April 9th 1982
IWDM Study Library

Jumuah Sedalia NC: Part 1
Imam W. Deen Mohammed


[inaudible 00:00:00]. Praise be Allah, the guardian [inaudible 00:00:09] and the [inaudible 00:00:11] over all the world. We seek help from him. We seek him for forgiveness, for our sins, our thoughts. We put our [inaudible 00:00:26] up in him, who is mighty and sublime. [We're told 00:00:32] the gift of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him, the noble and generous messenger of Allah.

[inaudible 00:00:45] that nothing is worthy of worship except the one lord and creator, [inaudible 00:00:54], and I [inaudible 00:00:56] that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. For Allah, there is no associate, no helper in the [room 00:01:13] of the heavens and Earth. He is ruler alone. He has no partner, no associate. No one sharing the rule of the kingdom with him.

Allah, Most High, said in the Quran that any who come to him, come to him as a servant, and that he has no need of any servant himself. Therefore whoever serves in the cause of Allah or whatever [inaudible 00:01:58] there is serving in the room of the kingdom of the heavens and Earth, angels and men. Again, they all serve as [inaudible 00:02:11] our finest of their nature, and Allah needs nothing from any of them.

It is for their own good, for their own benefit that they serve. Allah, Most High, [inaudible 00:02:31] has explained, I have revealed the Prophet Muhammad the scriptures so that he may have a better understanding or clear understanding regarding what was revealed before. Muslims, [that 00:02:58] you know we are to believe also in those revelations or those scriptures that came before. We live in them for [inaudible 00:03:09], and we believe also in those scriptures that came before.

Not that we believe in them in the form that they are in now. We understand that before Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him, the scriptures were not existing in their pure form. They had been distorted and some of them had been corrupted by translations and interpretations, etc.

Nonetheless, muslims are to believe in the scriptures that was revealed before. The Prophet, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all of the prophets of Allah. In the Quran, the Most High tells us of the mission of Prophet Muhammad, answering the previous prophecies that God would raise up a messenger like Moses, and that he would be a teacher.

Prophet Muhammad was a teacher. Prophet Muhammad had [inaudible 00:04:29] both the moral side of the human mind and also the need for intellectual growth [inaudible 00:04:40]. Prophet Muhammad appealed both to the moral nature of the human being and to the intellect of the human being, and indeed was [inaudible 00:04:49] into a lot of [inaudible 00:04:53] are citing a lot of references to establish this. Indeed, the muslims understand that Prophet Muhammad is the answer.

That prophecy that Allah would give the world a messenger like Moses that is a teacher. A rational teacher. He said that this particular one, that he would teach them the scripture, the book and the wisdom. The book and the wisdom, and he had [inaudible 00:05:33] the book and the wisdom, and that he would call them to purification. That he would call them to purification.

Here we see the role of Prophet Muhammad in just a few words, that he would be a teacher, he would teach the people the scripture, his followers the scriptures, and that he would teach them the wisdom of the scripture. Not just to recite scripture without wisdom, but he would also give them the wisdom of the scripture, and that he would lead them into purification.

[inaudible 00:06:25] muslims, we will keep these things in mind. There is no guidance without a moral foundation. There is no wisdom coming to us from the scriptures without a moral foundation. We can't expect to get the benefit that God intends for us in the scripture if we're going to be immoral, if we're going to be unconcerned about the moral development of our souls, our minds, etc.

This community understands that it must work hard to keep the best morals, to display the best moral behavior, and to always teach all the morals and clean morals as a goal for yourself, an individual, and also for your community or for your constituents. Whoever's working with you, whether this is business, whether this is education, whether this is [inaudible 00:07:31], no matter what it is, our morality is an ethic.

It's an ethic that includes everything in the life of a human being. Himself, his society, his government, everything. There's no place where our ethics stop. Our religion is a comprehensive religion, and our moral code is a comprehensive moral code. It doesn't leave out anything in our lives. We should keep that in mind.

