05/25/2008
IWDM Study Library
Remember Those Who Sacrificed
Detroit MI

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:05 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Peace to all of you. As-Salaam-Alaikum.
[foreign language]
00:09 IWDM: It's great to be together again. Yes, and believers are always together, because our spirits and our hearts are one. Let me see what... I was told that I was just coming to here, and she said, "Did you see what's behind you?" [laughter] Welcome home. That's right, this is my home. I was born here. [chuckle] Yes, my mother said she brought me to Chicago in her arms and I was 11 months old. Yes and it's always good to be here. This is the place where our new life began. Yes, African Americans came into a new life in 1930 and 1931 in this Motor City. And I always think of Detroit as my home, but actually, I was born in Hamtramck, Michigan. But that's the same as Detroit. [laughter] Because Detroit is so big, it just envelops all of these small places like Hamtramck, Michigan. I was born on Yemen Street. A lot of Yemenites lived in this city and I think they still live in this city. Yemen is the place where the Lady Saba had her kingdom. She is called Sheba in English. Sheba, Saba, had her kingdom, and you perhaps have heard the story of Solomon and Sheba. This story is not forgotten, because it's in the Quran as well.

02:20 IWDM: Sheba or Saba. And the people of Saba's kingdom, or the Yemenites that are not called Yemenites in the old history, the people of Saba, they were very progressive. They were great builders. The Atlantic magazine, a very prestigious magazine, especially on college campuses, recently carried a feature on the front page about the old Yemenites, or we might say ancient Yemenite people. They were very progressive. Also many other Muslims came and made their home in Detroit, and have lived here for generations. It's no wonder that Detroit is where we met Mr. Fard Muhammad, or Mr. W. F. Muhammad, who introduced himself to the poor African American community of Detroit, Black Bottom, and invited them to come to their religion. He called them the lost people, who had been lost from their religion. He established the idea of the "Lost Found Nation of Islam in North America", he called it "The Wilderness of North America", or "The Wilds of North America".

04:26 IWDM: He established that and he named the places not mosques or masajid, he named them temples, after the order or design of the Shriners, Masons. They call their places temples still now, they still call them temples. At that time they were called temples and this Professor Fard also designed the plan for us as Muslims in America and named the place temples. What am I getting at? It started here and the temple here was called Temple Number what? 

05:14 S?: One.

05:15 IWDM: Temple Number One. From here, Professor Fard went to Chicago. We all realized Muhammad had already been selected from among our people here to be his assistant. So my father went with him, came with him to Chicago. There they established together, they worked together, they established Temple Number Two. And before he left America, they went to Milwaukee, and he established Temple Number Three. Those three temples were established with the teacher, the master teacher.

06:00 IWDM: The master teacher. He was a headmaster. He had been a teacher in Fiji Islands and in his home what's called Pakistan now. I wouldn't call it Pakistan then. It was just called India 'cause Pakistan had... The Muslims had not gotten achieved independence as a political independence, and established a state called Pakistan. That was established in 1947. And I'm talking about the early 30s now. And he left, went by way of Mexico. After Mexico, we don't know whether he went back to England 'cause he also came out of England too. And on he went back to Pakistan, his birthplace, or with the Fiji Islands, a place where he gained a big following. I'm talking about Mr. Fard, Professor Fard. Fiji Islands where he gained a big following and was called Master G. And he's still called Master G in the Fiji Islands by his followers. He still have many followers in the Fiji Islands, and they call him Master G. So, we should know these circumstances. We know our own beginning better when we know the circumstances to that beginning, belonging to that beginning. So that's why I'm talking to you about these things. Anybody wanna leave, leave 'cause I didn't come here to talk about eating hotdogs and drinking, and playing games of football or baseball. I didn't come here to talk about those things.

07:39 IWDM: I know it's Memorial Day, and this day is a day for outings and whatever. But we should understand that Memorial Day is a very serious day. We are supposed to call to mind the veterans, alive and dead, that made the sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice to have this country safe and secure, protected. Many times we know wars are fought. They're not always honorable wars, like the one going on in Iraq right now. And we know our presence in Iraq right now is not for America, not for the American people, and it's not for the Iraqi people, it's for oil, oil interest. Oil interest. It's for interest in oil. Now, you can say, "Well, if we secure our interest there in that area for the protection of Israel and for the protection of oil, to make sure the oil doesn't get in the wrong hands, in our enemy's hands." You might reason like that. But oil is business and oil is money. And look how our money had been hurt by our staying too long in Iraq.

