09/04/1988
IWDM Study Library
Productive Ideas for Us In Religion 
Pt 1-4

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Editorial Note: No one can speak for Imam W. Deen Muhammad better than his lectures and their impact on the attending audiences have spoken. Here, again, the words of his address to the overflowing crowd at McCormick Place in Chicago on September 4. 1988 must he put in print as they were given, Muslim Journal is honored to have this opportunity to further disseminate the words of this historic lecture. )

As-Salaam-Alaikum, and that means peace he unto you. With Allah's Name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer, we pray the peace and the blessings of Allah he upon the Universal Messenger, His Servant and Messenger Muhammad, upon his descendants, his Companions, the righteous all. Amin.

Dear beloved people, Muslims and Believers, and all here, we wish you the best and pray that we do not insult you in any way. That we do not waste your time. We pray that Allah blesses you with peace, happiness, and the blessings that He has created for His creation and the creatures that He has created in the human beings.

In addressing or speaking on ''Productive Ideas in Religion, " I want to begin with the statement that I have prepared. And in presenting this I pray to Allah that you will give consideration to this and in the time after you are gone from here, that you will think about what was said and give it studious attention.

There are many ideas that we need to share with the common members of society. However we hate to use the term, "common," but this is the way we speak. For "common" may suggest that someone else is not common. But all of us are common. What we mean then is for the "general society." These ideas need to be shared with the general public. It so happens that this audience is almost 100 per cent Muslim, but that is not because we desire it that way. The only way we would be happy with an 100 per cent audience of Muslims would be that the United States was 100 per cent Muslim. But we are happy always to be with each other, for that is a special happiness.

For an audience like this, it is very good to give ideas that many speakers would be afraid to give. Why would they be afraid? It is because he would say, "the common man's mind is not sensitive to those ideas. That is too much burden on the common mind. That is too much burden on the common person. What you are to do is just talk about the light-weight things."

But G-d said He was going to give Muhammad a Weighty Word  not a light word. And if G-d gave Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, a heavy word, then I think we should have faith in the ability of the common person to receive the heavy word. The burden is on us, if we are aware and knowledgeable  for many of us profess to be knowledgeable. I don't profess to be knowledgeable. I profess to be blessed.

However, many Imams and preachers claim to be highly knowledgeable but stoop down so low to perform the duties of our office. So insha-Allah and with the blessings of Allah, we intend to talk about sacred ideas and productive ideas for us is religion. Surprisingly I am going to start with the language that may seem to be away from religion. But it is not. So I will go to the matters that will set the stage for my talk.

As on all occasions, we ask Allah's blessings on this occasion because we cannot guarantee anything. No matter how hard we try, sometimes we miserably fail our own expectations. Many times I have even put what I felt was everything into a speech or lecture, and then came back feeling that 1 did not come anywhere near doing what I wanted to do. But if Allah blesses us, we are happy with the results and the results are good.

Although today's message is intended for the general public, as it has been the case, my immediate audience is the harvest from the many years of my father's hard work at reforming history's most played over people. That is that no other segment of man has been abused as a play thing by so many nations of the world. Most of you in this immediate gathering know this.

As for the principle of righteousness, I have not been disloyal or unwilling to bow and repent, when I have seen myself in the wrong. On the other hand in responding to a greater urge to follow the excellence that has been heard both as shouts and as whispers from Elijah Muhammad's lips, while always agreeing with the aims, I was not always agreeing with the details.

Our father, Elijah  and I say "Our father" because I have many brothers and sisters here from the loins of my father and from my mother, Clara Muhammad. Also I have many of you here who think of him as father, as well as there are non-Muslims that I have met in the public of Chicago that also call him "father." I like to call him "our father. Elijah" and I like to speak of "our mother, Clara." Our lives and theirs can never be completely separate. When all is concluded, it is their company that I am wanting in paradise.

Be aware that the aim is of greater substance than the details in the message of our greatest reform teacher, Elijah Muhammad. On the other hand what is wrong with wanting to be more decent regarding our actions and regarding our" efforts to see clearly that aim?

The world, as it was did not offer any relief to the natural hunger for the food of freedom.
justice, and equality. Poverty encaged the lot of the people. Stigmas of racial inferiority tagged the people as losers fit for abuse. Society signally rejected this people.

Now will it broadcast weakness or will it broadcast strength to say that was a different world and a different time? Thirteen years ago has gone like one yesterday, to me. Reader's Digest said in a caption which introduced an article on Elijah Muhammad's organization and I quote, 'The Most Influential Black Man in America."

Not long ago our local media helped Chicago celebrate its birthday. In the Chicago Sun-Time's article, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was listed as being among the leading figures having made an imprint on the great City of Chicago.

And I quote from that special man. the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, our father  "You will not be equal with the white man. until you have equal knowledge." Again it is not the details to his diatribes against wicked America as it was. for as for those details and as for other details, speaking for myself and for my sincere admirers, the substance was not in those details. The substance was in the aim.

When we take out single lines and look at those single lines and statements that came from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's mouth that represent a thought or a message, then we are looking at details. When we pick up one of the old pamphlets or lessons and read one of the questions, we are looking at details. When we look at the whole thing and get a feeling for where the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wanted to take us, then we are looking at the aim. And the substance was in the aim.

What is substance? It is the best parts. Substance is the strength and the best part. It is that that is essential and the important make up. the important ingredients. That is the substance, for it is that that is most needed for support.

And it was by the "aim" that corruption met its defeat, and not by the details. I should not have to make it plain for you as to what corruption I am referring to. You who have been with us for the last twenty years are well aware of the corruption that I am talking about. That corruption is responsible for the change of properties from our ownership to the pleasures of the courts.

