05/14/1995
IWDM Study Library
Rules for Building Personal and Community Life
Detroit MI 

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
W D Mohammed Publications presents the public address by Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Muslim-American Spokesman for Human Salvation. Today's lecture title: Rules for building personal and community life, was recorded in Detroit, Michigan May the 14th, 1995. Now Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Praise be to Allah. We praise G-d. He's one and, one alone who created the heavens and the earth. And we witness that Muhammad to whom the Quran was revealed about 1415 years ago, is the last of the prophets. A messenger, and also a guide and a mercy to all the worlds. We're happy again to be here in Detroit, Michigan. We hope that Allah reward us for our good intentions and reward our efforts. And give the results that pleases G-d.
Al-Islam is called by the scholars of Al-Islam, a comprehensive religion. And I think every Muslim understands what that means, even if they're not familiar with the English term, or the English word comprehensive. They do know when it's explained to them that Al-Islam is a complete way of life. That's what it means. Al-Islam is a complete way of life. Al-Islam does not leave out anything in our life that's necessary or important, or that should be in our life. It doesn't leave out anything.
In the Quran, is the expression that says, "The non-believers, they say what kind of recital is this? It overlooks nothing; big or small." Not that everything imaginable, big or small, or regardless to the importance of that thing is in the Quran. No. But it means, the issues for religious people, the issues for community, for establishing community life, the Quran has not overlooked any issue necessary in the life of man and his community whether issue be big or small. That's how we to understand that. Its not just a general talk, a general language that we are hearing in the Quran. It is a special kind of language and a specific context for that language comes within the context of religion and the history of religion.
That is the history of the word of G-d as it came from G-d to the first people that were entrusted with the word. And it was changed from their hands to other people hands, and finally to the hands of the Muslim. We are talking about the G-d's covenant. G-d's covenant. He chose many people over the long road of history for religions. To give them a mission and to bind them by an agreement or a covenant that for G-d's help in their life, they would in turn give G-d their obedience, their loyalty their service, et cetera.
We should understand then that, Al-Islam religion comes to give us a better personal life, and a better community life. And if we were a hundred percent Muslims in our neighborhood or in our town, or in this nation, then Al-Islam would give us a better public life. Since we are not a deciding factor for what the public life will be, then we should understand that as much as possible, we should establish a public life for ourselves. As much as possible.
There are other ethnic groups, other religious groups, and they seem to know this automatically. They seem to come with an instinct to do that. And they come right into a country and pretty soon they have a small little country of their own within that country. Now it's not a country, really, but what I mean by that they have neighborhoods that they populate, blocks and blocks that they populate, and they have their own culture readily visible. When you go to their neighborhood, you readily see their culture. Oh, this is a Chinese neighborhood. Oh, this is the Mexican neighborhood. Oh, this the Greek neighborhood. Right away, you'll see it. You'll see their identity.
That means that they have established their presence. They have established their presence in public life. And if you feel bad sometimes, or low in spirit, and you just can't put your finger on exactly what's wrong, most likely that's was wrong. All of us have a need in our spirit. The need in our soul to have our real life with the freedom that only extending it into the public can give. You can't enjoy that freedom if you just keep it at home or in your own heart, or in your own self. It has to be extended outwardly. So, that you've see your life, your community style, your lifestyle growing, expanding, and you can go out of your house but you're not yet out of your life environment.
We won't be satisfied until we have that. We need some rules to obey. We need really some great wisdom. It doesnt have to be in all of us, but somebody responsible for serving our needs. Or some group. A select group of people, persons responsible for serving our needs, they should have the wisdom. The great wisdom. The deep wisdom. The great science. The Supreme wisdom.
Sure, some of you heard that expression before. I don't mean no put off, I mean the real thing. They should have great knowledge, superior knowledge so that they will be able to advance us, our group, in a world that is highly civilized, highly sophisticated, and highly competitive. That means that you're going have to show your ability to do as much as they do, to achieve what they achieved, and not complain and blame your failure on other people. Look, when a fighter loses a fight to another fighter, he doesn't blame that lose to the other fighter.
Saying, I lost because he just beat the hell out of me. I lost because he had an advantage. He took that advantage. No. He says, I lost because I wasn't prepared this time, or I lost because maybe I shouldn't be fighting in that weight. Maybe Im a big middle weight, I shouldn't be fighting the light-heavy. Let me tell you something, I've got nothing but good news.
Everywhere I go now, this community is surprising me and surprising itself. I just came for Richmond. We were expecting big things to happen in Richmond Virginia but much more happened that we were expecting, all over such a great time and a great reception we got in Richmond Virginia. I just came from Oklahoma City. I experienced the same there. Great reception much more than the host people expected, much more than I expected.
And that's what has been happening now for the last two or three years. Everywhere we go, the reception is much better that we expected. This is a wonderful thing. We're experiencing new growth, and it's constant. It's not a seasonal thing. All the developments indicate to us that this is steady growth and we can expect it to be more and more each month, each year.
The ministry contribution over the last year and a half has been increasing. For this last year, I think we haven't yet competed our accounting but I think we will have really good news for this community, especially for the leaders of this community. If this trend continues, we will be able to fund things that we need. The ministry without pressuring anybody without going out begging, we don't do that. We'll be able to start funding things that we need.
