said it on TV. This is good.
See, they knew most of the African-Americans wouldn't be up looking at that show. They'd be getting over their hangover off some heavy pork eating, pork chop eating or something or dissipating all night long or something, or fussing and fighting while the show is going on.
In some of these homes, a lot of good programs pass them by. Television just left on blasting by itself and they fussing and fighting. They didn't even know it was on. I'm not saying it's all of us like that. Not all of us, too many of us are like that. Life just going apart, crazy.
Yeah, so he said, "G-d is the Lord of liberation." That's what he said. And that's true. That's what we have to understand as people of religion, that Allah is the Lord of liberation. As they say in Christianity, G-d is the G-d of liberation.
What do you think the purpose of G-d sending Prophets is for? To free man. To free people. To free them from all unjust restriction. And the thing that restricts us most from reaching our excellence that Allah created us for is what? Ignorance. So, the greatest liberating process is true pure education. Isn't that true? You educate a person, you give them their own life into their own hands. And that's freedom. But a fool can't be trusted even with his own life. Society has a moral obligation to protect the fool from himself. That's true. Allah has placed this moral obligation upon society.
So, dear beloved people, let us understand that for Muslims that statement is not only true, but that statement has clearly been taught to us by Prophet Muhammad. That Allah is the G-d, the Lord of liberation. He wants us free. He wants to free the great creative powers, the human potential for excellence in all of us. And establish us on sound rational principles as well as on the principles of faith. Never give up faith now. For He had not created any man so wise and so big that he can ever get to that point where you say, "I can live without faith now. I'll live only with my rule and my square, and my compass, et cetera." No. Allah hasn't created any human being with that kind of potential. You will always have a need to be faithful. And faith is the best life saver for the human being. Faith in Allah, faith in His messenger, faith in all the prophets, all the messengers of G-d, faith in His scripture, His pure scripture. Faith in whatever He has promised.
Don't you know man can't live without promise? Allah has created in our nature to pursue promise. We pursue promise. We're in pursuit of promise. You don't know you're going to get a wife. You're pursuing something that is promised by society. Isn't that not true. Or promise by your own rational thinking. Your rational thinking hasn't proved it, but your rational thinking promised you that. "I can get a wife. And you don't know when you're going to be successful." You try, you missed that time. You missed again. Pretty soon you give up and try out a man, you go freakish. You say, "Well, I'll get me a girl-boy, since I couldn't get a girl-girl." And if you had stuck with G-d's promise, you wouldn't have gone astray like that.
And Allah says the devil, he invites us too, he promises us. He promises us and he invites us, but he threatens us when he invites us. He threatens us with fear of poverty. Is that right? With poverty and fear, he threatens us. Say, "Yeah, you can be righteous if you want to, but if you be righteous, you ain't going have no money. If you be righteous, you ain't going have no good living." So, that's the devil threatening us with poverty. Is that not right? Yes! But says Allah, He promises us. And He offers us what? Mercy and forgiveness. He offers us a garden whose width expanses as the heavens and earth. He offers us immeasurable possibilities for progress and growth. Oh yeah. And He promises us forgiveness too for our sins. That's Allah. Praise be to Allah.
Now, dear beloved people, we mentioned the sign in the birth of the little baby, that tells us that we must have an environment that is conducive to clean morals, good virtues. We must have a environment that is conducive to intelligent thinking. A baby doesn't like to be thrown in an environment of confusion. So, we need an environment that is conducive to intelligent thinking. That means we should get a lot of this all wild music out of our life, a lot of these old wild songs that put in us wild impulses. That's all they do, they clock your behavioral nature to respond to wild impulses. And you wonder how come we're down economically. You wonder how come we're down as an ethnic body of people. It's because we are the targets of this world's arrows of doom, filth, confusion, violence. They're targeting our soul, our sensitivities all the time for the arrows of those influences. And we should guard ourselves against it. Come together as Muslim, reject the world, follow the Quran. And don't be too proud to say that, "I have a man that I respect to tell me what is right. To tell me when I'm living right. I have a man that I can go to and he has advised me. I accept his advice over my own.
I accept his advice over professor's so and so and so." Don't be ashamed. Don't be too big headed to do that. We should accept our Imam's advice over the advice of the worldly people. And if we have intelligence or a mental grasp that we think is equal to Imam or better, then you should be busy educating yourself in the language of the Quran so that you will become a leader for people who need you. That's right. Yes.