It was not the changes brought on by W. D. Muhammad. It was the changes brought on by corruption that put us in the position to lose material properties. Where we sit before judges who sit there with the image of the courts and pretended to be respecting us, but in his mind and in his heart he is saying these people made mistakes that justify him confiscating all that they have produced. He also knows that he has enough support above him to get by with what he is doing. That judge knows also that he has the principle of our religion against us that helps him to carry out his design. What is that principle? It is that corruption is not supposed to inherit from society. Again, what is the principle? Those who neglect their possessions should lose them.

Now returning to that special man, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. What a soul stirring farewell he gave. When you think to give me credit, then give it to my "name" or give it to his "name." It is a good feeling to say, "I want to be about my father's business. I perceive Elijah Muhammad's aim, and his aim is pure and good and strong and best for all of us. It is the universal aim of man in society, and that is to have what G-d created him for - the dignity at home, the dignity when he is alone by himself, the dignity in the public, the dignity before the government, the dignity in the international world. That is the longing of the human person, to be honorable and respectful and to command respect wherever he is.

That was the desire of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, to see his poor and disrespected people brought back to a plane like that. Whether we walk the same walk or walk the same road or not is not important. Are we after the same thing? I am after the same thing that he was after.

I perceive Elijah Muhammad's business as the dignity -the created dignity, the inborn dignity of a miserably degraded people. What is equally demanding now is attention not only to this people but attention also to the deteriorating lot of the many others who are appearing to be in about the same situation .

In my perception, the first step against a people's deficiencies is the step of soul searching. 1 am coming from the teachings of religion. I am no authority and have no strength, except for what I have gotten from religion. I have nothing to stand upon, except for what is provided for me in religion. I am not a graduate of Harvard or Yale or of any college. The extent of my formal knowledge is a High School education, except for three hours of credit in English 101.

You would not consider me an educated person, except on the basis of personal experiences -being self taught. But for a for-mal education, I have no credentials there. You know if they do not respect the average college certificate now. then you know how they look at a high school diploma.

However, one of the many productive ideas in religion has to do with the responsible attitude towards self The serious watch over our behavior, where the concern is significantly formed of a desire to escape the pull of hell and qualify for the reward of heaven is rooted, no doubt, in a naked self interest. And upon that note, it can be said that soul searching occurs at the point of critical examination of our self interest.

It makes me want to do "thikr" right now, in saying "subhana-Allah," "Al-hamdul-llah," and "Allahu-Akbar." In doing that, aren't we soul searching? We are remembering G-d, and we are remembering Him for what? We remember Him in order to strengthen the soul, to cleanse the soul, and to make the soul presentable. As one remarkable Western philosopher put it, "Nothing serves the public interest better in a democracy than an educated self interest." Let me repeat -"An educated self interest."

G-d has blessed me to see where my spirit wants to go with you, and that is the education of your own self. It is not the education of the society. It is the education of your own self that will make you educated for the society. It is not going to be easy, and we don't expect to get to anything great by the road of ease.
It is the education of your own self that will make you educated for the society. It is not going to be easy, and we don't expect to get to anything great by the road of ease. "Inna ma-il uusri, yusra." "Surely with hardship comes the ease.

We want the ease. And Allah Most High says to us that He does not desire difficulty for us, but He desires that we be purified.

It is not only that we wash the hands, for that is just one form of purification that we wash our hands and that we take the bath of ghusl or wudu Still, that is one form of purification. But to cleanse your mind of ignorance is another form of purification. Don't you know that ignorance is an impurity.

And it is not our fault that we are ignorant regarding our own human condition and how it should be cared for. It is the fault of our leaders. It is the fault of the establishment and of the established order of the society and of the world.

The institutions of America and everyone in a position to command the respect of the common person is in fault for this. They are in a better position to demand the attention and respect of the common person than I am and than you are. It is because they have credibility. They represent the super-culture and the super-awareness of a super-conscience. They have much more influence over the common people, than there is with my appeal.

It is that 1 don't bring credentials and I don't represent million dollar establishments, so they don't listen to me as fast as they will listen to them. So if the society is going to rot, then they should not look at us. They should look at the establishment. We have an obligation, if we are right-minded people.

It is especially delightful to understand in some measure how revealed scripture cares for the human sanctuary of self interest. That is our sanctuary -self interest. "If a man should
gain the world and lose his own soul" is a Christian thought. "Indeed is success for whomever spends charitably on it, and assured failure is for whomever betrays it." "It" refers to the soul; the word is "haa" as used in the Qur'anic text.

But "soul" is such a vague term.-There are "soul folks," and what does that tell us? It tells us that you are emotional, that you are still in the water and have not stepped on land yet. It tells us that you vacillate between water and air and have not learned how to step on land yet. That you like spirituals and are sentimental. That is all it is telling us. That is soul folks.

Then there is "soul train" that goes somewhere just tooting and blowing off steam. I have never seen a modern train on Soul Train; it is always the one that toots and blows off steam.

Without saying this pointedly, however, the major religions do say that the continued safety and prosperity of societies depend to a large extent upon society's enjoying uninterrupted growth in the bonds of trust supported by intelligent self interest.

"The bonds of trust!" There should be trust between all of the units of society. That is when the ideal situation comes. When there is maximum respect and trust between all of the units of the society. Between you and me, between my wife and me, between my children and me, between the children and us, between the neighbor and us, between other ethnic groups and us. Praise be to Allah.

These are the kind of thoughts we need to bring to our people, and our people means all people. We need to bring these thoughts to our people so that we will be sensitized to the responsibilities of life. If you don't have the sensitivities for the responsibilities of life, then how can you have the mind for it?

