
1990-07-22 The Burden of Misconception Part 3
 Imam W. Deen Mohammed
 (1990-07-22)
 Location: Video Lectures  Page 1


God I started moving away from that situation. Before I started, I said, "Well, no, I'm no Mujeddid, no I'm not a mujahideen, that's not me. That title is too troublesome," I said, "I don't wanna be called Mujeddid." 'Cause we got spooked up that title, you know? 

[laughter]

00:26 IWDM: Then I said, "Well, I'm no leader for you," I said. All of us said, I'm a leader, but I'm not no leader and responsible for your organization, responsible for your mosques. I'm not the leader of the nation of Islam, I'm not the leader of the West community of Islam. I'm not leader of an American Muslim Mission. I refuse to accept to be the leader of them, be called the leader of the American Muslim mission, they know. At that time, I was visiting a man in Chicago. I said, "I'm the leader of this congregation here in Chicago, you're the leader of your congregation wherever you are," you know? I said, "You be sure and tell the people that, too."

[laughter]

01:12: Then... I had, that one thrown in over here, just certain things that we're in the habit of and just can't get away from, that wasn't strong enough, I'm still having the same problem. So I had to come out and say, "I resign."

[laughter]

01:31: I did an interview with that Muslim reporter, I told him I said, "No, I have no administrative office or role at all, except my own office," I said, "I have my own separate ministry, that's my office." I said, "It's in Calumet City," that's it. I said, "I see myself as a Muslim leader with an obligation to people that I have grown up with and have experience with and have been supported by," I said, "but as their spokesman, as one speaking as Muslim, supporting our religion, supporting what we believe in and advising to the best of his ability, advising the people to the best of his ability." I said, "but they don't have to accept me," that's exactly what I told him. I said, "They don't have to accept me," I said, "they can go on, they can disagree with me, they don't have to be... " So he asked about certain people that might think that... I said, "They're entitled to think different, it's their opinion." A few are favoring the Shiites, there's nothing I can do about that. They have the freedom of choice. You think I'm gonna tell you because you favor Shiites that you can't come here and identify with what I'm doing? No. You can favor Shia if you want to. I'm not Shia and I don't favor Shia, but I know that there are a lot of them are very good, excellent Muslims, with very good intentions. I think they made a mistake, their mistake is not near as big as the mistake we made with Yacub's history and all that, but...

[laughter]

03:12 IWDM: But I think they made a mistake, you know? But I'm not gonna say nothing. No, no. No, no, we just are gonna try to present and keep in the focus what we believe in, what we believe to be the best for Muslims. We wanna keep that in the focus. All of us are not going to accept that equally, all of us are not gonna be in agreement with that to the same degree. That doesn't mean... Don't you have children that measure up better to what you want of them? Don't you have friends and relatives that measure up better to what you want of them? The same thing applies to an organization or to a movement or a thrust, for the betterment of a society and our people and society, same thing applies, don't ever treat each other different because of all of them not measuring up the same under certain kinds of requirements, you know? 

04:07 IWDM: And this is something we should emphasize, and this is in our core with the nature, this is real. There are some of us that will be dutiful in prayer, and some of us that will think of God all the time, and we get great merit for that, great merit for that. In fact, that's the best. But if you were just doing that and you are not in touch with the needs of other people, you're just in touch with the needs in your relationship with Allah, but you're not in touch with the needs in your relationship with other people, in your household to start with. If you're not in touch with that, then according to the teachings of our Holy Book and the teachings of our Prophet, your merit is not as great as the people that are not as dutiful or as impressive as you in that particular respect, who are taking care of their family, who are doing constructive work in their society, who are making a contribution to the betterment of other people. You're not as good. You're not as good as those carrying the burden of society on their back, you know? 

[chuckle]

05:11 IWDM: So there are some who are carrying the burden of society, beginning with the family, that's our society, that's our first society, the family. So there are some of us carrying the burden of society on our back, and we are not praying as often as others. And if we still have that consciousness in us, we love God, we appreciate God, we are God fearing, but we are not as conscious as often as you are in making prayers and all of that. When you get to heaven, you gonna be shocked.

[laughter]

05:39 IWDM: To find yourself in a much inferior room to those that weren't praying as often as you. Now you know, we know that prayer for us very serious, because Muslims in America, in the West, the circumstances that we have to live with take our attention away from prayer and sometimes make it almost impossible for us to follow the prescribed daily prayers on the times according to what is prescribed in the Quran and the life of our Prophet, prayers and peace be on him. Yes. So, we know how difficult it is, So I'm not... Don't think that I'm saying this to take any importance away from the importance of prayer in our life. It is the main pillar of our life, prayer. If we stopped prayer, the Prophet taught us that civilization... No civilization fell until they first stopped prayer. Neglected. They left their attention to prayer. You see? 

06:39 IWDM: So, we know how important it is, but still we have to understand too, that Allah intended a full life for us, a natural life, a life respecting the excellence in the nature that he gave us. And if we give too much attention to our relationship with Allah, we become narrow minded, and we become stingy people. Stingy people, selfish and stingy people giving everything to Allah, and nothing to your fellow man. So, we don't want that. In seeing the concept of religion, again I repeat, we have to see the respect in this religion. I have to say sacred respect in this religion for the nature of everything. We believe that Allah has given nature to everything. Khalaqa faswawa.