09:20 IWDM: I was supporting our country going into Iraq. Why? Because our country put Saddam in power. And I thought it was our obligation to take a dictator who's oppressing his people, off of their backs, or out of office, since we were involved in putting him there and keeping him there for awhile. Yes. But once we achieve that, once that Saddam have been captured, I felt that we had no reason to stay there. In my understanding and opinion, we had no reason to stay there any longer. Those people would be better off protecting their own interests and bringing their own citizens into agreement to support the kind of government that they would support. We respect the will of the nation. The will of the people has to be respected. That's the American way. So we should respect their will to bring the kind of government into place that their people would support. I'm speaking of Iraq. Still speaking of Iraq.

10:35 IWDM: So, this is a Memorial Day, and so much for that. Would you believe that the same professor I mentioned to you that brought these strange and peculiar... When I say peculiar, I mean none like it. None like it. There was no organization like the Nation of Islam in the history of mankind until Mr. Fard or Professor Fard came up with the idea and established it in us, and through the honorable leader who passed away in 1975, the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. We did nothing like that had ever been done on the planet Earth. And I don't think it'll ever be done again. A very very special and unique thing that was done. Would you believe that he had his followers while he was still living here and he was the boss? Although his putting my father into position as the leader, even then when he was here. Would you believe that he told them to form a baseball team? And they played baseball right here in Detroit. Played baseball. Some of you all are so stiff, you put the flowers under the table, instead on top of the table.

[laughter]

12:08 IWDM: Mr. Fard wasn't stiff like that. He wanted us to loosen up. [laughter] I hear it for the ladies' sake. You put the tables and flowers up here, so the ladies can see these flowers and enjoy them. With us who are still alive. [laughter] It's easy to go into extremes when you don't know where you should be. We should know where Muslim life is. We should understand Muslim life and know where Muslim life is. Muslim life is not in the graveyard. It's not up under an iceberg. Muslim life is the best human life possible on this planet Earth. Human life. And to say "human" means warm. Inhumanity is cold. Humanity is warm. We'll get there. [laughter]

13:30 IWDM: Now, you ever heard the expression, "Foods for thought"? I love to cook the real food at home. I love to cook it, and taste it, and work with it. And then, sit down and enjoy it with company. The only place that I eat alone is in prison, and then they don't let me eat alone there. [laughter] I had to eat with everybody else. [laughter] Let me see if I can find my glasses here. Give me a couple of minutes. I thought I brought 'em. I think I have 'em here. Yeah, I need my glasses on now, 'cause I wanna be sure I don't stay here too long. If I don't look at these notes, I'll be running all over the place. [laughter] And we'll be here too long.

[foreign language]

14:43 IWDM: We always acknowledge G-d. There is no G-d but one G-d, the Creator of us and all people and everything, in the Heavens and in the Earth, and in between. And we witness that Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed, is the last of the Prophets, the Seal of the Prophets, and a mercy to all people, all nations. The prayers and the peace be upon him.

15:17 IWDM: When I begin what I have outlined here, understand that when I was making this outline, I was thinking on Bilal. Bilal Ibn Rabah, may G-d be pleased with him, the Companion, who was with the Prophet almost all the time. And it was the one that he would have called, make the call to prayer. In Arabic, it's called, this title is called muadhdin, "the one who makes the call to prayer," assigned to that duty or that responsibility. And muadhdin, the topic that the name come from the ear, udhun. Ear is called udhun. And you know when muadhdin makes the call, he puts his thumb to his hand. Palm sits open face forward like that, and he puts them to his ear. Some on the ear after he do it with one hand to one ear. Did it right here. And I've seen him do it with both hands like this. And this is the way you see most of it's done, most of the time, like this, with both hands to the ears. And especially, when you get up in age, you throw your hand up to your ear when somebody's talking to you.

[laughter]

16:44 IWDM: You getting old and your hearing is not as good as it used to be, so you need some help. So the cup there. You cup it, to extend that ear out. See, you have your palm, and an extension of your ears. Now you got a big ear, like an elephant ear, see that? [laughter] So muadhdin means, if you say, "Did you hear me?" Now there's reason if you didn't, there could be many reasons why you didn't. But when parents are raising little children, what do parents say to them when they don't hear? "You'd better pay attention to me when I'm talking to you." So, actually, it means "attentiveness." Attentiveness. So the muadhdin is supposed to be attentive. And he calls the others to be attentive. Attentive to what? The obligation to put G-d first.