If we use good management skills and foresight we'll be very, very successful in time. Also, things are developing outside of us that I've been telling you that will come, looks to be very close now. Don't be surprised if we have non-Muslims making sizable contributions to our good solid efforts that show promise, and are in the hands of responsible people. A lot of times, you have something good but they don't see the persons over it being able to manage it well. So, they want the money in there. You see?
People with great resource, great wealth, they want to help people that they believe should be helped. They want to help developments that they feel that should be helped. Sometimes they identify with much of your plan for your future. It resembles their plan for their future in principle. So, they like it and they have got much more money. They say, "We would like to see these people have more opportunity and realize more of their goals that they're trying to reach."
So, they will come and put a big piece of money into your hands. But only if they think you can manage safely the investment that they make, that they give you. Because it's an investment, although its free, it is charity. It's still an investment. It's an investment in their interest. You just happen to be their interest too. They invest in that interest but they want to know that their investment is not going to be lost because of poor management, poor foresight on the on the part of the people that they entrust it to.
As we begin to better, make improvement in the leadership. Get better qualified leaders over our schools, better qualified leaders over our mosques, better people responsible for our programs, you're going to find more significant support coming to you, to us. This is going to come. It's inevitable. It can't be stopped. Because what Allah has done for us can't be stopped. And since it's not going to be stopped, then it's going to have strong appeal, and it's going to invite people that have some common interest with us who have great wealth to invest in this effort of ours.
What makes this world so strong and endurable and how come institutions and governments last generations after generations, for hundreds of years? It's because there are people like that. People who won't just invest in their own thing, but invest in somebody else's thing because they know that those people have similar ambitions, similar aspirations, similar spirit, similar principles so our interests are compatible.
And if I have extra resources and I invest in them, I am spreading the light that I love. I am spreading the conditions on this earth that I want. Just think if we had billions of dollars, we could look at another people too, and find among them some people that are doing some things that we want to see grow and spread on this earth, so we will take some of our billions and invest in them. Wouldn't that be wise? So, understand the nature of these things. The nature of society.
Today, I want to begin by focusing on G-d's covenant. And if you're not a Muslim and you don't even plan to be a Muslim, don't rush up and go. There's no way for me to speak to the audience and not help everybody. I have support from G-d that can help everybody, believe me. It doesn't just belong to just Muslims; it belongs to all of good people. And our concern is all good people. Family first, that's nature, but our concern is all good people. And sometimes you will throw one of your family members out to make room for a non-family member that's like you.
Yes. Sometimes your own relative is a cancer, terminal one. This should be closer. Get them a little closer to me. I'm not young. I used to run all over the stage sometimes. Grab the mic and just start walking and carrying on. Only trouble with young years, you sometimes run away from yourself and you look and try to find, "Where did I go?" G-d tells us in our holy book, the Quran, that His covenant was with other people in the past. And His covenant was with Bani Israel. Now that the term is very important, Bani, we're going to talk about that in a little bit.
His covenant was with Bani Israel. And He then took his covenant and when He takes His covenant away, that means that he doesn't favor that people anymore for that job. He favors another people for that job. And His covenant was with Bani Israel. It's plain to us in the Quran that his covenant was also with the House of Aron, the house of Aron. Now House of Aron is so close to the Bani Israel, that distinction is not made, not clearly, not plainly. Because it might confuse the picture if too much attention is given to the New Testament Movement separate from the Old Testament Movement.
So, it just kind of put them all together so to speak in the saying that His covenant, G-d's covenant was with Bani Israel. We know as students of Quran and our prophet's life's, his work as the leader for the community of Muslims, and as a leader for the good of the whole world. We know from the study of the two sources, supreme sources, Quran and our prophet's life mission that the covenant of G-d is with us now. The covenant of G-d since Muhammad's day has been with the Muslims. Now you know, others will argue and that's their right. They have that right. They'll say, "No, the covenant is still with us."
But we should know that G-d has taught us with the Quran and Muhammad life mission, that the covenant of Allah, the covenant of G-d is with us, the Muslims. What does that covenant involve? It is an agreement. We already said that. It is a contract between us and G-d. It is our contract with G-d. And G-d's part of the contract, that He is obligated to. That as long as we are true to Him. Doing the things that this covenant, carrying out the obligation that this covenant requires. He will do His part and give us His support. Now, G-d's support says everything. G-d's support says everything especially to the G-d-fearing. G-d's support says everything.
If G-d will give me His support, I don't have to say, "G-d, if I go into business, will you help me?" That's stupid. That's insulting G-d. G-d says, "I have a contract with you." My part of the bargain that as long as you keep faith in Me and do what the contract obligates you to do, I'm going to support you. That's in essence what G-d says. He says, that you will be my people, right? That's what He said. You will be my people. In the Quran, the language is a little different. You will be my choice.
You will be my choice. He said, "I have this day I have preferred for you." That means G-d singles us out. And He is going to now do a special thing in us that He did in the past with other people, but that He did not choose to continue to do with other people. But He selected a new people and He says, "This day, I have preferred for you, Al-Islam." Al-Islam. The first time to my knowledge that G-d ever named the religion He gave to people. The first time. Never did He tell any other people, "Your religion is Judaism, your religion is Christianity." Never. You can't find it in any scripture.
