08/30/1997
IWDM Study Library
Islamic Convention Dawah Secaucus, NJ

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
He needs no helper. He's independent, existing along without any help or support from anything. We witness that Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed 1417 years or more ago, in the country now known as the kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is where he was born and where he was a citizen, a citizen of Mecca, in the land of the Arabs. And himself a member of the notable tribe, the most popular and respected of the tribes at that time: the tribe of Quraysh. An Arab speaking pure Arabic language. So, G-d chose him to be the last prophet, created him to be the last prophet, and chose him to be the last prophet. And revealed the message for all people the Quran, to him in his own language, in pure Arabic in Lugatil-Arabiyyah.
We witness that he is the last prophet of G-d, promised in the Torah the old testament and the new testament if we understand it. The liberator who will serve G-d for the liberation of human beings, the human soul and the human life, with his intelligence and moral nature from all forms of slavery, from all forms of oppression. He is the prophet. Allah says in it the Quran and I have studied the bible, so I know the Quranic reference to the old and new testament of the Torah and the Gospel. I founded it there in plain language. He is the one to liberate the humanity from all forms of slavery or oppression so that the human soul will be free for G-d so that the human soul would be free to serve G-d.
We witness that he is the messenger of G-d. G-d's servant and his messenger. We pray prayers of peace upon him salah allahu alayhi wasalam wa baa.
Dear believers, we are blessed by Allah or G-d of the universe to be here again, meeting together for our annual Islamic conference and I'm blessed to be here with you to address you on Dawah in Al-Islam. Dawah simply means to invite. Those who go out to communicate the faith to others, in hopes that they would want to choose the faith, the religion, you are properly to be called "inviters." But we know, the inviter has to know the language and the proper way of speaking. Al-Islam is an invitation and Al-Islam is also a call; C-A-L-L, a call. Allah says, Chapter 16 Verse 125"And call to the way of G-d with wisdom and with most beautiful and intelligent language, or speech, or preaching." I've read that language, the word Maw-etha comes from a word that has been used as a verb. It communicates not only words but a kind of enthusiasm, a heightened spirit, and enthusiasm.
I hope you're listening. I don't waste words, you may think I do but I don't. It communicates also a heightened spirit and enthusiasm. But G-d knows the human nature because He created us. He knows the human nature better than we do, better than we ever can know it. He knows that we love G-d. We love His messenger. We love goodness. We love faith and we want to share it with others. We want to convince others that we have this love as it should be. We want to convince others and G-d knows that it has spiritual power and we will be enthusiastic and our spiritual energy will be intensified and we will get loud sometimes. Like I am doing now. We will get loud sometimes.
G-d wants to make us aware that this spirit and this energy and this excitement it may make you speak in an unbecoming way. You may get too loud, you may even become abrasive, you may even become offensive to others that don't share your appreciation for your religion. G-d says, "Chapter 16 Verse125." "Call to the path of G-d or to the way of G-d with wisdom and the most beautiful and intelligent preaching." When I gave a lot of thought to that in the Quran, it was after I had recalled some preachers in America. How they preach, "Oh boy do they need that teaching bad." Just get the shouting and the screaming and foaming at the mouth and condemning everything but themselves and their small congregation. It's terrible.
I don't think it's anything new. I think they were doing that 14 centuries ago and that's why G-d put it in the Quran for then and now and future, then, now and future. Praise be to Allah. Before going further with my presentation on Dawah, I want to let you know that we are comfortable with our new name, that we have, and it was necessary, not for us, we don't need it because we function very naturally, we know ourselves we are Muslims. Thanks to Allah and His mercy on us. We are Muslims with all Muslims of the world. With all Muslims of the world. We know how to identify and locate each other. We know Clara Muhammad school, we know the Masjids in our association, we know our business people. So, really, we don't need these formal names and certainly, we don't need a legal name the only legal name is Muslim.
We don't need all these names. The reason for the name is that we are now having to and this is a blessing from Allah that we have grown in respect in the eyes of the people, in the eyes of the general public, in eyes of the establishment. The religious establishment firstly in this country and the political establishment; the government and also in the eyes of the business establishment. We have grown now to have great respect and because of that, we are finding organizations who have the interest in the spiritual well-being of not only their public but the publics of the world, the nations around this globe.
They have interest in the spiritual well-being of all humanity, of all people and they are now aware that we have that same interest and that we are not really trying to propagate Elijah Muhammadism, or Farrakhanism, or nation of Islamism, in America or Wallacism, or W. Deen Muhammadism. They know that we are not doing that they know that we are really supported by and founded upon or established upon the Quran the holy scripture the holy book of all Muslims one billion plus and they know that we follow Muhammad the Prophet to whom that Quran was revealed, the holy book was given. They recognize us now as Muslims in the universal family of Muslims and because of that they are giving us this great respect.
They are inviting us to sit down at the table of discussion and decision making and decision making. You hear that? I couldn't dream that I would be by invited to the highest circles in the sky that I'm invited to. I look down and there's nothing but clouds under us, no clouds above our heads. I say wow I never thought that I'd be sitting at a table in the sky this high but I am and what have lift me up like that? My obedience to Allah, His words, and His messenger. Remember I don't waste words. Now we are having interaction with them as an organization.
We are not a legal organization but we are an organization. We are strong already today don't ever forget that. We had disciplines, we inherited from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his teachings and that community called Nation of Islam lost found nation of Islam in America. We have disciplines that have given us something special, something very special. We have faith in ourselves and I would say a spiritual drive that was put into us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad insistence of insisting that we take our own affairs into our own hands. We've been conditioned really to be independent workers without a lot of support, without too much support from other people.
