04/13/1986
IWDM Study Library
Jacob Javits Center
Pt.1
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:20 Introduction: As Salaam Alaikum, We bear witness that there is no G'd but Allah, we bear witness that Prophet Muhammed...

[background conversation]

00:28 S1: Is the last message of Allah. We would like to begin our program with as we do with all of our gathering with this prayer. We would like to recite the first soorah of the Holy Qur'an and we pray Allah all that who know this soorah to recite along with us.

[foreign language]

04:42 S1: That is with the name of G'd. Most gracious, Most merciful. We praise Him. We seek His aid. We ask for His forgiveness. We believe in Him. And we trust Him. And we praise Him this day with the best praise, mighty and sublime is he. And we will never turn away from Allah. I bear witness openly that none deserves worship but Him. And I bear witness that Muhammed to whom our Holy Book, that is the Muslim Holy Book, the Qur'an that was revealed to him a little before 1400 years ago, that he is the last messenger. The last apostle to serve the whole of humanity. To our honorable and noble leader, Imam Warith ud deed Mohammed. To all of our distinguished guests up on the platform, as well as all of you who are in the audience. To all of the imams that have come from all parts of the world. And to all of you that indeed are honorable people that have come from all parts of the United States and all around the world to witness this historic occasion that is affecting history.

06:01 S1: We greet you with the greetings of peace, Assalamu Alaikum, which simply means peace be unto you. And we say a special greeting, Ahlan Wa Sahlan, which means welcome. To the Muslim community of America presents Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, the clear voice for all of humanity. Dear people, when you study the Muslim holy book that is the Qur'an, you find that most of the people in Noah's time were pointing their finger at him, snickering and sneering because they did not understand what he was doing in building an ark to new life and new existence. Thus, as he was constructing his ark for new life right before their eyes, they were saying, "Have you any doubt now? If you had any before that this man is a mad man who is constructing a ship to float on waterless land?" But the one who had the knowledge of reality, and who knew that a ship would actually be needed there in the future in order to guide him and the believers to a new existence was really laughing at their ignorance, and lack of knowledge of the real matter because they just didn't understand.

07:24 S1: Now, from these two lessons are learned as to how we should judge wisdom or the folly of things. One man judges an act to be wise by looking merely at the surface, while the other goes down deep, and Allah blesses him to realize within the resources of his own self, that it is foolish and stupid to continue in a certain direction that is headed for destruction. Meaning that situation; it's time to go. Likewise, the former considers an act to be foolish and mad, while the latter who has the real knowledge of matter knows that it is based on hindsight, foresight, and wisdom which is the very medium that is needed in order for the people to have real consequential life. Praise be for Allah.

08:21 S1: Now this brings us to this profound question, why are the Muslims of America presenting Imam Warith Deen Mohammed the clear voice for all of humanity today? It is because of his beliefs in G'd and His messengers. It is because of his soul. His hindsight, his foresight, which demonstrates it's up through wisdom by the blessing of Almighty G'd. His belief in the Qur'an and the sunnah of the prophet, peace and the blessing be upon him, has rooted themselves in Allah, and it has acted as a strong ship to guide us on emotional waters called modern days and time. When everything and everybody is at odds brothers and sisters, when everything is in a state of chaos, we the Muslims are finding new realms of existence and we are peaceful and progressive. We are progressing in our family life. We are progressing economically. We are progressing socially, as well as communally. But most of 
all, we are progressing with ourselves. And Allah has given us the strength and courage to say today, "We love this great leader, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed who represents strength for all of our lives."

09:49 S1: So we say we are presenting Imam W. Deen Mohammed today because Allah has clearly indicated to us that he deserves to be heard, and because his voice is the clearest voice for all of humanity. So on behalf of the Long Beach region, and all the cities and people who have made this program possible, we say welcome and thank you for your presence here with us today. And we say, relax, relax, relax. For all of you who are spending a good day with the Muslims. And keep in mind that all of you are sharing in making history with the Muslims on this 13th day of April 1986. Praise be to Allah.