For the first time, He named the religion. And in naming the religion G-d says, that this the religion of all those before you. Don't worry about people leaving. Because they're better off where they're going, I hope. That doesn't faze me at all. It shouldn't dampen at all. If everybody left but five, you think I going to close up? Thank G-d, they werent supposed to be here. Or either they got something very important to do, then they should go do it. If is more important, just go and do it.
Yes. This is very important for us. I don't say anything unless I think is very important. It's very important for us to know this language that's in the Quran and in scripture. For the first time now, G-d gives us a name for the religion. Never did He give us a name for it. I can't find it anywhere. "This day, I have preferred for you Al-Islam to be the religion or as the religion. G-d says, "I have preferred," isn't that a wonderful G-d? I have preferred.
Most of us, we wouldnt need but a little power and our language would be, "I'm going to give you this, and don't let me catch you with that or anything else, again." But G-d who has all power and authority, He says, "I have preferred for you, meaning that you are creatures of choice. I know because I created you that way. And I respect the reality that I myself am responsible for it. Though I can impose anything I want on you, I'm too lofty to stoop that low and disrespect a rule and a respect in you that I myself am responsible for." So, G-d speaks from higher authority but yet comes down to our level. Do you have a little patience for a poetic philosophy?
Now, G-d says, there're signs in the heavens and earth, that can teach us things. Signs from G-d are lessons, instructions, wisdom, et cetera. Some great minds are those that are much more inferior to them in terms of mental ability like the bright sunlight on our eyes. Now, the bright sun, it rises but look at how it rises. It rises out of the darkness. Now imagine with me that we're talking about nothing but wisdom or knowledge and ignorance. The darkness is the ignorance, the light is the knowledge or the wisdom.
And this light is really an individual with a great mind. And the darkness is the ignorance that covers us. It's rising now but before we can see it, there is already light. The light of it is already present in our environment and it has not yet shown itself. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our great men, if our great minds could be like that? Let us benefit from his light before they even tell us who they are.
Let us benefit from their light before they even introduce themselves to us. That's G-d. G-d let us benefit from the light, His light, long, long before He introduces Himself to us. And His light is not blinding. The sun doesn't put that great light in your eyes immediately. Some of us want to tell us everything we know right away.
Soon as they can see your face, they will tell you everything they know. Now if they got a lot of light, they may blind you. That's a cruel way to rise on the people. The sun has already prepared your eyes to deal with light. Because you know immediately when you come from extreme darkness, your eyes just not conditions for no bright light.
The light of the sun is merciful, isn't it? It gives you dawn first. And then it begins to get brighter and brighter to tell you, "This ain't no ordinary light coming up here. So, use your common senses. Don't be looking at it when it hits your naked eyes, when the thing come up. Don't be trying to look at it, not directly." It prepares us. When it comes up, it's right on the horizon on our level, right? It's not so bright, its not as bright as it can be when it's on our level. Though we look at it itself. When it's rising in the morning horizon or the eastern horizon. It's light it's kind of soften like it is when it sets on western horizon most of the time.
The brightness of the day is when it gets up a little above our eye-levels, right? We call that Duha in Al-Islam. Duha. It means brighter than it was when it was lower. It's higher and it's brighter but it's not right our eye-level, there's a little chance that our eyes are going to be hurt by it. The attention is not on it. The sun light doesnt want your attention on it, the sun. The sunlight wants your attention on your environment. So, now the sun has put the light in our environment, so we don't need to worry about its movement up in the sky. We know that the way has been opened for us to have our livelihood.
And G-d says, that He made the day for the livelihood, and the night for rest, right? We're busy now. We're going about visiting and doing our work and whatever we have to do in the day before the sunset. We're busy doing that but the sun is still rising, isn't it? A scholar in a particular field, he may not be interested in what's happening all down here in the environment. He wants to know causes. He wants to know causes, what causes are behind causes. He may be like Abraham. He may observe the sun, right? But the sun was merciful on him before even he showed his naked brilliant bright hard to look at body, it gave him a dawn to think about. A dawning to think about.
Then when the light gets up above our head at the zenith point where it's directly over our heads, it's very bright. But look, it has made it very difficult for us to look at it. It's merciless. It says, I'm giving you maximum light on your problems, but I don't want you looking at me. Most of the us don't do that. I imagine some fool would do that. Building personal community life. Al-Islam supplying us with rules. This could be a long talk to take hours and hours.
So, let us narrow it down to maybe one focus instead of trying to take too much to deal with and not do much. Let us focus on authority. Authority. A-U-T-H-O-R-I-T-Y. Authority. I'm going to take a little help on the glasses now. It makes a little easier. I can see it. I wrote it big enough to see but this makes it easier.
The covenant with G-d, we may say, depends firstly, that is our enjoying it, depends firstly on us recognizing G-d as the principal authority in our lives or over us. If you don't accept that, there's no agreement, no contract, no covenant. We may say that it begins with us recognizing an authority above us. Any time we say, we should believe in G-d, what we're really saying is that we should believe in an authority above us. And any time we worry about people because they don't believe in G-d, believe me, somewhere on the surface or somewhere underlying, what we see on the surface is the real concern. Those people shall have no authority over their lives.