This is impressive from the inside and even more impressive. Occasionally, we meet people who are more impressed on outside than we are with this spirit we have, with this commitment we have. We are poor people but look what we're doing, we're doing big things, poor people doing big things. That's very impressive. Poor people in the Akle(mind) and poor people in the pocket. Yes, we are not a community of with a strong professional group, no. We don't have a strong professional group. We are not a community of professionals. We are a community from what I call the industrious striving poor, industrious, striving poor that's who we are, that's us but because of this experience we had in the past and how we have now brought the best of that experience with us into the real life of Islam.
We are a very very special people, very very special people, and these other big organizations who have similar efforts that what I'm speaking of now and when I say similar efforts their interest in humanity is similar to the interests we find in Quran and in Muhammad's life. It's similar to that, because of that similarity they invite us now to join them at the table of discussion and decision making and we are joining them. Allahu Akbar. We are having interaction now as one organization with a world focus not only a local focus but with a world focus. We have a world focus they have world focus, we're joining other organizations with a world focus and we need a formal name because they always ask when we join you have to fill out certain forms, you have to do certain things. They all have to do it.
We're equals, we're not joining them as inferiors or as little fellows. We join them as equals and they insist upon that. They insist upon that everybody that sits at the table must be treated as an equal. We need that name so, we have it now. I promised some of them, they were asking about the name so how should lost you. I said well we're just Muslims. I said we want to list us every Muslim America and that's what they have been doing. They've been listing us as Muslim Americans or American Muslims but now we have to be listed as Muslim American Society.
All of us should know that expression, we should know that expression. When you see it in the article in the paper you know they're referring to us not necessarily in because a writer could be writing about all Muslims in America and he might use their same language, the Muslim American Society. If they're talking about Muslims separate from the whole society of Muslims, then that'd be us, Muslim American Society. It so happened that society that word Society was chosen by the two other popular efforts in America before us. Actually, they chose this name Society before we did and that is Northern Islamic Circle of North America and not Society.
One other that's Islamic Society of North America. It's the big one. In fact, while we are having out our convention here the Islamic Society of North America is having its convention in Chicago and they're expecting an upwards of 20,000 people, and we were expecting here in Meadowlands the same and upwards of 20,000 people. We don't see them yet but Allah is the best knower. Islamic Society of North America, I was invited by them and I hate it I couldn't do it. I was invited by the president of the Islamic Society of North America to address them after Jumua Friday but I was to be here Thursday evening for an important reception and a very important reception so I couldn't do it. I had to be here.
Every year we are working to have a United convention and it's my belief and when I say my belief, I'm just letting you know that I have a strong personal interest here but really, it's not only my belief.
I believe it's the belief of most of the members, I say most. All the members of our Shura of our national leadership are not interested in this. I just put it plainly and truthfully to you. All of them are not interested in this but it's my belief that better than 50% of them are interested in us having a joint Islamic convention occasionally with the other groups so we can show ourselves in America benefit ourselves and show non-Muslims, Islamic unity, and Brotherhood and it's necessary.
We also can benefit greatly from having a joint convention with others who have a larger percentage of professional people among them, who have a larger percentage of persons who are very knowledgeable in the Islamic language, Arabic language. Islamic knowledge et cetera and if we can come together as brothers we can get benefit from each other. If we can plan the convention together we can benefit greatly from each other and that's what Allah wants for us. Allah doesnt what us separating and going in our separate directions and having our little separate meetings and calling ourselves saying bragging that we have an agenda for the world. We have an agenda for the world but most of the world is shut out and we in there by ourselves representing one million of a percent of 1% of the world.
That's ridiculous. I'm pushing for this and right now this is not too cool for some of the members of the Shura but I don't want it to be too cool, I want to turn up the heat a little bit. They're going to thank me for it later. Believe me, my mama would turn off the heat on me when I wasnt obeying her like I should but now I think back and I'm still thanking and she been dead a long time, my mother died years ago but I'm still thanking her for turning up the heat. Now so much for that. That was very important to say before going into the meat of my presentation. I'm going to use language I have to explain it to you.
I want to share with you a concern that I feel on me that is a burden on me, that I feel I should share with all of you all because I think we are lacking in a certain area of performance and we just have to do more about it. That's to say we are doing something about it. Some of you all are doing a beautiful job but too many of us are not doing anything about it, look like we satisfied just to go on the same way with no changes. In Islamic studies, there is a term Adaab and it means the proper way to behave, good manners. When we think of our life as a life that we want to extend out from ourselves to others.
I like to think in three circles. The first circle is my personal life and my immediate concerns. What's happening to me personally and personally here includes my children, my wife and my children because the family should be one life, a family should be one life. We have that personal interests that's one circle. The personal life and the personal interest forms one circle. Then you go out extending outwardly. I would like to say equatorial circles. You know the equator, the equator the belt around the whole earth well if you could move slide that belt up and down, it would go all over the world.
It would move from the North Pole to the South Pole and back up from the South Pole to the North Pole, it wouldn't miss a spot on the earth. That belt because when you stop when it gets to the smaller part you just keep adjusting it after a while it's going to have no space at all, it's going to be a dot. The equatorial, I would like to call these equatorial circles and you start out with your little circle your personal interest then you want to go out from yourself and embrace the next interest that is most relevant in your life and the next interest would be your faith, your religion because your religion is not only for you in your household, your religion is for all people who embrace that religion.
Then your next circle should be when you stop thinking about yourself the next circle should be all Muslims that should be your next circle. Quite naturally you're going to start with those Muslims you're best acquainted with but you can't treat them unfairly. All Muslims are to deserve your interest and your respect and your support, all Muslims deserve it.
You can't cheat any of them out of it but you start with your immediate circle and you embrace them all. The Muslim Circle is the next circle. The first circle is a circle of personal interest, the next circle is the circle of Islamic interests then you have a third one and I believe that our religion directs us to go from self to the Muslim community and then to the outer world, to the whole world.
