07/16/1985
IWDM Study Library
Jumuah  Cleveland OH

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Al-humdulilahir rabbil aalameen. Nastaeenahu wa numinubihi azawajal. Wanasta wakkil alay. Wa ash hadu anla ilaha illallah, wahdahu wa la sharika lahu. Wa ash hadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasulahu. Sallallahu alayhi wa salam. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmaeen, amaba. Dear Muslims. We give all praise to Allah, the creator, the cherisher of the world. We put our complete trust in Him, we believe in Him and I bear witness that none deserves worship except Allah alone. And I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of G-d, the messenger of Allah. Peace and blessings, we pray upon him, upon his descendants, his companions, the righteous all. Amin.

Allah most high says in Quran regarding the religion and the purpose in revelation. This day, have I completed for you your religion and perfected, have I perfected for you your religion and completed my favor on you and have chosen for you Al-Islam as religion. The Most-High saying in the Quran, This day have all good things been made Halal (permissible). This day have all good things been made halal or lawful in the religion. And again, it is asked, what does G-d make permissible? And the reply is given, that say to them all good things. G-d makes permissible all good things. This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and it's chosen for you, Al-Islam Deen. Al-Islam to be the religion. Radeetu!
G-d says, Radeetu He has preferred, preferred to what? All other religious. He has preferred this religion of Al-Islam over all other religions. That it is the religion that G-d has chosen. It's G-d's choice for human beings or for man. It was necessary that the religion be perfected because the forms of religion that were practice were impure. They had become impure after the preachings of the Prophet. So that Religion has been perfected. G-d says, I have perfected for you with your religion this day and it was a promise to the people of the Book.
Also, to the hearts of the faithful. It was their expectation and therefore, an indirect promise to them from G-d, that He would favor them with religion that would not burden them. But will serve their needs and lighten their heart and bring them happiness. And G-d says that He has completed His favor upon you. I have completed my favor on you. On you, meaning the Muslims. Many people, many communities have been blessed with messengers of G-d. In fact, Allah says in Quran, "There never was a people that did not receive a messenger from G-d." Or a community that did not receive a message of G-d, ummah, a community. All the communities on this earth have been given an inspired man from G-d at one time or another. And G-d says here, that He has perfected for you, lakum, meaning the Muslim.
Those who received the call to the revelation of G-d and obedience to Him from prophet Muhammad and became Muslim. And those who have been receiving that invitation since then and becoming Muslim have joined the ranks of Muslim. It is those people; it is us the Muslims that G-d speaks to when He says I have completed for you, put my favor on you. I have completed my favor on you. Allah says in Quran that He favored the Jews and after them, He favored the Christians. And then He completed His favor on the Muslim, He favored the Muslims. The Muslim community is the favored community of G-d, not the Jews, not the Christians, not any other religious community. It is the Muslim community that is the favored community of G-d.
And G-d holds us responsible to be witnesses. The Messenger of G-d, the prophet, Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him. He is a witness against us, for and against us. If we behave correctly as Muslims. He's a witness for us, that we are Muslims, that we are living our religion in the right way. But if we do not, then he is a witness against us, that we are not living our religion in the right way. The sunnah of the prophet is here to keep this religion form. G-d revealed it as revelation but He formed it in the life of Muhammad, as it should be lived. And Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, he led us by Quran and by his own example, Sunnah, to practices this religion and to live it in the form that it should be lived.
So, if any of us claim the religion and then live out of form, the prophet's life is a witness against us. But if we live it in form, by the same token, his life is a witness for us and we know that he will be a witness too in the judgment. My attention is called to the similar kind of expression Al-Yawma. G-d says this day, Al-Yawma this day or today I have
perfected for you, your religion and completed my favor on you and I've chosen for you Al-Islam to be religion, to replace all religion. That's what it means. And have chosen Al-Islam to replace all religion. And G-d says that, He will make Al-Islam prevail over all religion, though the polytheist dislike it.
