March 23rd 1985
IWDM Study Library

San Francisco Address (Ben Franklin High School)
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed


00:02 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Praise be to Allah. Dear believers, Muslims, guests, and friends, peace be unto you, As-salaam Alaykum.

00:13 S2: Wa-Alaykum Salaam.

00:17 IWDM: Giving all praise to Allah, the one Lord and Creator, the one G-d. Praying his peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, the last of the prophets. Upon his descendants, the companions, the righteous, all, and upon us be peace, Ameen.

00:46 IWDM: First, let me say that I came here for the same reason that I'm going to many places in these United States, and that is because I would like to help people to stay alive, help people to stay with life. And I do this in the manner that I think is acceptable to G-d, that is Allah, our Lord. And as long as I feel that I have done something by my presence or with my presence to make people stay with life or to keep people with life, then I feel completely satisfied. I can speak to 1000 or it can be 10 people. Doesn't matter to me, as long as I feel that I have done something worth while. This time, and this is not the only occasion, there have been a few other occasions where I have come upon invitation, and prepared to deliver a talk, and while sharing a program realized before I was brought on that really my presence wasn't needed. That there was enough going already to keep people with life, and that's what I felt here tonight, this evening. I felt that what you got going here will keep you with life, and that's the purpose. To stay with life, to not give in to the forces of death, decay, etcetera.

02:44 IWDM: However, I'll try to in a few minutes, because I don't want to carry this too long. If it stretches too long, the good feeling that we've gotten from the program may be forgotten or put in a subordinate place. And I would like to keep this good feeling that I have now, that I've got from witnessing this program. The performance of the two groups, the Hameed group, Hameed Express, and the Hijrah group, they're very excellent groups. Very excellent groups. Believe me, they are excellent anywhere not just here before us, before our audience, but if anybody will tell the truth, they will say they are excellent. Very excellent group. They could really compete out there if the world's situation was different. Those great songs, in fact, a couple of songs they sang, I know would be international hits. Not just in America, they would be international hits. If there was an opportunity out there for them to sing their song and be heard by the millions of people, but we know that opportunity is not out there. But I think if continue to persist, stay with it, be patient, be patient, and don't give up. Stay with it whether the reception is good or bad, you know you got something good, so stay with it.

04:27 IWDM: And in time enough of the people of the general masses would have heard it, and I think in time the establishment will have to recognize you. They may ask you to make certain modifications, certain changes in what you have, but you will be able... You will get an opportunity, if you stick with it, to sing to the world, and get the recognition that you deserve. Also, Brother Ali, Ali he surprised me again. He's a great performer, great singer with a great voice, and great spirit. So, I'm really made very happy by what I see in our performers, and to top that off, the pioneers came forth, and Sister Sadaqah, I knew if she had strength to speak to us tonight, she was going to make me feel very good again.

[laughter]

05:28 IWDM: As she did.

[applause]

05:37 IWDM: So, actually I owe you $25.

[laughter]

05:47 IWDM: I promised Imam Kadeer, that I would address the theme of freedom for the length of time that I was out here. And in fact, if I have an opportunity to speak in Los Angeles tomorrow, which I think I will, I understand that they are preparing a reception for me there. That is a reception for my khutbah or whatever you want to call it. So, I hope to speak there and I'll be speaking on the same theme, freedom. You know, when I was watching the pioneers, I said to myself, "Now, those pioneers they joined the community because they wanted more freedom. They wanted to realize a kind of freedom." We used to sing about freedom. We used to talk about freedom a lot. Many people joined the Honorable Elijah Muhammad because they felt that they had not been given the right form of freedom. And when they joined the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they felt that they had come into a new sense of freedom and had realized a better form of freedom.