This third circle is the whole world, one little circle it gets bigger it comes the Muslim circle and then it gets even bigger it becomes the world community circle, the global community circle. Our Dawah must not be unaware of any of those circles, our Dawah must not overlook or leave out any of those circles. When we are doing Dawah, we must have interest in the individual person, a real genuine interest in the individual person, businesses that make great success. They make great success because they have an interest in the individual person not only the company, not only the market but the individual person this world has begun to press more and more for human excellence.
That's the movement of the world now. that's what's shaping the world now. the need for human excellence and who is the model for human excellence? This is his day Muhammad, the prophet. Certainly, you have in Muhammad, the most excellent model for human beings if for anybody who believes in G-d and the last day isn't that what G-d said to us? Yes, so we are coming, now we really begin to see the world coming into Muhammad world. This is Muhammad's world and the world are trying to come into Muhammad's world. Muhammad's world is the world that holds up human excellence and require the human beings to strive for more and more human excellence.
Here the business world, the corporate world, the business corporate world, they are now insisting informing each other and insisting upon having more respect for the human person as an individual, having more respect for the human family. The family look how the family has been neglected, look how the family has been abused, look how the family has been oppressed in America. The family has been oppressed terribly in America. By commercial interests and now today we are seeing a change come. The change is coming and it's coming from their spiritual people first, it's coming from the grassroot, people first and the spiritual people, the faith community and then lastly is coming from the business establishment and when the business establishment joins an effort television even have to straighten up, television has to bend and respect what the business world on because the television is the instrument, the conveyor for the business world.
You may think as an entertainment piece that's business entertainment on television it's big business. Just count the commercials you'll understand. Praise be to Allah. This is a new world we living in. We are coming in the time of Muhammad. Now the world is moving into the day of Muhammad. They don't know what but we know it. Some of them know it too, some up high they know it, they won't tell us but they know it. They whisper to each other. This is the day of Muhammad. Muhammad, the prophet who received the Quran. Universality, respect for the human family all of them, the end of racism. That's Muhammad the Prophet he was chosen to demonstrate that to us.
Respect for women, the inclusion of women in business, the inclusion of women in decision-making, the inclusion of women in decision-making affecting the globe, that's Muhammad. I know his life. He's not these crazy Imams as you see run around here. No, he's not the Imam that's treating his women like their herd of sheep, he's not following Muhammad, he doesn't know Muhammad. Peace and blessings be upon him Muhammad was the human giant, nobody can match him. Praise be to Allah. He was so big in human excellence that the Jews had to introduce Jesus Christ to introduce Muhammad, believe me, I'm telling you the truth.
Yes, he was so big in human excellence. G-d would never authorize that the things that have been said about Jesus in complement be said about Muhammad the mortal just like us, no but they thought it was so big that they presented a Jew in the image we called Jesus Christ and Christianity as a sign of Muhammad the prophet. Yes, praise be to Allah. Well, we got the real thing that's the expression, you know in America we got the real thing, Allahu Akbar. These three circles I want to call them equatorial circles of consciousness of our own behavior, consciousness of our own behavior. Now you know the lesson for proper behavior starts with mama, right?
Starts with mama. My mother taught me how to behave and she insisted upon me behaving in the best manner that she knew, the best manner she knew. She would always want me to measure up to the best behavior that she knew and I love her for that. I tell my children I say you sometimes have a problem obeying me and I'm doing nothing but trying to help you, trying to help your own life. I say you don't obey me and I'm looking at you. I said I'm still obeying my mother and she's been dead for 30 years or more, obey her until I'm dead, yes, I will.
I will obey her until I'm dead because she taught me right, she gave me right instructions and I'm going to obey her until I'm gone in my grave and I believe any child who got good advice from his parents or her parents and you don't respect it I believe that's going to be a serious matter when you face G-d's justice in the judgement. You will obey them when they are present, you obey them when they are not present. You obey them when they are sick and can't check you, you obey them when they're dead, you obey them. Whatever they gave you was good for you obey it and G-d will love you for that. Yes, and you will find help coming to you from G-d because He will love you for that.
We don't want to ignore the good manners that we were taught as children from our mama, or father, our guardian or whoever took care of us. We don't want to forget those good manners and stop let them stop at home. Or let them start with your family and you come out in the streets and you don't have any manners. You come to the Masjid, you don't have any manners. You talk to each other you don't have any manners. You speak to the congregation, you forget your manners. You go out to invite Christians to Islam you forget you supposed to have manner. There are good manners for all circumstances. They are good manners for all circumstances and this is Islamic knowledge Islamic knowledge Islamic knowledge teaches us that manners began at home and spread abroad.
Manners begin at home and are carried outwardly extended out and go outwardly You don't leave the good baggage of good manners at home, when you leave home you pick up the baggage of good manners and take the baggage of good manners with you wherever you go and when Allah says to us Subhana Wata Ala Highly glorified is He and preach jadilhum bil-lati hiya ahsan.
Jadilhum There's another trouble word isn't it, like a mawaa itha there's another trouble word jadilhum if you're going to be active as the one who jaadil it's going to expose you to emotional extremes, if you don't have some checks on you. Jadilhum means engage them in debate, engage them in debate, engage them argument carry the complaint to them.
You have an issue that you want to carry or present to them, that you want to carry to them. You've got an issue, you got a complaint, you got an argument so G-d says, jadilhum bil-lati hiya ahsan, argue with them, challenge them, contend with them, present the complaint to them in a way that is most beautiful and excellent.
Yes. To check those tendencies to forget, you'll get into all that enthusiasm, get into all that emotional stuff and you start insulting the Christians sacred ideas, you start insulting the Christian sentiments and you're supposed to be doing Dawah and we come and visit your Masjid you've got your family and two friends in your Masjid. That's all you got there. Family members and to friends. Two friends that's just there to see you don't kill yourself. They're really your friends. They're hanging around so you won't kill yourself and you think you're doing great Dawah. You've driven away everybody except those who are there just to show mercy. If you represent this religion correctly you will draw people together like this. So, if you're too big for this religion, find your small place in it. Some of us are so big-headed we don't even want to bow to them to the demands of the religion.
