12/18/1999
IWDM Study Library 
The Importance of Prayer

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
IWDM:
All right. So, let's go to something else now. It is about 2:20. I think it's pretty close to Asr. What time you say Asr is? What time?
Speaker X:
2:40
IWDM:
2:40?
Speaker X:
Yes.
IWDM:
So, we only have a little more to go, so let's see what we can do.
Speaker X:
2:40
IWDM:
Yes, I think we have time. We can cover this. Now this verse is also in the same chapter, Suratul Nur and come very close to what we have been discussing already. Excuse me. This is chapter 41. I mean, pardon me, verse 41 of this chapter 24, and we want to talk about prayer just for about 15 minutes. Prayer.
For the five prayers, but I'm listening. Now, I also have to mention the problem in this society. You got the homeless and they want the Masjid open all the time so they can sleep in there.
They're looking for a flophouse. That's an old expression. They are looking for a flophouse, and if you let them use it for a flophouse, pretty soon, you'll drive away all the decent people. The decent people will be getting away. They come in there, smell body odor and stuff from people sleeping in there and put their nose down to the rug, and smell feet, toe jam.
That's a little bit too much to bear, and that happens. That happens. That's a little bit too much, so you make it available to the praying ones, but insist on... was all I said. Look, this is something serious. Brother Imams, I know you don't mean any harm. You're not doing this intentionally. But let me bring these things back to your conscience. It's all about prayer now.
Before you pray, you're supposed to be clean. And the clothes you wear supposed to be clean.
Allah said to the Prophet and to us, "And your clothing. Make them, to have them clean. Not just your body but your clothing. Have them clean. Clean them. The Prophet was already a clean man. That wasn't for him. Through him we are taught. That's for us more than it was for him. He was already a clean man before he became a Prophet. He was a very clean man. You have to have clean garments on before you pray.
And our bodies have to be clean. If we've done anything like have sex or something, we're supposed to take a full bath, not a wudu. Supposed to take a full bath before coming to the Mosque or doing your prayers. Why? Because this is so offensive to G-d? No, because you may smell. And we may smell you in the prayer and that'll disturb our prayer. You'll remind us of what you just did last night or something. Nah, I mean for real, I'm not making jokes. This is just real.
So that's the benefit. Just wash yourself. Stay clean and have clean clothes on. And then G-d told him also "And clean the place."
So, Brother Imam is responsible to keep the carpet clean. The carpet can't smell, and you go down there, and it smells, bring the shampoo again. Shampoo the carpet. It's got to be clean. If we obey our religion, you don't have these problems. Here's something that's very important. And when you come to the Mosque, the places of worship, be in your most beautiful apparel. So, you Imams go to your job and work for your bosses, non-Muslims, in nice suits and stuff, and come to the Mosque like you've just been jogging or going out jogging.
You got to stop that. Got to stop that. Don't come to the Mosque in clothes that you wouldn't wear to the formal, to the best place you're going, or to your professional job. Would you feel that you're dressed up with a shirt and a tie. At least put a dress shirt on, and put a jacket on, and put nice pants on, and have them clean and pressed. We don't have to go back to 1930, '40, and '50, do we? And start inspecting your shoes and see if you've got a crease in your pants. We don't want that kind of regimentation of our people, do we? I'll order it if you all don't straighten up. And believe me, I got a lot of people that I've met that will put it into effect.
Prayer is very, very important. And we're going to have to finish after prayer.
We don't have enough time to finish now. I want to discuss prayer as established prayer. Established prayer. As an institution. Each of the four.... Even Shahada is an institution if you understand it. Each principal of Islam as defined; they are institutions all to themselves. They're separate institutions. Salat is an institution separate to itself. And we want to discuss it as an institution in Islam. That means the proper formal prayer that we do. The five daily prayers we do. Not the Eid prayers. It's just that the five prayers are enough because these prayers are similar.
And then we want to discuss what constitution in the believer that makes him want to pray to his G-d and love prayer. What is this makeup? What is this makeup in us that makes us want prayer and then to have a nature to have prayer. We don't have a full life until we have prayer to G-d. What is this in us that is identified also with non-human creatures that G-d says that every creature knows his mode of prayer and not only his mode of prayer but also his dhikrs. His Tasbiha. Okay.