10:45 S1: So at this time we bring before you a very hardworking man. It's been a pleasure for me to welcome you here today, and we thank G'd for this opportunity. And we thank G'd to be in this day and time my brothers and sisters. Because the day that you're witnessing, the day that we're all witnessing. It is a blessed day and time. And we should be ever thankful to Almighty G'd. As Salaam Alaikum RahmatuAllah.

11:16 S1: Dear beloved people once again it is that time to introduce a man, that I as a student of life, admire, respect with all sincerity. To in fact, will introduce our leader, the Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. And that is Imam Ali Rashid who has been the resident Imam of the historic Masjid, and that is Masjid Malcolm Shabazz for well over ten years. Also I think, it is significant that we appreciate that this man has been a Muslim for well over 35 years, and he has over and over with tremendous courage proven that he loves Allah and his messenger. For he has weathered what might seem to a whole lot of people impossible odds in holding up this religion, the religion of Al Islam, and the leadership of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. So it gives me great pride and pleasure to bring before you the host Imam, that is Imam Ali Rashid. Takbir,takbir, takbir.


12:54 Speaker 2: With the name of Allah the beneficent, the merciful, praise be to Allah the nourisher and sustainer of all the worlds. Brothers and sisters, friends and visitors, dais guests, and of course the Imam W. Deen Mohammed and his family, we welcome you all with the greeting words of peace of As-salaam-Alaikum.

13:30 S?: Wa-Alaikum-Salaam.

13:32 S2: Brothers and sisters, it is fitting that we the believers of New York, the Imams of New York, the Muslims of New York, the friends of the...

13:51 S2: And I'd like to just, in my conclusion, make this small little quote I got here from the Qur'an, a sentence or two. It says in Qur'an al Karim, "Islam does invite all people to truth, there is no cause for dissembling or dispute. False are people who corrupt Gods truth and hinder men from coming to G'd. Let the Muslims hold together in unity and discipline knowing that they have a mission of righteousness for humanity, no harm can come to them." The Muslim under the leadership of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed has come to us to stiffen our ties in the world at large, and to make this a better place for all humanity. You know the size of a man is not measured by the height, or his weight, or the size of his muscles. The size of a man is measured by the task that he undertakes. I can think of no task greater in all of this world, than to reach down into the bowels of this earth and free this world, and this society of the things that plague the human beings today. To reach down into the moral decadence of our times, and still get out on a religious plane, on a G'd plane.

15:28 S2: A man who comes with the truth is rejected by many, very few people want the truth. And very few people in this world live the truth. But the truth is necessary for us to maintain our dignity, our respectability and our honor in this life time. Brothers and sisters we have come together in this great hall, in this great arena, lavish though it maybe, we did not come here for lavish purposes, to show off the fact that we could spend $ 100,000. We came here because we needed the size of this arena in order to hold the kinds of crowds that we have out here before you today. The message is big so we want a big crowd. We want to be able to get to the all of the people, from New York city, all the way across this Americas, so that the world can hear the honorable Imam W. Deen Mohammed. We want to be able to speak with his voice, the clear voice, to all of the people. An evangelistic movement has arisen here in North America. We want Imam W. Deen Mohammed to be heard the world over, don't you? 



16:49 S2: Well, we going to hear him right now. We going to bring him to the rostrum, and we want to bring him to the rostrum for the sober mind, with careful deliberation, with the ability to sit and listen, and to understand and undertake what is being recorded here today. What is being recorded is going to be played across the length and breadth of this country. What is being said today will be recorded for your edification to take with you and give to others when you leave from here today. We are serious about Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. We love him, not the flesh of the man but the G'd in the man. We love him for the morality in the man, his inclusiveness, his constancy, his unswerving dedication to make sure that we free ourselves from that which has caused us to be on the bottom of the heap in all of humanity. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed is here for us and we bring him to this rostrum so that you can hear him today as clearly as those who follow him hear him. Bring him to the rostrum with Takbir.