17:55 IWDM: And Bilal was the one who was assigned to the Fajr Prayer, the first prayer before a sunrise. When there's a little sign of light in the sky on the horizon, that's time for Fajr prayer. And Bilal was the one assigned to that responsibility. So what do we say of the prayer? Especially that Fajr prayer with the Adhan. Assalatu khayrum minan naum, prayer is better than sleep. Prayer is better than sleep. And what kind of sleep is this? This is the sleep of not being attentive to matters that you should be attentive to, that deserves our attention. That's the sleep. When we're not awake or conscious of matters that we should be attending, according to scripture, we are the sleepers of the Earth. Yes, we are the sleepers of the Earth. So the call is an awakening of consciousness. The consciousness that our creator wants in us. That's what the call is, the Adhan, the call to prayer. And Bilal was assigned to that.

19:27 IWDM: Bilal also was looked down upon, like many of us were and still are looked down upon, by people who are not black or not the children of Africa. The mother continent Africa. So like we were looked down upon, even in that time of the Prophet. Bilal was looked down upon and there was some of his companions, in fact, close to him. One of his Companions close to him spoke to belittle Bilal, and the Prophet said, "We all are Bilal." Isn't that wonderful? He said, "We all are Bilal." Now when he said to that person who was ignorant and thought he was better as a human creation than a black person or an African, when he said, "We all are Bilal." He said two things and pardon me. The first is, "If you hurt one of us you hurt all of us." You speak disparity of one of us, it did on all of us. You insulted all of us. That's number one to understand.

20:44 IWDM: Number two is, the nature that has been rejected in Bilal and his people, that same nature is in all of us. Now I could explain it'd take too long, that history now supports explanation, history supports proof for certain things and for what I'm saying now, history supports it. There was a time in this country when the blacks carried the heavy burden upon their souls. And when the blacks was forced by a miserable life to go to things that give them pleasure, to have relief from the misery. To sing, to dance too much. To sing too much, to play too much. When we were doing that to escape living a miserable life, knowing how we would get rejected and put down unwanted socially rejected. What happened? We, they survived upon spirit. Determination in our spirit, to change things for the better. But now the same condition has grown in other races now and they have become persons who have to give themselves to too much fun making, too much playing.

22:41 IWDM: The white man who came from Europe to America and he used to be stiff like Frankenstein. Can you imagine Frankenstein dancing [laughter] on a... What is it called? America... What's it? Dance... No not dance down? Can you imagine Frankenstein dancing? That's how most of the whites look dancing. They look like Frankenstein. Stiff, but in time their soul was touched so much over the years. And you know what really made them soul folks? Yes, white folks are soul folks now. Ain't no more black man only soul folk. You ain't seeing straight and you ain't seeing everything. White folks in America are now soul folks. Everybody soul folks. Asians come over here, he never was as stiff as European, in the European stiffness. No, he never got that stiff. But the Asian come over here and pretty soon, he's a soul brother.

24:02 IWDM: Everybody now is a soul brother. Why? Because misery is everywhere. Hell and misery is everywhere. Everybody's soul is burdened and aggravated and to get away from facing that reality or to get that reality out of their mind, so they can be happy they go to the extremes of pleasure, to the extremes of pleasure. I'm speaking to you as a psychologist and, believe me, psychology started with religious preachers, not with the secular world, not with education in Europe and America. Psychology started with religious leadership.

24:49 IWDM: And I tell you, if you think about how your preacher works on you to get that offering he's still the best psychologist in certain places. He's the best psychologist in certain places. [chuckle] So Bilal, this is a name chosen answering prophecy. Bilal and prophecy goes back to the donkey in the Bible. Donkey had a rider on his back called Baal. Baal was riding the donkey. Baal, it's spelled B-A-A-L, Baal. But I'm telling you there's a definite connection, a real connection with B-A-L-L, ball. "We were having a ball last night man. So and so got so drunk and fell out on the floor." Having a ball, B-A-L-L.

26:03 IWDM: So who's riding the donkey's back? Baal. Baal didn't ride the camel's back, Baal didn't even ride the horse's back, Baal rode the donkey's back. So the ignorant masses, how do they control them? Give them a spirit to have a ball, and they got to carry that ball or that spirit upon their soul or upon their backs. See, you don't see your soul, your soul is always behind your sights. So a ball riding my back that's really my own soul. My own soul is riding my back.

26:56 IWDM: Then the circumstances that I live in have turned my soul into a burden that rides me. Now, African American people are the most ridden of all people when it comes to ball. We're the most ridden of all people. No people have been carrying a rider, the rider of his own soul, that have become too pleasure directed. Fun directed, not just pleasure 'cause some are motivated for different reasons to seek happiness and be pleased. Some find their pleasures in many things. But those who find their pleasures in fun life, they're the ones with ball on their back. And if you think about it no people are more in...