Insha Allah we will return to this as soon as we make Asr prayer.
Now. We're going to have some words on prayer, comments on prayer. But before we go to our comments on prayer, we want to look at purity in Islam, and temptation. Coming from the greatest tempter and that's a sin, that is. Greatest tempter who tempts us to sin is Satan himself. But first we're going to go through Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 267. 267.
Spending for Allah's pleasure, spending as worship, as part of our worship of Allah. Everything we do that's correct Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him, he says that it stands as an act of worship. Everything. So, anything done to please Allah, or to serve Him in our homes or in the society is an act of worship for which you get credit, blessings. Both prayer and charity require of us that we be clean, pure, conscious. And the meaning of prayer in Arabic. Qur'anic Arabic term, Salah, is also a reason for purity.
And for the word charity, it's the same. The word Zakat has, in its meaning, also purity. Purification. Purity. And then the special meanings are not accidental, but they are addressing issues and problems or issues that were with the People of the Book, and most likely still existing on the pages of their Bible or scripture, Holy Book. I remember reading in the Bible, where some people were experiencing some very frightening things happening and when it was finally understood it was because they held back charity. They had really more to give without hurting himself themselves then they accepted to give or acknowledge or made known.
So back at their homes, there was like an earthquake that was shaking their homes, houses, shaking like an earthquake, disturbing it. House was just shaken into shambles. And it was because they had falsified what they had for charity. They had more but they had held back. Now, when I read that I said, "Oh boy, that's something. That's some real supernatural stuff happening there. House shaking and floors trembling and everything just because the people weren't honest when they were asked to give in charity, and they said it was all they had, and they had more left back at home".
So, I'm going to read something to you that I think addresses that. I said I think it addresses that. Which means you don't have to, it's not something, I don't give out sacred pages. I only read them. Now let's see where.... I know it by heart, but I don't know it by verse. I got it marked here somewhere. Yeah.
Verse 267. "Oh, you who believe." Let me say "Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem"(With the Name of G-d the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer) Oh you who believe give of the good things of which you have honorably earned and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced for you. And do not even aim at getting anything which is bad, in order that out of it, you may give away something, meaning in charity which you, yourself would not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that Allah is free of all wants, and worthy of all Praise.
So, this is addressing the mistake that some people make of thinking that they can give G-d and pay for sin or make up for their sin. That belief that I could do wrong and then give the church something or give the minister something or give the Imam something, or the mosque or whatever, and that'll fix or erase the sin from my record will eventually lead us to actually doing sin to make money and claim that "Yeah I'm doing this sin to make money but I'm doing it, so I'll have something to help the masjid. I'm doing wrong, but I'm helping the masjid".
I have known in my time long before I became a leader that there were those who sold drugs and was giving the money in charity. Some of the big people. "Oh, you who believe, give of the good things which you have honorably earned. And have produced from the earth what We have produced for you"
And have produced from the earth what We have produced for you and do not even aim at getting anything which is bad in order that out of it, you may give away something when you yourself would not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that Allah is free of all wants and Worthy of all Praise. So, we're told that you would be ashamed to accept it yourself consciously being aware of where it came from or how it's gotten. And you wouldn't want it mentioned to the public. That's what it means. You wouldn't want that to come to public attention. You'll want to keep it a secret. Closed eyes mean you want to keep it hid; you want to keep it a secret.
So, we're not to give in charity or work to help our community, and the work we're doing is something criminal, like drugs or whatever. Are you in the liquor house? You own a liquor house and you're putting money into charity. Not accepted. No good. Not accepted. And that would be selling anything harmful to the public forbidden by G-d. The money from that would be haram and not accepted to charity because charity can only be Zakat or Sadaqah and all of these words have strong message of high virtues. High refined life of virtues.
Sadaqah is like truthfulness. Truthfulness. Been certified by truth and honesty. Sadaqah. We say "Sadaqa Allah Azeem when we read the Qur'an, right?
We witness that G-d said this-Truthfully spoke G-d, The Mightiest. And Zakat is directly connected to what I would call ethics. Meaning ethical, ethical conduct. Ethics, ethics, associated with ethics, Zakat. It means involvement of high moral sense, and rational sense. Clean and intelligent all together. These are meanings that are locked up in the word Zakat. In purity. Zakat is pure and of purity and so is Sadaqah.