Scriptural backing for the building of trust coupled with a faith in G-d for the human sanctuary of self interest and our attitudinal make-up most certainly constitute a productive idea. But for most of us we just can't look at a complex idea and appreciate it. We have to have it identified in all of its small pieces and related to our small position of mind, and then brought back together all into one piece. Then, maybe we will see it.

Why did I put it like that, our small position of mind? It is because your natural mind is never in a small position. Allah never created a human being with a mind in a small position. But it is the influences in the world that are responsible for you putting your mind on a small platform.

If your mind had been influenced by the world to be on a higher platform, if you had been taught by the world that your home is not only Detroit, Miami, some place in Michigan, or in the south - perhaps Jacksonville; that is not only your home. Your home is not only in the United States. Your home is in the earth and in the international world. If you had been taught that, then your mind would be on a higher platform.

But the average one of us was not even taught in a sincere way that our home is the United States of America. So we feel that our home is wherever we can find a friend, and often we can't find a friend except in a toilet. If you get decent, then they don't want you for a friend anymore.

It might be thought that a religious personality will not come over very well with an audience, if it gets into concerns of this nature and giving such concerns to the language of this nature. Well, I have wrestled with the problem for many years. And I have been rebelling against those who have been trying to tell me from their intellectual positions and their other positions, that you can't do it that way. That you have to come up with just the simple religious approach. I say, "No!"

The communist people have a very complex ideology. But they had the courage to put it into the language of every worker. So if Allah has blessed us with a heavy word, how come we can't find a way to put it into the language of every worker? And by every worker I mean every functioning person in society.

In an advanced democratic public, speakers will be identified with many and varied ideological backgrounds. There is nothing wrong with a psychologist speaking to us on the problems of our schools or speaking to us on the problems of our homes or speaking to us on the problems of our government, or speaking to us on the problems of our spending money. There is nothing wrong with a psychologist addressing those concerns. There is nothing wrong with a politician addressing those concerns. There is nothing wrong with a member of academia addressing those concerns. And there is nothing wrong with a "preacher" addressing those concerns.

The speaker may be communicating from political influence. The other from an ancient influence and on and on and on. But this speaker is identified with religion. Al-Islam is comprehensive - meaning that it leaves out nothing. Such religions give great latitude to speakers. And that means that I am free to talk about whatever I want to talk about.

My Lord is not the Lord of a quarter or of a room or of a nook. He is the Lord of the whole. So He should prepare His creature to live in the whole and to deal with the whole and to relate to the whole. And that is what He has done down through the ages and completed that great gift, on Muhammad, peace be upon him, and upon us, in giving to us the religion of Al-lslam. That was His favor on us.

The ideas that are best suited to human life and society are to be found in Qur'an, and it may be said also in other great revealed scriptures. Furthermore, in the great scriptures, the ideas given sacred attention are ideas seen as fundamental in man's ordering of civilization. Those ideas made sacred for the ordering of human conditions and life in society are plainly the ideas we all cherish for their emotional, social, moral, and political values. These concerns are of basic departments in the "sacred self-interest of the soul."

Get this on the recording. Get this in the paper and look at it and consider it seriously, because many ideas or points in this particular presentation require a going over more than once, in order for you to appreciate it.

As supported by good dictionaries and I am quoting from the dictionary on "self-interest," it is given two meanings. The first being a concern for one's self and for one's own interest. The second being a "selfish" concern for one's self and for one's own self-interest.

The classic example of this wrong turn in one's sanctuary of self-interest stands posed in front of us or I would say in front of the camera of man's venturing mind. We see depicted in granite stone left by ancient Egypt the pharaohs selfish attachment to his servants and to transitory things in his possessions. His women, his men, his slaves, his personal artifacts, his favorite foods, his mummified body, with its pickled organs.

Such display of the pharaoh's selfish self-interest suggests that the pharaoh lifts up an idea that gave importance to the transitory things and caused the spirit of destiny in people and in society to be wickedly oppressed.

This is easy for many audiences, but for some of you maybe it is difficult. I have alluded to it, if I didn't say it, that the greatest sin of the world, of the establishment, is that they have neglected to keep the common man up with the progress. The common man is way behind the progress and then the establishment blames us for not being able to cope with the burdens of modern society. It is their problem that we can't cope with it; they have not brought us up with the progress.

G-d didn't intend it that way. He intended that we be informed and educated. To understand the selfishness of the pharaoh, know that the "belief in the After Life" is the human nature. But the "belief in the After Life" as a concept and idea should be valued for what it does in this life. A belief in an After Life gives us a healthy respect and a very serious respect for our future. It orients us. Our minds, our aspirations, our feelings, our hopes are all organized and oriented for the good aim down the road. So the good of a belief in the After Life has its value, really, to us in this life.

Dear Muslims and dear people, it is said in both religions and I would think in all of the major religions, that if you fail to get it on this side, there is no hope on the other side. Whoever didn't come into it on this side will not have it on the other side. That tells me that if there is an After Life, that I am supposed to get into it in this life. And if I don't get into it in this life, then I will not have it in the After Life.

Those who are blind in this world, will be blind in the next. Those who are dead in this life will be dead in the next. That is their teaching, Muslims believe that both heaven and hell are states for us in this life and in the next. For Allah says certain things will come to us in this life, but the "intended" to be fulfilled or to be "exclusively" for us in the next. Certain things will come to us in certain measures in this life, but they will be in full measure in the Hereafter - punishment and blessings.

Why have I mentioned hell as being a selfish belief? It is because most people who are preoccupied with hell are not really good servants of Allah. And when I say Allah, I mean everybody's Allah - the Christians' Allah, the Jews' Allah, and everybody's Allah. Again, these persons are not really good people for Allah. Why? It is because they have a "selfish self-interest." Their concern with hell is a selfish self-interest.