And the moment you see yourself, you have excelled, you have passed your Imam, you are too big for him, you really need to teach him rather then he needs to teach you, you should bring it to his attention in a friendly way, in a brotherly way. Come as a kind friend to him, not as a person trying to take his place or somebody resenting him being in the position. And if you can't convince him, then your moral obligation is to convince the people that the community is being held up because it is overlooking better leadership. Don't we have that moral obligation? Certainly.
You may say, "Well, suppose that Imam is you, brother Imam?" I'm ready right now. Come on. This is a heavy row to hoe. A hard road to hoe or something like that, they say. So, this is a hard row to hoe, man. Come on. If you've got the ability, then let's discuss it because I'm ready to be your assistant. Oh, yes. I'm not joking. I'm for the progress of this community. If I see a person who can do a better job than me, I'm going to become his helper. That's right. If it's a sister, I'm going to become her helper.
Say, "Well, sister, I'm the Imam, but please advise me. You got more sense than I got." And find some position for her too in the leadership. That's right. Then we'll grow.
What is his role now? We have environmental responsibility, environmental consciousness. And then there's a need to progress, go forward, advance that environment. Carry that environment to greater and greater possibilities of growth. Is that not right?
So, to Abraham, what were we told? That G-d held out a promise. Is that not right? Promise. G-d held out a promise, the promise to Abraham. What is that promise? That his seed, and we know it by the Bible and also by the Quran, that seed here does not mean seed in the test tube or seed on the laboratory slide. Seed here means those who follow in the spirit, in the character, in the way of the prophet. Okay?
So, it says, "His seed will inherent the earth," is that not right? And He directed him, He had pointed out to him a Promised Land. And you know it must've meant more than just the vicinity of Jerusalem, because the Prophets marched all over that land and never said they got into the Promised Land.
Moses, he led the people out of Egypt and he never said he got into the Promised Land. Joshua, he went into Jerusalem, into that vicinity, is that not right? But still the people were looking for the Promised Land, right? And Israel, it was setup over there, the government at one time in Jerusalem under King Solomon, right? And at that time it was believed that they thought they had reached the Promised Land, right? Why? Because they had got what? A civilized government with a world vision. Universal view and world focus and a plan to advance not only themselves, but a plan to advance the principle of peace in the world. Isn't that right?
You who understand religion. You know, that this is what the Jews had come in to, they thought. But their behavior was wrong. They failed this idea. They put too much material concerns on their nation. And history tells us of the Jewish kingdom, that it fell because of heavy taxation. This is the history. The kingdom in Jerusalem under the Jews, it fell because of heavy taxation. They got too greedy for the material thing.
So, we know what their direction was. Their hope was for a material, what'd you call it, acquisition. The acquisition of material things and for political dominance so that they would be able to control the material goods on the earth. And through that they thought they could establish peace. Having that same idea, been passed down to the Western society. They think that the way to get peace is to first conquer territory. And once you have the territory and you control the natural resources, then you can enforce peace.
What man was that in the history of our country, just here lately, the president of United States, I forget which one it was. It might've been Roosevelt. But anyway, under one of them in that time, it was said, boast, they boast, "We could police the whole world." That was the boats they made. He said, "We can police the whole world."
And you know, before our country came into that arrogance, the British Empire, what did they say? "The sun never sets on our territory." That's what they said, "The sun never sets from our territory." And many of you may not know this, but the Promise Land was interpreted by the Western world to mean western democracy. That this was the new Jerusalem. Western democracy became the new Jerusalem. That's why they picked up the same kind of aspirations that the Jews had in Jerusalem under the so-called kingdom there. They picked up their aspirations. Not only did they pick up their aspirations, they picked up their policies, they picked up the principles of government, they picked up their policies and they picked up their goals, which is world dominance, world dominance. The confiscation of properties, of continents and resources. This is terrible. No, I shouldn't say confiscation because that gives the connotation that they had a right to do that or something. No, we say the rob, the theft.
It's theft. It was nothing but theft. Stick up. Bold stick up. And just take continents from people. Nations. Continents. And justified among the morally people in their leadership on that principle or that idea that G-d has put man in the world to rule. And you can only guarantee the peace if you are controlling the factors in the society. Material factors, political factors, whatever. They want to control all the factors operating in the society to justify them getting in the position to guarantee the world peace.