18:04 S2: Imam W. Deen Mohammed.


18:28 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Al-Hamdulillahi rabbil alameen.

18:38 IWDM: Let us praise be to G'd. Allah, in the language of our religion, the Qur'an, and our religion, and we wish peace and the blessings and the merciful blessings of G'd be with you all, as we say As-Salaam-Alaikum.

19:02 IWDM: First, I would like to acknowledge, along with acknowledging the mercy and blessings of G'd upon us, the hard work that you have done to make this great meeting here today possible for us in New York at this very lovely and attractive huge facility, the Jacob Javits Center. I got a lot here that I would like to thank you today but I don't know how to feel comfortable without the word of G'd.

19:51 IWDM: That's first and that's last. I was riding in my car, listening to a colleague of the world renowned man, evangelist, Billy Graham. And something caught my attention. The colleague of Dr. Graham, he said, "When you kneel down to pray, you're exercising a power, greater than any national leader on this earth." I thought that was great; especially great to be said to the public. And he was speaking publicly in the United States America. There are many countries where he would not be allowed to say that. He put G'd before man. He put G'd before nations, when he said that when one kneels down to pray to G'd, they exercise a power greater than any leader, any national leader on this earth.

21:26 IWDM: Also I would like to stress our appreciation to the dignitaries who have joined us today. Dignitaries from our own community, Imams, educators, press reporters, people working in government and also in the private sector, and those who've come here today from outside, from outside our community even from outside the United States. Dignitaries from the embassies here in New York and the many others. Immigrants from other countries. One joined us in Chicago and came with us. Came with our senior and pioneering members. That is Sister Nusrat, of Pakistan who has worked hard, faithfully among us in Chicago.

22:52 IWDM: She herself is an educator. Well educated in Islamic Knowledge and also in the secular knowledge; and she has been given herself to us to learn for several years. I was surprised when I saw her at the airport joining the others, and blending in so well and supporting what we are about, in a way that didn't make her conspicuous at all. She's just there with us. There are many more like her, from other ethnic backgrounds, and I think that says a lot for our new efforts as people striving for righteousness, true faith in G'd and a true commitment to the fallen lot of our people. That says a lot for us. It says that we have chains that have not changed for the worst, we've changed for the better.


24:24 IWDM: In recognizing Allah, I would like to express the words of G'd in the Qur'an in the holy book of the Muslims...

Walillahi ma fee alssamawati wama fee alardi wakafa biAllahi wakeelan

24:47 IWDM: To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth and G'd is enough to settle affairs...

Yusabbihu lillahi ma fee alssamawati wama fee alardi lahu almulku walahu alhamdu...

25:11 IWDM: Whatever is in the heavens and in the earth testify to the glory of Allah and for him is the rule for him is the praise. And G'd says, Allah that is says...

Waibtaghi feema ataka Allahu alddara alakhirata wala tansa naseebaka mina alddunya 
25:51 IWDM: And seek by the means G'd has given you the eternal home, the in home, the destiny...

26:06 IWDM: However do not let the... Do not neglect your share of the world. And G'd says...


26:24 IWDM: And struggle, strive not just any striving, not just any struggle but a striving and a struggle that respects, that regards the creator, our lord, the maker of the things that we're using to advance the struggle. A regard for that lord in that struggle and struggle in the path of G'd...

wajahidoo biamwalikum waanfusikum fee sabeeli Allahi (9:41)

26:55 IWDM: And struggle in the path of G'd with your wealth and with your very souls. With your very souls. With your very souls, mean put your own selves into it. Put your personal life into it, put your energy into it, put your concerns your personal concerns into the path of G'd. Put your heart in the path of G'd, put your sympathies in the path of G'd, put your intellect in the path of G'd, put your muscles in the path of G'd. Put all you have in the path of G'd and struggle, struggle not for something that you imagine a fantasy something unreal, struggle for the real things that G'd has directed you to on this earth, in this human environment. And struggle in the path of G'd with your wealth and with your very souls. And again G'd says...

