02/29/1997
IWDM Study Library
Southern University, New Orleans
Pts 1-2

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
[applause]
Speaker 1: Thank you. Praise be to G-d. As we say, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah Amin. Praise and thanks to G-d, the Lord sustainer of all the worlds. We witness that he's the one. The creator of everything and who cares about all of His creation and all of His creatures especially the human creation that He has given the greatest station to in His great work of creating things. We are happy to be here to address you today in New Orleans at this facility. We appreciate your invitation to us and making this possible you as the Muslim community and the non-Muslim community who all join together. Muslims and Christians and friends and all of you we appreciate you very much for making this occasion possible for us and a success. G-d willing and we say inshallah. Islam in the future plans of our community is what we would like to share with you most of all but before doing that we would like to give a brief reflection on our report to you on the development of the Muslims in the American society.
I believe this is my third or fourth visit to Southern University of New Orleans. Thank you very much for having me again. If our sister Dr. Malik Abdul Hagar is in the audience I want to send you personal greetings from me and I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to speak to you before returning back home.
Speaker 2: [unintelligible 00:23:54]
Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you. Then I will have a chance to speak to her before leaving. Imam Rafiq is to certainly appreciate your good leadership in the Muslim community here in New Orleans and in the area and all of those who are working together from the different ethnic groups and different masjids, mosques we appreciate the unity and the future that this unity promises for Muslims and their betterment in this area. We regret that we were not able to have the satellite ministry broadcast. It was very much desired. In fact, Imam Qasim Ahmed of Texas and brother Imam Sabri, they worked very hard and it's a big disappointment to them that we didn't achieve that but we have not given it up. They have a plan to reach even more homes by way of satellite. G-d willing we will have this soon I hope.
For a quick look at Islam itself then it take a lot of words to tell you what Islam is. Our prophet when asked what is Islam prayers and peace be upon Muhammad the last prophet, He said, "Islam is to believe in one G-d, to witness there is one G-d, to pray and to give in charity, to fast and to make pilgrimage to the house." The house was simply called Albayt means the house. Really Albayt means home and that house is also called Kaaba. Kaaba means direction. Well, Kaaba is direction for Muslim in prayer. These five structures gives us the picture of what is Islam and they are the structures that distinguish us and gives us a different look in the religious communities of the world. We stand out because we have those structures. Those structures require that we give our whole life to those structures. Our whole life is a life of worship, a life of prayer to G-d, a life of witnessing first of all that G-d is G-d and nothing is above G-d and nothing is without I would say debt to G-d. Then for us is debt. Nothing is alive is debt to G-d.
To pray as I said, to be in prayer formally and informally, to have a life of prayer and to have a life of charity. To give to our Muslim work, to the path of G-d, that's what we call it [unintelligible 00:27:15] in the path of G-d, to give to our Muslim work our religious work for the propagation of Islam and taking care of the needs for that propagation. That is our Imams who have given their full time to the work and many other needs connected with propagation or the preaching of the religion of Islam, establishing it and to give to our own families. Families in our religion as G-d says close relations, family relations or close ties of families have a priority in the book of G-d. It's very important that we as a Christian, say that our charity begins at home and spread abroad in the society now, with college expenses for education we should hope that our children will qualify for the best education and which must put some of our earnings aside for their education because education is a top priority in Islam.
In fact, Islam looks to a quality education for the liberation of the whole society. We don't separate education from religious education. For us, their education is universal and a religious education is a part of whole of education and we must have religious education, we must have what we know as the academic, pardon me, the curriculum requirements and everything else and we should make it a top priority for us to build our own institutions of learning and also contribute to the betterment of institutions of learning in American society and throughout the world. This all is a part of charity. When we give on our children, that's charity. When we give of ourselves for G-d's pleasure, when I give of myself-..
Future that this unity promises for Muslims and their betterment in this area. We regret that we were not able to have the satellite ministry broadcast. It was very much desired. In fact, Imam Qasim Ahmed of Texas and Brother Imam Sabree, they worked very hard and it's a big disappointment to them that we didn't achieve that, but we have not given it up. They have a plan to reach even more homes by way of satellite. G-d willing, we will have this soon, I hope.
For a quick look at Al-Islam itself, it doesnt take a lot of words to tell you what Al-Islam is. Our prophet when asked what is Al-Islam, prayers and peace be upon Muhammad, the last prophet, he said, "Al-Islam is to believe in one G-d, to witness there is one G-d, to pray and to give in charity, to fast and to make pilgrimage to the house." The house was simply called Al Bait means the house. Really, Bait means like home. That house is also called Kaaba. Kaaba means direction. Well, Kaaba is direction for Muslim in prayer.
These five structures give us the picture of what is Al-Islam. They are the structures that distinguish us and give us a different look in the religious communities of the world. We stand out because, we have those structures. Those structures require that we give our whole life to those structures. Our whole life is the life of worship, a life of prayer to G-d, a life of witnessing first of all that G-d is G-d, nothing is above G-d and nothing is without, I would say, debt to G-d. Deen for us is debt.
Nothing is without is debt to G-d. To pray as I said, to be in prayer formally and informally, to have a life of prayer and to have a life of charity. To give to our Muslim work to the path of G-d, that's what we call it. Fisabillila in the path of G-d to give to our Muslim work, our religious work for the propagation of Al-Islam and taking care of the needs for that propagation. That is to our Imams or whatever.
