11/04/2007
IWDM Study Library
RICH PEOPLE, POOR PEOPLE
(Part 3)

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed


0:00:32 W. Deen Mohammed: Thank you very much for taking the books off of me, converting them into money so I can use it. Thank you very much. And one of our sisters is just very generous. She left... She took three books and left $100. Thank you so very much, our dear Sister Hassan, thank you very much.

[pause]

0:01:09 IWDM: So you hear somebody say, "What are you going to do with all that money?" You don't have to wonder, that was a voice of a donkey. And we want you to speak with a man's voice soon.

[pause]

0:01:38 IWDM: Mr. Farad says here, "Get busy. Your teacher is waiting to hear from you at... " What? "Once!" Right now, this instance.

[pause]

0:02:07 IWDM: If there's any rich man, he doesn't know what to do with a trillion dollars, bring it to this poor W. Deen Mohammed, son of Elijah. You got some 50 more friends with a trillion, tell them to come too, bring theirs too. Ain't no amount of money too much for anybody but a fool.

[laughter]

0:02:36 IWDM: Well, let me get back to here now. We want to leave some time enough to least take four or five questions, and we go from one side to the other, and from female to male, giving equal time.

[pause]

0:03:06 IWDM: There are two more divides, or separations, that I want to address before questions, before we accept questions, comments, it doesn't have to be a question. Sometimes your comment or your statement that you want to make is as important as any question could be. Yes. This one is the separation of the beautiful and the ugly. And I'm talking about right now the physical appearance.

[pause]

0:03:51 IWDM: This separation of the beauty and the ugly is so naturally ingrained in people, it is not noticed as a problem. Beauty and ugliness are in the eye of the beholder. I saw a movie, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and it also was a good book, a novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". And his face, or his whole figure, was supposed to strike you as ugly, not just his face, his whole figure was supposed to strike you as an ugly thing. But before that movie was halfway or two thirds into its running, or its time, I have forgotten the hunchback of Notre Dame was ugly, he had captured my heart. And not only that, he captured the woman's heart that he loves, beautiful woman, he captured her heart. Yes, so beauty and ugliness is in the eye of the beholder.


0:05:25 IWDM: At this point, I want to mention that I was just glancing through, and I didn't have a subscription for it. At one time, I do believe I was a subscriber for the Essence Magazine. And when I happened to see the Essence Magazine, and it was really out of the area where it's supposed to be, somebody just left it on the counter, and it wasn't put back where it was supposed to be. And I saw on there something that I was interested in, so I picked it up, and I bought it, and brought it home. And then as I was getting other information out of the magazine, the magazine opened up on an advertisement, and one beautiful lady in the magazine, her hair is in braids, natural braids, natural, wooly or nappy hair braided, and looking very pretty. I don't think Essence would have have her in there unless she was very attractive, pretty. And the other one had her hair straight, like what we call white folks hair, and she was also looking very pretty, very pretty.

0:06:46 IWDM: So I looked at the wording, the caption, the words on the one for the white hair, straight hair, straightened hair, or white folks hair, as we were saying. [chuckle] We could say monkey hair? Dog hair? All those animals have straight hair. Yeah. But we say white folks hair.

[laughter]

0:07:20 IWDM: "Oh! Oh, that girl got white folks hair."

[laughter]

0:07:31 IWDM: Mr. Farad came and tried to get us out of that, he did. There was a time in the Nation of Islam when it was against the law of the Nation of Islam for you to straighten your hair. Some of you still around, you knew it. I heard someone say, "Yes, sir." And most likely they are witnesses to that time. Yes, it was against the law of the Nation of Islam for you to straighten your hair. But the Honorable Elijah Muhammad finally relaxed it and everything. Yes. So the Essence Magazine caption that caught me was the one with the lady who had the braids, the wooly braids, or African braids, I guess they call African braids. And I brought, I actually brought it with me, but I know exactly what's on here. I don't know if you can see the face. Can you see something from that distance? 

0:08:41 S?: Yes, sir.

0:08:42 IWDM: Aren't we some pretty folks? 

0:08:44 S?: Yes, sir.