Inna fitnatu akbaru mina alqatli

28:13 IWDM: Certainly, the suppression of man's potential, of his moral potential, of his intellectual potential, of his social potential, of his political potential the suppression of the potential in man that G'd has put there is a worst crime than outright slaughter. An effort or campaign for crushing the will of the common people or the will and spirit of the people is a bigger issue, a bigger crime than the outright killing, or then killing for wealth and killing for territory. Men kill for wealth men kill for territory to expand the great domain of their nation, the domain of their powers. That's not as greater pride as the suppression holding down, holding back, denying the potential that G'd put in man for his dignity, for his freedom, for his function as a total creature on this earth. For surely that kind of persecution is worse than outright slaughter. So we are happy to see better days in America.

29:46 IWDM: We are happy to see better days in the world but we are not going to be so foolish or so naive to overlook the evils, the serious evils that continue the subtle oppression, the subtle evils that continue to work the undermining of the freedom of the common person. It is not altogether our fault that we are spending the wealth of our African American community on quick pleasures, on self-destruction, on getting high, et cetera, et cetera, on image, that shallow, silly fads, silly hair-do's, silly dress 
styles. Many of the youngsters, I see them now, they are wearing the popular dunce cap and they don't even know that's the name of it. But they're wearing it all over the United States, they're wearing a dunce cap, it's not all our fault that we're spending the great resources of our African American people on these temporary and passing-away things.

31:09 IWDM: I won't go into any details to put any particular quarter of our society or personalities in our society, on the spot today. The purpose here today, is really to reconcile our own life and to make peace in America so that can be a real success not only for now, but for generations to come.

31:37 IWDM: But before going further into our talk of our own situation, for which we are getting help, their efforts by people like Reverend Fauntroy in Washington, his colleagues and associates, and many others, even J. A. Johnson of the Johnson publication; he recently said and it was published in our paper The American Muslim Journal, a paper that is shaping up day-by-day and week-by-week and month-by-month to be the paper that we want it to be. Given that our paper that Mr. Johnson in a recent address, addressing the audience of distinguished persons, he said, "We're going to have to mobilize the spirit of our people." And I agree with that and I'm happy to know that we are not alone, we are not alone in recognizing the spiritual poverty of our race. It's not enough to feel good about G'd on the weekend, or to extend your hand to a pitiful person occasionally and go down the path of suicide, suicidal behavior, and see your whole race almost following you or going in that direction toward behavioral suicide and leaving the great aims and great purposes, the great virtues, the great principles, the great liberation virtues.

33:44 IWDM: Don't you know the struggle of our people from slavery, the efforts of our people even during slavery, those efforts as we have saw them continued or carried on by freed ancestors freed blacks or African Americans are joined by so many whites and 
Jews. Because there were liberation virtues, there was a spirit but not only spirit, there were principles. And the old folks used to tell us, "I can't let you behave that way. You have to be a decent person." And they insisted that we be decent. Because they were in a spirit for their liberation and they knew liberation wouldn't come without virtues.

34:48 IWDM: In order to win freedom in a country of Christians, and a country that sought excellence in the people, that sought great excellence, our downcast people knew that they would have to live in accordance with the best of their spirit, in accordance with the best of their morality, and in accordance with best of their mind and principles to be successful in that uphill road and that uphill road, that very painful and painful steep road to equality and justice in the United States of America.

