07/10/2005
IWDM Study Library
IWDM at Smith College
North Hampton MA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Sahira:
With that I want to bring to you Imam Dr. W Deen Mohammed Takbir, Takbir!
IWDM:
Thank you. Thank you, sister Sahira, International President of this great women international organization. We're very proud of them. They dignify all of us with their service to humanity, especially to the women who need their services and who need their help. And we know if you help a woman, you help many.
IWDM:
The prophet of Islam, peace be unto you again. I spoke to you at another situation earlier, but now I'm seeing many more here. Peace be unto you all. As we say in our religion Islam, assalamu alaikum.
Audience:
Wa alaykumu s-salam.
IWDM:
Yes. Our prophet Muhammad, prayers and peace be on him, that's the traditional salute to him. He said to one who was asking him how to share himself with his mother and father. They had become of old age and both of them needed his help. And he was asking the prophet how was he to share himself with his mother and father?
IWDM:
The prophet said to him, "Help your mother." And the man was still waiting for more from the prophet, and the prophet again said, "Help your mother," and he said, "and help your father." So the emphasis is on mother, helping the mother, and the mother is symbolic of the collective group, the family. The family, the community, the congregation.
IWDM:
And we have a sign in the house that we turn to when we worship in prayer, in congregation, in prayer. The house is called Kaaba. Kaaba. And Kaaba means connection. Connection. And Allah, God, that he says to us in our Holy book of the house that we call Kaaba. He says, "In it are many blessings for all people. In it are many blessings for all people."
IWDM:
For the Kaaba and for Muslims all the world is a sign. The scholars in Islam say it is a sign of the fifth pillar and it is a sign of the unity of all mankind. The unity of all man kind. It's the fifth pillar or the fifth essential in the practices of Muslims. It is the fifth of those essentials and they are five.
IWDM:
The first of them is to witness that there is one God, who's responsible for everything that exists, bringing into existence everything that exists. That is the creator. And to witness that He is one and to witness that Mohammed is His messenger. And the second is to pray. To worship that one. Once we acknowledge who is God, then we should worship God.
IWDM:
And the third is to give in charity. The fourth is to fast, restrain ourselves. Fast for God. God says in an inspired Hadith, a saying of Muhammad. He says "Fasting is for me. Fasting is for me." And he says, "Let the fasting person know, who sincerely fast in the month of Ramadan," that's the fast month for us, that, "The breath of the fasting person with God is like the best perfume in the nose of the people."
IWDM:
So this is God, how much he loves the one who fasts for the sake of obeying God, of having a disciplined life and obedience to God. And the fifth, the last of those fundamental practices, our practices, is make pilgrimage. To visit the house we call... To visit the house. Abraj Al-Bait. To make pilgrimage to the house and the name I gave for the house earlier, Kaaba. It's called Kaaba and it means connection. Connection.
IWDM:
Life is all about making connections. To have life, you have to make the first connection and that's what the president in the New England area has just done about two weeks ago. She made the connection, her and her husband, Imam, that I've known for some time. I don't have any personal dealings with him. Never had, but I feel as though he's my personal friend. Every time I see him, I think of him as a personal friend. Imam Dawood.
IWDM:
Allah bless this union with all the joys that you all want and expect. Yes. Ameen. So, life is all about connections, and then God want us to know that even the forming of life in the body of our mother, in her body, the forming of life is connections. He gives us the water and the thickening of water, adhering. Water trying to hold stronger together, and then blood. And the blood is forming, say blood adhering.
IWDM:
The blood is trying to hold more together. And then the fetus is long. The [muthrama 00:07:06] is fetus long. The flesh now has formed and is holding and goes on until bones form in the flesh. And then he says... After that, he covers the body with meat, with flesh. And after that, there's another creation [foreign language 00:07:26]. After that, there was another creation.
IWDM:
So, God wants us to know that we have two creations. We have one creation that's flesh, the special flesh, the human flesh. It belongs to the animal world, but once the human spirit comes into it shouldn't be animal anymore. It should be human. And so he wants us to know that we have two creations. Then we are created all over again. And that's the human person inside the body. The human person inside the body.