0:08:46 IWDM: I miss Muhammad Ali coming on TV and saying, "Hey, I'm pretty. Hey, I'm pretty." And he be talking to white folks with straight hair, and he got nappy hair, "Hey, I'm pretty. Hey, I'm pretty." And he was, and you know they love him more than they love most of their own popular figures, popular celebrities. They love Muhammad Ali. See, people love you when you love yourself. And they hate you when you hate yourself.

0:09:26 IWDM: Now, I don't know whether these words came from this lady or not, but yes they did, because they got these words in quotes, and her name's up under them. Her name is Jocelyn Bioh, I think it's pronounced, B-I-O-H, and she is a grad, a college grad, only 23 years old, young lady. And she says... Young lady with the wisdom of the deep thinkers, she said, "I am a queen because I own," O-W-N, "because I own my inner and outer beauty." Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that profound? "Because I own... " Nobody else got this for me, nobody else is possessing it for me, and working on me from that interest. No, I own it, my inner. See, she went to the unseen beauty first, went to the qualities of life first before the physical appearance of life. She said, "I own my inner and outer beauty." If we all had her disposition, we wouldn't be destroyed by our possessions.

0:11:09 IWDM: Possessions such as beauty can destroy the soul. Can destroy the soul, and then the mind. First, the soul, then the mind is destroyed. Vanity, stuck on your own self, thing that you value is your outer beauty. Make you walk in Chicago, windy city, dead winter, snow, knee deep, wind ripping you, and your breasts all are showing because that's what's possessing you. You don't own your breasts, your breasts have reached you through your emotions, and through your feelings, through your soul, and have possessed your very soul, owned by your breasts. So you go out and get the flu, and get pneumonia, and everybody comes see you for the last time, you're looking so pretty.

[laughter]

0:12:28 IWDM: Cheated out of a life by vanity. Now how are we going to heal this divide, the ugly and the beautiful? We're going to adopt... More of us are going to adopt her attitude toward her good looks, and going to accept from her or from somebody that no matter how beautiful you are outwardly, the most valued beauty is the beauty within. And if you've got the beauty within, you can look hideous outside. But if people will tolerate your hideous looks long enough to get acquainted with what's on the inside, oh, they would have no problem hugging you, and kissing you, and even marrying that ugly person. Spirit is more powerful than flesh. And the soul registers and fires the spirit. It registers the spirit and fires the spirit. Fires it up, fires it outward, fires it forward to a purpose, etcetera. Oh, yes. Not speaking from emotions, this man, not speaking from emotions. I'm speaking from knowledge.

0:14:16 IWDM: We'll go about 10 minutes more, and then we'll give about 15 minutes for questions or comments. Vanity is one of the most serious defects, human defects that's given in the scriptures. It's a cardinal sin, it's one of the major sins. Vanity. Vanity means you're stuck on yourself, or you're stuck on whatever the object is of that vain attitude and disposition inside of you. It doesn't have to be you personally. Some people buy a car and change so much. The person you met when you were a child is dead, this new nigger, this new disgusting Negro, excuse me for saying nigger, I apologize, I'll pay the fine.

[laughter]

0:15:24 IWDM: But if it's more than two cents, I ain't going to pay it. [laughter] Yes. They changed so much, ooh! I know a person used to be close to me, I used to love them too. I liked them and loved them, and I used to enjoy their company, but I knew there was something there that I didn't want to touch me, I didn't want it to rub off on me. Even when I liked them, they had something that I just didn't want it to get on me, you know? They turned out to be vain, vain, vain. Sickening. If you're an actual person, a person who is overly vain, beyond normal limits vain, they're the worst person you can have in your immediate environment, worst person you can have in your company, that person talks to you so much you just wish you could disappear, and just not be there, just instantly disappear, or something. Yes, they don't know just how sickening they are.

