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IWDM Study Library
     THESE ARE BAD TIMES, BUT WE ARE AMONG THE LIVING 
PT. 2
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:00 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Found in the company of other tall trees. Those big, strong trees in the same ground will not appear to be sad, will be looking up, branches raised up toward the sky, spirit up, not drooping, not looking down all the time. You do well at home, you are loved by family members and friends, you must be among the living. Congratulations. Most of the public are not like you. These bad times are too much for most of us. These are bad times for moral life, bad times for honesty, bad times for truthfulness, bad time for good done just for the sake of good, bad time for good done without expecting to be paid for the good deed. You do wrong and feel bad, you do good and feel good, you see a person crying and you feel something for that person, you see a clean, pleasant look on the face of someone and your face brightens up, you are among the living, congratulations.

01:41 IWDM: You graduated from high school, you like supporting yourself and sharing with someone else, you are among the living. The day before you went off from your home to be on your own, a family boss there said, "There's not enough room here for two disagreeable bosses." You carry some hurt away with you, but since that bad moment in your life, you have kept living, and living by your own heart principle. You have not stopped giving love to others, you have not stopped caring about others. You are among the living. You are alive.

02:39 IWDM: The dead walking the streets need your life. We love you. These are bad times. But always there's some who survive, survive keeping their life intact because they have something ruling in their life bigger than them and their own power, and that is G-d. As long as we have something ruling in our life, bigger than ourselves, not give in to the weaknesses and the shortcomings that human beings all have, as long as we have an above creation power caring for us, and we caring for that power, to please that power with our behavior, with our lifestyle, we're safe. We won't be destroyed by the evil forces, the bad forces, the unclean forces, the cheating forces of the world.

03:53 IWDM: The future leaders are among the living. They are not the dead walking the streets. The future leaders for us are among the living, and many of them are teenagers right now, they're teenagers, but they are serious minded persons like we are. I am thinking of those in my company, and those representing the great religions, and those in their company, people who are among the living. They sense their presence in the life and spirit of the many among the living. We who are having the good life in us, fortunate because we are believers in G-d, we are among the living. They too suffer set backs, I am speaking of those youngsters who are among the living. However, their spirit is always set to keep on going. The number grows for young people coming up in a nasty world, and nastied by the nasty world. For young people wanting to put their hurt on another person, I say to you, you should be among the living. We care about decency, about our neighbors, about the space we share with others, about our neighborhood, the home and the people living in it next door. One of us making it makes us feel good, even though we are not making it. We are like a solid structure as the Imam from Wisconsin said in our prayer, in the Eid prayers, that we celebrated just a few days ago.

06:03 IWDM: In fact a day or so ago. He said the Muslims and their stand together are like a cemented structure. Yes, we are a solid structure. Closely and affectionately standing in spirit together. We are among the living. We are bones of each other and flesh of each other. We take our business to our own neighbor. In business, we don't go past our own neighbor in business and carry our business to somebody else. We work to see our group body having big dollars. Standing up where we live.

06:53 IWDM: We will live if we think that way and behave that way. We will live economically if we think that way and behave that way. We refuse to die. We refuse to die nasty. We refuse to die an old age boy. Having more will situate us to give more. More education, more growth where it counts, more entering into college with higher literacy scores, more going the full distance to the graduation ceremony. People witnessing a big rise in the number of their community focused on professions. To build a strong and bigger professional class for our poor community and our people.

08:11 IWDM: Such people will live to see the area where they reside supporting not violence and drugs and nasty lifestyles, but supporting structures that are vital to keep human life moving ahead. Moving on, at home, in the streets, and in the structures that we all depend on. Reefers, smoking reefers increase the likelihood of our students failing on the campus. [inaudible]. A person can cry so much and lose the good sense that they have. A person can indulge in fun life to extremes that will cause them to be classified as a person insane. And every life there's only so much space, only so much room. The soul, the psyche, the human mind is known for it's volatile contents. And is measured on limited capacity.