Imams who have given their full time to the work and many other needs connected with propagation or the preaching of the religion of Al-Islam, establishing it and to give to our own families. Families and our religion, as G-d says, close relation, family relations, or close ties of family have a priority in the book of G-d. It's very important that we, as the Christian say, "Our charity begin at home and spread abroad."
In the society now with college expenses for education, we should hope that our children will qualify for the best education in which we must put some of our earnings aside for their education because, education is a top priority in Al-Islam. In fact, Al-Islam looks to quality education for the liberation of the whole society. We don't separate education from religious education. For us, education is universal and religious education is a part of the whole of education.
We must have religious education. We must have what we know as the academic and the curriculum requirements and everything else. We should make it a top priority for us to build our own institutions of learning and also contribute to the betterment of institutions of learning in the American society and throughout the world. This all is a part of charity. When we give on our children, that's charity.
When we give on ourselves for G-d's pleasure, when I give on myself, I spend my money, my time on myself not for selfish reasons but to have myself more approved before G-d, that's charity. That's charity on my own soul, charity on my own self. This charity must go to our neighbors. Muhammad the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, he said that G-d pressed him so hard as regard to the recognition and treatment of his neighbor that he thought that G-d intended for the neighbor to inherit him.
It is said that he had begun to think that the G-d had intended for the neighbor to inherit him. We know that the Muslims came from Muslim quarters of Muslim land and they came into the country that is now called Indonesia. Indonesia is the most populous of all Muslim countries today. Indonesians take great pride in saying that Muslim business men came to their land, did business in their land, decided to live and stay in their land.
They impressed the Indonesians so much that the Indonesians wanted to know what accounts for this excellent business practice that these Muslims have? When they inquired, the Muslims told them that they had received Al-Islam from G-d. From the mouth of Muhammad, from the teachings of Muhammad the Prophet, and the holy book was the Quran and their leader, their prophet was Muhammad the Prophet, the prophet to all, the mercy to all the world.
When they were told these things, then they wanted to know more about the religion. This curiosity of theirs eventually brought the whole country to be Muslim. Indonesians are almost 100% Muslim, the whole country and the most populous, I repeat, the most populous of Muslim countries or nations on earth today. We see that Al-Islam is to be advanced by good character and the prophet said that I've come expressly to invite people and build up good character.
Good character, educated community, and charitable community, caring about others and wanting them to have better life, too. This is what made for the great growth of Al-Islam in the world. Not fighting with swords or anything else. That's not what made Al-Islam the great populous community it is today. That's not what made friends for Al-Islam, fighting with the swords, that did not do it.
In fact, in the time of the Prophet, fighting was not something that the Prophet wanted at all. He refused to fight. Revelation had to come from G-d telling him to fight. He refused to fight people, but G-d gave him permission to defend the Muslims against the aggressors, against the idolaters, the pagans who attacking the Muslims all the time. And G-d promised the Prophet and his following victory and they did get victory. They were victorious on the Peninsula of Arabia.
Following that great victory, Al-Islam spread on to the neighboring communities, what we know now as Iran, Iraq and Egypt, Sudan, all of those neighboring places. Even into Europe, it's spread into Europe, to Rome itself the message went. And the Prophets, great ambassadors were from the African, from the Persian, from all the colors that made of white, black, white, brown, all the major colors. He had the ambassadors that were going to their people and telling their people of the great message of Al-Islam, charity and also fasting.
Fasting is for restraint to teach us taqwa, to teach us respect for G-d, consciousness, to be conscious of our debt to G-d and the respect that we owe G-d. G-d says in our holy book that fasting is to strengthen or to give us or to strengthen our consciousness, Taqwa our consciousness and we get many benefits. G-d gives us many practical benefits. Fasting has many practical benefits, but I think the most practical benefit is to have a proper awareness and obedience in us for G-d. Fasting is in the month of Ramadan. The month in which the Quran was revealed, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and lastly, I repeat the pilgrimage.
I'm repeating these so that we give a little more explanation of how these principles and structures are established in the life of Muslim and in the life of society. Lastly, the pilgrimage. The purpose of that pilgrimage is also to teach us, consciousness, respect for G-d. To have us aware of our indebtedness to G-d, but it is mainly to bring the Muslims to see that humanity is one family, that all people are one brotherhood. That's the main purpose of it, it's called the fifth pillar, the fifth pillar or the fifth structure in Al-Islam. It is to bring us together as nations, as cultures, as ethnic groups. To bring us together under one G-d so that we will know each other, get to know each other, get acquainted of each other.
The African and the European, the Asian and the European and American and all of us meet there as Muslims and we strip ourselves of our ethnic clothing, our ethnic appearance. We strip ourselves of our nationalistic dress and we put the men put on simple covering, looks like a towel, a big towel. One white towel with no seams, just natural cloth. We put one up here to cover the top of us after we have covered the bottom with one. Two pieces looking like big towels, big bath towels. We cover ourselves like that and that's how we look. We don't see our national dress. We don't see our culture, our ethnic appearance, we see nothing but the human being.
G-d wants us to know that no matter what the color of the skin or the features or the texture of the hair or the national dress, cultural dress of the people that we are one people. The tongues He said, He has made you and given you different tongues, different languages that is and different colors of different features. G-d has given us that. Those distinctions we should care about, those distinctions we should want to build up because, G-d designed these beautiful separate pictures for us. G-d says that He has given you your single picture and have made that picture most excellent.