0:16:53 IWDM: How are we going to bring the beautiful and the ugly to not feel that they are divided and cannot be united? Do we see any ugly believers if we're true believers in this religion? Do we see any ugly believers? You don't think of anybody as ugly! Nobody is ugly! Isn't that evidence of the power of right-mindedness? That's evidence of the power of right-mindedness. When your mind is rightly composed you don't see ugliness in anybody that's in that religion and sincere like you are. You never think of it. Even a person you don't know, you just gather, or you just take for granted they're Muslim because they're with you or with us, you don't never see any ugliness, you'd have to really stand out. Now I have to confess, that I have seen some projections of ugliness, that was so strong, it... [chuckle]

[laughter]

0:18:07 IWDM: But as I said, that's how the Hunchback of Notre Dame struck me too, when the movie first came on. But as he grew on me, and I grew to see into him, not just on him, but into him, oh, I felt so comfortable with the man, I loved him just like the woman was loving him. [chuckle] And that's how we'll be. So to me, the value of such observations speak for the wisdom and great love of God himself. That's some love. God's love. That he has made us like us. That if we are rightly composed inside, we are fit to deal with any and every problem outside. That's the love, that's the love of God in us. And the greatness of God, his greatness that has created us, molded us to be such matter that we are as human beings.

0:19:36 IWDM: I think I'm about at the end here. Yes. Yes, I am at the end. I used to say, "White folks don't know why our people want white women, they're ugly." That shows you how powerful the Nation of Islam's teachings were, make me see a Mother's plane at the time they told me to be in the sky. I got up there just before 4:00, and I saw the Mothers plane, just as plain as anything could be. And it took me about six years to wake up to the fact that that wasn't the only thing that I saw, and thought it was real, and it wasn't. [laughter] If you're looking at white women, "They're all ugly devils, all ugly white devils." Boy, [chuckle] the Quran make me accept humanity, and condemn people just for their actions, for their deeds. I say, "Boy, I didn't know these white women were so pretty!" [laughter] "Wow, that white lady's fat." [laughter] I was walking through that airport once, I have to stop, I go, "Whoa, Lord!"

[laughter]

0:21:15 IWDM: Oh, that woman was so fine. She was so fine, she had a martial arts experts with her, and you knew he was a martial arts expert, you didn't have to ask. Folks that say, "Are you... " You knew he was a martial arts expert. I mean he had all the looks and the movements of a martial arts expert. And I told Rafah, "I said, "She needs that." [laughter] Now this is not to take anything away from our sisters, because Lord knows I've seen our sisters that could walk right with her. And if the sister's high or speeded up, your eyes just might take and go off with a white woman, and keep up with the sister, keep on... Stay on the sister. [laughter] You know, the white world put us down, and said we were inferior human beings, inferior human stock, and said and tried to make us believe we were ugly. So God just let them put their blood into us, and now, you want to find the prettiest Chinese, or Asian, that moment is among us. If you want to find the prettiest, or most attractive Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, French ladies, French men or a French women, anything, anything you can think of, we got it. We've got it. All you have to do is look at them magazines, don't look at them too much now, you might want to close your eyes when you go to bed.

[laughter]

0:23:23 IWDM: I ain't supposed to do that. Most of of the things blessed to have what these magazines be showing you.

[laughter]

0:23:43 IWDM: I had a wife, she kept magazines away from me. [chuckle] Even ladies night, she kept them away from me. [laughter] And I appreciated it.

[laughter]

0:24:05 IWDM: You know the saying, it'll really benefit us in the conclusion of this talk right now, there's a saying of the Prophet that'll really benefit us brothers, and I really want to have another brothers meeting, just brothers only one day, one day soon. Maybe we can do it on Savior's Day. Maybe we can have my Savior's Day address, but before or right after, I'll meet with the brothers only, good brothers only. Because some things that sisters have to say to each other, and we shouldn't be present. And there's some things bothers should say to each other, and they shouldn't be present. That's right, they shouldn't be present. So we, Inshallah, that's done. This coming Savior's Day in Chicago, in the vicinity, suburbs or in Chicago, we will have a brother's meeting. We need that, man's meeting.

0:25:01 S?: Yeah.

0:25:02 IWDM: Yes. A lot of things have been coming to my mind, I said I can't say this to a mixed audience. So, Inshallah, we'll have a brother's meeting, February 26th on the Sunday, as close as we can to February 26th. The Sunday that's closest to February 26th, Inshallah, we'll do that. Okay, so we're going to conclude this now and give time, because we don't have much time. Yeah, we stopped right on it, it's about six quarter of, we got about 16 minutes or so, so we're going to stop and give time for questions. Can you get the mics out there so they can come to the mic, please? If we have a floor mic. If not, they're going to have to come up here and use this mic. If there's no mic in the aisle, please come up here and use this mic. I'm going to push away from the mic so you can use it. Oh, he's getting it. The engineer is getting it right now. And please, go right to the point, don't come up to the mic and then become dumbfounded.