G-d says to us in our religion, "Count not your Islam." That means accepted Islam, now its your Islam. "Count not your Islam as a favor to me, that this is a favor to you." This is G-d. G-d is too big to need us. G-d forms a relationship with us. He comes into our life and introduces Himself and forms a bond with us because we need G-d. And G-d loves us. Not because G-d needed us.
You know what G-d says, the G-d our Quran? He says, if it was so that nobody was responding to Him, He could wipe away every soul on earth and bring in a complete new life, complete new generation. It even suggests that He could bring in another form of life and do away with this human form we got, that would suit Him. He created us and He knows what He did when He created. He knows what He put into us when He created us. Many of us will fail Him but many of us will not fail Him. G-d knows that.
So, G-d should first mean authority over my life. I believe in G-d. I believe in authority being over my life. I have faith in G-d. I have faith in the creator's authority over my life, in my life and over my life. See, that's how to understand. Simple way, a plain easy way to understand this. I love G-d. I love G-d for making my life possible and making all these things that I want and enjoy possible for me. But the higher wisdom is to say I love G-d because G-d has been most merciful and has saved me from a failure, a life of a failure by showing me the authority that should be in and over my life.
If you find people having difficulty competing in a world, in a society, or in a neighborhood, just study them and see how important authority is in their life. And I guarantee you, they will be showing less respect for the value of an authority over their lives than those people that will be faring better than them. I guarantee it. I don't want to waste a lot of time talking to you because it's not necessary. You can take what I'm saying much further than I'm taking it. I like to go down the road with you, but you don't have enough time. But you can go down that road I just opened up.
His covenant was with Bani Israel. Bani Israel. Bani Israail is the correct pronunciation. Bani Israa'il. Bani. And then G-d tells us, "Look at the sky how it is structured. How it is built. Look at the camel. How the camel, the camel, the animal that goes across the desert, can guarantee the rider a successful trip to a far distance place across the sand. Because he has the created nature to know where water is and also the created capacity to load up, take enough water with him in those humps to get you where you have to go on the desert.
G-d says, "Take note of that. Look how the Camel is constructed, how he is built up." Then G-d said that He had a covenant, before He had it with us, He had it with Bani Israail. It's translated, "The sons of Israel." Bani, translated, The sons of Israel. Bani could also be translated the descendant of Israel. Bani. But what does the word say in its naked meaning? It says, "Building, construction."
Muhammad the Prophet, prayers and the peace be on him. When he wanted to describe or make the people know what Al-Islam is, and they asked. His reply was, "Al-Islam is built. Al-Islam is constructed upon five essentials." He said, "Buniya." You know what my son is called? If I say, "This is my son, Buni." Buni, same word. Bani, builders. These people He had a contract with, they were builders, and that's why we are so weak. We can't compete with the builders.
We need to build our personal life. To build your personal life, you need a knowledge of your personal life. Not your personal life as the history of you as a person. That isn't going to help you. The knowledge of you as a person. What am I as a human person? What is this feeling I call love? What is its role in my life? What is this feeling I call anger or hate? What is its role in my life? What is this sense I call intelligence? What is its role in my life? On and on and on. If you start to think about knowing yourself in those terms, you are going to become wise and you are going to have more ability to manage your personal life.
You're going to arrive at some rules for governing yourself by approaching yourself that way. This is plain simple wisdom. Supreme wisdom, I guarantee. Bani Israa'il. Focusing authority. Let me continue. Life is for human beings in essence. After we have exhausted every effort to define what is life for us, we will come to the conclusion, if we are blessed with the patience and the wisdom. We will come to the conclusion that life for us is spiritual or it at least requires that we have strong spiritual constitution to survive and succeed in this life.
Strong spiritual constitution. If you can easily be upset, if people can easily throw you out of your mental constitution, out of your emotional constitution. If they can destroy the structures, the reinforcements, the construction of your invisible self in your flesh body. They can destroy every other possibility for you outside of your body. That's easy to understand, isn't it?
Audience: Yes, sir.
IWDM: All right. Fighters. When they know they got a superior fighter when it comes to physical power and physical skills, they use psychology to break down that and, kind of, put them on equal basis. Try to work on his inner life to get him upset. Where he can't use these forces, these great superior resources over him anymore.
Now, he's got the same power, he got the same physical skills, he's still the superior boxer. But the fighter has used psychology on him, and have gotten him to come under the influence of anger, or to be over-anxious to win, right?
Audience: Right.
IWDM: So, he can't manage his material resources because his spiritual resources have been damaged, right?
Audience: Right.
IWDM: Yes, thats plain common sense. Now, the first construction we want is construction for our soul. Talking about we soul folks, and havent did any scientific study into the nature of the human soul to see what we have to manage here. We have to manage the powerful thing we called soul. Leave it all to psychology. Don't you know the word psychology says, "Soul knowledge"? Psyche means soul. We think it means intelligence? No, it means soul, and soul also has intelligence. And what we're interested in as men of intelligence for our soul, is the growth of intelligence for our souls. So, that's why they use the word Psyche.