00:00 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Evolved and fun-like then blacks are African-Americans. That's what we live for. We go to church to pay our dues. That's a temporary stop. We gonna be finished with that as soon as the preacher stop preaching. We gone, we looking for some fun. This is serious alright. So understand that Bilal is a prophetic figure representing what the world has done to black people. They see us having this jovial spirit, they see us having a tendency to be given to fun life and merriment, and they target us for exploitation. "So here's a group here that we made a lot of money off of. Let's keep them in fun life." So look how they help us get on the stage and act a monkey. We didn't have enough money to finance our fun, our fun was financed by other people. I ain't going to mention any names, 'cause I don't recognize that language Jews and Gentiles, all people are human.

[pause]

01:42 IWDM: So, all over the world Muslims are making the Adhan, but who the Prophet chose to make the Adhan? An African. And not just an African, but an African who had been enslaved. And the Companion of the Prophet who became the second ruler after the Prophet khalifah Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq, may G-d be pleased with him. He on behalf of the Prophet and all of the Prophet's companions and believers, he went and took his own money and paid the ransom to buy Bilal from his cruel, slave master, who learned of his accepting Islam and rejecting many Gods, that was existing in that time for the people of not only Arabia, but for the people of the world mostly. Many of them of the world even though Christianity and Judaism was present, paganism was still very popular.

02:52 IWDM: So he refused to accept more than one G-d and when he had been tortured so much he is too weak to speak, he just held one finger out like the Muslims do in jalsa when we're sitting down, we say, "I witness that there is but one G-d." And we put one finger like that. So he was too weak, he come to check on him like, "Are you ready to give up that religion?" Bilal would put one finger out. He was too weak. He put the big, hot stone on his chest, put a big, hot stone on his chest and made him lie in the hot sun with that heavy stone on his chest, hoping that he would give up and say, "I give up the religion. I will obey you master." But Bilal never did, and he was freed.

03:42 IWDM: Now, what black people from Africa, that is one man. What black people of Africa was made slaves? You and me, in America, we were made slaves. And for what reason? What did we do to justify them making us slaves? Were we captives of war? Were we captives of war? No, we weren't fighting anybody. We weren't at war with anybody unless it was ourselves on the continent of Africa.

[laughter]

04:16 IWDM: Not against the white man, that's for sure. So we were enslaved by Christian whites and for no other reason than that they wanted free, cheap labor to help develop the new land, the new world. As laborers, farmers, cotton pickers, etcetra. Yes. So that was the reason for it. Now the southern white people who were poorer than the North and East and who were less educated than the North and the East, they were used, too. The big guys they didn't want you to pick cotton, they were looking way down the line. "We are making a servant class." Now again, go back to scripture. Scripture said Noah, a prophet, peace be on him, got drunk, drank too much and got drunk. And he was nude, lying nude. And he had three sons, the oldest one Ham. And scripture says that Ham is Egypt and the same scripture says that Egypt is in one of the two Misraines.

05:57 IWDM: Two Egypts: One Egypt is a northern Egypt. The other Egypt is the lower Egypt, southern Egypt, where Sudan is now. It is no more called Egypt. So history says that Ham is Egypt, and Ham saw his father. We know these are only figures, these are not true people. These are depictions of a disposition in people, major dispositions in the soul and nature of people that make them appear to be silly, given to too much fun, some too serious, too critical, and one in the very beautiful image of human beings. He wants to be at peace, his nature is to be at peace. So these are the three sons of Ham. I mean, yes. Of Noah, pardon me. And Ham, anyway, wasn't cursed directly, according to prophecy or scripture. The curse that he earned fell upon his children and his children were the people of Canaan-land, Canaanites. Now if you listen to that word Canaanites, you can almost hear canine, canine. And most of the descendants of Canaan have been barking for the last 10 or 15 years. Whenever they are excited, "Woof. Woof. Woof Woof." It can be at a dance, it can be at the movies.

07:55 IWDM: See how you are manipulated to do things that shame you in the eyes of the intelligent, learned peopled of the world? Time to break that. Professor Farad, he left something that went into Elijah and went out of Elijah into Wallace D. Mohammed and we are now ready to break it, get rid of it forever.

[background conversation]

08:30 IWDM: Yes. A little more on the connection with Bilal in history, in prophecy and in history. So here is the story of Noah, Prophet Noah, being seen in his nakedness drunk and his son, an African, remember Egypt is in Africa. His son, an African, behaves in a shameful way, showing ignorance instead of intelligence, and laughs at the condition of his father. So for that he's cursed and the curse does not fall immediately on the African people, but the curse falls later and it falls upon those who are lesser evolved culturally and politically, the Canaanites. But those Canaanites were superior in iron work, yes this is scripture, this is history and scripture. They were superior in iron works. You think that left us? Just like the tendency to give ourselves to too much fun or fun life is still with us, the iron skills, the skills we had for iron making and for making ornamental designs still never left us. You go to the Carolinas and you'll find the people, the African-Americans there are known for iron work, for beautiful iron works.