[laughter]

0:26:34 IWDM: You moved on an impulse, you just wanted us to see the nice dress you're wearing, or nice suit, nice suit, that vanity can get you in trouble.

[laughter]

[pause]

0:27:47 S?: Assalam Alaikum, Brother Imam.

0:27:49 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:27:50 S?: Brother Imam, Brother Yasin here.

0:27:52 IWDM: Yes, sir.

0:27:52 S?: Brother Imam, my question is... Oh, let me just say this before that. I told Brother Rafah when I talked the convener. But Sister [inaudible] and I just came from California, burying Sister [inaudible]. She passed last week, so they had the funeral.

0:28:08 IWDM: Ah, yeah.

0:28:10 S?: Maryam Shadah.

0:28:12 IWDM: Yeah, we pray her soul is in heaven, in paradise. Amen.

0:28:20 S?: Brother, my question is this. I don't know if this is a part of the beauty and that divide or not, there is a growing conversation amongst our young people, because I teach them about this black/white... I'm sorry, mainly the African-American black/white issue, you know, that light skin versus dark skin? 

0:28:43 IWDM: Yeah, yeah.

0:28:45 S?: And then I'm wondering if that's different psychological problem, or if this is the same type of divide that you've been dealing with? 

0:28:52 IWDM: Yes, yeah. I recently spoke on that, along with some other problems that we have in our makeup as a people. And I will just try to go right to the essence, or the heart of what I was bringing out. And what I was doing is actually going back in my own life, and remembering that as a child I had no color problem. I didn't accept white folks to be among us, or identify with them, no. I accepted that they were the devil. But I was seeing them as the devil, looking at their bad treatment of our folks. That's how I was seeing them as the devil. I wasn't just seeing all white folks as the devil. I was seeing all white folks as the devil because they were the race, they were the race that gave us all the bad treatment they gave us, from the time of slavery to... Well, to that time when I was thinking about them. But I never even, I would say, faced my own mind that was thinking that way. I didn't face it, it was late in my life that I started studying and trying to analyze my own feelings and actions regarding the issue with race and etcetera.

0:30:52 IWDM: But one thing that I registered very strongly was the effect of that teachings on our own treatment of each other. Some of the very light ones felt uncomfortable, because it was... Actually as far as the skin color, they was as white as many white people that we know. And the hair like the white people, the skin color like the white people. So I noticed, I could feel them, I was young, very young, but I could feel that they were not comfortable, and some of them, very light, looked like white folks were very comfortable. So it depends on how you are affected inwardly by what's going on, how you are going to fare in an environment like that.

0:31:57 IWDM: Then I also noticed that they were some very black skinned, brothers especially, I wasn't looking at the sisters. I think sisters because they bear life, they conceive life and deliver life, this nature of theirs keep them so touched, so much in touch with the reality of life and death, that they're just not susceptible, open to be influenced by a lot of hype that black men are open to and I said hype. I mean it, yes. So I noticed that some of the brothers, they really took that to heart, took it serious, black. One professor, PhD, we didn't have many. I remember the time when maybe we didn't have any. Yes, I do remember the time, no PhD heard of, no MAs, no master's degree heard of in our community, in our following, in the following of my father. But along the late '50s, middle '50s, late '50s and '60s they came in, they started coming in slowly, but just a few. And even now we don't have a lot. But anyway, and one of these brothers, I wouldn't want to give his name, I wouldn't want to do that. One of these brothers, highly educated, PhD in high science, but he had it bad, bad, black. He was, it just so happened he was black skinned. He had it bad.