Now we can bring you the Quran and make it very clear to you look what Allah says bring you Muhammad the Prophet the second authority we had to respect we bring you what Muhammad did, what Muhammad said peace and praise be on him and we said look what our prophet did, look what his matters were, look at his matters and you still don't change, you're still not impressed. You think yourself too big for this religion. I say find your small place in it and you know where that is sweeping the floors and keeping your mouth shut and wait until you get orders to pick up the broom. I'm serious don't even pick up the broom without orders from somebody that thinks differently.
I'm trying to shock you out of your ignorance. I don't believe you want to be that way not in your soul in your soul you don't want to be that way. Its your mind, I'm sorry that old experience from the past start to come out of my mouth. It's your mind that's messed up. Allah says to us Muhammad the Prophet would not have attracted so many people to him.
That devoted himself so completely to serve Islam under him as their leader. If it was not for their hearts being endeared to Muhammad and it says Muhammad couldn't make that. Allah says Muhammad couldn't do that, he couldn't make the people put that in the people's heart, its the mercy and fear of G-d its the blessing of G-d that Muhammad was such a beautiful human creation that Allah made him like that.
That Allah created and the people have themselves had been created themselves to be beautiful human creatures, so when they saw the beauty, the apex of beauty, the perfect model of human beauty in Muhammad they just gave him anything. What you want Muhammad, you want my house, you want my garden, you want my crops, what do you want Muhammad? You want my life here it is. That's the kind of followers he had. Now with that nine-member congregation, you got, will they do that for you. Most of them are just waiting to see when you're going to drop dead. They won't do that for you. So, give up the inferior for the best, give up the cheap for the best, give up the empty for the full.
Then you will do good dawah. We have to think bigger than ourselves. We have to be supported by something much bigger than ourselves. If we want to take care of ourselves and advance ourselves, you can't take care of yourself and advance yourself if you're going to have nothing but you small self as your interest, no. Come into to the bigger interest, come into to the universal mind, into the universal interest, into the universal concerns. This is Al-Islam. Care about all people because all people are one. Care about all people because all people are one. 
The best of all people is the human soul and the human life that Allah created when He created Adam, that's the best. We share that equally, we share that in common so we think of ourselves as many and different and we are but more importantly we should think of ourselves as one. G-d said the human being was created from one, one Nafs, one person, one soul was created from one then He created for that one his mate or it's mate and from them came all the people on this earth, that's what Allah says in Surah An-Nisa. Surah call the women, that's what Allah says. Highly glorified is He.
Do you think Allah is telling you that so you will know what happened in the past? More importantly, he's telling you that to let you know the reality presently in the reality for all times. The reality for all times is that humanity is one life, human beings are one life that Allah made. We are one in the same life. If we don't respect a person who has that same life that's the one life then we're disrespected even our own life because it's one. If we care only follow selfish life and our little selfish family interests and we don't care about our neighbor's next door and the people who are suffering in Africa and the people who are suffering in Asia, the people who are suffering in Europe and other places of the world, if we are not caring, registering that, and feel bad about that then we are really doing damage to our old life within our own body.
You're going to become more and more shrunken. You are shrinking your great excellent form. You're making it little insignificant, small, oppressed, tormented, sick but if you will embrace all people as one human life and say I must care about them because this is the same life that's in me G-d made it one. One human life. Allahu Akbar.
I'm only elaborating. I am only explaining and elaborating on what Allah revealed in Quran and what He demonstrated to us through Muhammad, the Prophet his own life, Muhammad's life. When you go out the Imams demands to speak to the congregation be sure you brought your best manners with you. If a fellow worker says brother Imam is it time we start the meeting, "Oh brother I know when we start the meeting, don't bother brother go out there and wipe my car, go out there and clean my car." You left your good manners somewhere if you ever had them, they sure arent with you.
It isn't how you speak to a Muslim brother or any human being. The Prophet never behaved like that. Prophet never behaved like that even to his enemies, he had respect. He even had matters for his interactions with even his enemies. He had high standard of good manners for even interacting with enemy and we can't interact with and the brothers who is in the Masjid. A brother who shares the responsibility of the Masjid you can't interact with him decently with kindness, for the kind face with kind words. How can you do good Dawah without good manners. Thank you very much. Peace, As Salaam Alaikum.






















The Systems of Knowledge
Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Praise G-d Lord of the Worlds and we salute the last prophet Muhammad with the traditional salutation prayers and the peace be on him and what follows of that traditional salutation. We want to begin by first pointing to some I would say notes of help or support to anyone who wants to study the Quran. The first and most important of these notes is that the Quran is in Arabic but the Quran has a superior Arabic to that that the Arabs had before the Quran. Arabic didnt enrich itself, the Quran the revelation to Muhammad, the Prophet prayers and peace be on him, enriched Arabic as a language. It made the language richer in effective communication and made it richer and beauty of mechanics, style, et cetera.
However, Arabic is a language that was valued even at the time of Revelation. I would say because its effectiveness to give a message without wasting a lot of words, power of communication to communicate a lot with few words and I would say naturalness. The Arabic language has a real naturalness and you can only become aware of that through really the study of the Arabic language itself. You come to learn that the Arabic has a real naturalness. It's a real naturalness there. As an example, I would say and I don't have time to really show you all these things now.
This is the big stuff to yourself. Much of our language that we found ourselves has a real resemblance to Arabic in terms of how we make expressions, how we form an expression has a real resemblance to Arabic the way expressions are made in Arabic. I have one right now. We used to say, "What's with you man?" Nobody taught us that we didn't go to school to learn that expression from school or from anybody. We said, "What's happening man, what's happening?" These are acceptable expressions in Arabic, classic Arabic. Whereas, for us you know in English it's bad English. It's not good English, "What's happening?" "Hey, what's the matter with you?" "What's with you?" Expressions like that.