The single picture is what the fifth pillar is all about. The single picture is the picture of our human creation, that G-d did. The human creation that G-d did. He didn't make us humanly different, He made us humanly the same when He made us and we took on naturalistic dress, we took on cultural dress, we took on the different colors, the different features, et cetera. G-d, He created the abstract person, the person within that is not concrete but abstract, not visible to the physical eye but invisible. That's the human being He created and we call it the spiritual person. He made the spiritual person alike for all of us. That's the single picture and He said He have made that picture most excellent.
I have given you briefly what is Al-Islam and its distinct appearance that separates us in our appearance from other religious communities of the world. Now, I give you the articles of belief. The articles of belief according to the teachings of Quran and our Prophet may prayers and peace be upon him. Are to believe in G-d, to believe in Revelation, the books that He revealed to man and to believe in the angels that assists that great work of Revelation and assist G-d in the creation, assist the will of G-d and the scheme of G-d in creation and to believe in judgment that there will be a judgment day.
Everything will be concluded one day; all of this will be concluded. None of these things that we're looking at even the sun itself will endure forever. Even science tells us now that the sun is a perishable thing, it will not exist forever, it is dying real slowly, real gradually. Everything of this nature, the created nature, the material nature will eventually change or be taken away completely and there will exist nothing as G-d says, "There will exit nothing remaining one day except the identity of G-d." G-d will bring back what He wants to bring back. "The one who created it for the first time," G-d says, "has all the power to create it again."
He promises a new creation and He says that He's obligated to give man, the human beings a new creation. We believe in what we call it Al-baadi baadi mout the resurrection after the death. We believe that when all is dead and nothing is existing anymore for the physical eyes to see, same G-d who did it one time will do it again and He will have us in a new creation that will be the life after death. The paradise and that the great hope that all of us should live for.
We shouldn't live so much for this life here, we should live for that life there. If we live for that life there that to come, the end life which is the better, if we live for that, we will have a better life here. If we have the rational basis for our faith, but if we don't have rational basis for our faith, and our religion is mostly superstition and artificiality, we will have hell here and hell in the future.
Our development in America for this particular group that I belong to started in the early '30s. We have documented that it started July 4, 1930. I think that is more revelatory than it is fact. I think it started around '31 the records show. The oldest records we have from the leaders, my father, well, the main leader. My father was there main leader, we build it up. From my father and others who were back there, we have it documented that there were activities in 1931 in Detroit Michigan. That's where it all started in the city of Detroit, Detroit Michigan.
The work that was done was not done by an American. It was done by a person from outside America who came into America as a Muslim. We say he was an Arab but it's not a fact, that hasn't been established yet. In fact, the evidence points to him being more from India, from Far East India what is now called Pakistan. In 1947 the Muslims got independence, they got independence and they had the independent state, and the independent state, the name given the State was Pakistan. Indians and Pakistanis are the same people. The only difference is that one Muslim, other Hindu or something else, but they are the same people.
They got their independent state and we believe that the man who started this for us in America in the name of Islam, that man was from that area. That's what we're pretty sure of now. That he was from that area, what's called Pakistan today. We believe that he was from the Community Association of Muslims called Ahmadiyya, the Ahmadiyya Anguman people. They have two groups; one group is more extreme away from Islam than the other. One called Qadianis from the little town called Qadian. Their leader who came to be called like a prophet or a Messiah, his name, Ghulam Ahmed from Qadian.
We believe that this man from evidence that I don't have time to share with you all with it right now. We believe that he was a supporter and admirer of the good works of the Ahmadiyya thinkers, intellectual people, scholars, but he had some very serious differences with them. He never chose to identify as an Ahmadiyya. We believe also that this man was pretty well aware of scriptures, not only the Quran but the Old Testament and the New Testament. We believe that he was independent in his thinking. He wasn't following Ahmadi authority or anybody's authority. He was pretty independent in his thinking. He came to America and he disliked what he saw of the condition of African-American black people or African people in America. He wanted to change the situation. He brought with him his dislike for British, for white rule. If you know something about Pakistan, Pakistan got his independence from the British, the British were ruling India. He came here and he saw the South. He traveled in the South. He saw the South how our peoples treated in the South. He told me that he went to a restaurant in the South-- He said that it in a-- He didn't tell me by way of mental telepathy or by way of revelation. He told me just like I'm talking to you right now, that's how he was talking to me. I have not had any strange experiences.

He told me, he said, he was at a restaurant, he stopped and he saw it said, "No colored allowed." That meant black. That's the term. That was the term down there. So, he said he went in, he said, and he sat down, and they came to serve him. When they offered to serve him, he said, "No blacks allowed?" They said, "No." He said, "I'm black." They said, "Well, you are not allowed." He said, "How come blacks are not allowed to sit at the counter and I can see blacks back there putting their hands in your food. They're your cooks?" 
He said, "They are clean enough to cook your food but not clean enough to eat at the counter."
He said he walked out and left. He left the place. This is one of the pictures of this man. This is one of the pictures of this man that I saw that I know about. Anyway, this man being read in the Scripture and having an independent mind, he got insights. He got an understanding of Scripture, how to read scripture and how to get the benefit of it in your life, in your practical life, for your practical life. What he did, he saw for himself a role. He took a role out of the Bible and he took a role, well, he thought-- I'm not trying to justify what he did. He thought he also took a role out of the Quran, but he took a role out of the Bible.