When your concern with hell is just of self-interest but not of a selfish self-interest, then you have the right concern with hell.
Why have I mentioned hell as being a selfish belief? It is because most people who are preoccupied with hell are not really good servants of Allah. And when I say Allah, I mean everybody's Allah  the Christians' Allah, the Jews' Allah, and everybody's Allah. Again, these persons are not really good people for Allah. Why? It is because they have a "selfish self-interest." Their concern with hell is a selfish self-interest.

When your concern with hell is just of self-interest but not of a selfish self-interest, then you have the right concern with hell. If you have that kind of concern, you are not always fearing the fire that is coming later. You will be fearing the difficulties that are coming now. You want to have the situation good for yourself and for your children and family, for your wife and husband and your household. You want to have a good situation now. And you only think of hell when all of that becomes so darn confused and so miserably confused for you, that you can't make heads or tail of anything.

There will be the baby diving off of the ceiling. The dog will be drinking out of the glass. Everything then has become so crazy, then you will start thinking of "Oh hell! What is this Lord? Please save us from hell! Children, you are all going to die and go to hell, if you don't stop this kind of behavior. And that dog, too!" So we have to have a proper self-interest.

We think of the pharaoh and his selfishness. There are stories that the ancient have left, that the pharaoh, when it came time for him to die, had them to prepare all of his chief supporters, ministers, propheciers, and medicine men to go with him. Their time was when his time came! Not only that, but it is recorded that many of them took the slaves with them also.

Now I know they had trouble with that kind of idea. Because the next pharaoh was going to say, "Hey, where are my slaves? Killing slaves? I need them when he is gone." Surely, he needed the professional people also, but it is recorded that the pharaohs actually did that. They would take their people with them.

But it is not only that. As I have said earlier, his mummified body was to be kept looking natural and fresh for thousands of years. And they were successful with science to preserve the body; I have been over there and have seen these bodies from 4000 years ago. They are still over there and look better than a lot of these people I see coming out of taverns.

Now these pharaohs did not just want that casing preserved, they wanted the vital organs preserved also. So there are special jars with his bowels, his stomach, his heart, his liver, his eyes floating; all of the vital internal organs and eyes are all kept in jars.

His food was there also; these things I have seen with my own eyes. There was a lemon that looks just like you ought to pick it from the Jewels produce display right now and eat it. That is how well they preserved the lemons. There was food grain also preserved. Why? It is because he believed in an After Life that was physical. He believed that his soul could come back, if his body was preserved, His soul would have a chance to come back in his body through the cycles of the soul. That in time his soul would have another life, and if the body was kept, it would come back in that same body. Then, that he would be able to wake up in himself, get his lemon and lemonade. They even mummified the squab; that he would be able to cook it, and it would be fresh. He would have his dinner. His slaves would be there and come to him. His ministers and doctors would be there available to him.

You may be saying, "Oh, how ridiculous." Well, I have just read in the last month's, August 31st West Coast paper called The Sun an article on an AIDS' victim who was protesting his being denied the right to have his body frozen and preserved for a time when a cure for AIDS would be found. Now that is really self-interest, isn't it? I don't know the age of that AIDS victim. Maybe he was in the prime of his life, mentally and sexually. It was hard for him to accept that he was not coming back, going out and won't be back. Now he gets the "pharaoh idea" of heaven, and he wants his body preserved physically by being frozen.

What is wrong with that? It is nothing wrong with that, if they are going to freeze sperm for a guy wants to see his sperm preserved so that he can continue to produce on earth. So he goes and puts his sperm in a sperm bank to have it saved for a time when they are able to use it or someone wants it.

Then another one has his body frozen  there is no AIDS, then there is no problem. This one wants it, because he believes that maybe one day they will find a way to overcome death. This is actually happening now, if you are reading the papers. They actually believe that there will be a time, when they can overcome death. He feels that they will be able to bring his body back to life, and that he will live again. He says, "Freeze me." They ask, "How about cremation." He says, '"No! Freeze me!"

Now, I say there is nothing wrong with an AIDS patient protesting, if they are going to let these other people who are asking to be preserved do this. He has a right, also. Who knows, maybe if he gets life back again, he will not put himself in a situation to catch AIDS again. We don't know, and so we can't condemn him. He should have a right to have his body preserved, too. And they will come up with a way to cure his AIDS much quicker than they will come up with a way to bring that body back. Freezing will just put off for a few hundred years or so, but that body is going back to the earth where it came from.

Maybe they will be as successful as the Egyptians and put if off for a few thousand years. But go over there like I did, and I saw that guy with sunken jaws laying there. I said to myself, everything is gone but the skin; he is a paper pharaoh now! They were expecting him back mysteriously, but you can't see anything coming from him or going out of him. He is constantly becoming lighter and lighter in body weight.

Now we want to continue to look at self-interest. The best. way to search the soul is to look at your own self-interest. I'm not going to go into the details of every person's self-interest. I don't know it. I only know mine, and I know that of some of the people in close association with me. I know their self-interest. But I don't know yours. You know it, and you should examine your self-interest and make sure that it is not a "selfish" self-interest.
Because that is what is plaguing the society and making life miserable for us now in Chicago and all over this United States and all over the world  people having the wrong self-interest and being encouraged to serve that self-interest without anyone distinguishing for them the difference between an "unhealthy" self-interest and a "healthy" self-interest. The society is destroyed because of a "diseased" self-interest. And society is promoted, advanced and made prosperous and strong because of a "healthy" self-interest.