This is happening. It's happening because of propagation efforts. It is happening in a very natural way. The intellect of man with more and more exposure to universal truths is coming closer and closer to Al-Islam and farther and farther away from those religions that's not Al-Islam. The mind of man is coming closer to Al-Islam.
Though the man still call himself a Jew, he still calls himself a Christian or something else. His mind is becoming naturally closer and closer to Al-Islam. It's inevitable. It can't be avoided. No, it can't because it's natural. My attention is called to the expression, Al-Yawma,' this day G-d says and then following that first G-d says again, Al-Yawma.' This time G-d says, This day are all good things made lawful. Now, we are used to hearing what G-d has made unlawful. But here the Quran put emphasis on what G-d has made lawful. Because G-d has made lawful good sense.
And it's not good sense to make things restricted. You can't eat this. Why? Because it's taboo. So, G-d says of the Jews, And G-d didn't authorize all those things that they restricted, they did that themselves. Some of us live in religion and so many things are taboo and common sense is taboo. So, G-d has to let us know what is lawful. The emphasis is not on what G-d has made unlawful in Quran; the emphasis is on what G-d has made lawful. What has he made lawful? All good things. And good sense is one of the best things that we can have. The messenger of G-d said, peace and the blessing be upon him, Bunya al-Islamu ala khamsen, the religion of Al-Islam is structured upon five essentials.
We think of these essentials as Muslims in language or terms pillars of Al-Islam. Five pillars of 
Al-Islam. They are the five essentials, the five essential structures that make up the structure of 
Al-Islam. That structure tells us what the Al-Islam should be in me. If I have this religion, then I should be practicing the essentials of this religion. I should be living the essentials of this religion. The first is Shahada or Shahadatain, to witness, to give witness that there is but one Lord, one 
G-d. La ilaha illallah. There's no G-d except G-d. No G-d but Allah. Muhammadar rasulullah, and Muhammad is the messenger of G-d.
This is the first pillar or the first structure in the building we call Al-Islam. So, if I am having this religion, then that must be in me as number one. I should have that in me. Otherwise, I don't have this religion in me. How can I have a cake in me when I don't have the ingredients of the cake in me. Say, "I ate cake today," but where, did you eat the ingredients? No ingredients, you didn't have no flour, you had no sugar, nothing. How did you have cake in you today and you didn't have any of the ingredients? We say, " I know I've got Al-Islam in me." Do you have the essential ingredients? La ilaha illallah, Muhammadar rasulullah, as-Salah, do you practice prayers as Muslims pray, Salah?
Do you fast in the month of Ramadhan? Do you believe in restraining your appetite for the G-d's pleasure? Whether they be physical appetites or any other kind of appetite, for romance or for foolishness. Do you restrain your appetite for G-d's pleasure because that's the purpose of the fast? It's done in the ninth month of Ramadhan. In the hottest month. Doing of the old calendar. We know that the Ramadhan itself, the very word itself, suggest extreme heat. Some of the scholars who have studied the history of the term they say the name comes from the habit of the people.
The habit of wrapping the foot of the tender animals. When they took them across the desert or in the desert during that hot month. Their feet couldn't stand that extreme heat so they had to wrap their feet. And the name Ramadhan takes it's meaning from that habit of theirs, protecting the tender feet of the animal as they walk across the hot land, the hot sand. So, the main purpose of it is to control our appetite for Allah's pleasure. To make our appetite conform to what Allah ask of us in this religion. Are you doing that? If you are then you have that pillar in you. Unless we have these pillars in us, then we can't say we have the religion in us.
Because our religion is not mere conversion, our religion is substance, it's substance. You just can't say you feel good and be a Muslim. You can't say, I've got the feeling, that isn't enough. You've got to have also the material. And the material comes in the essentials of the religion. That's the material. And without that everything else is immaterial. So, what G-d says? Your lip service counts for nothing. You have to practice the religion. Prayer is so essential to us. G-d says, Aqimis salat lith thikry, and establish prayer for my remembrance. And G-d says again in the Quran, never did a nation fall until it left off prayers. No nation has ever come to its doom before leaving off worship of G-d.