And nafs in Arabic means self, soul, self and soul. Psyche in Greek language means also self and soul. But over the years, the sciences using this word in their restricted ways, the word takes on new meaning and gets a little distant from his original place that it had in the study that man came about. This is the history of words. There's a language for this. We're not interested in that, we're not here to give you a course in grammar. But there is the language for all of that in the sciences of language, the growth of language, how language evolves, how meanings evolve, et cetera.
Now, so when we say psyche, we're talking about the soul. Psyche. Then psychology is the science or knowledge of the soul, isn't it? Now, you know when you go into the psychiatrist, he's not going to say what school you went to. If psyche means up here in the brain, how come he dont address the brain? He says, "How do you feel? Have you been feeling that way long?"

The beginning of advances in modern psychology goes back to Sigmund Freud. That's to tell you a lot. The jinns in the higher heavens, they named their man for his job. Sigmund Freud. Sig means sign. He's a sign of a man, sign of a man, sign of a mind but he's a fraud.
And modern psychology now doesnt give him much importance today. They play down all his so-called discoveries, most of his so-called discoveries and his conclusions they play them down now. They see him as a trouble in the field of the sciences they call psychology or psychoanalysis. Yes, our focus is on authority. Life is a spiritual home thats what life is meant to be. Life is meant to be a spiritual home. When we have a husband and a wife and then a baby comes into the family now there's a family of a husband, a wife, a father, a mother and a child.
If that family havent already been messed up by mercantile world or profiteering world. They dont see their life as flesh. They take care of the flesh. They see their life as human. It's the invisible person that they attach to. Is that not a reality? They are attached to the invisible person and the flesh body is just like the packaging. And they have to see their child in that packaging, and they try to improve the packaging by buying the child nice pretty clothes right, to improve the appearance. The package appearance but the real person is that child.
And they love the child when the child comes right first day. But they havent built an acquaintance a strong acquaintance yet, with the invisible human in that flesh body. So, that child does not mean as nearly as much to them on the day it born as it's going to mean to them when that child goes to high school or college. Or start working with them in the field, that child means much more now. Some of you are I know you're having little difficulties because the human heart is sentimental and the baby just makes us cry just thinking about it. Thats all sentimental.
When we're looking at intelligence and intelligent judgement theres no way we're going to put as much importance on a new born baby in our house as we're going to put on that child that have lived with us, experienced difficulty with us, have stood by us and obeyed us and now we see that child as our future just as that baby's material body grows that baby grows to us in importance. Because of us having that spiritual and Im using spiritual not in the sense of spiritualism or religion. What Im talking about here could be completely outside of the context of the vocabulary of religion.
When I say spiritual, I mean it is not concrete, that's what Im saying. I mean it's not concrete like this, it's not concrete material like this that's what I'm saying. Its the invisible person thats the real person and that's the wisdom that we need to come into. The flesh person is not the real person. The invisible person is the real person. I can lose both legs, both arms, have be nothing but a stud. And those who love me will love me just as much or more, right?
They wont love me less because I have less body or less flesh. Those who truly love me and value me they will still love and value me the same. Maybe if I was helping them in physical things or helping them with the work, the physical work my value has diminished. But if I had established a value for me as a human being, that value is not diminished no matter how much of these limb or physical stuff I lose.
Is that not too good common-sense teaching? That's what we should accept. Thats why we read in scripture G-d says, "Those who are His they are the ones who follow in the spirit," not in their flesh bodies. That's not their true reality because they would come and be fleshly present for the prayer.
Thats not the true self. The true self is the person inside the flesh body. You need the flesh body just like that light needs the globe and wire and all that. We need the flesh body as a medium for our expressions. Now, if we start to put more importance on the flesh body than we put on the invisible body that the first needs for its expression in a visible world, we cut off our opportunity to grow in greatness, to grow in significance. We cut it off.
The people that you're looking at their world is not in the hands of the common people. The white man's world is not in the hands of common white people. The white man's world is in the hands of superior white people. And those superior white people they have this kind of appreciation that I have for the person in the body over the visible packaging that I call the person. Is that plain?
Audience: Yes sir.
IWDM: What am I doing? Im showing you how come we are inferior? We're not inferior because we were created inferior. We are inferior because our leaders havent been turned on to the vision that G-d wants for the success and salvation of a people not after you're dead on this earth and hereafter. Home for that family. What is home for that family? The home for that family, putting meat on the table? It might be. Is home for that family good nice attractive wardrobes? It might be. Is home for that family a rich interior, a fine building? It might be.
But occasionally a member will hate the one that provided those things because something is missing in the relationship of the real person to person. Is that not reality? That's reality. So, that tells us that we confuse what is our more precious life and more precious home sometimes. And when we do in time if G-d dont bring us back or save us. Our home has turned into a hell with all the meat, all the food you want too much to eat, with all the material achievement and too much to even use.
You cannot have happiness, you cannot have peace because the real life has been neglected. The real person the invisible person and relationship with each other for the invisible person and relationship with each other of the invisible persons has been destroyed, been lost. You can be put in a world of material plenty and feel that you're poor. Now isnt that the case with many of you blacks? Excuse me for calling you black that's you like to be called. I would never call you a nigga intentionally. But isnt that the reality for many of our African-American brothers and sisters?