0:33:43 IWDM: And I knew another one, he wasn't educated, he was a common laborer, did hard work, very hard work, physical work. And he too had it bad. In fact he had it so bad he came to the restaurant one day, and I've shared this with you all on different occasions, "Sisters, come out and serve the black God." That's what he said. [laughter] They were waitresses, "Sisters," come in the restaurant, "come out... " I was the manager there. "Sisters, come out and serve the black God." So as a minister, a young minister I used to preach, and you know my father never stopped me from doing the things that I did to change the way his followers thought, never. Now that tells me that that man was very intelligent, and he welcomed me with my mind and my preaching. They reported me too sometimes, but he never even brought it to me.

0:35:06 IWDM: Yes, so what I saw as a big problem for the unity of his followers was this literally taken to be real in reality idea that white people are inferior because they are white, they're inferior to us, and that they're devils. And we got whites among us maybe by the classification of the white culture they're not white, but by common sense perception, I follow the color language that I was given as a child in school, they said, "That's white. This is black. This is red. This is that." Okay, so that's what I applied. And I know that there are whites who I saw in the public who said they were white, and then we had skin colors among us just as white as they were, and whiter than some of them. I knew that. We had a sister who was my teacher, she looked like a white woman. She was my English teacher, Sister Suzanne Douglas. She was white looking. And we had some more white looking than she was, more white looking even than she was. So I said to myself, "We are dividing ourselves with this way of identifying ourselves, calling ourselves the black people. We are dividing ourselves." I said to myself, "That's the wrong rallying flag, our banner, for our unity." And I preached it to the brothers and sisters.

0:37:04 IWDM: You'd be surprised how many Muslims became Muslims or followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad after hearing Minister Wallace Deen Muhammad on 53rd and Greenwood. Yeah. A lot of them. Some of you are probably here right now. You might not like me as much as you liked me then, you might not want to acknowledge it, but I believe some of you are here right now that came in by me after I got through preaching on a Wednesday night, or a Sunday, and asked who would like to accept their own. And I never put pressure on anybody to accept their own, but they would stand up. Especially the brothers, but sisters too. They would stand up, saying, "I want to become a member." And they would become a member after hearing my lecture.

0:38:05 IWDM: I'm curious. Is there anyone that came in under young Minister Wallace? Are you still around? If you are, raise your hand. I see one here. Thank you. Yes, I saw some more hands. Yes, 53rd and Greenwood, that's where I was preaching for most of the time that I was minister in the Nation of Islam, until I left and went to Philadelphia. Then I was preaching in Philadelphia. Yes. So, Professor, I'm sure that it's a problem for us. Inside our community, we should remember that in Islam there's no color consciousness. In Islam, no color consciousness. Muhammad the Prophet said that, "In the Quran, black is uplifted, and white is uplifted, and red is uplifted." All the colors are uplifted, especially black, white, and red. And these used to be the three descriptions of the divisions along race lines for all people. Just three, black, white, and red. In fact, it was not black, white, and red. It was black, red, and brown. Black, red, and brown. It wasn't yellow for the Asians, brown for the Asians. And those that are white, the white Asians, many white Asians, they fell under the white classification, but they would be called red back then. The old description, they would be called red. Even the white people called red not white. In the time of the Prophet Muhammad, when they referred to the white people, they didn't say white, they said red. Red.

0:39:56 IWDM: And you know red people, there's a way that you responded to... All people got their color from the sun. The sun made the blacks black, the sunlight made the reds red, the sunlight made the browns brown, nobody was made white by the sun. Those that are white, they were made white because they didn't get sunlight, they got very little sunlight. That's why they're white. So they're not classified, the white is not even classified, because their true color's how their skin responds to the sun. And it turns red in the sun, so they're called the red people. We turn black in the sun, we're the black people. Others turn brown in the sun, they're the brown people. For some reason, those far away yellow people that actually turn yellow in the sun. Japanese turn yellow in the sun, and they wear umbrellas to keep... They don't like to turn yellow, so in the sunlight, they wear umbrellas to keep the sun from striking their skin directly, because it will turn them yellow, turn their skin yellow, which doesn't look too good. Or yellowish.