The role that he took out of the Bible is the role of a person coming doing the work of G-d but, hiding his identity, hiding himself, not letting the people that he's working among see him in his true identity. The old followers of the Nation of Islam in Detroit, they often told the police, the news, the media, whoever questioned them when they asked them about Fard, that media has had his statement, the intelligence department has this statement, and we have this statement, they said that he said he came in disguise wearing the clothes of the cavy.
Now, that was his opinion of the white man. The white man was a caveman, but he called it cavy not caveman, "Wearing the clothes of the cavy." He said that, you have not seen me in my royal dress, my royal dress. Now, in studying this man and seeing the references, biblical, or scriptural references, that he gave the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his following, I'm convinced that he saw himself as the second coming of Christ at least in that role if not as that person but in the role of the second coming of Christ who comes riding the clouds, according to the Scripture.
These are not my words. I'm giving you the words of the Bible, who come riding the clouds. Riding the clouds means, he rides that that brings trouble and brings good news, too. When it brings rain that the farmer needs, that's good news. Or bring the rain that we need, that keeps the drought, that stop the drought, good news, but sometimes it brings trouble, too. He comes riding the clouds. Another Bible expression is, "He come in the clouds, riding the clouds." Also, come in the clouds. In the clouds means he's hid in the clouds. You don't see him, but he's coming, and as darkness. At another expression, "He comes under the cover of darkness." He comes under the cover of darkness. I said that he saw himself coming in that role, so he created a language that kept out the light.
The language that he gave the Temple of Islam. That was his idea too, the temple of Islam. He took it from the Moorish Science Temple as started by Drew Ali. He took the name Temple of Islam and that language he gave us, that's what we call now the teachings of Islam in the Temple of Islam, are in the Lost Found Nation of Islam. That language that he gave us was a language that kept out the light. Kept out the light. On its surface, it was designed to make us feel special, to make us feel good, to uplift our crushed pride, that segregation, the human mistreatment, human oppression. The oppression of our human excellence in this country had pushed that pride down, had crushed that pride. He gave us things to build that pride back up. He said complimentary things about us, to make us feel good about ourselves.
We saw him as not a black man or not an African man or African-American man, we saw him as a different man, a foreign man. This man saying those things, "Went home, went home." If we had said those things to each other, it wouldn't have meant as much as a man saying those things who looks to us like a white man. It was like, "Now, here's a white man saying something different." The white world said, "We were nothing," put us down, but here's a white man, the man that appears to be a white man, he's saying that we are not down. We're up. He's saying that we are not inferior, we are superior. He really stretched everything. He said, "You are the superior race."
This man also punished white America by taking a group of people. And he purposely did this, a group of people who were not educated. His followers were not educated. He made a purpose to not attract educated African-American. He told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he said, "They will mean nothing, but trouble." He called them, "The second of the bloodsuckers that sucked the blood of our people." He said the number one bloodsucker is the whites, the 10 percenters. The next, the worst bloodsucker is the Talented Tenth intellectuals like Du Bois and the rest them. He said, "They're the number two bloodsuckers." He said, "They worked with the number one bloodsucker." He said, "We don't want them." He said, "They will be nothing but trouble."
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had no formal education than three years of elementary school from Sandersville, Georgia. His wife, my mother, Clara Muhammad, she had only seven years. She didn't graduate from elementary school. She had seven years of formal education from Cordele, Georgia. That was the extent of education for my family. I have some cultural, I would say, things that I have to try to keep out of my language while I'm addressing you. Many of you probably have forgotten the expression "I ain't studdin you".

One blues singer he didn't forget it. He made a song, "I ain't studdin you. I ain't studdin." Well, see, I used to have that language, "I ain't studdin you." You just got through with somebody, you want to tell him, "Stop talking to me and leave me alone. I'm not interested. I don't want to be bothered." "I ain't studdin you, man." Now, they call that black English, but that was the English that would get me an F or D or something. I had to get rid of it to get through school, at least elementary and high school. 
Yes. We have to understand that the man who gave us the teachings, we call the teachings of Farrakhan, Minister Farrakhan. It shouldnt be blamed on him. They're not the teaching of Farrakhan. He got those teachings the same way we got it, but just to make it clear and easy to understand, those teachings that we identify with Farrakhan now, those teachings were made very ridiculous intentionally. This foreigner that brought these teachings to us. He made them very-- he made his teachings his so-called holy teachings for the black man's elevation, or spiritual uplift, or ego building. That would be a better expression, those teachings that he gave us he put in those teachings. Irrational things, irrational ideas, and irrational claims knowing that as we got to be more educated, we would see these things and reject those things.
This doesn't make any rational sense at all but, if we were really ourselves, sincere about being better people and we would not be quick to judge that person. We would want to understand, why would he make it like this. This man that obviously did us a lot of good. Obviously came to save our crush souls, save our deflated spirits, and lift us up again.
Why did he do this thing? Why did he make this rational mess of knowledge and we would we would seek an answer and we would come to the conclusion that I have come to and you who support me. You follow me, you would come to that conclusion. And that conclusion is, that he did that to attract a following that was not mentally obedient in this world. We were not obeying the white world establishment. We were wondering why the white world establishment was like it was and we were dissatisfied with it and we were hoping that change would come. We couldn't debate with it. We didn't have the education, the formal education to do that but this man took us and then he told us that you are the best, you should have your own schools. He gave us our own schools. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad led the work for building our own schools and we eventually we had our elementary school, eventually we had our high school.