When they became slack or corrupt in their devotions, then G-d let them meet their doom. And that's true for the individual. No individual will fall down in his life or become corrupt, or hopeless. Give up on the good constructive life. No individual will come to that terrible end until he discredits, disregard G-d and revelation. As long as he respects G-d, respect the word of G-d, respect what G-d wants of him in his mind, he'll never come to an end like that. How important these essentials are for us? And then there's charity. Charity is one of these essentials. One of these important structures. Do we have a heart for charity?
Do we enjoy spending our money for other's sake, for the sake of others especially the immediate family, and for the needy, the destitute, the less fortunate people in our community and even outside of it? Do we have a heart to share what we've got with them and enjoy it, enjoy doing that? If we do then that pillar is in us. For G-d says, "He needs nothing from any of His creatures." We know we do everything because we obey G-d, we fear G-d and we want to please G-d. But who will be the recipient of your zakat? You think G-d is waiting for you to give him $2?
The recipient of your zakat will be your near relatives and those that G-d has obligated us to help. Do we feel good doing that? Do we like that idea? If we do, then that's an evidence that that religion is in you. But if any of these things are not in you, if you don't like it, then you have not yet accepted this religion. Because this religion is essentially exactly what we're talking about now. Some of us think, "Yes, I'm a Muslim. Yes, I say, 'La ilaha illa Allah wa-Muhammad rasul Allah'." You say it? Do you witness it? It ain't something just to be said, it's something to be witnessed. We say ash-hadu. I witness.
See, the Muslim can't even become a Muslim, can't even become a member of the community of Muslims until he himself uses his own intelligence. To witness something, I got to use my own intelligence. I can't witness something with no intelligence. This is the decision that I have made. Ash-hadu, I witness. To witness the fast month is to be present in the month. You know there's another thing, expression called the presence of mind and the absence of mind. You can't accept this religion absent-minded. You got to accept this religion with full awareness of what you are accepting.
See, this is not a religion that cheats you or fool you or enchants you. It's easy for a witch doctor to take over your mind, you know, and enchant you and have you ready to say anything. Just do a little work on you. After a few minutes, you're ready to say anything. You may not follow it up but you'd say anything after being worked on by a powerful witch doctor whether he belongs to your denomination in his church or not. Any powerful witch doctor can do it. But this is not a religion like that. It's a religion that feels that it's disrespected itself if it doesn't make an intelligent approach to the human being.
This is a religion that has to be respected and it respects the intelligence of G-d's creatures. The adherent to the faith he should say, "I witness, ash-hadu," that there is but one G-d and Muhammad is His messenger. To witness it I have to think about it. Now those people of the Book, those people who were Jews and Christians, of knowledge. Of the Book, I mean of knowledge and their religion, those people, when they heard the message of Al-Islam, the invitation to become Muslims, they could say, "Ash-hadu, I witness," because they knew what G-d had promised from the scriptures.
They knew what G-d has promised regarding Muhammad the Prophet, the universal messenger coming to establish religion as light and a way of life for the people. They knew of that, the liberator. They knew of him coming. So, when they heard la ilaha illallah, about one G-d. And this trinitarian thing and this shirk is all wrong. Those people of knowledge, they could say, "I witness." There are many people who are going against the essential teachings of their religion of their Holy Book, right now as they did in the days of the prophet. But they're doing that because there's nothing strong enough to shock them or to prick their conscience and make them give serious thoughts to their own deviations from their own religion.
In the days of the prophet, peace and blessings be on you, Al-Islam, the Quran was that shock that shocked them back from their bad behavior to perform the best that G-d has revealed to the prophets before. Al-Islam was that shock, that call, that alertor to alert their minds. It alerted their minds. Those people who had the knowledge in the form of paper scrolls, revelation or whatever. They could say, "Ash-hadu, I witness."