10:18 IWDM: Still are known for that. Just like the Palestinians were builders in ancient time and the Palestinians are still used by Israel, for those that live in Israel, to build for them. Palestinians are their most prided builders of Israel, the Palestinians that live in Israel have accepted to live in Israel. Things can be... Be born with certain things in our genes from our father, from the first human type, Adam. But if over a long period of time, over generations, that a particular people give themselves to certain interests, certain occupations, eventually that spirit will go into their children and will be seen manifest in their children. And not only the spirit will go into their children, but their children will be easily adapted to the same jobs or same occupations that their forefathers were adopted to. It'll be in their genes. We are great wood carvers. Did you know that? African-American people, Africans and African-American people, we're great with wood, wood carving, designing and making things of wood. It came from our ancestors and it has survived in our genes, it's genetic, yes.

11:52 IWDM: So this Bilal type is also genetic. We are not Africans anymore, but we are certainly Bilals. We haven't stopped being Bilals, we're still Bilals. We still are easily moved by sadness and joy, easily moved by the extremes of sadness and joy. We're the ones like the black mama in Africa who saw a white woman who couldn't nurse her baby and she goes to the white woman and said, "May I take your baby? I'm nursing my baby." And she nursed the baby of the white woman right along with her own baby. Yes, so these extremes are in us and they are beautiful, but extremes need to be controlled. You say, "Oh, those people they like jubilation, they like to be happy. They're jovial." What about juvenile? 

[laughter]

13:10 IWDM: That's where it go, if you don't check it you'll go to an extreme where your whole people, the grown ups, will become juvenile and the next thing is juvenile delinquency. And when you see all our boys out there, some of them 30 and 40 years old still acting like they teenagers on the corner, having no interest in getting a job and taking care of a family, they have become juvenile delinquents. Juvenile delinquents. And it's because the whole race have given itself to too much fun making, have burned out the intelligence of the brain with too much fun making. This is very serious what I'm telling you and once you know what caused your condition then you should just automatically stop behaving that way and showing the people, "I'm not of that mind and spirit anymore." Don't let me hear you went to a party and just partied all night at the end of the week that's coming. No. If you've been doing that what I'm telling you, you should say "No, I'm not going to any party."

14:30 IWDM: Yes. So Bilal in the scripture carries baal upon his back. I'll just say he carried having a ball upon his back, he's always having a ball, he carried upon his back and his own soul was riding him. And he turned, he stopped, he sees an angel in the way, in the path ahead of him standing, blocking the way. And according to the scriptures the angel has a flaming sword in his hand. Now, even the donkey would stop and start being serious minded if he saw something like that.

15:23 IWDM: So when he saw that he asked his rider, "Why have you struck me or strapped me these three times?" Three times. Now, I don't wanna spend too much time with you here but life starts in the physical body, the flesh. When a baby is born up from his mother it has no life anywhere except in his physical body. It becomes conscious of our world, then life starts in the mind and in the soul, but before that time no life except in the physical flesh. The baby is not even expressing itself yet and sometimes they don't wake up automatically on their own. The doctor or somebody have to slap the flesh to get them to breathe air and let air come in and breathe air. Once they breathe air on their own, now he's a living child. He's human, living human, but before then, he's not. And if he does not breathe air, he dies. What they say? He was stillborn. Stillborn means dead. He died, he didn't live, he never came into life as a human person. So the first life is in the flesh before even the conscious come on and life comes into the mind. So first in the flesh, then in the mind. And if the mind hangs around long enough that particular child is going to develop its own spirit, so then now the child is a living spirit. Living flesh, living mind, living spirit. That's the three.

17:11 IWDM: So the donkey says to his master, his rider, which is his own ignorant soul, "Why have you struck me these three times?" No answer came, did it? No, but the donkey has stopped being a donkey. Say the donkey spoke with man's voice, not with a donkey's voice, not with an animal's voice, this donkey spoke with man's voice and said, "Why have you struck me these three times?" Now, I close this off by telling you, Mr. Farad had a point when he told them to form a baseball team. He had a point because everything that happens in human life, as designed by our Creator, it has a sign for our intelligence, for our mind to read and everything carries both knowledge and mercy. When you understand the knowledge in the problem, now you've got a way to bring mercy. Thank you. Peace. As-salaam Alaikum.