35:28 IWDM: They didn't give up and they were successful. Because the free people seeing the oppressed struggling in that spirit and struggling in the dress of their G'd given virtues was impressed and they believed in the innocent and noble motives of the struggling African American. But something has happened, something has happened, something took place in the 60s, something took place in the 70s. Something had robbed us of that spirit as something had made us abandon those virtues. Now let me continue my reflection on the word of G'd as given to Muslims in our Holy Book, the Qur'an. But in effort to present our religion very briefly and very quickly to those who are not acquainted with it, because we want our American brothers and sisters, our American citizens, that we have to live with, that we have to find peace and settlement among, that we have to work with to realize a great future for ourselves in this country. We want them to know us. We want them to feel comfortable with us.

36:57 IWDM: There are many different kinds of Muslims. There's Orthodox Muslim and the Unorthodox Muslim. There's a proper Muslim and the notorious Muslim. There's the sane Muslim and the insane Muslim. There are many different kinds of Muslim. But believe me, the Muslim that's before you now is not ashamed. I'm not ashamed no matter where I stand, no matter where I go, I'm never ashamed.

37:40 IWDM: And believe me, there are just as many divisions on that line, on the line of quality in Christianity, as there are for Muslims. How many of us know that Hitler was Christian? Hitler was a Christian; an avowed Christian. Just because there was a man named Hitler who committed the terrible atrocities and evils against a people that was weak in his country and weak before him, he had the power to inflict evils on them just because that man Hitler did those things and was a Christian, should that be cause for us to now look unfavorably upon Christianity? No. We can't look unfavorably on Christianity because there's a Hitler in the history of the Christians. And we can't look unfavorably upon the Jew because there's a Zionist material, pardon me, militaristic expansionist war machine in the Middle East called Israel.

39:06 IWDM: We can't look unfavorably on the Jew because of what the Israel, Israelites, or the Israelis have done in the Middle East. They have committed great evils, great atrocities. They have brutalized the weak and helpless people with the great arms they were able to get from America. And the great strength and support that they have gotten from our nation, they have used it unwisely, they have used it savagely against, unarmed and weak people. They're put them out of their homes, into camps, into prison camps. But should we now look unfavorably upon Jews because of the behavior of the Zionist? 

39:48 IWDM: No. The Jew is to be respected for his merits. The Jew is to be respected for his merits. And if some of his people behave unseemly we are not to judge all of them by the behavior of the radical among them. That's my position. And I don't beg anybody to join me. G'd is company enough for me; but I wish we all could be together. Our Holy Book, says, Qul... Don't get nervous, as I might start directing my complaints at something closer to home. If you think that made you nervous, please.

40:46 IWDM: In our Holy Book, we are given concepts for our total life needs; and because the human being is such a special vessel made by his creator for great, great achievement in the spiritual realm and also in the material realm, man cannot move successfully in the path of achievement without a recognition or proper regard for his Lord. So our Holy Book attends the need, most of all or first of all, it attends the need in man to rightly perceive his G'd. Now, when we're talking about perceiving G'd, we're not talking about seeing G'd as we see the material reality. We are not talking about seeing G'd as we see a dog, as we see a house, as we see a sign on a bill, or as we see the mansion that we would live in, no, we're not talking about seeing G'd in that sense.

42:00 IWDM: We're talking about seeing G'd in the sense that you like to see your father, in the sense that you like to see your mother, in the sense that you like to see your children, in the sense that you like to see your friend. You don't see them in material quantity, you see them in qualities; you see them in their plans, in their scheme, in their purpose. And we must see G'd in his plan, we must see him in his scheme, we must see him in his purpose, we must see him in his wonderful attributes of mercy, of mercy the wonderful attributes of perfection, of kindness, of love et cetera, et cetera. That's how we're supposed to see G'd and that's the way we would like to see our loved ones.