09:44 IWDM: A home to live in has a kitchen, a bath, a bedroom for resting. Fill the house up with fun life, objects, 'til fun life move out. The life of the kitchen, the purpose of the bathroom, such a place cannot support human life. It makes good sense to give space to what helps life. To what it gives beauty to life and gives longevity to life. Whether the subject is an individual or a family or a community, the logic stands.

10:34 IWDM: You who are among the living, fraternizing with the people who love the fun life, going with such crowds, having nasty behavior, you risk losing your good life. Losing the valued contents of the human life. Spiritual life has become man's most critical war zone. Human spirituality is targeted by those who have greed for dominance. No holds barred. That is they will go to any extent to take away from you the G-d given life. To take away from you the life that G-d prescribes for all human beings. They will go to any extent to take that away from you. So you become canon fodder. You become manure. Yes, you become waste for them to recycle. You have no value at home. You have no value in your own life. So they recycle you as waste and make big money.

12:11 IWDM: What is faith? What are we to believe? If we are people of religion, we're to believe in truth and not give ourselves to the influences of falsehood. We're to believe in decency and not give our life to vulgarity. We're to believe in upholding what is true, and upholding what is right. Being a witness whether speaking out over the silence. If people belong to a great religion, we are to be a witness against wrongdoings. Whether the wrongdoings come from a person dear to us, even a family member, or come from a powerful person who's rich that you carry favors from, or come from the government itself. If you are a religious person belonging to the great religions, you're supposed to always be for right against wrong.

13:29 IWDM: You're not to go along with someone you love. Seeing them going deeper and deeper into trouble. Moral trouble, spiritual trouble. See them going into trouble that soon may take them into trouble that will land them in jail. But you're so nice to your friend. You don't wanna tell them, "I don't agree with you." You don't wanna tell them, "I dislike your life, the way you're living it." You don't wanna tell them that you're afraid that they won't be your friend anymore. You're not a true friend. You're the worst enemy that person can have and we have plenty such persons in the public life and in our homes today, we have plenty such persons in our home life and in the public today, who just go along with someone because you don't want them to be hurt. You don't want them to think that you're not their friend and you think you're being a good friend. You're the worst enemy they can have. You're the kind of enemy Satan wants people to have, people that won't stand up for right and won't pull their friend back from wrong.

14:48 IWDM: We're told in our religion that if you see someone doing wrong, just pull them back from that wrong. This is teachings of Mohammed the Prophet, prayers and peace be on him. If you see them doing wrong, pull them back from the wrong. If you can't pull them back from the wrong, at least show them with your looks on your face, show them that you're not in agreement with them. Show them with the looks on your face that you're displeased with what they're doing. If we are people of the great religions, then we ought to show it by the way we live and behave and what we see in the public, the majority of people in the American public do not show us that they are in religion.

15:31 IWDM: So what are we to believe? We're to believe in good actions, good deeds. We're to believe in a supreme power or power above creation that we have to answer to one day. Yes. We're to believe in G-d. We're to believe in righteousness. We're to believe in fairness. We're to believe in justice. We're to believe in moral strength. We're to believe in respect for our parents, whether they are pleasing us or not. And I'm sure it's in the scriptures of the people of the book other than Muslims, but in our scripture G-d says, "Even if your parent strives with you to make you believe, have you believe something for which you cannot find any support from me, keep good company with them in this world."

16:31 IWDM: To a brother Muslim, sister Muslim. A lot tells us in our holy book, the Quran, that if our parents not only disagree with what we are doing, living, our choice, our religion, our Islam, our choice as a religion, but if they strive with us to get us to change and stop believing the way we believe, we're not to cut them off like we used to do in the time of the nation of Islam behind us. Cut them off and say, "Aw, they don't want this religion, so I don't see them anymore." No, you're violating the spirit of the Quran and the words of G-d if you take that position. You're supposed to keep good company with your parents. You're supposed to bear them, they bore you when you couldn't help yourself and couldn't take care of yourself, they bore you. Now they're disagreeing with you and it's a burden, bear that burden and keep a kind face and speak to them with kind words and visit them when they're sick, and call them every now and then whether you're having any problem or not. Let them know you're still their son, you're still their daughter, you still care about them, even if they push you way out of the door. Say, "I'm sorry. This hurts me, but I'll call you later, maybe you'll be feeling better."