Those expressions are really acceptable, classical, standard Arabic. Same expressions in Arabic. Arabic is very natural language, and believe me, the best of all expressions. I'm using a term expression now in the full context of culture, art everything. Language, art, work, whatever. The best of all expressions in the long run are the expressions that stay true to the original nature. Those are the best expression. Expressions that stay true to the original nature. This talk that I'm giving you is to introduce you to the study of the Quranic Arabic and to go into the Quran, to learn the Quran in Arabic thinking that this Quran was just given in Arabic is not enough, says, "Why what was the reason, what's the main reason for the Quran mean in Arabic?'
Some will say because Arabic was the best language. No, because Muhammad was the best choice for the Prophet. Muhammad was the best choice for the last prophet and he spoke Arabic so the Quran say never did G-d send a messenger to a people speaking another language something different from what they spoke. That's the understanding that's the logic.
He was an Arab and the Quran was revealed in Arabic so that he could communicate it to his people who were Arabs firstly, communicate to them firstly, and his language was Arabic. He was a native child of Arabia so his language was Arabic. G-d wouldn't communicate him say the same rule.
It would be stupid for a man to speak to an audience in another language, in a language they don't understand and it would be ridiculous for G-d to communicate to a man in a language he doesn't understand.
He was an Arab, his language of the Arabia, Arabic and so that's the main reason but then G-d is fore knowing. I think there's enough to say. If it's not then some of you ought to excuse yourself. G-d is fore knowing it was in G-d's plan to have His last revelation given in Arabic, it was in his plan. Arabic has this special value that I've mentioned already that it had this special value even at the time of Revelation. I have read, I've done some research on Arabic as a language and the Jews themselves they say that of the Semitic languages that Arabic is the most original and truest to the nature of Semitic language, the truest to the nature of Semitic languages.
They check their language by Arabic when they want to see if certain terms have gotten off-track or something, they will study Arabic just to get help not that Arabic is the only help for them but Arabic is a source or help for them and correcting problems with their language, Semitic language, the Jews language, the language of the Jews. When you study the Arabic expressions in the Quran, you can see that without the power of the Arabic language itself, these expressions that come from G-d would not have the same power and value, would not have the same power and value.
I know of no other language, the proof of it is that no translator yet have been satisfied with his translation. They all say that the translation falls terribly short of conveying what they know, what they received from the Arabic. That's why you need so much, you need translation, and you need explanation, and you need commentary. You see, you need all that.
There is a lot I would like to say about the language but we're going to go right to the Arabic itself. The term rabb, this is rabb, this word here rabb. It's one of the first very important powerfully communicating powerful words in the Quran in terms of compact meaning and ability to just communicate so much with one word. Actually, a rabb is really one syllable, isn't it? Rabb. When you say the rabbun it's two syllables, when you pronounce the sign at the end of the letter but this actually rabb, one syllable letter but so rich in meaning. The word so rich in meaning. Rabb.
Allah, is the rabb of all the worlds. If we see the Quran as we read it with Al-F?ti?ah being the beginning by reading of the Quran, the opening, the beginning of Quran. Then the first words of the Quran as we read it are bi-smi ll?hi r-ra?m?ni r-ra??m, then al-?amdu li-ll?hi. We have two descriptions of G-d until now. Bi-smi ll?hi r-ra?m?ni, that's one description, r-ra?m?ni. R-ra??m two descriptions. Al-?amdu li-ll?hi rabb, third description. The third description in the Quran that we come upon and we're just beginning to read the Quran, is this one, rabb. Says rabbi l-??lam?n, a rabbi l-??lam?n. Al-?amdu li-ll?hi rabbi l-??lam?n. Affected grammatically. That's not coming as rabbi.
Otherwise, speaking as a noun, a subject it will be rabbu or rabbun. I'm not here to teach you Arabic. This is not an Arabic lesson, session, or workshop, whatever you want to call it. This is Quranic Arabic. Rabbi l-??lam?n, al-?amdu li-ll?hi rabbi l-??lam?n, so Lord of all the world. Al??lam?n, Lord of all the worlds.
How do we find the meaning now for the common person? The message, the revelation, it's a revelation. How do we find it for the common person? How is this expression used other than for G-d? Do we have to go to an Arabic dictionary or in Arabic encyclopedia for it? Never go to any book before you go to the same book. Always go to the same book for the meaning. In the Quran is the dictionary for the Quran.
Yes. This is a revelation. This is a revelation too that I've given you right now. In the Quran is the dictionary for the Quran. Did it send us outside for keys? No. He has the keys to the heavens and earth. All the keys with the revelation. Okay, rabbul-??lam?n. That means dictionary keys, meanings, definitions. Rabbul-??lam?n, Lord of all the world.
In the Quran our G-d teaches us in a beautiful way to respect our parents and the expression used is the term used with this expression, "Lord be to them as they were to me kind. As they were to me when they raised me up as a child." This word is used, rabbayaani. For two. This is the verb of the noun. Rabbayaani saghira, as they raised me up when I was small, as a child. Rabbayaani saghir. Rabbayaani, this is rabb. Rabb and this is ya, this is two dots, yaani. Then when I was small, saghira.
Here is the same term used again in a different context. Here's how we find definition for it, determine in the Quran. You see how G-d used the same term in different references or in different contexts. Then you get the meaning of that term. How do we know the meaning of go? By its uses. That's the only way you know. If you want to know the meaning of any term in the Quran, study its uses in the context of the Quran, then you get its meaning. Rabbayaani saghira and rabb. You have scholars, right? Scholars, great scholars. Like a breakage in anything, unless it's supposed to be broken.
You have scholars. They say the evolver. The evolver for Lord, they call it, the evolver. The Lord who evolve of all the worlds. That isn't that Darwin's evolution, this is different.