07:28 IWDM: Freedom is a process that I think will continue on and on and on. We'll never be completely free unless it is in the afterlife, in heaven. As long as we're in this world, in this kind of creation, there's always need to free something, if it's not your mind or thoughts, it's something. There's always something that needs freeing so that you can realize your aspirations, get the things you want or need, or go where you want to go etcetera, etcetera. If we try to pursue freedom in it's complete meaning, we won't accomplish anything. Many of us I think that's what's wrong we think that freedom for the individual is to be free in a general sense of the word and when anybody's thought to restrain us, sometime we don't even question whether there's a justification for holding us back, or restraining us, we just respond from emotion and we say, "Well, I have a right to do this. I'm my own boss. If I want to do this, then this all my business."

09:04 IWDM: So it doesn't make for a good life. Not for the individual that has that loose on, I would say, formed concept of freedom. We need a concept of freedom, we need to be pursing a form of freedom. And our pioneers came in and they wanted freedom. They wanted freedom of mind. They wanted freedom of mind, their minds were oppressed. They couldn't think free. And they joined the Honorable Elijah Mohammed in what was called then the of Temple of Islam. Because they felt that it offered them greater freedom for their minds. It offered them greater freedom in one respect. In respect of their own worth as people, they came into a greater sense of importance, a greater sense of personal worth. They thought of themselves as the choice creation of G-d, so that was freedom in a sense, but there were still many questions unanswered. Many questions unanswered, they didn't feel completely free. They were promised a lot and was waiting to see that, waiting to realize those promises, or to see those promises fulfilled. They had been sensitized, to believe that the word of G-d in the Quran was the last and the perfect revelation. They had a curiosity to know what was in that book, what was in it's language, what was in the Arabic script? And when Imam Warithud din Mohammed, became their leader, many of the pioneers felt that they had come into another form of freedom. So they felt free again.

11:05 IWDM: However we're still not free. We're still not free. There's a freedom that we have wanted as a people. A freedom to be responsible for ourselves. The freedom to take charge of our own life and our own affairs. The freedom to manage for ourselves without so much help from white people. The freedom to manage our community life, to manage our neighborhoods. To manage our regions, wherever it is, wherever, without so much assistance. Without so much help from other people. That people is a kind of independence, isn't it? So, actually real freedom for the individual is freedom for his life and life is a form.

12:00 IWDM: Our life have a specific form. Our life have specific needs, and to realize a comfortable situation for your form of life, and to realize the opportunity to grow in their form of life, is real freedom. To be responsible for that particular life, that's real freedom. Responsibility is independence. No one can have independence without accepting great responsibility. What form of freedom do you want? That's the answer. That's the question to be asked. What form of freedom do we want? Do we want the freedom just to be without any restraints? That's not freedom. To be without any restraints, is to be lost. To be in a situation, to be wasted. Actually, true freedom for the life form is the achievement of its disciplines. Life needs certain situations, certain conditions to develop, to come into its structure, to carry out its functions.

13:52 IWDM: A situation is needed. For example, a seed is dead, or so it's thought to be. We look at a seed as something dead. But if that seed is given the right situation, and the right circumstances, that seed comes to life. And when it comes to life, it is growing. The sign of life is growth, movement, activity. Now, sometimes dead things are in motion, but if we watch them and we see no change in their form... Say, "Well, this thing is in motion, but it's not alive." But when we see a thing, the form of it's changing, it's getting bigger, it's growing from smaller form to bigger form, we say, "That's alive."

15:00 IWDM: Or if is has the ability to influence things around it, or things that it comes in contact with, we say, "That's alive." So we often speak of dead things as being alive. A live battery, a live wire, etcetera. But there must be some power, some activity, some influence. G-d says in the Quran to us, in our Holy Book, that He has created us that we may grow. G-d wants us to grow. So, we need the freedom to grow. Not in baby numbers. Not just to have babies, you know. [chuckle] That's not enough. We like to have babies. I like to have babies, but me and my wife decided to hold it up.