Allah, Most High, said in the Quran, [foreign language 00:08:12]. The people of the scripture. [foreign language 00:08:35]. The people of the scripture did not become [inaudible 00:08:58] until there came to them the clear [inaudible 00:09:03] evidence. [foreign language 00:09:08]. The messenger from Allah who recites, for them, purify scripture. Purified scripture. [foreign language 00:09:29] who recites for them or who teach them, purify scripture.

[foreign language 00:09:38]. In it, that is in what he brings to the believers of the purified scripture, [foreign language 00:09:49]. In it, our book made right. Books corrected are made perfectly right. Then we understand that those previous scriptures there that Allah revealed to messengers before, returned to us in the vision of Prophet Muhammad.

That is, that that was necessary for our time, for the people in that time and time to come, that was worthwhile to preserve for the future generations, and for future changes in the world, were ... It was retained in the right form, perfectly as God envisioned it. Still retain that. By that he means that if any muslim would seek the scriptures that were revealed before, he should seek those scriptures in the Quran, not in sources other than the Quran because the Quran now contains what was revealed still before.

It contains it in its right state. It says [foreign language 00:11:17]. Books, not one book. [foreign language 00:11:22], book. [foreign language 00:11:25]. In it are the corrected books. Books made right again for all time. Now we'd like to return to the Bible so that this Quran will help us to see what the Bible is presenting, or what the Bible is trying to establish. The Bible is old scripture. If the Bible is good enough, then Prophet Muhammad would have taught the Bible.

The Bible is old scripture. It's not [inaudible 00:12:11]. The Bible contains the error. It contains the mistakes, the error. With the Quran, we can see what is the right way to understand the Bible. The correct way to understand the Bible is had by [setting 00:12:30] the Quran. Jesus Christ, peace be on him, as we know him, he's a prophet of Allah. One of the prophets of Allah, Jesus Christ.

[foreign language 00:12:46]. Jesus Christ, one of the prophets of Allah. The strong characteristic or perhaps the most obvious characteristic in the personality of Jesus is the voice of Allah. The voice of Allah, because we're told that he was blessed with something of the voice. He was blessed with the voice of Allah, and that he himself was inspired by the voice of Allah. Mary, his mother, blessed mother, she was blessed with the [voice 00:13:40] of Allah.

Jesus is a child or a prophet born of the voice of Allah. Voice of Allah, and Allah says of his voice that he has given all something of his voice. Don't think that we're talking about something that's not common in the people. All of us have something of the voice of Allah, but Jesus, he is singled out for having this voice dominant in his life. We know holy refers to the holy spirit.

Now there was a branch of study in Islam for [foreign language 00:14:33] is the study of spiritual life. [foreign language 00:14:43], the spiritual aspect of the life. [foreign language 00:14:47]. We begin to understand that Jesus was more a spiritual prophet, a messenger, than any other thing. Than anything else. We can see by that the character of his followers all over the world.

The character of his followers all over the world is spiritual character. The Bible prophesied that he must return, and Jesus would return. Jesus, though he is characterized as the spiritual prophet, or the [inaudible 00:15:30] prophet of the voice of Allah, he also represents a goal of the intellect. According to the scriptures, he promised the people that they had gotten, through his mission by the grace of God, that this would dwell with them and live with them and cause them to grow and search, and would lead them into all truth.

This is not just any spiritual characteristic in the man, but it is a spiritual characteristic that we understand when we study the inner aim of man. Human beings have a natural inner aim, and that inner aim is seeking fulfillment. It's seeking full expression. It's the force in the man, in the human being that forces and drives the human being to reach the full capacity of the soul and intellect. They call it inner aim.

This inspiration came into that nature of the human being, and Jesus Christ typified that in its first stage. Thirst is a spiritual urge, and the spiritual urge eventually leads us into the encounter with irrational. It brings us to that encounter with irrational. That's why Jesus has to come back. Jesus has to come, he has to return because that urge was not fulfilled in Jesus. He said, God will send you another carpenter and he will lead you into all truth.