But those who had never been exposed to the right way and they all had never known anything else but wrong way and had no knowledge. The Arabs had no knowledge, had no knowledge one G-d and what G-d has required of the people through His prophets. They could not say ash-hadu until they thought about it rationally, until they used their good senses and said, "This makes sense. That doesn't make sense." After they decided that, "Yes, one G-d makes sense, Muhammad has convinced me. One G-d make sense. More than one makes no sense." It doesn't go with the universal order of things.
And Muhammad is obviously the bringer of this and he was not educated by Jews. He was not educated by Christians. He's not a scholar. He was an unlearned person just like the masses, just like the common masses. And he has come to us now with this message. Yes, we bear witness that the mortal man, Muhammad, is the messenger of G-d. So, they could testify, they could witness to something. That's the same thing we should do today. We shouldn't just say, "Yes, Holy Ghost. Thank you, Jesus." No, that's not the way. Think about it. Use your good senses and think about it. And if you do, you'll be a good Muslim. Because there's nothing that complements your good senses more than the revelation of Quran and the prophet Muhammad, peace, and blessings be on him.
The prophet has told us that this religion is structured upon five essentials. Therefore, the community must work hard to put these essentials into practice. Muslim say la ilaha illa Allah wa-Muhammad rasul Allah. That should be on your tongue. That should be your pronouncement. La ilaha illa Allah, but one G-d. Muhammad is His messenger. Then establish prayer and perform your prayers regularly as required of Muslims. That is at specified times, five times daily. Fast the month of Ramadan and practice that discipline all you doing the year, all you doing your life.
Rejecting what G-d has disallowed and only accepting what G-d allows, and never going to the extreme. And being considerate of the needs of others who suffer. That condition that we get in Ramadan and the principle should be lived the whole life. And then be charitable, and desire to make Hajj and see yourself as a member of the world community, the world community of people, for G-d has created people. And they have become tribes, become nations differing with each other after He has created them one people. We have to come back to accept that oneness in humanity which is so beautifully demonstrated, so powerfully demonstrated by the Hajj, or in the Hajj that we make to Mecca. 
Again, Allah said, and establish prayer. G-d has prescribed prayer. He says that the effect of it is that it takes away tendency to go to indecency and vulgar things. It acts against that. It is protection against that and the things that are obnoxious, odious, offensive to good taste. The high standards for man. G-d said that it will help you, it will keep you away from such. And we know the prophet has given us a parable. He said if anyone would wash in a river that came by his house five times daily, would there be left in him impurities? And the answer from his disciples was, "No."
We know that it is a purifier. It will purify us. When the Muslim is in his prayer, he considers himself to be visiting G-d, just right in the presence of G-d. And the prophet has said, peace and blessings be upon him, says the prayer, for the Muslim, is his ascension. You want to go to heaven? Pray right. Yes. If the prophet says the prayer is the Muslim's ascension, ascension means to go to heaven. Then if I want to go to heaven, I should pray right. That's to pray regularly. I should put my whole stuff into my prayer. I should be humble. I should pray as Allah said in Quran, "Pray with a sense of obedience to G-d and fear of G-d."
In another place He says, "When the believers hear the name of G-d mentioned, they tremble." A trembling comes in on them. And I'm sure if you're a believer, you have in your prayer or while listening or reading the Quran, the very name Allah has made a trembling go through your body. Yes, I have witnessed it many times. I'm sure that good believers they have witnessed that. Not when you're in your fantasy and thinking you're the whole world. But when something like death and cancer and AIDS get a hold of you or your near relative, then you get in that real close relationship.
But it's a pity we have to wait until then. G-d doesn't want us to wait until then. He wants us to love that closeness with Him all the time and that's why the Muslim is supposed to be regularly devoted in prayer five times daily to G-d and keep up all of your duties in this religion. Have as your main objective, to make a community life. To see, to realize in your life in your area, in your town Islamic community life and G-d will be with us and He will bless us. We pray.