I used to wonder and be sensitized like most people and would say, "I know what I want to talk to these people about. But if I come from this way, they are going to think that I am not coming from the religion. They will say that he is putting too much importance on the self. He is supposed to be putting importance on G-d." G-d does not need us to put importance on Him! G-d needs us to put importance on ourselves.

If someone would challenge me and say, "Where are you coming from in the Qur'an with that, Brother Imam, to say that G-d wants us to be interested on ourselves?" I'm coming from the whole Book, from page to page. Before I read the Qur'an, I have to say, "Ah-u-thu/billahi mine-shaitain-ir-rajim." "I seek Allah's protection against the rejected enemy Satan." That is
self-interest, buddy!

It burned me up and made me so angry that I started to get down with a few Imams that were sharing the platform with me one day. Someone on the program said and calling himself to be quoting the Prophet, peace be upon him, "Religion is good advice." Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, never said that. He said. "Id-deenu as-si-ah-ha." "Religion is sincerity." It does not say "good advice." How do we know this? You
must finish reading the quote from the Prophet. The question there is asked, To whom?" Now if it had supposed to be good advice, then let us see, will it fit the rest of the quote. The quote continues "...to Allah..."Are you going to give good advice to Allah? How in the world can you fix in your mind to think that you can give good advice to Allah? The quote says, "...to Allah," and in the final of it, it says, "...to the common people."

So what do I owe Allah, what do I owe the religion and His Messenger? What do I owe the Imams, the leaders that the people elect into office? What do I owe their common public? Sincerity! I advise all but Allah. I can't advise Allah. And that is the first name, Allah, that is mentioned in this quote. Now how in the world are you going to give "good advice to Allah?" You have to be crazy in your head. So don't pick up translations and feel so safe with them that we don't use our intelligence. My intelligence tells me that the translation is wrong! I can't give Allah advice!

You must get the Arabic dictionary and check again. I have .seen that translation also using "good advice." But I have always thought of it as "sincerity." I got it from a book translated by Dr. Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies called the "Forty Hadith." These two worked on the translation. The English person, Denys Johnson-Davies worked on it for the strength of the English and Dr. Ezzeddin Ibrahim worked on it for the strength ol the Arabic and for the purity of the translation. He is the Islamic scholar and also a scholar in the Arabic language.

In their translation, it does not say, "good advice." It says, "Religion is sincerity." But I have picked up other translations that did say "religion is good advice." And I said, that is where those Imams got that from. Most likely that translator came from a tyrannical Islamic state, where the government didn't want the common people to feel that they owe ''sincerity" to Allah, or that they owe "sincerity" to their leaders and to their common public.

That translator wants the common public to think that they are supposed to give "advice." Now, if you give advice. I don't have to accept it. And if all of us are entitled to give advice, then that means that we are guaranteed confusion. And that is what tyrants and despotic rule wants. H wants a confused public that can't unify on anything, because they fear the unity of the masses or the unity of the public. They should trust the unity of the public. They should be the ones to head up the campaign for bringing a sense of unity to their public, and their public will love them for it. Then they would be in the best situation.

We have mentioned directly and indirectly some very productive ideas for us in religion. The most productive idea of them all is this. "Think!" T-H-I-N-K. "Think, for surely thoughtfulness is resourceful." H has great benefits. And the most powerful in resourcefulness, to produce for you is the thinking on Allah. How is the thinking on Allah going to be resourceful for me and productive for me? If the human being doesn't know how to form a proper relationship with Allah, then the human being cannot benefit from anything! A human being cannot benefit from anything, until he first forms a proper relationship with it.


(The following is a continuation of Imam W. Deen Muhammad's address at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois on September 4, 1988. The ideas and analogies touched on at this point are due serious consideration and front page headline announcement.)

Here comes another powerful and productive idea for us in religion. Allah says that He created everything in pairs, as mates of each other. And that He made honorable mates, "zhow-gin kareem," to everything. Are you prepared to go the extent of the road to see your religion? Your thinking has to come up. Your sensitivity has to come up from a small hole to a broad universe.

The translator, Abdullah Yusuf All, says in his commentary on this particular idea that I have just mentioned from Qur'an that he believes that by "honorable mates," plants are directly referred to. Now let us deal with that, before we go on to the second thing that he says. If it is talking about plants, then what does that tell us directly? It tells us to have a respect for plant life; that if G-d made them, then they are deserving of respect. And like you have mates, they are mated also as male and female.

But that is the kind of aesthetic appreciation for it. That is something that the flower children will stay on for maybe two hours. But I will just spend two minutes on that, because I have heavier concerns on me. The rent is due tomorrow! Still, we have to appreciate scripture for its aesthetic value and for all of its other values. For the Qur'an is the most beautiful scripture ever revealed  in the ear as a sound, in the mind as a message, on the heart as a feeling, in the spirit as a hope, and also on our senses of beauty. The Qur'an is a beautiful, beautiful revelation.

But G-d has given more importance on some things than on others. So the speaker goes on to say something else, and I will get to that in just one moment. For now, let us again address this as it relates to plants. G-d also says that He has created "you" as a plant. Now if G-d says that He has created me and you as a plant, then I am to understand that maybe this is speaking metaphorically or symbolically. And that maybe the plant is not the plant that I find in the yard, but a similar kind of functioning thing in me. That when I give a poetic picture of it, the symbol there in the plant satisfies the need to communicate what is in me. For example, "Wheat and tare."

I know an Imam who has a Christian name and his Christian name means "tare." And I am watching him to see if he is going to choke out all of the wheat. He isn't here today!

Let us look further into the commentary on this idea in the Qur'an on "zhow-gin kareem" or honorable mates. "Kareem" is a beautiful name. It means honorable. It means noble. And noble means coming from a very high family line, and that somewhere back, there were high-classed people in that family line. Now you may say, "I wonder where my nobility is?" I can tell you. It is in Adam. -Adam is the high noble creature in your family line. You could not get any more noble than Adam. G-d gave him the greatest nobility. He was the first father of man. And we are going to get there yet.