0:41:17 IWDM: So it's very important for us to not just accept language or words, but try to find out why those words or that language applied to us, or described us. And I got a book coming out, in fact I've completed it, it'll be out soon. Allah has blessed me to get... I've been wanting to write books for a long time, to write books, not give speeches and then somebody can put it in a book. Allah has blessed me, now I'm doing it, I actually completed one. And in this book what I'm saying is that I didn't find as a skin color is not, does not situate us to become culturally enriched but if we identify as humans and an ethnic group, an African American ethnic group, then we're situated to become culturally rich. How come black... Actually I'm analyzing the situation, and my conclusion is that we cannot go forward with a culture of our own, because we have the wrong way of identifying our vital life. You didn't ask for all that professor, I'm sorry for taking up all that time.

0:42:57 S?: No. No.

0:42:58 IWDM: I'm going to extend it, since I'm the one that took up all the time, you still got 10 minutes. You had 10 minutes when the professor left the mic, you've still got 10 minutes.

0:43:10 S?: Assalam Alaikum.

0:43:11 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:43:12 S?: Brother Imam stated that he was going to take questions from males and females? 

0:43:15 IWDM: Yes.

0:43:15 S?: We only have males in line, so we need three sisters to even it off. So, if you have a sister, come up and bring a question, please. No sisters, Brother Imam? 

0:43:27 IWDM: I see one. I see a sister, she's coming. Our sister who takes care of our senior citizens, sister senior citizens. She's coming.

0:43:40 S?: Assalam...

0:43:41 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:43:43 S?: Thank you very much. First comment I'd like to make, I think Brother Imam can comment, was that the comment you made on beauty and concerns, and them not feeling secure enough within themselves to be modest in their dress, and things like that. Okay, I guess I'm... So, I'm kind of nervous, and I'm trying not to be so fast when it comes to certain things. But when you were speaking, and my concern is always people, people in general, and when you were speaking about love being an empowering thing, and we have a lot of our people getting older and disabled, and not the spirit. And I see in our community, a lot of illness and our seniors being cast aside. Now, not only our seniors, but us, each other being isolated. And it raised a real concern of our community life, and in living here in Chicago, I don't know any others, a lot of our seniors and disabled being in nursing homes. And one sister that had been in the community 50 something years, and she was put in a nursing home and I visit with her every day. She said, "I didn't know you loved me that much." And it wasn't that I was there, I just couldn't see the condition, that you give your life to Islam, and there, they're forced to eat poor, they are forced to listen to other religious services, and stuff.

0:45:19 S?: And this is a concern, I've have several people that have come to me and saying, "We need a nursing home." What I would like to do, and I've been trying to work on this for a few years and stuff, is not just to have a nursing home, but disabled service, where we make sure that people, our people do not necessarily go into those kinds of places, and if they're able to be in their own homes, that we provide that service so they can have... Because they need the love. If you have the spirit of Allah, if you don't feel that no one loves you, it's just like you passed away, just like the brother said. A lot of even young people passing away, and I don't know if you... I know a lot of people, and a lot of teenagers, young people want to commit suicide because we are losing that humanism that we're supposed to have, Islam is supposed to have us human first, and we're supposed to provide those things. If we have problems, I think we should try and solve them.

0:46:23 S?: So, my concern, I want to work, Allah blessed me with a building, a house right next to my house. I had been praying, if you do not know, if you hadn't heard, but I was telling Brother Albert that I was looking for a house that would house at least five people. What I want to do is put a dorm there so it can house at least eight people. So, they don't necessarily have to stay there, but when they come out of hospital, that they get care until they get strong enough. Those not able to be strong enough, can live there. But what we want to do is those... And you have to have a special interest in people to be able to deal, and those who are interested, I want us to get together and set up this kind of program. I was talking to a sister earlier, there's a lot of people passing away because they don't have family to support them, we're able to take care and provide for our community needs. So, that's my concern, and I've prayed to Allah, I said a lot of times I wanted to say something, but that bashfulness kept me quiet. So thank you, praise be to Allah. So that's my concern, I know those of you may know me and provide those services. And God blessed me with the house, I've been praying for almost three years, and I've been just trying to actually get it together and stuff. So for those people that's interested, I'm going to do that. Thank you.