IWDM:
And religion, not just Islam, but the great religions, they are all about acquainting us with the life inside the body. That second creation. The life inside the body, because it is the true life. And God, of that life, He says he formed you in your mothers and he formed your picture and made it most excellent in the mother.
IWDM:
When the baby is delivered, we see a beautiful baby girl, a beautiful baby boy and we see a picture. We want that picture. That's a new baby. We got to have the picture. And God says he formed all of our pictures in our mother. And he said, He made your picture most beautiful, most excellent, most handsome, most beautiful. Your picture won.
IWDM:
He says He formed our pictures in our mothers and He made your picture one, most beautiful, most attractive. That's the human. That's the human spirit and the human personality that God wants us to have in common with each other. We should have one human spirit, accepting all people in the family of man or in human family. And we should have one basic spiritual nature.
IWDM:
One basic spiritual nature is all about respect, is all about giving, struggling, striving, giving. Muhammad, the prophet, when he was concluding his mission he said many things, but one thing he said, he said, "After this..." Because he was persecuted, he was a person who had to fight to free religion, and he said... And God, pardon me, ordered him to fight until religion is no more persecuted and the people are free to worship under God.
IWDM:
This is Quran. This is the word of God to Muhammad the prophet. So he said to the people, he said, "After this." He didn't say, "No more wars," but that's what I think he meant. He said, "After this, there is only taqwa and jihad. Taqwa and jihad. Taqwa is the word that we use for sacred respect. Sacred respect. And God says... They translate it as fear sometimes, but it means sacred respect, the fear to break that respect. To lose that respect.
IWDM:
And God says, "Taqwa Allah," from taqwa. Taqwa Allah. God says, "And fear God. And fear God," but it also mean, give God the respect God is due. Taqwa Allah. Give God the respect God is due. And it says [foreign language 00:11:05] and all of your close family ties. The ties begin with mom and dad, but all of those close family ties. So, Muslims, like Christians, we're supposed to hold the life of family sacred.
IWDM:
The life of family is sacred. Anyone who violates the family commits a very bad sin, whether it be an outsider or enemy of the family, or whether it be a member of the family, you violate the respect we should have for family it is a major sin. It is a great sin. God has placed nothing before family except himself. Except himself.
IWDM:
And he says also, "And close family ties of family members, that is, who have close family ties, they have first rights in the book of God. They have first rights in the book of God. And in America, I've learned when I was a child charity starts at home and spreads abroad. Take care of family first. This is both Christianity and Islam.
IWDM:
Yes. Life began, for human beings, in heaven we are told in scripture. Now we know we have to translate sometimes, interpret or translate sometime to understand just how that happened. But if you don't know, the person who loves God, they don't worry about it. If God says their life start in heaven, that's good enough for them. They're not going to get pencil and paper and try to figure out anything.
IWDM:
Life starts in heaven. And we can see that heavenly life every time we look at the little baby that mama delivered, that's that heavenly life. The baby comes here with a spirit that has not been changed. The world can change, mom and dad can change, but that baby comes here with a spirit. The same spirit that God gave the first baby that was put on this earth or that existed on this earth or in heaven.
IWDM:
And then God wants us to know that he's going to guide us. He's going to put us in circumstances that's going to be too much for us. He says the creation of the heavens and the earth is a bigger creation than the creation of man. Why does he say that? He says that to tell all of us that the human being is not able to manage this material world that we have to be supported upon without the guidance of God, without help from God.
IWDM:
And we know in the story of the beginning of mankind, kind of a Genesis in the Quran for mankind, we are told that God said to the human life in heaven when there was a rebel in the heavens and we call it Satan, Christian English language, Satan, and the Arabic word for it, the Quranic word, our Holy book's work for it is, Shaitan. The S is SH. And the S for Hebrew, or Jewish language, and SH for our language. So Saitan becomes Shaitan. Saitan becomes Shaitan.
IWDM:
So, that was the rebel among the angels. His name was Ibl?s and he did not accept that man should be made a Khalifa in the earth. And a Khalifa in the earth means a one responsible for rule, or authority for the order that human life will have in the earth. So the Ibl?s didn't accept that. He didn't like that. And God says of Ibl?s that he was not a true angel. He was one of the jinns. He was from among the jinns.