Audience: Yes sir.
IWDM: Yes. Im looking at tv, color tv, he picks up the remote cut off the color tv. He is all dressed up and you know. He goes out the door and you're standing near his car doing something and he frightens you. He hit the remote and the car started up. He goes out there get in his car takes off. He gets in a conversation with white people to start defending himself covering up his shortcomings, "You never let a black man have anything. A black man cant have anything in your world."
We we're poor, you got everything. And what beats me is that he might be listed in the statistics as a poor person. Why, because the house he lives in belongs to somebody else, he rents. The TV he was looking at, he's paying on it. The remote he uses; he hasn't quite paid for that yet either. The car he jumps into he got a long time before he's finished paying that.
They got a name for that too but the name is not important. We want to keep moving. Life is a private place. That's what life is. Life is a private place. If we think about our life now as the invisible person within that, isn't that privacy? You do show everybody that, do you? Only your very close friends that you will let them come in and look into the package and see the person and all of its features. You don't share that. Sometime you're married to people you don't share all that with. Share it only with G-d. The G-d-fearing will only share the full view of that privacy only to G-d.
So, life is also privacy. Life in its better meaning, life in its better value is the spiritual life. That why G-d says, "This is the best. It is the best in quality and the best in reward or in final achievement." Life is also a social place, isn't it? It's a social place. Family enjoy each others company, family members. And sometimes that means more to them as it should than almost any other attachment they have with people in this world. They can lose the attachment with another people or another club or friends. Even the Mosque members or religious places.
They can lose an attachment even with the job, the boss and suffer maybe some material setback for themselves. But as long as they have that good relationship, social relationship with each other as a family. They support each other, they reinforce each other, they sustain each other, they comfort each other and they survive to get another situation that they lost in the world. The same will happen to us as a race if we could value the life that G-d establishes or supports upon naturally. And appreciate it and have that bonding, that spiritual bonding that G-d gives a family naturally.
We think of the social life as really social life and that's what it is. A social life, what is its essence? Spiritual life. When you don't have it and you need it, your spirit is bad. Your spirit is low, is that not true? When you have it, your spirit is lifted, is that not true? This that we call the social appetite is really an appetite in the spiritual or of the spiritual body. Spiritual body needs that. I'm not saying that we should now see the spiritual over our practical needs or anything like that. No.
What this is intended to do is to show us that many times, cracks and ruin and collapse, destruction in our physical structures is because of damage in the spiritual structure. The earth again is a sign. We are supported on this earth. Our buildings, our farming, our crops, everything is supported on this earth by solid rock beneath. Solid rock beneath. But that solid rock beneath is also supported by fluid, plastic fluid body they call the plasma. Is that not correct? Here, solid rock is supporting us but beneath is something fluid supporting the solid rock.
It's a fire, isn't it? It's a liquid fire and in the liquid fire is the rock. And in the liquid fire is also the sediment. In the liquid fire is also the fertile land. Scientific, scientific. Sometimes there's an eruption caused by not salt in the plasma, salt in the rock bed. And the plasma breaks through. And over pours. Floods over and destroy plants, life, and animals. And man too if he is in a way. And when it gets cool, we see that it's solid. Might be some metal in there we can use. Might have thrown up resources for a new industry although it killed a lot of us, set us back for a while.
But it might throw up some resources for a new industry that might account for a boom for the people that live there. Right? Yes. And we know a lot of dust come up too, right? And the dust settles. In time, that dust will be soil. In time. You have to stretch your imagination a little bit. And that's another thing that make people superior to other people. Some cant stretch their imagination. They little tough scribble up brains. If you tell them to expand a little bit, they'll say, "Oh Lord, give me an excedrin super."
So, life should be a social place, a private place, a social place. We want our community to thrive. We want to do more and enjoy more and have more opportunity for all of us as a community to establish our personal life and also to establish our life in the public. Take note of all these things I'm telling you today and don't forget them. You of better minds, study it and see how we can implement it. See how this knowledge can be tools for us making a better world for ourselves in our home and in the public.
We look at this big world of material accomplishments and we think that it's because of the things that are in place. This world of material accomplishments could not have ever been possible if it was not for an individual going away from family concerns that burden him. Away from even tribal concern that burden him. Environmental concerns that burden him, to rest his head on his hand and do some serious thinking. And come up with a concept of life and its destiny.
A concept of human life its nature, its role, its destiny. And then shared that with his people. Now he didn't do it overnight. He had to rest his hand or his head a long time. He had to go to bed and get back and go out again away from everybody. Rest his head. The thinker that's what he's called, the thinker. The thinker is before all progress, there's no progress until there's a thinker. And the thinker is just not somebody thinking. We think a hell of a lot but dont accomplish much.
The thinker is somebody thinking on deep meanings, profound meanings to try to get a richer and more thorough more complete picture of just what is, this invisible self here? What is its placed in this visible world? And it was the invisible that began to form the visible.
The invisible began to form and give shape and purpose and direction to the visible. Not only that, it was the invisible that gave more visibility more visible presence to us. Think if we could go back to time when there was no industry, just people running around on the ground as G-d made it with nothing accomplished. Look how small the visible things were to them, that visible world was very small wasnt it?