42:49 IWDM: The Qur'an gives us first the principle of unity for G'd. G'd is one. G'd is one alone. The Arabic term "Wahid" one and "Ahad" one alone. And G'd says in his holy book "Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem, with the name Allah the gracious the compassionate," he says " Qul Huw-Allahu Ahad, say that he, Allah, is one alone." One alone. This oneness, if we were to actually elaborate on it would take up all the time we have here this afternoon and would make volumes because the learned in our religion, our scholarly Imams and professors in this religion, they have produced volumes on the oneness of G'd. Again G'd says on the concept of unity and oneness " Kanannasi Ummatal Wahida. The people were at first one community, one community."

44:24 IWDM: So, G'd is telling us through the words of our holy book that man, though he is divided now into nations of many different lines, he originally was made to be one community. And then if we're to be successful. We are to be successful, we are to understand this unity because if we don't understand this unity, we will not be able to progress for long as nations or as ethnic groups. There's only so much time on this earth and so much room on this earth for people who take themselves out of the family of man. And again on this unity, Allah the lord of all of us whether we are Muslims or not, we all believe in the same G'd.

45:31 IWDM: But we see with different eyes. G'd says "See they no---the disbelievers, the doubters, the skeptics; see they not that the creation is a composite whole?" So, we believe in the unity of the whole creation. We don't believe that there is some foreign worlds out there some where. We don't believe that there is right in this area here, another dimension and there are some foreign creatures sharing this space with us. Their nature is not like ours, they can do things to us and we can't reach them unless we find someway to plug into their foreignness. We don't believe it. The real Muslim can't accept that kind of stuff, you can't voodoo us, you can't hex us. We're not vulnerable to superstitions.


46:52 IWDM: When we live in a world with that kind of recognition of reality that the great architect of all this vast universe is one. The design bears that out that one designer did all of this. And when we live with the recognition that says one designer has done all of this we as little bitty molecules, little bitty small in units, smaller than the molecule in this vast, vast great expansive phenomenal works of G'd that we have to accept unity, oneness with everything else. It doesn't mean we are not going to have divisions, It doesn't mean we're not going to dislike each other, it doesn't mean we're not going to be prejudice against each other. All of that human nature, human nature. It's human nature because we have limitations. We're not G'd, We're not perfect. We are growing. We're not there. And our destiny is not to be G'd. Our destiny is to be his excellent servants, not Him but his excellent servants. And we're not even there! So we have many weaknesses, we're frail in many respects but we have great strength and we can realize the great life if we realize the great truth first.

48:33 IWDM: Charity in our religion, is a great necessity for the well being and good future of the society: Charity. Because as G'd says where he has create upon an equality, he has also favored some above others and there will be some of us with greater spirit, greater talents, greater skills, and those who will get ahead of the others and soon the others may find themselves at the mercy of the better achievers, the better achievers. So G'd want to sensitize us and keep us in touch with the best of our nature that he's given us. He want us to keep charity in our spirit, to keep charity in our spirit. So in our religion, we are given the concept of charity. It's closely related to the concept of charity in Christianity, and I would even think maybe perhaps in Judaism.

49:40 IWDM: But I know it's very close to the concept of charity for Christians. It starts with a minimum requirement and it goes to the maximum. And in the maximum margin or maximum degree of the exercise for charity we have to be prepared to share our wealth, share our money, share our homes to those who are outdoors, share our homes with them. We have to be willing to give up a lot of that that we hold private and dear for the benefit of those that are shut out. But in our religion, charity is a means for improving society. It is not an end condition. At some time in your life you should want to get off the charity role.

50:58 IWDM: Zakah in our religion according to the teaching of the Qur'an, the holy book which is the number one, the supreme source of information for Muslims. And according to the great work, also in accordance with the great work of the scholars of our religion, Ibn Taymiyyah and many others, the role of Zakah in society is to relieve the pressure on the less fortunate by taking a percentage of the income, the annual income from those more fortunate or from those who have opportunity. 