Abdulla Yusuf All says further in his commentary, that he believes that expression is also addressing people. This is the translation that most of you have, if you have been following my advice. Now Allah has said that He has made everything in noble pairs, in honorable pairs, in generous pairs. For this term "kareem" also means that you can expect kind treatment from that person, if he is Jiving up to his name. He is not going to short-change you. He is not going to abuse you. He is not going to hold back what he knows be has that can help you.

Now, when I look at a brother or sister and have disrespect for them, no matter what situation they put themselves in -maybe he is drinking liquor, that is wrong. I should not disrespect his G-d-given nobility, his G-d-given excellence, his G-d-given esteem. Whether he is blind to it or not, I shouldn't disrespect it. I should not say, "Look at that stupid drunkard. Look at that worth-less dropping." I don't say anything like that!

Pity goes out to that person. I am hurt because the shame is in the refined vessel. The gross is now dulling and hurting the refined vessel. G-d has made him a precious and valuable instrument for -his own welfare and for the welfare of the many, but he is ignorant to it. He is abusing himself and is putting himself in a shameful state. Pity goes out to him.

But if I am ignorant and moving on the impulses of the world, than I would look at him and maybe say, "Oh, look what a s-h-i-t that is." But I am never to do that, if I am an educated and informed Muslim. I should look at him and never see anything in his person to make me disrespect him. I don't like what he has taken on, but I shouldn't disrespect him. I must respect him.

What did the Prophet say (PBUH)? He said, "Help each other when in the right and in the wrong." Now, if be is in the right and be needs support, then I will come to his side. If he is in the wrong  then the Prophet was asked, how do we help someone when they are in the wrong? The Prophet said, "Help them by pulling them back from the wrong."

So when I see him drinking and disgracing the fine instrument that G-d created him to be, I am supposed to try to influence him and invite him to come from that abuse. This is the kind of sensitivity that Allah wants us to have. And these are productive ideas. These are the kind of ideas that have brought heathens out of heathenism to become masters of the world. This is a fact.

Before Al-Islam, the Arabs, themselves, were heathens. And the Prophet in his natural excellence was fit to be G-d's Messenger and was destined to be G-d's Messenger, and G-d called him while he was in his human excellence and gave him the mission of prophethood, as the Last Prophet. And he began to appeal to the hidden or what you would call latent good that was in the heathens, and many of them responded and became shining stars for -a new day of excellence for man on earth.

He mainly addressed people of the class and category of the unlearned. He had a few learned people in his following, but the description of his followers were what you call the uneducated. In fact the whole of Arabia, itself, was considered the "dark ages" in that time and uneducated people were following ignorant and savage habits. They were burdening each other with their ignorance and savage life. But look, they were raised up to be the torch bearers of enlightenment for the whole world.

Their intellect touched the sleeping intellect of the West. It excited their appetites again for deep research in the sciences. As a consequence the Age of Enlightenment came for the West, called the Renaissance. This was a consequence from their becoming enlightened under the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, the peace and the blessing be upon him.

The traces of that excellence that went ahead of the Renaissance of the West can be found in so many places now in subjects like astronomy, algebra, geography, and in many others. In medicine and in many other places, they still bear the traces of the excellent works that they did and of the excellence that they held up for civilized society.

So why should you be shy to walk up and declare with a strong and firm voice that, "I am a Muslim! My religion is Al-Islam. My G-d is the One Lord, Allah. My Messenger and My Prophet is Muhammad, the peace and blessings be on him. My qiblah is in Mecca." You should be proud to declare that and to also say, "I am a Believer and I pray to G-d to make me ever and ever more worthy! Be proud to say that! Say it with the confidence and with the joy and sense of security that was heard in the ringing voice of Judge Harris who got up and gave you the message and news of his being converted to this religion. He said he was a new convert to this religion and declared his Islamic name. He gave us such a beneficial message, something we can take home with us and apply and get benefits. They are thoughts that are fighting the germs in us, when we are asleep and when we are awake.

Now I want to get in one other note in introducing the last two messages or thoughts I would like to bring to you. The first note I want to bring to you is from last year's Jet Magazine of August, 1987. There is an article here that says with a caption, "Study Reveals Why Shotgun Weddings Last Longer. " Now I would think that they would last longer than the average wedding. Because in this world's situation that we are in, this cultural laxity or looseness, most people are tying up just to tire out. "Tire out! "I hope you understand what I am saying; they then say "I am through, baby, I have had enough of you. I am going and tie up somebody else!"

One girl had the nerve to tell me, "I've been your girlfriend for a long time. I don't dislike you or anything. I still love you, Wallace. Maybe one day we will get back together. But I have been with you for a long time; I want to find out what is happening with somebody else." So I said to myself, "Oh Lord, have mercy! What can I do in this situation?" And especially when she can't even tell me who the someone else was. She said, "Nobody yet." So when people like that are getting married, we know their marriage isn't going to last longer than a shotgun marriage.

I would like to read some from this article, "With babies born out of wedlock accounting for ninety percent of births among today's black teens"  now this was in 1987  "the once popular 'shotgun wedding" might be one way to solve the problem. As a recent study suggests, researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found forced trips to the altar often resulted in unions that lasted longer, a family unit that was more economically stable and offsprings that fared better on social development and intellectual test." Isn't that something?

Why is this? It is because those parents who cared enough about their daughter to not have her left as a single parent to care for the child are most likely in a mental situation to care more about the general essentials for a family. You have to have some money, so they will say, "Hey boy, you don't have a job? You had better get one fast, or you don't touch Mary!".