I'm a graduate of the Muslim high school that honorable Elijah Muhammad led us to build. So, eventually we had our school and we became more educated, better educated and eventually, we look outside, outside of even America. We looked outside at the Egypt and into Ghana, into the different nations of Africa. We looked outside to the Middle-east, Arabia around and we didn't find it to be of what that man told us it was. Mr. Fard, what Mr. Fard told us, we didn't find it.
He told us, the streets of Mecca were paved with gold. Now, don't think he's the first one that used that trick. The slave ships that went to Africa, to bring Africans over here for slave labor and they told the slave that America-- the new world that they were taking them to, the streets there was paved with gold. So, this man Fard, he just took something from-- took a big lie that had already been told and he say, "I'm going to tell it again. Use the same lie." So, he said streets of Mecca were paved with gold."
That's what we thought until we went over there and stepped on all those stones and sand. When I went over there in 1967, believe me, the industrial build-up was not there. It was a very raw barren land, that's what it was with hardly, no presence of Industry at all. They had some buildings but they were inferior to our buildings in the worst part of America except for the place where the king was living perhaps. I didn't get to his house then. I've gotten there since and it's terrific. In fact, we can hardly find anything that match it American, his house is terrific.
Yes, and oh yes and he feeds the poor at his house. Yes, certain times a day, anybody poor in Mecca needing some food can come to his house and eat. That's wonderful isn't. Yes, they do have problems but they're doing more good than they are doing bad or harm, we have more to congratulate them for than we have to point the finger at. Yes, anyway that's off the subject.
Getting back to my point, this man plotted or planned to have Islam established and the route he took is to go through the most uneducated, the most rejected of all the American citizens, or American people because at that time, we were not full citizens. Because, in the South there were two laws, one for black and one for us. So, we were not really recognized as full citizens, when this man brought this idea. So, he came he wanted to come through this door, the door of America's most rejected and most deprived people come through that door and introduce into their hands the Quran.
The Quran, the sacred book of all Muslims. One billion of us on earth today and a little better. All of us have the Quran as our holy book. He brought that same book, not a different book, he brought that same book. The Quran that Minister Farrakhan had in his hand or will have in his hand when he speaks or when he preaches or give a sermon or whatever is the same book that all Muslims have, it's no different. The only difference is the English, how they translated, how they commented in English on the verses but the Arabic is the same, no different.
He has the same book too. The book that was given to us, as followers of the temple of Islam or Nation Islam was the same Quran, the same holy book that all Muslims have but we read it the way we were conditioned to read it. We didn't read it much, we were discouraged. We weren't encouraged to read the Quran. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us the graveyard, the metal graveyard of his people he said, of the black people is their ignorance in Christianity. He said, "Since that's the graveyard of my people, then they have to be resurrected there."
So, he would use the Bible. The same Bible that he said was the graveyard, represented the graveyard for the people. He would use the language of the Bible to bring us out of the grave, what he called the mental grave. He would tell us about that the people who were made slaves in the Old Testament, the people, Hebrews, the Jews, and he would tell us, that's not them that's you. It's not talking about them, it's talking about you and he wasn't telling us something that hadn't been tried before.
Black nationalists and the Moorish American Science Temple, they had done the same thing before. So, Fard used whatever was working that he could use in his plan, he took it. He said, "What means and methods must be used? So, he asked even the question to his students. He asked them to help, make a contribution. Let's see how can we do this better? What means and methods must be used to get the job done, to liberate the black man, to free him, give him his mind back, and give him his destiny, put his destiny in his own hands?
That was the work of this man and it worked, his plot worked, his scheme worked and I defy anybody tell me it didn't work. I'm the living proof that it worked. I came to the Quran and now I read the Quran as the learned intelligent Muslims read it all over the planet Earth and I follow it the way most of them follow it. I don't follow it the way we used to follow it. I follow the way most of the Muslims follow it. Im with the multi-colored mainstream of the great majority in Muslims of the world, I'm with them in my thinking and in my practice of the religion and I was born under that teaching.
My mother told me I was child in her arms, she was pregnant with me while Fard was there. Fard himself witnessed my mother getting pregnant with me and he said of me that I would be a helper in the work. And got my father to promise that he would help me come into the leadership so that I would-- He said so that he would brother, he said brother, so that he will help us do this job. That's what he said and he predicted I would be a boy and it was a boy in there and that was a boy in my mother, obviously because I'm that boy.
The fifth son of my mother and father. He predicted that I would be a boy and gave me a name that he was using. We got many cards, many papers signed by him. He signed his name, that most of the time he signed his name Wallace D or WD Farad but postcard that he sent from outside through the mail, most times he would write 'Wallace D.' There's nothing else, Wallace D. I guess he didn't want the police department, FBI to know his whereabouts. 'Wallace D' and sometimes he would say Wallace D Fard. We have all these signatures of his. He told my father said, "Promise that you will name him after me." My name Wallace D Mohammed came from this man.
Here's a man who is not English but he gave me a name Wallace, and he also used the name Wallace. It is very obvious to us now that he believed that no matter what you said to people if your intentions were right or good, and you left the Quran among them and you encouraged them to be curious and to become educated, that one day they would become educated enough to see the ridiculousness in what you left with them. And they will go to the Quran for the right religion.
That's exactly what happened. He planned it that way and it worked. I went to the Quran. He had one question that he gives, he says to the students, he encouraged the students to study the language. He gave them a problem, he gave them a reading problem like we'd get in school. He said, "The neatest and best worker of this problem will get a prize."