The figure arrived at by most writers and teachers on the subject of Zakah or charity in Islam, or Al Islam our religion, is 2.5, 2.5% taken on your annual holding. This is not an income tax. This tax does not come off of income, off of your wages, that is. It's not taken off yourwages. It is taken off of your accumulated wealth and whatever you accumulated is considered accumulated wealth. If you have an automobile under this particular concept of ruling, your automobile is accumulated wealth. If you have a garden, your garden is accumulated wealth. Farm, agricultural animals, accumulated wealth; money in the bank, accumulated wealth.

52:53 IWDM: So the range of accumulated wealth under the term, Zakah, is very wide. And we are to give 2.5% on that, two-and-one-half percent on that. That's not the only way that the Muslim society survives economically or financially. There's also Sadaqah. Sadaqah. And there's a great range for Sadaqah. We have Sadaqah Eid and the two great Eid's: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the bigger Eid, or the greater Eid, we have Sadaqah, that is charity, another term for charity, that we give on those days or on those great days. And that charity is expected from everyone, the poor as well as those who are in a better situation. Many times we don't have much to give but the spirit of charity is what's important for human society. And every man, every woman needs the spirit of charity in their lives in order for them to feel healthy and be healthy and meet the great challenges of life.

54:07 IWDM: For if you do not have charity in your heart, you can't meet the challenges of life. Zakat, then, is more than just that 2% tax, it is also free gift, free gift, free gifts that you give freely. We believe in that kind of tax. Also, sadaqah is for many other things, and is taken from the rich as well as the poor, for we have to finance important new projects. We have to finance the defenses of our homes if we are Muslims independent Muslim nations. We have to finance the defense of our homeland. Therefore, there are other forms of tax, other forms of revenue, but in our religion, it is all charity; it is all charity. The role of Zakat, returning to the role of Zakat, the role of Zakat is to improve the social life for the less fortunate, to have the necessities of life, the basic necessities of life, food, clothing, shelter, education; a chance to free themselves from that situation and establish themselves one day. As we say over here in the colleges and universities of our people. "A mind, the mind of man, what a terrible thing to waste". And "it is better to teach one to fish than to give them a fish."

56:01 IWDM: Moving now along, and I hope I'd be able to cover this in the time allotted, if I don't, I promise you we will print this, we will put this in print and make it available to you. At a reasonable price, $50 per copy. (Laughter)
56:25 IWDM: That was to move you up to higher performance.
56:32 IWDM: Our Holy Book on personal responsibility and these concerns are very precious. The concerns that I'm now on, are very precious to the life and real aspirations of the healthy American people. Now I hope you took note to how I worded that. Personal responsibility. G'd says to us in our Holy Book...

Alaikum anfusikum

57:03 IWDM: You are obligated by your own self. Your own self obligates you. You are responsible to your own self. But again repeating that phrase from Qur'an on struggle...

wajahidoo biamwalikum waanfusikum fee sabeeli Allahi 

57:34 IWDM: And struggle in the path of G'd, with your very selves, your very souls. With your wealth, and your very selves, your very souls. So we have a responsibility to ourselves, our own self, our soul and our own personal, private life obligates us. Why does G'd have to tell us that? Do we need a revelation? Do we need that great, great unusual kind of experience, just to get us to accept responsibility to take care of ourselves? 

58:15 IWDM: Well, if you think of the neglect, the personal neglect in the world today, if you take account of the personal neglect in the individual life of persons today, who abuse themselves with crazy physical habits, who abuse themselves with drugs, liquors, who abuse themselves by not even remembering to brush their teeth daily, or to keep up the proper hygiene, risk terrible illnesses that are many times terminal for them. If you consider the behavior of the people today, especially in the big cities, towards themselves, the great degree of self-neglect, you will understand why G'd has to tell us, "Hey, your own self-obligates you." See, even when we, little folks down here, when we tell somebody something, it doesn't have the impact; it doesn't have the force, it doesn't add, it doesn't hit them. As it does when somebody way up there tells them. That's why the networks, the media, can control the spirit of the African-American better than any of our leaders singlehandedly or together.