All of these things are tied together. And all of these essential concerns are registered strongest in the sanctuary that we call the soul of self-interest. Your mind will not register it, not when the society has rigged the thoughts that go out in the society, so that you don't even think in a productive way. You think as again the Judge mentioned last night, in immediate results and in immediate pleasures. "How is this going to help me right now?"

You will say, "Hey, son, come back. I know you have to run out with the boys, but come back. I want to tell you something. There has been something on my mind. I love you man, so come back here and let me talk to you a little bit." His response will be, "Not now, sorry, I have to go. I will talk to you tomorrow or next week, daddy." And he is gone! There is nothing you can do to get him to come back in that house and talk to you. He is gone, and what can you do? There is nothing.

Now not disagreeing with what the speaker said last night, but adding to it, in that the whole atmosphere of thoughts out there in the world and in your house  for the world has now taken over your house! How did the world take over your house? Through the television! Radio was not good enough. There wasn't a visible person to look at; you were just hearing a voice. So when daddy comes up there with his muscles, what ever you heard on that radio is not going to be stronger than what daddy looks like. He would say, "What in the hell are you listening to? Turn that radio off!" And you would turn it off. But after looking at television for a while and daddy comes in and says, What are you looking at? Turn that television off." Then the response is, "Oh, go shake it! Go blow it out your nose! Oh, daddy, stop being gripy!" So now there is a new boy there. And already the daddy is weakened. He has heard that somewhere else and has forgotten where he heard it. He heard it off the media, the movies, or in the shopping center.

You have heard it said, "I don't try to oppress these children. You can't make slaves out of these children, you know. And when my child has an opinion, you have to respect it. My child came up and his father was telling him something and trying to impose his idea on that little child's mind. And I told him, 'Honey, don't do that. Let him have a mind of his own." Yes, let him have a mind of his own but not "on" his own, until he is mature and at least out of my house! He isn't on his own, when it comes to paying the bills. So how is it he is supposed to be on his own when it comes to talking to me? Now I am supposed to help him with that mind of his own, because be is still developing. And I am going to be held responsible before the courts of G-d for not doing my best to help him develop a good mind that will protect him in society.
Jihad does not miss any evil. It starts with the major ones and goes all the way down to the least. And when there is no evil, and that meaning we are coming to now, I am still supposed to conduct jihad. Because it is a straggle. So if I do a kind thing in the privacy of my own room, or a good thing, and if it is difficult for me, than that is jihad.

If I am sleepy and just worked eight hours, then drove the car through heavy traffic for four hours  two hours this morning and two hours this evening  and I am tired and worn out. My body is just pulling me down, I just can't lift myself up. So I say, "Oh, Allahu-Akbar. Allah is more important. He is more important than my need for this rest. He is more important than my need for the life in this body." And with the strength that Allah will give me for recognizing that He is more important, I begin to pull up against the gravity of that body.

Then I will pull that old dead body up that is more tired than hell and has me almost crying internal tears, because I have to do it. So I pull myself up and manage to get to the wudu station; I don't care if it is the sink. Allah didn't say that you had to go to the bathroom. I came to the sink first, and I am tired! So give me the sink for wudu. And 1 don't want anyone in the house saying, "What are you doing ablution in the sink for?" My response will be, "Go to hell'." It will be because I am already messed up, and I'm not going to even be nice. "1 am too tired!* And I will keep doing my ablution and putting my foot in that sink. For Allah is more important.

Now, brother, please, please, please do not go back home and put your stinky feet in that sink out of "selfish self-interest." Don't do that! You will be thinking of the sister and saying, "She is always fussing! The Imam said it, and I'll do it!" That will be Brother Bismi-raabik Al-hamdu-littah. Sometimes he will even start out with "My name is 'As-Saalam-Alaikum Bismi-raabik Al-hamdu-lillah Raabil Al-Amin.!" And just like his name is put together, that is how his mind is put together! He will go right home and put his foot up in the sink and be looking for the sister to say something  he will hold it there, although he is through washing it. That will be that selfish self-interest.

Allah wants us to have self-interest, but not the selfish self-interest where we act only in the interest of self and blind to the interest of others and abusing the interest of others. That is where rights and responsibilities come in as Judge Harris so beautifully said to us last night.

So jihad is struggle. And the Arabs have a beautiful saying, as kind of a gem of wisdom, 4 'If you want to succeed, then struggle!" So we need the principle of jihad, the operation of jihad in our life, whether there is an enemy confronting us or not. The enemy is the temptation to be lazy, to be idle, to be inactive. So we need a spirit to meet challenges every day.

And what did Allah say in this great Revelation? "When you have completed or finished one task, then immediately accept another task." It is because this struggle, this interaction of the muscles of man is what keeps the man living and progressing. It keeps him strong and fit for the things he has to do. Then that sister will even appreciate you more, if you stay busy at the right things. And that brother, will appreciate you more too, sister, if you stay busy at the right things.

Allah has made wonderful creatures of us, male and female  honorable pairs to be respected, "Karriem." We are to respect each other and value each other. And no matter how much the other shames himself or herself by wrong behavior, we will still treat them as G-d's creatures. We will turn to them out of pity for the abuse that they are inflicting upon themselves, and we call them as our sister and brother in the religion away from self abuse, away from harming themselves or from harming others. This is the Muslim way.