07:32 IWDM: Allah says, Khalaqa. This is Quranic term, Arabic/Quranic term Khalaqa means he created. Created means he gave you your original self. He gave you your original self Fasaawa, and proportion, gave the proportion. But we must understand also that it is in that original gift from Allah where we find our equality. We're equal. Whatever Allah gave the first human being, he gave all of us because we are the children of that one. And we know that Adam for us is very big. Adam, for us, the Prophet Adam, peace be upon the Prophet and all the Prophets. The prophet Adam, the first human being that Allah made, he, in our eyes, is excellent, noble, excellent. He is most respected father. We're not ashamed of him. Say, "Oh, but he committed sin." We do too.

[laughter]

08:44 IWDM: That's why we are told he committed sin to let us know we will too. Because we are not Gods, we're not angels, we're human beings subject to error. But our holy book does not present him as a man of sin because he committed sin. When they say the man of sin, they're talking about Adam in his fall. Are they not? Yes. So, we don't believe in... We have no concept in our religion the man of sin unless it's Satan, and he's not a man. He's called Jinn.

[laughter]

09:19 IWDM: So, the man of sin got to be all of us who are sinning, but no father. We don't have any father who was the man of sin that we descended from, no. Our father was the man of obedience to Allah. Adam was the man of obedience to Allah, but because he was a common man like us with common human nature like ours, common human nature like ours, he could be tempted. He could be led astray. So, he was tempted by the arch deceiver, Satan himself. No ordinary person could get to Allah's first man. No ordinary creature, pardon me, could get to Allah's first man. It had to be a chief over the creatures, Satan himself. The fiery one. It had to be him. And how did he deceive Adam? By going through Adam's weaker side.

10:16 IWDM: So, that tells us right there he didn't address Adam directly, according to... He didnt' address Adam directly. He addressed Adam by deceit, which tells us that Satan himself recognized that if he went straight to Adam, Adam would reject him. That Adam would reject him if he came straight. So, Satan did not go to Adam straight. He went to him deceitfully, and Adam didn't see that he was being offered something wrong until much later. Then, our Holy Book said that he learned later that he had erred, and he repented for his wrong and turned to Allah, and Allah forgave him.

10:58 IWDM: So, we have a father that Allah made with limitations because he was not... He didn't make a God when he made our father. He's the only God, Allah. He didn't make an angel when he made our father. He made one with freedom, with the freedom to make choices, to use his own intelligence. And that creature is subject to err. But he made him with a nature to turn back to the best. One day he's gonna wake up and realize he went wrong, he's gonna turn back to the best or to the greater, Allah. And he did it, and Allah forgave him. Isn't that a wonderful story to be told? Isn't that a wonderful story to tell our young babies, and young boys and girls that's growing up? 

11:49 IWDM: Yes, we are not ashamed of our father, Adam. We really feel very dignified to say we are the children of Adam, because Allah said that he made Adam to be the ruler or the custodian for Allah on this Earth. Yes. And the Satan and those who were with him said, "We disagree with this." I'm giving it to you short, we're not gonna quote it because we wanna save time too. "I disagree with this." What did Allah say to them? "Wait until I have breathed of my breath into him. I just made him. He's a natural man. Surely he's a natural man, but you haven't seen his full potential yet. This is a natural man that I made. He's a natural man, but you haven't seen his full potential. I've given him the potential or capacity to do wonders, to do more than the angels have done, once I have breathed of my breath into him."

13:02 IWDM: And we know that whatever breath Allah gave Adam, he gave us a piece part of it too. Allah says in our Holy Book, "And he hath given every human being a part of that same breath or spirit, the Holy Spirit." So you say, "I 'ain't got that part." I guess Adam said that too when he found himself under the clutches of Satan. I'm sure he probably said that too. If he was listening to someone preach, he probably said in that condition, "I sure 'ain't got no Holy Ghost in me." That's because he had been taken off course as perhaps you are, you see? But you can repent as he did.

13:47 IWDM: Yes, so we know that Allah made the natural man the natural man. The natural man with perfect human nature, and with limitations. He made that man to be responsible on this earth, to be responsible on this earth. Now the gift that Allah gives him in creating him won't take him all the way. At times he's gonna meet developments, circumstances in his life and before him that's gonna require that he turn again to his creator, to the one who created him and gave him that excellent existence. Turn to that one for additional help. For forgiveness many times because he's gone wrong. Turn to him for additional help to meet the challenges that will come as we live on this Earth and make trouble for ourselves.

14:43 IWDM: Yes. So that's the way we see man in the religion and that's the way we see Allah. Allah, God, is the creator of everything. He's not a God that has human weaknesses. He does not have human weaknesses. We cannot think of Allah in the image of a human being. Allah is not in the image of a human being. You say, "Well, we are in his image." That's not the language of Muslims. In the first place, we don't try to image Allah. We know Allah through what, by and through what he has revealed of himself. If he revealed of himself that he has no physical form, that he's not contained in matter, in the earth or in any vessel, any idol, or in any creature, we have to accept that and we cannot picture or visualize God in any human person or in any object of the creation that he has made. He is the creator. Everything else is creation. He has not made any mistakes with his job of creating. We don't believe that Allah made a mistake and had to do it all over again.
 

??

??

??

??

	1990-07-22 The Burden of Misconception Part 3	

05/25/15 		Page 1 of 4