The Christians understand that that means the return of Jesus or the continuation of that force typified in Jesus Christ, the holy spirit of the holy ghost. They realize too that it had to take on a new characteristic in order to bring people into the full light. Allah, Most High, says of Jesus Christ in the Quran that he is a [foreign language 00:18:08] from Allah, from his lord. [foreign language 00:18:14] literally means "a word".

Now let's look to the Bible and see what the Bible says. The Bible says also that he is a word. What the Bible says of this word, the Bible mystified this word. Puts a lot of mysticism in this. Says that in the beginning there was a word, and the word took on flesh and dwelled in the world with men. The Bible also says of the word that the word was with God, and the word was God.

How the Quran is going to correct for us? How will the Quran correct this for us? In [foreign language 00:18:59] we will see before we finish the [inaudible 00:19:01]. The Quran corrects this. Jesus then has to return, and we are saying that Jesus returned in Prophet Muhammad, but that wasn't Jesus. That was Muhammad. That wasn't Jesus, that was Muhammad.

The Bible says of Jesus, said, "I go away, and you see me no more." That's one statement. We have to write that down. That's a statement. "I go away, and you see me no more," so we wrote that down. "No more." Now let's see what else it says. "And nevertheless, you shall see me." Now we write that statement down, too. "You see me no more, and you shall see me." How are we going to reconcile this? That's contradiction. I mean clean cut contradiction.

How are they going to reconcile that? How are they going to bring that into some kind of agreement so we can understand what it means? It means the person Jesus will never come again, but the urge that was in Jesus that did not reach the intellectual expression would come back again, and it did in Prophet Muhammad. The Christians are confused, they say Christ is the ruler, Christ is lord to the end of the world. They're confused.

Christ simply means "purified one". [foreign language 00:20:44] means wiped clean, made right. Christ simply means purified one. All the prophets of God were Christ. He didn't choose them until they were made clean. He'd never choose any unclean messenger. They all were messiah. They all were ordained children by him because of their moral excellence, because their [inaudible 00:21:13], their perception was clean. It was not fogged like ours.

Many times we have fogged perceptions. We can't see clearly because of foreign matter in the view. God sent all messengers who were messiah, and if you studied the old scriptures, the scriptures that revealed before, you see many messengers. They were anointed. What is anointed? Cleaning, cleaning. Anointed but not cleaning with a rag all the time. There's many ways to clean.

They were all anointed, because Jesus Christ is a type, of what? That's why in the vision of Prophet Muhammad from Allah [inaudible 00:21:57], peace be on his messengers ... In the vision of Prophet Muhammad, we find Adam ... That is the [night 00:22:05] visit of Prophet Muhammad. We find Adam was on the first level, and Jesus Christ was on the level above that. Then Jesus Christ was an expression of something that was latent or natural in Adam.

Jesus Christ was above that. Perhaps we can say that Jesus Christ was the beginning of a revelation or unfolding of something that was in the original man, in Adam. On the next level, we go on up, we find a different prophet. In the higher level, there was prophet Abraham [foreign language 00:22:57], peace be on them. [inaudible 00:23:01] Muslim, and we are to understand then that Jesus represents an urge for expression.

This urge found expression in the spirituality of the people. You go among Christians right now, hardly you can find a group that will differ from this stitch of them. All of them are contained in spiritual light and in spiritual expression. That's the character of the followers of Jesus Christ. All of them will tell you, whoever have [inaudible 00:23:45] knowledge ... Fact that average believer in the christian religion will tell you that there is an urge in them to know the truth.

It hasn't reached the rational expression yet. They don't discuss it as we discuss it. We discuss it in rational terms. They don't discuss it like that in the rational terms. Only in the high circles. We should say the hidden circles. Only in the hidden circles will they discuss it like we have to discuss it [inaudible 00:24:18]. Now [people 00:24:22] of Muslim, then Prophet Muhammad is that one that was prophesied to come after the return of Jesus Christ.