IWDM:
And the jinns are supposed to be creatures made of fire. The angels are made of pure light, the jinns are made of fire, passionate, passionate, passionate creatures. So when he did this, God says... Get you down from here. All of you. So because of what this jinn did, human life was also sent down from the heavens into the earth.
IWDM:
He said, "Get down into the earth and there, you will find all of your needs and there you will die, and from there you will be raised up into life again." That was God saying. So God is saying that man's life is to be lived on earth in the community of people. Human beings. Man is not an angel. He has angelic qualities. He can behave as an angel. He can serve even in the role of an angel, but that's rare for human beings.
IWDM:
Man's description is human, not angel. And God says, "If the earth had been populated by angels, he would have sent you an angel as a messenger, but he didn't. He sent you a human person. Muhammad, the human mortal, as he's called in the Quran. The human mortal. He sent you a human as a person.
IWDM:
So, God is telling us that we have to live in circumstances down on this earth. We have to accept to live in these circumstances we have on earth and we have to have God's help to manage these circumstances because without God they're too much for us. And we don't have to tell too many mothers in the ghetto that. She knows it's too much for her.
IWDM:
Her children turn to the streets and she can't call them back. Nothing she can do about it but just see her child go the way of the streets and she can call everybody and get no help. Everybody come. Hardly ever anybody can help. Her children are gone. That's because the world has a bigger influence than the human influence.
IWDM:
If we let the world, the circumstances and the environment that we have in the world, if we let those circumstances, that environment go against human life, then we lose our children to that life, that the Pope, John Paul, who passed, may God have him in paradise in peace. Amen. Called this cultural influence that we have in the streets that is negative and against human decency, he calls it the culture of death. Using his exact words, he called it the culture of death.
IWDM:
So God want us to have leaders who have the spirit and the faith that they can manage circumstances in their environment and influence the environment so that the environment supports the human life that God wants for us. Muslims are not only obligated to take care of their souls, yes we are, but also the souls of our families. God says, "And save yourselves and your families from the fires of hell."
IWDM:
And those fires are not just burning below the surface of the ground, they're burning wherever we are. And many of us we are better than six feet below the surface of the ground. We think we're walking on the ground, but we are not. We are more than six feet under and the hell fires are leaping all over us. Yes. So we want to be able to manage these circumstances. We can't do this alone, that's why God wants us to be a community.
IWDM:
God says, "You are a community." He doesn't want us to be anything but a community. The congregation is supposed to be the congregation of the community. The Muslims are our congregation. Congregation means coming together. That's what congregation means. Coming together, holding together. Coming together and holding together. Then he says, "You are a community and you are the best community." He says [Khahira 00:20:29].
IWDM:
He could have used another word, which would make you want to think of comparing yourself to some other community. But he used the word Khahira which does not suggest that the one speaking wants you to compare yourself with somebody else or another community, but he says "You are the best community, evolved for the good of all people." [Foreign language 00:20:52]. Evolved for the good of all people.
IWDM:
So we want to strive for community life. For community life. And we want to have our community life in the way that God guides us to have it, and to have that community life welcome all people. We are family. Humans are family. So we have to welcome all people who belong to the family of human beings. Welcome them and see no difference.
IWDM:
When you come to the point where you meet a friend of another people, even another religion, and you are of another race and you meet them and you become acquainted with them as good person. And you come to the point where you have forgotten that this person belong to another race. You have forgotten that this person belong to another religion.
IWDM:
You have become friends. You welcome each other. You live with each other. You go places with each other and you greet each other, "Hi. How is your family?" You ask about each other's relatives and you have forgotten all about that they are of another race, or even that they are of another religion. When you reach that point, you have joined, you have come successfully back into the family of mankind as created by God.
Audience:
[crosstalk 00:22:22] Amen.
IWDM:
As created by God. And you will be in heaven. Mohammed, the prophet, our prophet, the prophet of Quran, he made faith a condition of love, and he made faith also a condition for getting into paradise. He said, and I quote him word for word, he said, "Never will you enter paradise until you have faith and never will you have the faith until you practice loving one another?"