The highest prize-- there's more than one prize, three prizes often. One prize was gold. They would get so much in gold, but the best prize was what he called a Quran Sharif. He said, "The highest prize for the neatest and best worker of this problem is the Quran Sharif."
Now, do you follow my thinking? Now you see how I came to the right religion and came to believe that he himself didn't mean for us to stay in that idea, the old Nation of Islam teaching. I said, "If this man is saying that a Quran is more precious than gold or anything else, it's obvious to me that the Quran was the most valued thing that he introduced to us.
Then, I should attach myself to the Quran, and anything that conflicts with the Quran I should reject it even though this man said it himself. Because it's obvious to me that he didn't want us to have anything above the Quran. The Quran is to be above anything else."
I began to see the ridiculous reasoning, that this reasoning is ridiculous. A black man will make a G-d people to rule him for 6,000 years? Am I to blame the lynching of my people in this south on this black man that created the white man? Am I to blame my situation in the world today on this man who he created the white? He created the white man. I couldn't. I couldn't accept that.
When I was young, a teenager, when I started thinking about that, I said, "This is ridiculous." I said, "Here we are taking pride in a black man that created another people to put us in the bad shape we are in. It's ridiculous." I don't care what you give me later. What kind of freak are you? What kind of psychotic person are you? You're going to create a situation for us to be lynched and burned and tarred and feathered, treated like we are less than dogs and mule and whatever.
Then, later you're going to redeem us from all this and make us G-ds again. That's sick. That's sick. I don't want to be G-d. Leave me with the common people and don't treat me like that. That was my thinking. I was very angry with that teaching. In fact, I was very angry with Mr. Fard until I got to know him better, see his scheme and his plan.
I was very angry. I said to myself, "If that's the kind of G-d I got to meet in the judgment, when I get to judgment, I'm going to put him on trial. Yes, that's what I said. I was very angry. I said I'm going to tell him that, "No. You ain't trying me, I'm trying you."
It's obvious to me that the man had good intention and he planned the introduction of the Quran into America. He also planned respect for that Quran. He planned it and he got it. He got it for most of us who followed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He certainly got it from me. Respect for the Quran.
Another expression is of him, "He come as a thief in the night." What does he come to steal? He comes to steal back the property that was stolen. We were a stolen people. He slips in and steals us back for Al-Islam. We were stolen from Al-Islam. Any of us blacks in America who want to deny that we don't have an Islamic Muslim heritage, you should study the history of Africa again.
We have a strong Islamic Muslim heritage but that's not the reason why we should be interested in Al-Islam or become Muslims, the reason why we should be interested in Al-Islam and become Muslim is that we believe in it and that our good heart and soul and the rational mind tells us that this is the choice that we should make it. That's why should make it. But, even if you never make that choice, you shouldn't deny that we have a strong Islamic past on the continent of Africa.
In fact, the glory of Africa that you can find quickly is the Muslim glory. Timbuktu, Mali, Songhai, the great men and thinkers like Askia the Great. That's the great past that we have. If we're going to close our eyes to that and go back to ancient Egypt, and say, "Yes, the black man history is also the history of the Pharaohs, plus what we know that among those Pharaohs were also slave maker Pharaohs, slave-making Pharaohs, oppressors of the weak, oppressors of other nations.
I don't want to identify with Pharaohs. The Bible don't praise Pharaohs. The Quran does not praise Pharaohs so I'm not going back there looking for my glory. I'm satisfied to see my glory in the Islamic past. I know how come the light of that glory went out. It went out because colonialism advanced over it. White nations took over those nations. The same thing that happened in India, the British took over there, happened in Africa and happened all over the world.
Arabs, Muslim civilization was lost to the march of colonialism, the successful victorious march of colonialism. We all have to overcome the set back that we suffered because of the march of colonialism. We shouldn't blame it on religion. We shouldn't blame it on each other. Even the crusades that had the Muslims and the Christians fighting each other with the swords and with the weapons, the guns eventually. That was a political war by character and not a religious war at all.
Religion was an excuse to advance the power holders, the landholders. They were fighting for land dominance in the world. That's what they were fighting for. Because they were fighting for that, G-d put a shameful mark on both the Christian crusader and the Muslims who were fighting for land expansion and for power. Put a bad mark on both sides and we have suffered. There were a few good leaders like Salahuddin who has an honorable Muslim, G-d gave him victory. Why? Because he was an honorable Muslim. He even cared about his enemy. The story is well documented.
The leader for the Christians was Richard The Lionheart and the leader for the Muslim was Salahuddin or Saladin as the west call him. Saladin. Salahuddin. Salahuddin was a trained doctor, medical doctor. He learned that Richard The Lionheart was sick in his camp. He sneaked into his camp, snuck into his camp and found him and treated him with medicine. Got back out without them observing him. That was the kind of Muslim G-d will give victory to.
You'll say, "Why would he keep the man healthy?" Maybe he was a thinker. A thinker. He said, "If I go to treat this man, it's going to be a kind act. If that man remembers this kind act and have second thoughts about his fighting Muslims, and decide to put down the sword, that would be a victory for Al-Islam." You see? He was a great man and G-d gave him victory. He had victory over the Crusaders.
I hope I have said enough to give you a much clear picture now of our development as the Muslim community in America. What happened back then in the Temple of Islam, Nation of Islam, and what happened in 1975 when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad passed in February, to bring about a change. A transition or transformation from what we were to what we are today.