If I would say to you that [inaudible 00:24:42] was Jesus Christ, the return of Jesus Christ, you'll say, how? That's confusing. If you understand that [inaudible 00:24:53] typified or personified that particular characteristic in Prophet Muhammad. The Bible says "Christ in you". It's the same principle. It's the same Christ principle. If it's in all people, then if the Bible is right, then that Christ principle had to be in Prophet Muhammad.

We understand that the original pattern on which God designed man needs expression, needs to be revealed. It needs expression. It must be revealed itself. In Jesus, it was an expression of something that was already in the original man, Adam, then does that stop with Jesus? Every man must have that too in him, right? All right. I'm not talking to the world, I'm talking to you.

Then Jesus must be in me, I must be Adam in my original nature. Jesus must be in me and John the Baptist must be in me, and also Joseph must be in me, and [inaudible 00:26:25] must be in me, and Moses and [Aaron 00:26:29], [inaudible 00:26:30] must be in me, and Prophet Abraham, peace be on him, must be in me. They are prophets, but they are expressions of something that's in me. Something that's in my original nature. In other words, God has not brought anything out to speak back to us that wasn't already in us.

Is this some great thing? Holy, man is heavy. Excuse me, I'm not heavy, I'm light. The wisdom is heavy. This is in the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him. The Quran says, and in you are seven, and above you are like seven. Didn't say a different seven. I like seven. [inaudible 00:27:36] seven, you see? All right.

Now we have tried to establish something. In fact we are establishing some things, and now e have a goal in mind. The Bible says that Jesus appeared after his crucifixion. We know we don't accept the crucifixion of Jesus. We don't believe that Jesus was crucified. Allah, Most High, says they did not crucify, neither did ... They did not kill him, neither did they crucify him. We don't accept that, do we?

No.

All right. Now we can understand that they didn't because what Jesus typified is still in the world, and it's still in people. It came back in its right expression through the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him. We know that they didn't kill him and they didn't crucify him, but it instead it was made to appear that way unto them. Jesus, after his crucifixion now, Jesus returned after his crucifixion, or so the Bible says. He was seen. At first they didn't recognize him, did they?

No sir.

The woman who saw him, she didn't recognize him. She saw him. If it was the same man and physical characteristics, how come she didn't recognize him? She was very common. She was a common associate of Jesus Christ according to the Bible, the New Testament. She saw him and was talking to him. She saw his look and she heard his voice and didn't recognize him. He had to reveal himself to her.

That means that it was not that same person. I'm not saying that the Bible is correct all the way. It's not, but we have to understand what the bible is trying to say. In its effort, it's trying to say something. The matter in which, or the method it uses, may not be correct. Don't think that we're saying this line of reasoning is sound for muslims. It's only sound for Muslims if muslims have the insight to criticize that logic.

What we're doing is showing what the Bible is saying so we will understand what the Bible is saying. What we should take note of, perhaps more than anything else, is what Jesus told her when she went to touch him. He said, "Touch me not. I have not yet ascended." What does that mean? Now we know how come she didn't recognize him. Because when he was with her, he was the messiah. When she knew him, she knew him as the messiah. She knew him as the seer [inaudible 00:31:07]. She knew him as the purified one.

When she was him resurrected, she didn't know him. When he spoke out of the impurities of the [inaudible 00:31:21]. When he spoke through the impurities of [inaudible 00:31:26] and etc., she recognized him. This is my lord. Isn't this beautiful? Yes, she recognized him then. When she went to touch him, he said no. All right [inaudible 00:31:47] muslim. In the beginning, there was a word and Jesus is a word from his lord.

What does Jesus ... ? He was a prophet, we know that. What does Jesus also symbolize? Jesus symbolizes scripture. He symbolizes the very gospel that was revealed to him. He himself is a sign of that gospel. He's a sign of how that gospel came into the world, how that gospel would be treated and what would happen to prevent the people from receiving or retaining that gospel as it was revealed.

When we appeared from the grave resurrected, he was not approachable. He said, "Touch me not." Allah explained to us the meaning of touch in many ways. The Quran says, "And none touches it but the purified ones." Is that right? All right. Now we know another meaning for touch. Touch means to make contact, and contact enable you to perceive. Eye contact enable us to perceive with the eye. Heart contact enable us to perceive with the heart, right?