Here we have the meaning raised up. Now every person knows how a child is raised up by parents. See now we had to go to dictionary and see what raised mean. No, we don't because raised have been used in a common context. Say, "As you raise me up when I was a small child." We all know how children are raised up by their parents from a small child. Right?
What is the meaning of raised now? To love, to cherish, to be concerned for, to watch out for the needs of, to serve the needs of, to guide, direct, to look to the future and aim that child's life to the future that you want for it. You can offer a child, "I want that child to be this kind of person." Then you groom that child, you care for that child, and nourish the child, and groom that child so that that child grows into the beautiful destiny you want for it.
What you want for it is that it be responsible for itself and responsible for more than itself. You want to raise it up so it will be like you. You're responsible for it and other things too. You want that child to grow up into more responsibility, to be more independent and less dependent, correct? That's what it means rabbul-??lam?n. Now you say, "Well, how can that go for the world? The earth, moon, and the sun, and the stars out there. How are we to understand that or apply that to that reality?
If G-d by His will, has made the existence of something, created or caused the existence of something and also law governing the existence of that, that forces or enforces a discipline and also an adjustment, so that any situation that interrupts the wheel or the discipline will be taken care of by a law that enforces an adjustment.
The creation like a child when it comes to a point where it needs to make an adjustment, there is a law and an adjustment factor that comes about. They call it adaptation or whatever that comes about, that comes into action, that comes into play to make it possible for their existence to grow our progress for surviving beyond the problem or for survival beyond the problem.
Survival is threatened to make it grow really, isn't it? Survival is threatened to bring it to where G-d wants it to go. G-d created it but G-d created it to run into problems and the problem it's going to run into have already been taken care of by an adjustment factor. When it runs into that problem, it's going to make an adjustment. The adjustment is going to be more progress, more evolution for that particular existence.
Now, isn't that what we do for children? We know it's going to run into a problem but we know also that if we can't guide it to the adjustment or prepare it for the adjustment, we know that G-d's mercy, if we can get G-d's mercy, that child will be saved from that problem. That's the real person of faith, you see. G-d is rabb of all the world, Lord of all the earth. Will parent serve as a substitute for the term rabb? No. Although G-d has really related the role of parent to the role of G-d. This has happened naturally for man. Man has naturally come into that kind of idea about G-d, that I must have a higher parent. I must have a more powerful parent.
Somewhere there is a generator that's more powerful and older than my parents, even than my ancestor that I can trace back as far as I can go in my mind. I trace him back but how did he come here? He needed some help. Man keeps going back in his mind and in his logic, with his logic that he has, he keeps going back and he comes to the conclusion that there must be a super, a supreme parent that parented me and all the worlds, all the existence. Yes, rabbul-??lam?n, all this is in the rabbul-??lam?n. Lord of all the worlds.
All right. Now G-d is Lord of all the worlds but look at the Arabic language for world. If ??lam?n means all the worlds, ??lim means one world. Then ??lim means one world, right? ?Alim, world. ?Alam?n, worlds. What also is ??lim? Knowledgeable person. G-d says, " Above every possessor of knowledge is G-d the most knowledgeable. Above every knowledgeable person, a knowledgeable thing, possessor of knowledge is G-d the most knowledgeable." This is Quran. G-d the most knowledgeable.
I'm tying it to rabbul-??lam?n, I'm tying this expression in the Quran to rabbul-??lam?n. Above every brave knowledgeable person or being is G-d the most knowledgeable. Then what is that saying? It is saying Allah rabbul-??lam?n, that's what it's saying. The two expressions are saying the same thing rabbul-??lam?n, G-d is the Lord of all the worlds. Meaning that G-d is responsible to all the worlds, coming into their maturity, into their existence as we see them established. And when we say above all the knowledgeable possessors of knowledge or knowledgeable persons is G-d. We are saying that G-d is responsible for those knowledgeable person.
They are not His teachers, He's their teacher. He didn't get his from them, they got theirs from him. That's what it's saying. Actually, the two was addressing the same issue. Now we're still talking about the common man, still addressing the mind of the common man. Not the man of higher knowledge or the man of revelation. We are still addressing the mind of the common man and you should have been able to follow me with your common mind till this point.

All right, okay. He is rabbul-??lam?n, Lord of all the worlds, he evolved all the worlds. He's the one who had the concern for His creation. Created it feeble, weak, needing attention from the strong, needing help from the knower, needing help from the former, the one that formed it. Yes. We take too much credit but we deserve a little bit. I had that baby. That's my baby, I had that baby, I made that baby. 
Now tell me if I'm saying things that I dreamed last night. I think those are expressions in the society. I made that baby. We feel that way, ignorantly, and it has an inkling of truth to it. You see? Because of that we have a personal responsibility and a personal kind of obligation, very, very personal obligation to this child that we say we made, right? "Leave him alone, he ain't yours." Another expression, right?

Now because of that awareness of our involvement and that the child didn't exist until we acted. My Lord. The child didn't have any existence at all until we acted, it was our act that made that thing, that act. Excuse me for saying thing. I guess this is indication of the times.

Because of that now, we accept the obligation and accept it with commitment, attachment, devotion, et cetera. This is my child. I'm going to raise this child, I have to raise this child. Even if I have to suffer myself, I have to care for this child. Now you think G-d then-- He doesn't suffer like a human suffer but G-d suffer us to be free on our own. Suffer means bear, put up with. Endure the displeasure. We know G-d endures the displeasure because our object is to please Him. If we don't, He must endure, put up with the displeasure. How wonderful it is.

Now what I mean, it's wonderful to be able to tap dance on two realities and not get out of step.

It's wonderful. Yes, now-- Oh It is. Like Imam Plemon said, "This is our life," and that's correct. This is our life, this is the real life, yes. Al-Islam, that is the real life. With all of these beauty and wisdom, that's the real life. In Christianity, they make the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, Lord. In Judaism, they don't say it but every rabbi is Lord. Rabbi is Lord. Rabbah means Lord.