Audience:
[crosstalk 00:23:10] Allahu Akbar.
IWDM:
Yes. And then in the beginning of the nation of Islam under the late leader who has passed, may God give him peace and paradise, for the years up to... It began around 1931. We have the record saying that the teacher from overseas came and began teaching in Detroit, Michigan, where the first temple was established. And by the way, the first chapter of this great International Women Organization was established too in Detroit, Michigan.
IWDM:
Yes. A place known for making automobiles, cars. Yes. The nation of Islam, as I knew it, I was born in '33. I remember '43, I remember '53. That's 20 years. All those years, if you met a member of the native Islam and you told them you were a member, they automatically accepted you as their brother and sister and you could feel the love. You could just feel the love. We had love for one another.
IWDM:
That's what was strong among us, love. We had love for one another. We lost that during the change when we stopped thinking about G-d so much and started thinking about ourselves a lot, getting money and black power and all of that. That took it away. We lost that genuine love that we had for one another.
IWDM:
But over the recent years, at least for the last 10 years, I see that love growing again. [crosstalk 00:25:32] It's growing again. And the International League of Women, you are really a great haven of love for one another that we feel, and you're helping us grow that love back. You are helping the community grow that love back that we lost, but we're getting it back.
IWDM:
Yes. We have to understand too that we need special efforts like the International League of Muslim Women. Special efforts. Special organized efforts. We need that very much. Coming together. Coming together. People should look for those of similar mind when you want to do things, when you have a need that's not being fulfilled. It's strong in you. You want to do something about the situation.
IWDM:
Look for those who have your kind of thinking, your mind. Look for those in whose mind is that same fire burning. Burning fire for something special. And then you group with those of like minds. You should group together and you will have your leader. When people come together, the leader manifest. The one who's best qualified will be known and you'll have your leader and this is how we want to multiply productive work. We want it to multiply.
IWDM:
Let's not stop with the International League of Muslim Women. Let us find what is the league in our community. And let us say, "Hey, I'm not going to wait for Imam W. Deen Mohammed to say, "Shazam," and create this. He's not superstitious. He doesn't believe in that kind of magic. I'm going to do something about it like these women did, like Sister Sahira Muhammad did. Praise be to Allah. We thank Allah for her and for all of these great sisters.
IWDM:
The striving poor. Don't forget to identify with the striving poor. And today we are still the striving poor. And if I remain a leader, I'm going to be the leader of the striving poor. When you get rich, I'm going to retire. And I'm going to ask you for some money, but I'll be always the leader of the striving poor, and I think that's what Muhammad, the prophet meant when he said he was offered two ways to go.
IWDM:
He was offered to travel through the mountains and he was offered to travel through the planes, he said. And he chose to travel through the planes, not the mountains. Yes. So, identify with the striving poor. Firstly, right at home, in your community. Identify with the striving poor and let us test our leaders when they come before us to lead us. Let us see if they have love and compassion for the striving poor, not the lazy poor, the striving poor.
IWDM:
Alright. See if they love and care for the striving poor. See if they want to serve the needs of the striving poor. If they do, then they are the leaders that we want. They are the leaders that we want and they must show us by their action that they love human beings. That they love people.
IWDM:
They love human beings, that they are not just working for a dollar or working to pay their bills, but they are working because they love people and they want to see their whole life bettered, not just one life or some bettered. All the life bettered and then we show support to them. I'm saying this because we live in a time when most of us have lost our human life.
IWDM:
We are in human form, but we have lost our human life. And we are subject to have, show off leaders and people who are self promoting themselves. Self-Interest. Promoting self-interest first and lastly. Yes. And those persons will deceive themselves and us and all of us lose when we accept such persons as our leaders.
IWDM:
Yes. So in my conclusion, we want to keep taqwa and jihad. Keep the sacred respect that God wants us to have for God first, but also for human relationships, especially the family ties and all things that He has made sacred. That God has made sacred. And then we want to always identify with people who are striving for a better life. Thank you. And peace be unto you. Assalamu Alaikum.
Audience:
Wa alaykumu s-salam. 