[laughter]

16:00 IWDM: Until we could grow in some other ways a little bit more, you see? So, life is growth. Growth. And the freedom for that life is the freedom to realize that growth, but not just any kind of growth. Those things that live, grow upon a pattern that's intended for them. Now, what pattern is intended for our life form? That's the pattern upon which we should be growing. And when we realize the disciplines, we realize the disciplines while growing... If we grow into the disciplines, then we are realizing greater and greater freedom. There's great satisfaction when you live a disciplined life. There's great satisfaction when you move along a planned program. You plan something and you start out the day to achieve a part of that plan, and you go to bed and tonight knowing that you achieved a part of that plan. Oh, that's a satisfaction. You rest well.

17:08 IWDM: "Hey man, were you locked up yesterday?" "Hell no, man, I was free." "Why?" "Because I achieved something yesterday and it was in line with plan." You can gain something today, but if it's not gained in a set plan, you still don't feel like you fulfilled anything. You can make a big buck today. You can go a thousand miles today, and come home and sleep and still feel like you haven't accomplished anything. Why? Because you didn't make that progress within a plan.

[pause]

17:56 IWDM: Life needs a suitable situation. A suitable situation. Prophet Muhammad, the peace and blessings be upon him, he had everything. G-d had equipped him. He was the ideal man for the job, and by the way, the one that Abraham prayed for, he came in Prophet Muhammad, about 1400 years ago. And he fulfilled that role in such a complete and masterful way that all I can do is follow him like all the rest have been doing. Now, we need a suitable situation. Why it needs a suitable situation? The Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, he did his best in Mecca with his countrymen there. People of his native town. But they weren't ready for him, I guess, just as the old scriptures had said. "A prophet is welcomed everywhere, except in his own home." He had to go from his native city in Mecca and go up to a city a couple of hundred miles or so away named Medina.

19:06 IWDM: And there he found a suitable situation. A suitable situation. The climate was good there. Oh you think of matter? The dead matter. What matter needs for life? Life is growth. What matter needs for life? Matter needs a plan. In a dead seed there's a plan. That dead seed holds a plan. A plan for the growth of the life that's in that seed, dormant, rested, locked up. It wants to get out of there. Free itself so it can grow into its planned life. If it find the right circumstances, the right situation and the right circumstances, it can realize that. Realize that freedom, realize that great purpose. Now, think of a seed, dry seed, and you place it in the soil and you bring the marsh to there, and sunlight comes to it, and it gets air. Many of us say, "Oh, if it get rain, and sunshine, I will have a crop." You don't know that if it doesn't get any air, you ain't gonna have no crop. It needs all of that. It needs matter or form, a material form.

20:28 IWDM: Then it needs the breath of the form. It needs the light of the form. It needs the sensitivities. Water, something to moisten it. Something to soften it. Now, good sensitivities soften our hard hearts. Soften us up, right? Yeah, good sensitivities soften the dead hard heart up. Soften it up. And after a while you find yourself being born. "Oh, I'm born." And once you're born, you want to find your establishment, right? So, your seed is just like a child. The little child, he's dropped there in the world from the womb and he lays there, struggling, struggling, struggling. Kicking his little limbs, and kicking his little arms and screaming and turning and turning... 'Til he manages to turn himself over on his belly and after a while, he's trying to get up on his hands.

21:22 IWDM: Finally he's managed one day to get up on his feet. What has he been doing? He's been struggling to structure himself. He said, "Hell, I was made for a definite structure. I want to stand up in my structure." So, he finds structure, establishment. Yes.

[applause]

21:47 IWDM: And I've looked at the face of the infant when he finally made it. Oh, they look so victorious. He'd be afraid in hell. He'd be concentrating. "Don't say nothing to me, don't talk to me, don't play with me, I'm trying to stand."