[applause]

0:48:08 IWDM: Yes, we support you. I support you, we support you. Yes, and I know that among the senior citizens who are not able to live alone, or to live without a nursing assistance, and I know that among them are some dynamic persons. Dynamic persons. You can find one in a wheelchair, you can find one on their bed, in the bed. You can find one sitting up and walking around, playing cards maybe, at this facility. We need to find such persons that are Muslim, then we need to have a situation like this, rent the same area, or in some other area, and have cultural nights for them, and have them speak. And get some of our good entertainers, we've got some good entertainer... Got the best, I think. And have them come and perform for the senior citizens and for those handicapped that could make it out, that actually can come on the scene, on the premises, and perform for them. And those who can't participate, make sure that they get a DVD or something, to show it in their bedrooms. This will really help them a lot. If I live to see 1,000 years, and I'd be, as my nephew say, I be dropping dust as I walk along.

[laughter]

0:50:12 IWDM: I'm going to still have life in me, and I'm going to still want to come out and enjoy myself. Yes. And I think most of them want the same, but some of them think that it's all over for them. As you said, they think it's all over for them because they're not shown love. So, Inshallah, I hope that you will carry it a little bit further and actually provide entertainment, entertainment nights for them, maybe once a month or so, where they can come out with each other, but so they don't feel like they're being discriminated against, it'll be open for all of us to come out. We'll all come out and join them and enjoy the program with them, and it'll be their night, it would be their program. And it'll feature one of them to come up and motivate them more. Yes. Okay, so who has the next one? 

0:51:16 S?: Assalam Alaikum.

0:51:17 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:51:18 S?: Yes, I had a small announcement. It's in regards to business this time...

0:51:24 IWDM: Keep your mic a little closer, hold it a little closer, so they can hear it all over.

0:51:31 S?: Okay, there's a bakery, AM pies, that has ceased existence over the weekend. We've been in business for 30 years, and we supported our community for that time period, and now it's over with. And I basically was trying to find out if there's anyone in this building in power to help us re-structure this business, and put it back together, so I can continue to provide jobs for our brothers and sisters in our community. Please come speak with me, I'll be in the vending room. My name's Jamal Muhammad, and I'm speaking for the bakery and my mother, Sister Aziza Muhammad. She was too shaken up, she really wanted to be here today, but her spirit just wouldn't allow it. She tried several times to make it out the door, but she couldn't make it. So, that was basically my statement, and my question. Is there anyone in power to help us restructure? I appreciate conversation, thank you.

0:52:31 IWDM: Yeah, I know Jamal. In fact, I knew him growing up as... Grew up from a child, and loved him and his family. Jamal, did you leave a contact number for yourself? If there are some persons out there who need a contact number.

0:52:51 S?: Well, I have a contact number, but I don't know how long that'll be on. Out of business, all these things just seem to perish from under your feet.

0:53:01 IWDM: Well, how about Muslim Journal's office, and the ministries office both receiving calls or visits from persons who might be interested, and we forwarding the information on to your email, or to your phone, as long as it stays on, and to your address, mailing address. So, leave a mailing address with one of the security guards. You can leave it with the sister right here. Sister on the front row there. Yes.

0:53:47 S?: Okay, alright. I'm going to leave one number, it's a cell phone number, it's 773...

0:53:54 IWDM: And maybe, you should leave an address, just in case we have to forward mail to you.

0:53:54 S?: Okay. It's 934-65...

0:54:01 IWDM: Talk to her, yeah.

0:54:01 S?: Oh, okay. 773...

0:54:09 S?: Repeat it one more time.

0:54:09 S?: It's 773-934-6510. Thank you.

0:54:22 S?: Assalam Alaikum.

0:54:23 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:54:24 S?: My name is Zakira Siddiq, and I would like to comment on the statement that Sister Shakira made. And my heart goes out to the seniors and to the believers that are in rehab and so forth. And I would like to get onboard with you, I've always had that in my heart to do something for our seniors and our handicap believers. I've even just opened a house up in [inaudible] and I hate seeing them in a nursing homes and being alone, and perhaps that will help you as far as getting the city and their services, which they do provide for our handicapped as well as our seniors, and they do have home living assistance. And I wasn't aware of your home that you have next door to you, and I would be more than glad to come onboard and help you with that, and any other service that I can provide. Because they are out there, and they will provide you with home care services for our handicapped and senior citizens. And if anybody else would like to come onboard, that would be great, because we always need finance.