Audience: Yes sir.
IWDM: Now you who know history, I dont have to go back in history. It takes too much time to do all that. You know there was men who began to depend upon their mental ingenuity, mental ingenuity. An invisible activity that sat down and pondered over the possibilities for a person, the possibilities for a future, a world and it's because of them that we have all this material things.
Our material world is really the result of an invisible working, an invisible ingenuity, an invisible industry at work made possible the great material world, the great material industry that we have. But how many of us want to think independently now? How many of us want to think this deep? How many of us want to accept this heavy responsibility on their minds to look again and study the invisible person and see the work of that invisible person over the visible packaging that he's in or she's in? And then try to perceive as accurately as possible what this life is? What it's here for and what he wants as and environment to suit it? And then go to straining his mind and straining the intellect to come up with a better world or better environment for the invisible persons within these packages.
How many of us are willing to take on that great burden? We're not attuned to that. We only understand Burger King, hamburger, French fries. Or going to school just to make some more money so you can have some more Burger King, some more French fries. Or going to college and university so I can have more Burger King, more French fries, more burgers. You may call it something else but it's still French fries and burgers.

Perishable possessions, perishable possessions just so you can have more perishable possessions. But, when you come into this kind of mind you look way ahead, you look ahead of the generations that's here today, to prepare for them a security two or three or 10 generations down the road. People thinking like that they're always going to be ahead of people that they only want french fries and burgers, shakes and Super Gulp, from 711. And shake the booty and slide my butterfly.

We wonder why we cant get ahead of anybody else. You cant get ahead of anybody else with that kind of mind. Now home is also a political place. The very word political suggests that there is a governmental order, right? Political suggests that there is already in place a governmental order. When Allah created a husband, wife, children, Allah created a government, a government.
And He didnt create any despotic rule. He created a democratic rule, when He created a natural human family. Natural human families, now we know there's always the rare exception, there's a despot over the family. But that's not the description of the social order or the social government that G-d created. What's descriptive of that is this, the man consults the woman, the husband consults the wife, the wife consults the husband and they're hoping for children to grow up in mentally mature so they can be included in the order of the government, thats democracy by representation. Right?
Audience: Right.
IWDM: Yes. So, what we come to is this fancy idea, this fancy language a government of representatives, or a government where people are really in power and the officials are the authorities is only representative power or representative authority, or representative officials. The natural home requisition that. But it took man all those generations to learn the wisdom that G-d gave him in natural life. Still focusing in authority. If we had been created with no sense of respect for authority if came straight from the crib, hollering and telling mama, "You are nothing, I dont have to listen to you." We never would have worn pampers. We'd been gone before we can wear a pamper.
I'm sure some of you are hearing what Im saying completely. Because that's what most of us want now we dont want authority over us, we want pampers. No. You wouldnt have lived long enough to have those pampers that the federal government give you. If you had to been born into the world with that kind of disrespect for authority. G-d created us with a nature to know that mama is authority and to have faith in mama's authority, and not try to make decisions for ourselves when we know we dont have the mental ability to do it. But to look to mama.
"Mama what should I do? Should I do this mama? And mama knows more about yourself than you do when you're little like that. She's always telling you, "Dont do this, do that. Son come here let me talk to you, daughter come here I want to talk to you." And long as we have the natural environment or the natural conditions that G-d created for us we don't have any problem. But, when we go and look at television and see somebody saying, " You're not G-d, Ive got a mind of my own. I can do what I please. I dont have to respect you. I have my own opinion."
And then PhD, doctor Siveral Sadfish, sitting there with all those degrees backing them up. Oh, No, dont impose. Dont ever impose your thoughts on a person, he's a person that's a person. Hes entitled to his own mind and opinion. You don't want to destroy life forever? My mother saved my life by tearing my ass up when I wouldn't obey.

Life is a political place. G-d when He gave us life, He gave us a sense of what should be authority in our life and a social order with the bosses in it that should be obeyed. Mama, daddy and when daddy isn't there whoever is the superior, right?
Audience: Right.
IWDM: Whoever is the superior one. Whoever got more of this and more experience, more knowledge. They're the boss when mama or daddy is gone. That's good sense. And those homes in the beautiful natural state like that, they were surviving very well until this world told us to even question G-d as an authority. You say, Well my scripture says that I shouldn't do that? What! You got a mind your own. You have to respect your own mind, your own intelligence, you got a mind of your own.
There might be something wrong with the scriptures. Sometimes its something wrong with these scriptures, the way they present it. But don't make G-d suspect while your pointing out defects in man's language. But that's what this world has done, hasn't it? It has pointed out flaws in even the religious language. Right before everybody. Come into your home television is an open door. Let anybody on TV come right in your home and talk to your babies. If your baby's can listen.
So, they come right into the private quarters of our homes and they feed in this disrespect for all authorities. Now why has the jinn, the devil fed into our society, disrespect for all authorities? So that no authority will be in their way when they want to sell you something. They don't want you saying, "Well, I would buy it. I know it would make me; I'd have more if I bought this. I know it's the fashion is the fad, but if I bought this and my brothers and sisters in my family, they don't have these things.