Now, we should understand that our religion is against that. Every religion has two major focuses. One focus is on morality, morality. The other focus is on progress. And they accept responsibility for both. Civilized governments, they accept the responsibility for both. To keep the moral life for their society and also to guarantee the line of progress for their society.
This is the right of government, isn't it? This is the right of government. The right is in the people in a democratic order. The right is in the people, but they carry out that right through government process with a leader, a president or somebody over them, right? Yes. You know that's the way it is done. And the voice of the people work through their leader to preserve the moral order of society and progress the welfare of that society. You see?
So, we all have that. Now, we have to understand as Muslims that we have that too. And in concluding, I'll simply say that we are to see our religion in its principles. One Allah, no associating any G-d with Him, son, nobody. Mother, sister, brother, nobody. He has no family. He's one. He didn't come that way. He didn't come by family. He created the world and everything. And we don't call the creatures the children of G-d. We don't call any Muslim or Christian, nobody, children of G-d. We call them the dependents of G-d. We are Allah's dependents, not His children. Children suggest a sex kind of thing. We get children from sexual mixing. That's how we get children. And those who get children are themselves inadequate or insufficient. That's why they have to go get mate up, to get children. They need each other to get children. Allah didn't need nobody to make the creation. So, that's wrong to put G-d's creative principle in that sex kind of picture, sex kind of concept. It's wrong.
This Quran rejects that. It says, "It's an outrage." That's what Quran says. It says, "It is an outrage that they say that the beneficent G-d has taken on a woman and gotten a child." An outrage.
And you know I don't like to do this, but sometimes, you know G-d has many signs. And I do believe the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was a sign too. Whether we are in accord with the teachings of Quran or not, if we have good intentions, G-d will use us as a sign. If we are trying to do right, G-d will use us as a sign. And many things that come from us will be helpful to people. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "Why would G-d go and make a woman pregnant with His child and tell man he ain't supposed to do that without marrying?" No marriage?
In fact, how many Christians here? Believe me, I respect your religion, but your religion is loaded with myth. And in the myth it's almost funny. So, excuse me if I offend anybody. You know it says that, "the Holy ghost overshadowed Mary." And in another place, the Bible says, "the Holy Ghost overpowered Mary. And she became pregnant with the child of the Holy Ghost." Now that's simple rape charge. It's a simple and clear rape charge. If you overpower a woman and she become pregnant with your child, that's rape. Now, I'm not joking, I'm not making fun. I'm simply stating it as it is. Any book that says something overpower a woman and she became pregnant with the child". Why they would even lock you up if you're married to a woman and you take her by force.
So, it's says, "the Holy ghost overpowered her and he became pregnant with the child of the Holy ghost." Now, you know, they made this language, don't you know King James, called together many experts in psychology to make the language so that it inspires good people to go right, but feed wicked minds to do wickedness.
So, if you have any wrong inclination in you or wrong tendencies, tendency to be a pervert, or tendency to be a freak-out person, you will subconsciously get the message that G-d is raping Mary. And without consciously knowing that, you will go out and become the most notorious rapist on earth. Because in your subconscious, G-d will be established there as the first rapist.
I know a lot of you can't take this, but believe me, you can't live without it from this day on. You can't run from it no more. Once you heard it, you cannot escape it. It is going to bring you back to right thinking. Or it's going to destroy you. It's going to do one or the other. It'll either bring you back the right thinking or G-d will destroy you for your disobedience.
Dear people, the honorable Elijah Muhammad said that this is a poison book. A poison book. And I recall him also saying that, "The Bible is the graveyard of my people." That's what he said. "The Bible is the graveyard of my people." And believe me, in my young days, the people who were the worst off, the least responsible for their life and their community was those who were seem to have been, most devoted to the church life. That's the truth. Now, maybe it wasn't true for your neighborhood, but that's the truth for the neighborhood that I came up in. I lived on 61st and Michigan, as a youngster.
There was a big Catholic church on the left side. A big Presbyterian church right in front of us. But most of our people didn't go to those two churches. Those two big churches were for just a few people who thought themselves to be uppity. If you wanted to find our church, you had to go to the corner store. To the house church. Two story house church. Or to a store front. And if you want to find most of them, you could walk two blocks from Wabash, Michigan pardon me, where we lived. We lived on Wabash too, but this is another time. You could walk two blocks over to State Street and you'd find just loads churches. They were just lined up by each other. Church, church, church, church, church.