I hope you have information now that will help you understand that better. Quickly going to the present time and where we want to go from here, our plan for the future of Muslims in America, for our future in America. Firstly, our obedience to G-d and the way that we obey G-d is obey the word of G-d in our Holy Book the Quran, and follow the one that received that message, the Quran, from G-d in Arabia about 14 centuries ago.
Follow his way, not our way. Follow his leadership, not our leadership separate from obeying his leadership. Follow his way and embrace all Muslims who say they follow that way. See us all as G-d wants to see us, as one community. G-d gave Muhammad the Quran, our leader Muhammad the Quran, to guide us and lead us to become one international community of religious people following the Quran and following the ways of Muhammad the Prophet.
We embrace that. We accept that. We embrace it and we suffer when any part of the International Ummah suffer, we suffer. Any need that is burdening that is not answered, that is a burden and misery in the international community of Muslim is also a burden and a mystery on us and in us. This is how we must live. We must live as one community on this earth, one international community on this earth.
In our separate places in America and different parts of the world, in France or whenever we are; Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, wherever we are in our separate places, Philippines, we are all over China and Russia, wherever we are, let us remember the big picture that we are an international community, and we should also have ties with each other. The economic effort of Muslims should be an international effort, not just a local effort.
The world has to now recognize the close quarters that we have to live in and the respect we have to have for each other and the fairness we have to have for the economic system of our countries, the respective systems that we have, and also the global system that we all tied in to.
We have to have respect for those realities and try to be more honorable, more ethical, fair with each other so that there'll be economic justice for the whole international community of people. We have to be a part of that. We have to plug into that. We have to share that interest. We have to share that burden.
We have to conduct our business with respect for other people, other religions, other cultures and the whole international world, and we should plan our businesses so that we contribute to the betterment of man on this earth, not just to the local Muslim people or to the nation we call America, but plan so that we make a contribution to the international community, for the betterment of the international community. The global community.
We should do this from all the bases or from all the platforms that we are working from. Whether it's the propagation of religion, or improvement for education, economic improvement, economic empowerment, whatever it is, or political empowerment, whatever it is, whatever the interest is, we should see that interest with the Muslims, also with America, in America and also in the international community.
We should be careful to makes that work good for the Muslim community, for the American community and for the international community because we can't live separated anymore. Whatever we do affects other people, whatever we do in this country is going to affect another country. If we don't all work together, we're going to hurt each other's future and each other's chances to be the people we want to be and good people want to have a good life that we want to have. Also, we must understand that nothing is bad that G-d created. A rat is good in a rat's place.
A pig is good in a pig's place. G-d created everything. He gave a place for everything. G-d, according to Scripture, didn't give the pig a place on my dinner plate. Yes, but that doesn't mean I dislike pigs. I can go up to the museum or wherever the pigs are, the farm, "Look at those nice pretty pigs", but you don't belong on my plate. G-d said "Don't eat you. Don't have you in my diet." All right, Alcohol, it's a drug, isn't it? It's responsible for a lot of death, a lot of insane senseless death, alcohol. But it's good. It ain't bad.
Everything that G-d created is good. Our ignorance and our approach and our use of it is the bad, that brings the bad consequences. G-d created everything according to the Bible. He created everything He said He beheld it all was good. He had created man too. He said He beheld it all good. Then He said, "Let us make man in our image and likeliness," so that's the Bible, not the Quran. That doesn't mean I believe everything I'm saying. I believe in the Quran, not the Bible. Not a believer in the bible, I'm a believer in the Quran.
I believe in the purity of the Bible. I believe in the good intent of the bible. I believe in the pure essence of the Bible but not in the Bible and all of its teachings and the Bible says that G-d puts before you two ways. The Bible in its composition represents two ways, you can go wrong following it and you can go right following it, but G-d says chose you, life.
So, there are stuff right there will lead you to death. G-d puts it before you. Why? Because, He wants us to be wise. G-d wants us to know the way of trouble and the way of peace.
G-d wants us to know the way of corruption and the way of righteousness. He puts them both before us and when we read in Scripture, we have to be aware that we are only to choose the best as Allah says in the Quran; "And take the best thereof--" Isn't that wonderful brothers? He says, "and take the best thereof." Because it's history, it's parables, allegories, stories.
If youre not careful you will take the worst of it. You see, and you think that's what G-d meant you to take and live by. No, He says, "and take the best thereof." We live only by that that makes us honorable in G-d's presence. We don't come to the conclusion that G-d has made lawful to us deception and lies and trickery, et cetera, and conquest.
G-d says that he will never give the power to any people who wants corruption, or wants a dominance. If you're working so that you be in the rule over everybody else and everybody else will be under your rule, G-d says He will never give it to you. Now I know the time is flying so I have to cut this short. I have to conclude it, rush and conclude it. In concluding it, I want to say that Fard himself left with us a lot of mythical satire.
I don't have time to explain it all to you but if it was all explained to you, you will see that Mr. Fard was calling a white man, a devil, but, at the same time, he was presenting a picture of the worst of the white people so that they would see themselves in us, who would lose the humbleness and lose the righteousness out of their life and get out here have anger motivating us more than peace and have desire for dominance motivating us more than obedience to G-d.
And the white man would look at us saying that we are black and superior that we are the G-ds and he's the devil, and he would think of himself saying, "Look how white supremacy has influenced this development in these people." He would see himself and hate himself. No white man likes to see Farrakhan.