0:55:27 IWDM: Yeah, you know Sister Samira? 

0:55:31 S?: Yes.

0:55:31 IWDM: You know Sister Samira? 

0:55:32 S?: Yes, I do.

0:55:33 IWDM: I know, you should know her very well.

0:55:36 S?: Yes, I do.

0:55:36 IWDM: And I think she knows you very well, too. Yeah, so you have made your interest known so, Inshallah, you all work together and we have more progress for our senior sisters in the situation that they're in, and the handicapped.

0:56:00 S?: Inshallah.

0:56:00 IWDM: Inshallah, yes. And give your husband my greetings.

0:56:06 S?: I certainly will.

0:56:07 IWDM: Alright.

0:56:08 S?: My name is Salaam. Years ago, my mother sat me in her lap, and she picked up her Bible, there's a picture of her cage in the Bible. She said, "It doesn't look like one because of that verse." And also when I was in church, Alabama, they made a selection, and I got up and went to [inaudible]. And on my way I thought, "Oh, good Lord, let me get up and be a follower." Here I am.

0:56:37 S?: Allahu Akbar.

0:56:40 S?: Assalam Alaikum.

0:56:41 S?: Alaikum Assalam.

0:56:42 IWDM: Praise be to Allah. Praise be to Allah.

0:56:46 S?: Assalam Alaikum.

0:56:47 IWDM: Alaikum Assalam.

0:56:48 S?: So with all the senior citizens, me being one, I'm 85 years old at this point in time, and of course my interest is in senior citizens, and not only senior citizens, but a historical society. My husband, John Hassan, never threw away one paper, I have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of his whole history, him with Elijah Muhammad, all the different stages of the growth and the development. And I think it's time that we establish a historical society, number one, because we have all these beautiful senior citizens passing away with such a tremendous history, and then to honor the persons like John Hassan and etcetera, Elijah Muhammad, and all of them that had such beautiful history that will literally go down in history for eternity. So I think that we need an organization, a historical society that's sincere about... I've had people want to come in and take them, and snatch them, and do what they want to do with them, but I think we need an organized, legalized society that deal with it in a professional way, to honor the Elijah Muhammad, all of those that literally gave their lives, and their voice, and their energies. I thank you for just listening to me, and my concern.

0:58:27 IWDM: Yeah. Yeah, I like that idea very much.

[applause]

0:58:35 IWDM: And I'm aware that there's a big effort on the way, and looks like it's progressing very well. It's by mostly the grandchildren of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I was just at a meeting that they had very recently, and they had a lot of... They're very real educated. Most of them are educated and they're professionals with professional skills for the job that they have stood up to, accomplished. To accomplish. And it's very much like what Sister Hassan is suggesting. But I don't think that there should be one effort, we are a national group, we are bigger than we think we are, much bigger than we think we are. The average believer in this community, in this association, you don't know how big this association is. You see it small, you see it in your own immediate environment and immediate connections and situation. It is huge, it's international, it's no more national only, it's actually international also.

0:59:54 IWDM: Okay, so I'm not opposed to seeing more efforts of the same kind, or the same type, and taken up as the responsibility of a select group of persons. For we don't want to be limited to the sensitivities and visions of the grandchildren of Honorable Elijah Muhammad. So let them succeed and Allah be with them, and they will become successful, and let them achieve as much as they can achieve. But I really like the idea of a historical society, also. So I'm with the Sister Hassan, Camila Hassan and supporting your interests with all my soul, my sister.

1:00:43 S?: I would just like to say, to see Elijah Muhammad and John Hassan's name, and all of the workers at that time together, it's so valuable, and I appreciate the fact that you feel that it's something that we need, and I will certainly proceed.

1:01:03 IWDM: You know, I had a lot of parents in the Temple of Islam setup by Mr. Farad and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I had a lot of parents. They were believers who felt obligated because of the way I was presented to them by my father and mother, mainly by my father as one that was named before I was born, and said that he will help Mr. Farad and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, my father, do their work. So that touched the hearts of persons back there, that was actually...