My child, I can't afford to get my child and stuff. Even my mother, my grandmother. She doesn't live like this." Now you respecting some moral authority. You're respecting some authority, right?
Audience: Right.
IWDM: You're caring about stuff. They want to break all authority. Make you think that only you count. There's nothing in the way when they want to come and invite you and influence you to do what they want you to do and that is spend more of your money to make them richer and more powerful. Now what I'm saying has backup supporting in scripture. The Bible says, "Here is wisdom, count the number of the beast."
And the beast is pictured in the Bible as the growing trouble for man. And in the end, he's going to be the cause of man's falling and being in hell. The Bible says, "Count the number of beasts, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666." I guarantee you that this is connected with greed, commercialism, profiteering, et cetera. In the same Bible, I'm talking about the Bible, Christian Bible. In the same Bible, it says, "The amount of taxes collected--" This is the kingdom of Solomon it's talking about. The causes that brought down the kingdom of Solomon, " Was six, threescore and six." Same language that's used for the beast. 666. Because six is six, threescore is three times 20 is 60, add six is 66. You end up with 666. Same. So, here the Bible, but it's played it out so far, because if you ain't caught it, it's big, millions of chances you ain't going to get it. It's played out so far. The mention of one is way on this side and many, many pages away is this other mentioning. This 666.
What has the prophet taught us? The prophet of Al-Islam. Peace be upon the prophets. He said that there would be a Dajjal riding a donkey. And he made it clear to us that this Dajjal was materialistic. I'm not going all into description, you all know it, the Imams that studied, they know these things. Let's not necessarily go into all the description for everybody in the audience. You should trust the speaker, that the speaker's conclusion is correct.
Not my conclusion, but the conclusion of thousands of scholars in Al-Islam, here in this generation and dead and gone is that this was a description of greed, material greed, in a certain element or certain class of people that are in business or in the business world for profit. This is a description of them that because we are not heeding what's going on, we are not taking notice, we are not having any awareness of their plan in our life, their design on our life, and we're just going to take us generations to come. Many of us are going to be their victims in the end, and they're going to be riding off like donkeys. We're going to be their donkeys.
Now you know donkeys, they are animals that carry a relatively heavy load. When you compare what a horse can carry or what other animals can carry, they're carrying more than their share of burden, donkeys. Little, little thing. Sometimes he's smaller than some of these dogs that they walk around here with now. Not as massive as some of the dogs I see them walking around here. I saw a dog, and I said, "Is that a bull or a dog? Is that a bull? Bull or a dog?"
I wish I had me a pistol, loaded.
Lord as my witness, I would have shot the dog in the head and then shot the owner if he threatened me.
Why? He had that dog loose. I'm walking down the sidewalk; he had that dog loose and looked at me as if he was enjoying something.
G-d as my witness I'd have shot that dog in his head.
Not because I feared the dog, to teach him a lesson. Shot the dog in the head and then say, "You next, buddy. I shot your dog first so you could see your dog die."
He cared no more about my safety than that. He supposed to be dead. I could've been frightened, couldn't I? The dog could've been frightened by me being frightened. The dog could've jumped and mauled me to death. That's right. I could've had my little child with me too. Maybe both of us got all chewed up.
We need the Word of G-d to know how to look at things, know how to make judgments. So much for that. Life is also life management, isn't it? Life management. Your life requires that you have the ability to manage life. You don't have any life management ability? Then your life is not in your hands. Your life is in the world's hands. Your life is in TV's hands, TV programs' hand. Your life is in the corner hangout place hands or whatever. Not in your hands.
Life needs authority. Life needs spiritual authority. There has to be some people with great spiritual construction for themselves. If a man breaks down under spiritual pressure or emotional pressure, that tells me has no great spiritual construction. If our community is facing problems and he says, "Yeah, there's nothing we can do." That tells me that his spiritual construction is not strong. A man with a strong spiritual construction, he doesn't back up off of any material challenge or away from any material challenge. That's what gives him the confidence that he can meet any material challenge. It is that strong spiritual construction. Now understand, I said spiritual is not spiritualism. Or this thing you get happy or something like that and start falling apart. Not that. Spiritual means the invisible self. That's you. That invisible self that is truly you inside your material body.
Now we want to come to something else now. Success for personal life. If we can respect what natural life promotes in its best nature, in its best spirit. If we can respect what natural life promotes, that is authority in grown-ups and responsibility in grown-ups for children, respect in children for that authority, et cetera. We can start to have success for our personal lives, for our homes, for our families. Personal life success is the most important part of success in the community. Thats why these great minds we trust to tell us who should run, who should be running for president. And even after we have cast our votes, we trust them to select our president. We want to know some back ground. Where you came from? Who is your family? Before they are given that kind of position of authority. Where you came from? Who are your relatives? What family you come from? Where did you go to school? Where did you work? What is your reputation there? Are you married and have a family now? What is your reputation as a husband? What is your reputation as a father? We want to know these things about him. So, before we give a person the heavy responsibility of carrying public interest on his shoulder, we want to know if he can carry personal and family life interest on his shoulder. Is that not correct? 