[background conversation]

18:00 IWDM: We cannot go on calling ourselves people of religion, and not resembling at all the life that we find in the scriptures that should be the life of the people of religion. What do we believe? We believe that there's coming a judgment day, and everybody is going to be rewarded for their deeds, both their good deeds and their bad ones. And those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, they will be spared, they will be saved, and be able to live again. Yes. But those whose bad deeds cancel out all their good deeds, they won't be spared. They will be given into the hell of fire, and they will be cut off from a renewal of life.

19:04 IWDM: None of us want that. And we as Muslims, we believe that that's not what's gonna happen to the souls in the graveyard only, but that's happening all the time to the walking dead, walking these streets, raising hell, torturing their parents, making trouble for the environment, hurting the hearts of their loved ones with their insane life. Yes. We believe that hell has already come to them. Yes. Hell has already come to them. Hell didn't wait for them to come to the graveyard. Hell saw them looking like that, and walked out of the graveyard, and whinnying hounder, "Hey! You belong to me."

20:11 IWDM: Do we have faith? People of religion supposed to have faith. You're supposed to be able to see your house destroyed, members of your family lost, job gone, and you're supposed to have faith. You're supposed to read the seasons, and get an inspiration to keep on struggling, to keep on living, and living a life of your choice under G-d. Yes. You're supposed to be strong, not weak. In the face of trouble, you're not supposed to fall down. In the face of trouble, you're supposed to remember G-d, embrace yourself, and get a pleasant look on your faith, feeling that G-d is your strength, knowing that G-d is your guardian protector, and He knows your state, He knows your situation, and He has charge over all things. You should rise up, brace yourself, and show faith, and hope, and determination in the face of all that trouble. The loss of your home, the loss of family members, the loss of job, and everything, but you're still walking the path. Still walking the path. Soldier. Praise be to G-d.

[applause]

22:00 IWDM: We're supposed to be able to read the seasons, and see how spring comes. And life comes up so beautiful, and continues to beautify itself. All those little grass growing may suffer drought and die, but it turns golden, doesn't it? It turns golden. Oh buddy! And when the rain comes back, oh it gives 'em a renewal of life. And after a while it's looking just as pretty as it looked before the drought. Little blade of grass. Big all weeping willow, but drooping, looking all droopy. With all of this wealth in statue and strength. That little blade of grass, so flimsy, standing up straight, not drooping. Standing up straight, like wheatgrass. It's called[inaudible] wheatgrass. It means, it's standing...

[foreign language]

23:25 IWDM: Now the time stand for breath. That blade of grass standing up straight, respecting the nature that G-d created it in. Praise be to Allah. Praise be to G-d, that He is. Yes. So, we're supposed to read the seasons. Spring comes and a life comes back. Comes back from what? Comes back from dead. Winter came, and the beautiful dress of the trees, all fell to the ground. But before it fell, it looked at death and said "I won't die without showing all of the gifts of G-d." So it gives us the beautiful yellow, that beautiful orange color. Oh yeah, give us all those beautiful colors in a ray itself in beauty and say "I ain't gonna die before telling you what G-d has done for me."

[applause]

24:29 IWDM: And then it falls to the ground and it appears naked and baring. Nothing but dry bones. All of the soft light has gone back to the earth, and winter stays on us for two or three months some more and spring comes and it's promised life again. We're supposed to believe in a resurrection. We are supposed to believe in life coming behind death. Winter comes and makes everything look bad. I've seen winter in Chicago. So hard, so cold, walk on the snow, the snow is crying.

[chuckle]

25:14 IWDM: Snow crying under my feet. I look for a living thing, I can't see...