[applause]

22:02 IWDM: Then you victoriously have it. Now, when you look at these grocery stores and these business places and these office buildings and government houses and factories, when you look at all those structures standing there, that's somebody that managed to stand up. Now, you look at the black man and you don't see no apartment houses owned by him, no factories owned by him, no government houses that he put up, well, that man ain't got up on his feet yet. He hasn't come into a structure yet. Now, life needs more than structure now. It also need to be responsive. Responsive. It needs to move out. So, you hear governments talking about their bases, right? Talking about their bases. They got a home base, but they talk about other bases that they have gotten. They're projected themselves out. They've gone out. Got other bases. So, we need to also go outward. Establish something and then go outward, extend that establishment so that that establishment receives more support. What have we extended? We have a lot of work to do. In order to live, to be alive, you must have responsive sentiments. A lot of us, we're so quick to get our feelings hurt. How are you responding? Responsive in a certain context. You're responsive only to your own selfish feelings, own selfish needs, your own selfish appetites? Your own selfish concerns? That's not good enough. What about the plan? 

24:01 IWDM: G-d created you for a plan. He made you for a definite role and purpose in this world. He made you to be a part of the human family. Not separated from it, cut off from it, ignoring the concerns of your brothers and sisters, insensitive to their needs. No, that's not the sensitivity that G-d created you for. He created you to have responsive sensitivities. That if I might say a kind word to you, you're supposed to, according to the Prophet, return a kind word. That's responding as G-d created you to respond, with your sensitivities. The Prophet said, "Respond with the kind words equal in value or one greater in value." So, if I say to you, "Brother, you're looking well today." You should at least say to me "And brother, you're looking well too." Now, if you say "And brother you are looking well. And hey! Your eyes are brighter." Got a feeling that's very nice. The Prophet encouraged that, didn't he? Alright. But here is how must of us come off. "Hey brother, what happened to you?"

[laughter]

25:18 IWDM: "Man, you look bad. Why your eyes red?"

[laughter]

[pause]

25:34 IWDM: Then we must have responsive concerns. Responsive concerns. Responsive in that same context. What have G-d decided for your life? What G-d intended for human beings life? Responsive concerns. Some of us say, "Oh, I need some money." And we are miserable because we need some money. Can't even come out to the service because we need some money. "Hell, I ain't going out there. Are they giving us any money?"

[laughter]

26:05 IWDM: "They're going to give us some money? Well, I'm not going out there. They can't do nothing for me. I need some money." Responsive concerns. If you need money, if you need money and the call is to come to support community, come support your Islamic community, then your money is not as important as your whole life plan. So, you come out. You need money, sure you need money. You got hell all around you. But you come out anyway because your money situation is not as big as the plan for your life. The plan for your life is not the plan for Robert Johnson's life or the plan for Rasheed Muhammad's life. The plan for your life is the plan for Islamic community. Your life is to conform to the plan of an Islamic community. That's the plan for your life. So, when you're personal small thing is threatened, you shouldn't let that take you away from the big thing, your community life. You are not achieving at home for yourself. "Well why should I go out there and help them? I need." No, you misunderstand. Your needs are in the community. And if you leave that little small thing you got there, and come on out to the community, and identify in the life form of your community, not in your little small life form at home, identify in the life form of your community, then your money situation will get better. Because your sensitivities will be better. Your concerns will be better and G-d will bless you. Your money situation will get better.

[applause]

28:10 IWDM: Now, we mentioned earlier a need for establishment, a need to come into the plan structure for ourselves. But also there's a need to recognize intimacy. Intimacy. And G-d says to us in the Holy Quran, "Family members, close ties have a priority before G-d." So, intimacy is very important. I imagine when man first... When he built the first house, I imagine he built just one room. 'Cause all he wanted to do was just protect himself from the outer environment. Then after he built that one room, and I imagine he wanted to lay down with his lady, and somebody was there. He said, "Well, hell. We need another room."

[laughter]

28:58 IWDM: Intimacy, right? Now, you know black people have to learn a lot about intimacy. It's sacred, private, it should be cherished. Don't tell brother so-and-so all about what's going on in your private quarters. I don't care if he is a Muslim, that's none of his Muslim business.

[laughter]

29:25 IWDM: You have the right to some privacy. So, what are we doing to build that private world of ours? You have to build that private world. And then what do we need? We need a situation that will enable us to be competitive, to compete. Competition needs. Yes! You have to secure yourself, your private life, then you have to prepare yourself to compete with the others out there that have private lives. They won't let you know what's going on. They got some plans that they won't share with you.