Dear beloved Muslims, praise be to Allah. The creator and the Lord of the whole of the world, the guardian, preserver for all the world. I bear witness that there's no G-d but Him, and Muhammad is His messenger. We pray the peace and blessings upon Muhammad, his descendants, his companions, the righteous all, Amin. Allah, Most-High, says in the Quran, that you will not attain righteousness until you've spent out of that, that you love. Until you've spent of that, that you love. What a great help that is to a people in any time, in any place on this earth.
But for us in this time, in this critical condition that we're in, in terms of what the human spirit should be in these parts of the world Oh, it's such a great help if we will only get the full message of that word of G-d, that revelation and then struggle hard and live it in our lives. Until you spend out of what you love. People who are possessive for their own comfort, they're headed to hell if they're not already there. Please listen to what I'm saying. People who are possessive, want to possess something. This is mine." Just for their own pleasure. They're headed to hell or already in hell.
But people who want something so that they can help others, "I want a better pay, so my family can have more enjoyment. I want to get more money, more income, so my children will have a better future. So, my wife will not have to be worried about these common little necessities." Oh, that's the spirit. That's the heart that Allah wants in His creature. But those that just want it for private enrichment, personal enrichment or just to have it for themselves, so that they know, "I'm secured." I say again, they're headed for hell or are already there. They're the most miserable creatures on this earth.
And they wonder how come they can't be happy. It's impossible. With that condition in you, it's impossible for you to be happy. You'll never be happy. Your money can increase but your unhappiness is going to increase with the money. So, Allah offers us this religion because He knows what's best for us. And G-d says in the Quran, "Perhaps what you love is bad for you and what you hate of this life, is good for you." We should consider these things. We will not attain righteousness, people come into religion to have-- what is the choice? The first choice which we make when we join religion, is that, "I want to be right and not wrong." Right? That's the motivation.
I want to be with the right people and not with the wrong people. I want to be with the descent people and not with the corrupt people. Right? That's the first motivation. All people in religion have that motivation. They want to be righteous. G-d says, "You will not have that righteous. You will not reach a state of righteousness until you can spend out of what you love. Look at how G-d puts it. We couldn't put it that way. The poet, the philosopher doesn't have the sense to put it that way until G-d could put it that way. Until we spend out of what we love. We will say, "Spend all the money that you've got or spend the money that you have."
No, G-d is just saying the money that you love, spend whatever you love. You love your daughter so much? Okay, share her with other people. Let other people love her too. Let her love other people too. Some of us are so possessive, we don't even want our child to love somebody else. Not to mention a child, sometimes we have a dog, we don't want the dog, "Hey, come back here."

Yes. G-d said that you can spend out of what you love. Don't be possessive. Don't want it all for yourself. Even though it be your own child. That's what G-d wants from us. And then the Prophet says, peace and blessings be on him. He says, "You'll never go into paradise until you become a believer." "You'll never enter the paradise until you become a believer."
Now, we've heard in these western parts or in the church. If you've never been to church, you hear it in the radio. I know a lot about the Christian message, you don't have to go to church, its anywhere. And they put emphasis upon faith, "You have to believe." They say nothing is going to happen until you believe. Well, understand that this religion requires that too. First of us, that we have faith. Faith in G-d, faith in His book, faith in His messages, faith in His angels. Who are you to sit around here and get two sense of knowledge from a college and then question these things? Start questioning, "Well, it doesn't make sense to believe in something like that I can't see. I can't prove.
I can't verify." Well, what can you verify? Pitiful, two sense from college and gone crazy. Yes, its required that we have faith. And the prophet says, "You will not enter the paradise until you have faith." That's not all thats saying. The rest of it is this. He says, "You will not have faith until you have love for each other." All right? "You will not have faith until you have love for each other." So, let us have love for each other and let us practice love because that's the evidence of that we have love for each other.
No evidence that we have love for each other if you don't practice it. Some of us we get so mad on our close relatives from time to time. Sometimes its our mate, sometimes a member of the household. We get so angry with them, so disgusted with them. Our hearts be hurting because of the prohibition we have placed on the relationship. Right? 