Now, here is man now believing and who's behind this theory anyway, that the world was evolved by the creator and it rested? Our holy book says, G-d is a worker, and G-d is active, and He is not at any time in time idle, but in a wonderful work during a marvelous thing at every instance of time. Then this telescope finds it, bears witness to it, and all the world has not ceased being created, new stars being born. Great worlds out there far away from us coming into existence, that's what they say.
So really that theory had been proven wrong, the universe is not yet rested. The same thing that happened to bring this into existence and evolve a law and an order for it is happening out there in the distance, according to their own observations with their long telescopes, with their powerful telescopes, correct? All right, but let's say, let's ignore what has been discovered by modern science and let's stick with that idea that it has rested. Maybe out there something is happening and we do believe it, it's happening all the time, new births going on all the time in the distance.
For this family of bodies, we call the solar system, it is rested. Yes, it is rested. It's rested. We still don't accept that kind of reasoning, that man is our Lord. Or man is the one now responsible, taking care of and responsible for the continuation of growth and development or evolution. Man comes into knowledge, he makes improvement upon himself, he makes improvement upon his environment, he raises the level of his existence, he improves, and advances, and raises the level of his existence. Is he Lord?
The same law operating in the universe as an expression of G-d's will is operating in man, who's just a part of this universe. The same one that designed the earth and other bodies and things in the earth to perform as they perform. Designed man in his mind to perform as they perform or as it performs. Now if we recognize that the earth is not its Lord, if we can recognize that the tree has no tree Lord, shouldn't we recognize that the man has no man Lord?
That's common sense, isn't it? Common sense reasoning. Now these things that you witnessed that was raised by a Lord or creator, you don't say that they have a tree Lord, you don't see the tree have a tree Lord, the elephants have an elephant Lord. You don't say the sun has a sun Lord. The earth has an earth Lord, you don't say that. Why say man has a man Lord? You're thinking on your own, that's your problem. Start thinking on reality, thinking with the support of reality, not your own mind for your mind dreams, and exaggerates, and become flawed in terms of the ability to reason clearly. Yes. You've become subjective and make big scientific errors.
Subjective means you let the subject come into the logic and affect the logic. Here you're looking at yourself and admiring yourself that you've done so many wonderful things. Look at the wonderful things the sun have done and once the man thought it was the Lord, but the man grew up and realized, "This is not the Lord." The sun has heated and given warmth to the life and has fed life all over the planet. Giving it energy and food, increased its power to grow, giving it more vitality, et cetera. Made the world so plentiful in life but not by itself.
See that's the difference in G-d and things that we make the mistake of identifying as G-d. The sun does that wonderful work but without water, it'll be helpless, right? Sun does all that wonderful work, say it supplies the energy for growth, but without water, it can't do it. Big old powerful sun need little humble weak water in order to do his job, right? Yes. Can't grow a thing without water, can't have any life without water.
For man too, he's Lord, he's doing all these wonderful things, he increased the land in beauty and richness and in quantity of things? Yes, he does, but is he doing that by himself? Just like we have to have water first before we can have life. Man has to have the material first before he can have growth for his world. He's not the G-d of the Lord of the material that he uses. He's not even a teacher of the material he uses. He doesn't teach the material; the material teaches him.
You see how his reality is reduced when we start reasoning soundly? Now the big Lord ain't so big, is he? He's so big now. Rabbul-??lam?n, Lord of all the worlds, but the worlds that revelate now, not the common thought now, it is the uncommon thought, revealed thought, a thought influenced by revelation. Now we're moving from the common man's thought to the revelation thought.
Now, G-d is not only the Lord of these worlds, these physical bodies, but He's the Lord of the system of knowledge. Not just the system of material. The system you're looking at is the system of material. He's not just Lord of that, He's Lord of the system of knowledge and he created you, man, to benefit from His system of knowledge and favored you above all His creation with a mind to benefit from His system of knowledge. Isn't that wonderful?
Above all the things that He created, He favored man to benefit the most from His system of knowledge. Here you are, you come to the point in your own vanity, you come to the point that you dismiss the existence of a Lord in it anymore and say that you are the Lord now. "We must not see G-d as the Lord, the G-d, the creator as the Lord anymore, we must see the Creator in man and the body of man as the Lord." G-d is in man now, and the world is under man now, and the world is going to be judged by man now, and the world should worship man now. Am I off key? Tell me now. I know we got some Baptist preachers in here, tell me. I never talked to this many Imams without a Baptist preacher in there. So, talk back.
Lord of all the worlds, Lord of all the world. The system of planets. He's not just Lord evolver of the system of planets, he is Lord and evolver of the system of knowledge. The wisest of scientists would tell us that some of his greatest breakthroughs came to him accidentally or by accident. Yes, but even if it wasn't by accident, if it was by careful concentration, the concentration is the instrument G-d gave you. That's how you were able to do that. He made that instrument. Hell, if I make an instrument that does wonders and get a patent for it, you're going to take credit for it? Just because it's working wonderfully for you. I'll carry you to the courts.
Rabbul-??lam?n, Lord of all the worlds. Now again, on the level of revelation. You people in the religious hierarchy, in the religious leadership, over the people, you have claimed that you are Lords. Then here comes another revelation, using the term lord. Let us not raise from among ourselves Lords. Lords. Say a man among us is Lord. That's what Allah says in the Quran. Chapter 3 verse 64. You see? That the prophet is to address the people, and challenge them, and appeal to them to their good senses and say, "You want peace? You want fairness between us? You want a civilized world? Let us not raise up lords to among ourselves to put over the rest of us." Nobody has been given the right to do that.
Okay, you come up with a right white Lord, soon somebody is going to come up with a black Lord. And the problem is going to multiply. You have the European lords, you have Asian lords, we have the African lords, now we have the black man of America and Negro lord, we have all these lords. All of them disappoints Abraham. Peace be upon him but they look so beauty in their glory, they look so powerful and beautiful in their glory. "Oh magnificent son of man " And after a while "As-sal?mu ?alaykum." Then pretty soon, march him into the grave. That kind of Lord didn't satisfy Abraham. He said, "My Lord, is not one that set."