And that's where most of our people went, to those churches. Little storefront churches, or big Baptist church somewhere on South Park somewhere, you know. And most of the people that went to those churches, they were the poorest people in Chicago. Not only the poorest, also the most culturally deprived people in society. Yes. Most culturally deprived people in Chicago. They could hardly speak good English. Many times the preacher couldn't speak good English. He'd be preaching and his English would be terrible. They had all the religion, but little sense, little cultural upbringing, little intelligence, no money, no business establishment. I'm talking about the great majority, almost 100% of them. Yes.
So, dear beloved people, we should understand that we have to be responsible for our environment, for our moral life, for the moral life and environment, for intelligence in the environment, and also for direction in environment. We have to be responsible for progressing our environment. We shouldn't be satisfied to have this Masjid in here.
"Oh, this is an accomplishment." Most of the African-American and poor Whites, or poor other. Most of the poor people period. Most of the poor people, when they get a physical establishment, when they get a big physical edifice that looks rich, oh, they think that they have achieved it all. All they want then is just to raise their children. They want to be buried by this congregation. They want to have their funeral in this church. They want their daughters to marry in this church and they want their babies to be announced in this church. And they want that to happen for generations of generations. They have finished all they want edifice.
Muslims, you have to progress. You have to go back and look at the records and see are we going forward or backwards or stopping? How many youngsters we had graduate this year from high school? How many youngsters we had graduate this year from elementary school? How many youngest we had go to college this year? How many youngsters we had finishing college this year? How many people are moved up into high places of responsibility in the business world, in the political arena, in the political society. How many people moved up this year? How many moved up last year? Are we progressing or not? We have an obligation to do that.
We should study Islamic principles and see our religion in the focus of Islamic principles. And then we have also recognize that Prophet Muhammad's main role is the role of an educator. His main role is the role of an educator. We know that he fulfilled all the roles. He was a soldier. He was a general. He led the army when they had to fight the battle. He regulated the economy. He guaranteed freedom. Civil law. He established the civil law for the people. We know he fulfilled all of these roles, but what was he characteristic of more than any other thing? An educator. He's a teacher. A teacher. Teacher of revelation and teacher pointing the ways to unlimited field of knowledge and resources. That's who he was. That's the Promised Land. That's the Promised Land.
The Promised Land is coming into the sciences and coming into the production. The unlimited production that's possible with the tools of science. That's the Promised Land. Science is not just material science, spiritual science, political science, all of the sciences. And who was it that brought the light of the sciences back to the world, not only to Arabia, but to the world? It was our Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be on him. He was the one. A man who's called the unlettered man. The unlettered messenger prophet, wasn't educated in the world, but G-d inspired him and gave him the tools of knowledge. I don't believe he couldn't read. Now don't shake the world and telling them that Imam said that he doesn't read, the Prophet Muhammad couldn't read. I'm telling you, I don't believe that and I'd like to share this with you because I love you. If I didn't care about you, I would die having this in my heart. But I love people and I wouldn't want you going along here crazy thinking Prophet Muhammad couldn't read.
What it's mean is he couldn't read scripture to interpret it. He had no insight into the signs of G-d and into the scripture, but Allah inspired him. And Allah taught him how to read. And G-d guided him to the hidden knowledge and to the sciences and made him a messenger for the whole world. And he led the whole world back into the light of civilization and science. This is a fact of history. And accomplished it in a period of about 11 or 12 years.
For 10 or 11 years, they were persecuted and held down. They couldn't do anything. Then he went to Medina, Allah opened up room there. The Ansars, they welcomed him in Medina. And with the help of a few people, he established an Islamic society in Medina. And within about 11 years, the light of that Al-Islam rose so bright that it began to topple the leadership of the world. Yes, that's what happened.
And they, their scholars and their bright men turned from the citadels of learning under their empire and they turned to the knowledge that was coming out of the mission of Prophet Muhammad. And because of that, Europe was rebirth, Europe was reborn, the enlightenment, the Renaissance. The Arabic numbers that we have, algebra, chemistry, astronomy, all of these are Arabic terms. Because of the revelation coming to Muhammad the Prophet who could not read. Now you understand what we mean? He could not read. As Salaam Alaikum. MAy Allah bless us.