No white, racist or supremacist likes to see Farrakhan. They don't like to look at the Nation of Islam, you know? And its angry men, Khalid. What's his name? You know who I'm talking about Khalid. He's a famous-- They should have called him the big mouth and not Muhammad Ali, Khalid. Yes, no white man racist or whatever. He didn't want to look at those people like Farrakhan. Talking about I'm black and I'm G-d and you're the devil and all that.
They don't want to see that. But isn't that what their racists told us? They told us that we were the black beasts, demons, made inferior, Ham's children made to serve others. To be hewers of wood and carriers of water for other people, to never rise above menial labor or slave labor. They told us we were fit for slavery. This is written in history.
Said we were created by G-d for slavery. Slavery was the natural condition for black people. That's what they said. So, here come a man reversing it and he's saying, "No, we are the blacks and wickedness is your natural condition. Lying is your natural condition. To tell lies and to do evil." To do it-- To treat people unfairly. That's your natural condition. You are a devil by nature you can't change. As some of the ministers used to say, "Your babies born and unborn are devils."
How do they look at that? Mr Fard and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they have also been very affected liberators of the white man's mind. They have helped to liberate the white racist's mind. They have helped to heal racism in America. They've helped by showing them a model of their own weakness, of their own ignorance, of their own wickedness. Show them a model of it. Say, "How do like this? They're making the same claims you made against them they're making them against you now. How do you like that?"
They look at the picture and say "I don't like it. I'm ashamed of what I am. I'm ashamed that this white supremacy idea has bred this thing here." They did breed it. Fard wouldn't have used it if they hadn't had that bad condition in America. He did what he did only to counteract what they had done.
They did do it. They are responsible for the mind that was created in the Nation of Islam. The superior mind, or believing this superiority of the blackman. They're responsible for it. With this man wise in psychology and religion was able to bring in an idea and a method to destroy not only falsehood in the white man's mind but also falsehood in the victim's mind. I tell you again, I'm a proof that it worked. I am proof that it worked. Allahu Akbar.
I just want to bring that to you again. To say that our future work will be the work of bringing the picture of Al-Islam correctly to ourselves and to the publics. To American public and the publics of the world. Our job will be to question the religious content in our life. In light of what the Quran says. Anything the Quran says is wrong we have to rid our life of it. Also, nationalism.
We've not given up completely the nationalist idea, no. We believe that this nationalist idea was not intended to have us necessarily look for geography or some ground, some states, some land and say "here's where we're going to build our nation."
That idea is to teach us that we should have national pride. We should have a sense of government in our own life. There should be a sense of government in my personal life, there should be a sense of government in my family life, there should be a sense of government for us as a community. We should have our own sense of government and we should have our politics for our own community and for our home life our neighborhood life. We should try to better contribute to the betterment, the improvement of the political ideas that this nation holds very dear to themselves.
They can be improved. There's room for improvement. Let us get into the race to better the political idea that this nation lives under or live by. To make contribution to the distant future of the political system for this country. Let us be courageous people in a new mind and independent thinking.
Slaves of G-d, obedient to G-d or servants of G-d. A softer word, servants of G-d. Let us be servants of G-d and let us work to have better schools, better private schools and let us work with those who are working for better public education, more quality education and better education for the American citizens and let us work for cultural improvement.
We want to improve our cultural life. Let us work for cultural distinction. Let us not give up the idea of building the African American person up in his own identity. Building him up in his own identity. Let us work for better African American thinking. Not just for African American Muslims, but for all African American in this country. Let us work for a more stronger, identifiable cultural life. Not just for Muslims but for all African Americans. We lost our cultural identity when we were separated from our cultural past.
Let us work for a stronger cultural identity in America. Let us work for not just for Muslims but for all African American. Let us appreciate the different taste that we have. The brother dressed so beautifully. Let us appreciate this dress. Let us welcome him, let embrace him. I wear this suit. If you don't think this suit smells to him his suit doesn't smell to me. Let us embrace each other, love each other in our separate distinction as a cultural people. Let us do this and let us love each other most of all.
Prophet Muhammad says you will not get into the paradise until you have faith and Prophet Muhammad said, prayers and peace be on him, you will not have faith until you have what? Love for one another. And practice it. You have to practice loving one another. Practice makes perfect. Not believing. Believing just holds it there. Practice makes perfect. Let's practice this love by demonstrating love when we see each other.
Prophet Muhammad says give charity. It says, a kind word is charity. A pleasant face is charity. Let us not forget the simple things that really represents a real strength in the life of any people. Small kindnesses. Loving each other.
Let's plan our business community. We have an organization now. Our company is called CPC. The company is put together by a few business people. We have members selected very carefully from the businessmen and women or from the business sense and business people. Business sense and business people in our community is growing well.
When we get to $1 billion we're going to make a big purchase and we're over the half a million mark. We have more than half a million and we think by the time of our convention in September we will be at the million-dollar mark.
We hope to have some items purchased at the convention. This year's convention in 1997, Islamic convention in the Meadowlands, New Jersey. We hope to have some items right there for you to see and sample or purchase. Our first purchase is, inshallah, will be from a Muslim country. We will not going only purchase from Muslim countries we're going to purchase from America our country. We're going to purchase also from South America and maybe Canada too.
We're going to purchase in different countries but, inshallah, the first purchase will be from a Muslim country and we are going to put greater importance on business with Muslim countries because that's our religion, and they are religious brothers and sisters, we have to have strong meaningful ties other than religious ties with Muslims all over the world. Thank you and As Salaam Alaikum.