This is a beautiful religion and a powerful religion. This is a religion for giants. This is a religion for strong men and strong women. This is a religion for healthy minded people and sincere people, for strong and pure thinkers. This is a religion for people ready to accept responsibility for their own selves, for their families, for their neighborhood, for the house for the lawn and for the garden. Ft is a religion that covers everything. It covers the city, the state, and the world! We are not to hear what is going on in the world that is hurting and burdening the world and we not register the hurt. We are to register that hurt, and if we can do something about it in our small situation, we should make our small contribution to the improvement of the whole world for man.

We should answer the cry out of South Africa. Allah has inspired His Prophet to tell us that if you cannot act against the wrong with the hand, then act against it with the mouth. If you can't act against it with your mouth, at least act against it with your heart. Your heart should be turned against it, and you should be at war with it in your heart, if you can't with your mouth. But the Prophet also said, "The weakest form of faith or jihad is that battle with evil just from the fortification of the heart. So, we should speak out against wrong and hope for an opportunity to even do something physically to make some material contribution to the weakening or to the end of that evil that is being done on this earth. So we are to work against evil.

But as the speaker again said last night, "charity starts at home and spreads abroad." Don't you go looking for a battle front a thousand miles away, and the roaches have taken over the house, liquor is in the medicine cabinet and no one has a prescription. There is also another hadith of a certain man that was seen approaching. He was holding up his hands crying out, "Oh Allah, why am I not helped? Oh Allah." So the Prophet said to such and such man that this man crying out, his clothing is haram, not permissible for Muslims. His behavior is haram, not permissible for Muslims. He has been all loaded down with the things that are haram, that are not permissible for Muslims." And the Prophet (PBUH) continues, "Then how does he expect Allah to answer him?"

In fact most of the people who are trying to make Allah suspect are those who are not fit for anything anyway. I don't catch people who are trying to do something to manage their lives in a good way always questioning Allah and questioning the perfect concept of G-d. No! They don't suggest that Allah is weak or that He can't give help. What they are meaning to say is, "Maybe there isn't any G-d." They will try to pass on the thought to you that, "I've been suffering all of my life, and nobody has helped me."

I think I can sum this up in this way. We have mentioned in this talk the value of trust. Now the condition for promoting trust in society is the right respect for the self-interest of every member in society. That is the condition for promoting trust. You will say, "How can we have a society where we really trust one another? How can we have a society where the people out of office will trust the people in office? How can we trust the people that we elect?" We are encouraged in this country to not believe the people that we elect. They may choose one for us to put in office, but as soon as he is in office they begin to gear the public up to suspect him.

This society of ours seems to thrive upon and to promote suspicion. Not trust! But we know that the true nature of our American democracy is "trust." This democracy is based upon the society being allowed to build bonds of trust between every unit in the society. My friend and I should be able to trust each other. My wife and I should be able to trust each other. My neighbor and I should be able to trust each other. The policeman and I should be able to trust each other. So this is in a true democracy. And 1 could go on and on, but you can carry it on also. You see where it is going. It is going to every unit in society. There should be trust between them all. This is the condition for greatest, maximum or optimum prosperity.

If we want to have the most prosperous society or to reach that ideal degree in excellence, then we have to promote trust between every unit of society. But there are the money makers and the commercial world that will break up all relationships. And they will even put it on G-d and make you think G-d is going to destroy all relationships. They go around saying, "Oh, when G-d comes He is going to do Judgment. He is not going to care nothing about moma, nothing about baby; family is going to be turned against family and child against its parents. The brother will be against the sister. The family is going to be all broken up and there will be war against each other."

That is not the teaching of our Holy Book and that is not the spirit of the Holy Bible. That is in there, but that is not its spirit. That is inconsistent with the spiritual run of the Bible. If some feen or monster like that comes up, I will say, "Are you G-d? Well hell, you are going to have to prove it, because I am going to try to get something and knock your butt off the planet," I will never accept a G-d like that. A G-d that will care nothing about family relationships and will tell the soldier to have no mercy on the fruit of the womb, to take the knife and split the belly of the woman and to drop her seed or unborn child upon the ground. That that soldier is to have no fear and to have no regrets. This is what I've read in the Bible. I read the Bible, and I say that that is not consistent with the pure spirit of that Bible.

There are many parts of the Bible that you Christians can't stomach. You can go on and stay Christian if you want to, but please think like me. You don't have to make the choice that I have made, for my choice is Al-Islam. You don't have to make the same choice, but it sure would help society if a lot of you Christians would think like me. When I say me, I don't mean just this person. I know there are a lot of people who think j ust like I do who are Muslim and non-Muslims. There was the Christian preacher that was campaigning for the presidency that ended so quick. He got off to such a good start, and it looked like he was really going to do something. But over the months the people had time to think and begin to say, "Oh, 1 don't know what kind of Christian he is. If he buys all of this Book, then we are in trouble."
If a President of these United States comes into that position and buys everything in the Bible, then we should try to get rid of him as quick as possible. Now I stand on what I say. And I consider myself a good man, a tolerant man, a reasonable man, a man that likes to embrace all people who believe in G-d. I value highly all of their Scriptures  the Bible, the Torah, the Gospel, I value all of them and also the Buddhist Scripture, I have great respect for all of them.
So I conclude this with the note on the relationship or the tie or linkage for trust and the right self interest. If we will advocate the right of every person to pursue its own good interest, the condition then will be brought about for us that advocated that and accepted that for the growth of trust for every unit in our society.
If we accept that and practice that, then the people won't be suspicious of the Imam, and the Imam won't be suspicious of the people. Then it will be because we have a common bond that will put us all on an equal footing. We will all value self interest and will all feel entitled to it and will all feel that all among us have the right to it as in equal title to it. So no one will be afraid of another one, We are going to grow. That is the idea of this democracy as it was given by its Founding Fathers. And that is also the idea of the best Scriptures that man have on this earth. Thank you very much. As-Salaam-Alaikum