Praise be to Allah. See, this is the beautiful one and we're just talking about one word. Allahu Akbar. Allah says, "Before you can exhaust what is in the Quran, you will use up all the trees making pens. The oceans multiplied over again with ink.
Rabbul-??lam?n, Lord of all the worlds. Now, your Imam. When I say, your Imam, I want to say you because I'm you. You. We are one people, and one spirit, and one body. You separated like planets, our solar system from Arabs, Italians, Jews, and others. Our solar system birth this. Now yes, I'm thinking symbolically, you understand. A cup of black coffee won't help you if you take it literally.

I see you prime time with a straight jacket on. I don't want to see that. Well, I'm you and you're me. We are one birth. You know that? In terms of what we are as a Muslim community, we are one birth. My birth and your birth altogether with one birth. This is one birth. Out of this one birth has come one now to say something and learned, Pakistani Muslim, pick it up, and he's filled by it so much, he draw it in the paper with worlds and quotes Imam Warith Deen Mohammed that Allah is rabbul-??lam?n.
Saying that the Imam has brought us to a higher level of understanding regarding this statement, rabbul-??lam?n, that he is the Lord of the systems of knowledge, He's Lord of mathematics. Yes, He's the Lord of algebra, He's the lord of astronomy, He's the Lord of chemistry, He's the Lord of medicine, He's the Lord of everything. He's the Lord of every system of knowledge. They don't believe it? Just examine those who claim that they are the beneficiary and trace where they got it and you will trace it back to the original owner G-d Himself, the Lord of all the worlds.
Yes, and even say man makes arguments and fails to question his own existence. Make great theories on how the world came in. Don't need no great theory how you came in, man? Why take this big task of examining the unlimited world when we can just question you where you came from? Were you around here to take care of us 200 years ago? Well, how are you going to be our G-d, man? We were doing all right before you came.

That's why Allah says in the Quran that, "Who is the best to judge? He who just popped up or the One that has been around for all times?" Oh Lord, I tell you this is good. Now, after you understand G-d is that description, then you can understand al-?amdu li-ll?h. That's what you should say for that Lord al-?amdu li-ll?h.
Why is He deserved of all this great praise? Because he is Lord of all systems of knowledge and man doesn't praise because he sees trees, and animals, and things like that. He doesn't praise. The perfect praise, the complete praise come when man's intellect appreciates what he sees outside.
When he understands that within these things are systems of knowledge. Within everything is systems of knowledge. Wa siya kuli shai-an ilmin wa rahma. He incorporates everything or everything is tied together by systems of knowledge. Not only that, in another place, He says, ilmin wa rahma, knowledge and mercy. That's where man fails sometimes. He divorced himself from the mercy for the sake of continuing blindly on his course with the knowledge and end up punishing us instead of relieving us.
Yes, urban renewal is was one of those cases, wasn't it? Urban renewal was set out to make man's life better and really punish life, but man is stubborn. Once he goes so far in his path and get a lot of credit for it, he'd rather kill himself and you too, than admit he erred. "I've been going too long. Too many people have been giving me credit for this. I'll never admit that I made a mistake. Hell, they all just have to suffer."
We will conclude this discussion with that conclusion that we made.
Our conclusion was that the revelation is broadcast on two levels. The level of common language and the level of revelation. Thats its nature that it addresses the common mind but also addresses the uncommon mind. The mind that has been trained by the guidance or by the light of revelation, you see? We concluded that in addressing the human being to come a community of human beings on these two levels, it warns us that the creation is not rested. I hope that was the conclusion you came to, a conclusion I was trying to discuss. That is not really rested.
Even for the common mind, no. There's evidence that the first Lord is still active in His role as creator. Now before these planets and these new worlds that they discover out there in the universe were known, that they're being born all the time, Allah said, "At every point in time he is in a marvelous work of creating." Qul li yawman fan In a marvelous work of creating things.
We see also in the Quran G-d pointing to world that existed but we didn't know of. Says then the world that He created that you do not know. Isn't that what's in Quran? Yes, they're the worlds we know but there are worlds that He created that you do not know. It took modern science to show us the great big world of microorganisms. In the time of the prophet, it was not known. Is that correct or not?
Crowd: Correct.
Imam W D Mohammed: Here it is just two centuries after prophet, science discovers that there is a whole another world, marine life, microorganisms. Not only marine life, they exist on the air, everywhere that we can't see with our eyes. Microorganism, yes, micros. The Quran has addressed this before it was known.
This is no accident, this is communication coming from the Lord of the worlds. No accident, He is the Lord of all the worlds and we have made it clear that the person with his insight common mind blessed with insight of scientific perception, he made a mistake too and glorifying himself and forgot to keep his mind that the very material and sources that from which he was benefiting, in which he was gaining a situation for growth of his own intellect and our intellect was oppressed.
What he found in the natural art that G-d created that gave him a situation for freeing his own intellect. He frees and baths in the light of his own glory and forgets his humble origins and his dependency. While you're boasting, you're just dressed up in dependency. Yes, you're boasting as an independent, you're the boss, you're the G-d, you do the-- but the common man with his common senses, women too they laugh. [laughs] "I stayed in the Nation of Islam but I never believed that Fard was G-d. I never did believe that man was G-d. Yes, but it said it but I never really believed it."
That's that common mind that G-d created. Your man has to become unreal before you accept that the man is G-d or something like that. Your mind has to become unreal, so they have to give you the unreal to convert you to accept the unreal. They give you a fantasy of a story tale or a fantasy story about the origin of things and the creation of things. They give you a lie about the reality of matter and everything and now you were ready to believe a man is G-d. All fits in, it's all story tale.