Right.

We have different ways of perceiving, but for all perceptions, contact is necessary. Is that right or wrong?

[inaudible 00:33:27].

All right. He says, "Touch me not because I have not yet ascended." We should not touch the Bible, only touch the Quran. Because now, oh we can't touch the Bible anymore, but you can do that as much you want. That's okay, but don't touch it with your heart. Don't make heart contact with the Bible because it hasn't yet ascended.

Prophet Muhammad, he ascended and he gave us ... God says, and he sent down the light with him. Prophet Muhammad came down in the Quran, the light came down with him. Many of us don't make that connection. We agree that God sent the light down, the revelation. We don't understand that [light 00:34:43] vision, though it took place in a certain period of the life of the prophet. We don't understand that it is descriptive of the whole process of revelation, and that God sent down the revelation, the Quran, with the prophet.

The prophet ascended. He ascended because of what? Because of the purity of his heart. The purity of his intellect, the purity of his life. He ascended, and when he ascended, contact was made. Contact was made with Adam, and with Jesus, and with John the Baptist, and with Joseph, and with [inaudible 00:35:40], and with Moses and Aaron and the faithful Prophet Abraham, peace and blessings be on them. Is that right?

Contact was made, and then he came back down. "Touch me not. I have not yet ascended." We can touch the Quran if we are ourselves pure-minded, but if we are corrupt-minded, we can't touch it. We can touch it with our hands, but we can't touch it with our hearts. Only the pure-minded can touch it with their hearts, because their hearts have been reconciled.

If you never touch it with your heart, you'll never make eye contact. For the prophet like Moses, his mission is to purify them. Not only to teach them, to teach them the book and the wisdom, and also to purify them. Without purification, they will never be able to make contact with the scripture, the wisdom. They will never get it.

This world has the Quran. The state department of our government has the Quran. They have many copies. Presidents, they have the Quran. Sometimes we take a Quran, we say, I would like to give this to you, Mr. Governor, and he'd say, thank you, and you got one already. He had to have one. They won't accept him in that position until he gets one. He had one already. If you ever get to that position, they'll give you one after they give you something else.

They'll first give you something to keep you from making contact, and then they'll give you the Quran. Look what the almighty Allah says, Most High is he, in the Quran, [foreign language 00:38:15]. Listen to the language. Until there came to them [foreign language 00:38:33] is [inaudible 00:38:39] in grammatical speech. [foreign language 00:38:44] is [inaudible 00:38:48], so it has to correspond with [foreign language 00:38:51], you see?

They did not reject until there came to them the clear evidence. What is the clear evidence? [foreign language 00:39:10], the messenger. [foreign language 00:39:14], from Allah. Is that clear? Says that they would not become rejected until there after there had came unto them the clear evidence, [foreign language 00:39:33].

What is [foreign language 00:39:36] came unto them. [foreign language 00:39:39], the messenger from God. Here we see that Allah and the Quran and [foreign language 00:39:48], the clear evidence. He has [inaudible 00:39:53] the revealed knowledge of the clear evidence that was [inaudible 00:40:07]. He has compared it or associated it with the messenger himself.

It has said that it is the messenger. The evidence itself is the messenger. Until there came unto him a clear evidence. What is this? [foreign language 00:40:26]. See, this is [foreign language 00:40:29] is masculine. Here now, the [foreign language 00:40:32] is masculine. [foreign language 00:40:34] in the beginning of the verb means it's masculine. He recites unto them.

Of the [foreign language 00:40:44], she. [foreign language 00:40:49]. She. [inaudible 00:41:14], and the terminology here is [inaudible 00:41:17]. What is it? [foreign language 00:41:21], a messenger. [foreign language 00:41:22], from Allah. [foreign language 00:41:25], masculine in form. Before, what it was talking about, the prophet himself is the personification of it, if we may use that English expression.