30:01 IWDM: So then you have to plan so you know, "Now, I know they're planning over there but I'm going to plan too. And I'm going to come up with a massive plan here. I'm going try to make my plan good enough to meet anybody else's plan." So, in your private quarters, whether it's at home with brother John, or at home with sister Mary, or Russel, or whatever you want to call each other. Or whether it's your community Islamic community, in your private Islamic community, get together to work on some plan, because this world is competitive. There're people out there planning right now to get your resources. And they probably got most of it and they're planning to get the rest.

30:57 IWDM: And lastly, we need responsive sentiments, responsive concerns, and responsive passions. Responsive passions. Oh, that's a big job. Responsive passions, responsive in that same context. Now, love is a passion isn't it? Yes, love is a passion. Love is a passion. Are we forbidden to have passions? No. G-d says, "Love ye one another." And to the Muslims, what did the Prophet said? He said, "None of you are a believer until you love for your brother or sister as you love for yourself." Ain't that what our Prophet said, peace be on him? Yes, so love is a passion, it's a passion that we want, it's a passion that is necessary. And Imam mentioned when Sister Sadaqah was singing her song about the importance of love and it's so beautiful what she said, "Everyday, the world needs love everyday." And no matter what the situation is, the world need love whether it's raining, sunshine, or whatever. It needs love all the time. Yes, and the Prophet said,lan tudkhilu jannah hatta tumeenu. "Never will you enter paradise until you become a believer." And he said, lan tumeenu hatta tuhabbu. "And you will never become a believer until you're motivated by love." Why people believe in G-d? Why are there people who say, "Yes, I believe in the Lord, I believe in G-d?" It's because they're motivate by love.
 be perfectly round all the time? 
32:48 IWDM: Find me that nigger that say, "I don't believe in G-d," that nigger is motivated by hate. Yes. Those who say, "I don't believe in G-d," they're motivated by hate not by love, they have something they hate. Their main urge is to knock at something. You know, atheists are the biggest knockers on earth? [chuckle] Yes, the atheist, the biggest knocker on earth. He knocks everything, he's an atheist.

[pause]

33:30 IWDM: Yeah, he'll make you go crazy. Yeah, I had a atheist talking to me once and he said, "How you know that?" And everything I said he said, "How can you prove it?" I said, "I'll see you later, I don't have time for this."

[laughter]

33:52 IWDM: I said, "You should have been a lawyer, instead of an atheist. You love to argue." Affections. We have to have disciplined affections. If we're responsive within a context, we will have disciplined sentiments. If we're responsive within that context, we will have disciplined concerns. If we're responsible in that context, we will have disciplined passions. Now, you know the poet he associated fire with passions, didn't he? Yes, those who know something about poetry, the poets associated fire with passions. In fact, scripture associates fire with passions. And the mythology talks about the heavenly fire, etcetra, etcetra. Yes and in the Olympics, they glorify the flame, right? In the Olympics. Now passions, passions. If you can think on the sun as a symbol of the passion force in our life, this passion force in the life of human society, community life, look how disciplined that fire is. Now, the tendency of fire is to be wild, isn't it? That's it's tendency, to be wild.

35:14 IWDM: But look how disciplined that ball of fire is we call our sun. We look at it, it looks perfectly round. Man has to have an extra aid, to see that it actually has fire storms on it. He needs and extra aid, we can't tell it by look at it with these eyes G-d gave us, so that should tell us something. G-d doesn't want us to see the real sun in it's real shape, He want us to see what He would like to see the sun be. Not disturbed, not having firestorms, but so calm and disciplined, perfectly round all the time. How in the world a fire can burn and

36:03 IWDM: And then rise up in the morning and just go about his business in a planned direction, and give us light and nowhere near getting tired. Say, "Let me sit down and let the earth rest." I'll see you later. Assalam Alaikum."