And this is very general giving that is mentioned here. Antaqu. Antaqu means just to spend. And it covers Zakat. It covers Sadaqah. It covers giving even outside of Zakat and Sadaqah. Although we know anything giving the respect for Allah and to obey Him, if it's given you can call it a charity if it is beyond our obligation. If it's beyond our obligation. Now we have an obligation to sustain our life, to buy ourself food, to take care of our children, our wife, etc. But in a real sense, when you do it to please Allah, even when you're taking care of your family it's a charity.
Yeah. You're getting food for the house and paying the rent and all that. That's Zakat when you are conscious of your obligation to do what Allah wants you to do. Conform to what Allah has asked of you. So really your whole life, your life is charity, that's why your whole life should be a life of prayer. Because your prayer goes beyond, that's what we're going to be discussing in a few minutes.
Your prayer goes beyond the formal prayer that we just did upstairs. Your life should be a life of prayer. And if we live the Muslim life that Allah has designed it for...With His word and His Messenger, His servant and Messenger, Muhammad, then our whole life will be a life of charity and a life of prayer. A life of worship as the Imams and teachers in Islam say. The whole life would be a life of worship.
Now, let's come to the tempter now. Let's come to tempter. The great tempter. The great force of temptations to take us away from this life that Allah wants from us. This life that'll help our families and the society and bring the whole society to be one healthy, peaceful, family working together for the good of the whole. That's what Allah wants. When you look at the, when you turn towards the qibla, called the Ka'aba, and you remember that G-d calls it a house and the very warm, cordial, intimate nice term is used. It's not dal. Dal is house too. But it's not called dal, it's called Bait. Bait is your private home where your wife and your family exist. That's your Bait. So, G-d has called what you're facing home. Very special, close, intimate, private home.
He called it that to say to us, "I have created you all to live together as one family and share the whole earth as though it was your private home." This is a sign of a good life. This is a sign, it's our symbol of unity, the unity of mankind, the unity of all people. A place called home. So, if we want to do a commentary on it, a foresee on it, we have to bring that message home. Bring that message to the forefront, that G-d has created all people to want peace and security. It's a place of peace, it's a place of security. To want peace and security so that they don't have to fear someone's going to violate their privacy, someone is going to try to take their life from them, someone's going to kidnap their child for some reason, someone's going to take their possessions out of their house, steal something from them, or take them off of them.
So, it's in man's soul to want a condition on earth where you don't have to live in fear, fear of his neighbor, his brother, or the next person down the next door, or the traveler. It's going to disturb his peace by violating his privacy and his life. This is what man wants. So, if you can accept this Brother Imams and all of you, if you can accept this, it will be very easy for you to follow the Qur'an. It will be very easy for you to support my leadership. What we're working for then is to have a family condition. A good family condition, not just a family, this is an excellent family. This is a family under G-d, a family of believers, believing in the Lord, Creator of the heavens and earth. The aim is to have a family condition for the whole of mankind on this earth. To have a family condition where we don't fear each other. Like a good family, the members don't fear that someone is going to steal something from them. I don't fear that they're going to do an injury to them or violate their rights in the house. Everybody's conscious of each other.
I thank Allah, I can leave any amount of money anywhere in my house, I don't worry about any of my children taking a thing, and my wife too. I thank Allah for that. Yeah. Because that hasn't always been the case. I mean, not with me. I have lived in a house with my parents, and someone in the house, in the family, had been punished for stealing something. In my family, when I was a child raised up in the house. But never have I had to punish anybody for stealing, stealing anything. If I leave anything anywhere, they don't touch it. Why? Because I trust them. I don't hide anything from them. I don't treat them like I'm afraid they will hurt me or take something from me. I tell them, it's all theirs. I say, "I'm one person in this house". I say, "I can't eat as much food as all of us can eat." I say, "So who is the food for?" I say, "I'm one person." I said, "If you knew your father, he'd be satisfied with one room, and a nice floor, a blanket, no furniture" I said, " So who is all this for?" I make them conscious of their ownership. If they steal it, then they're stealing from themselves.
Now, I'll clothe them. I spend my money too. I said, "I got money too." I said, "I got more money than I can use myself." I said, "Who do think Allah blessed me to have this money?" Why Allah blessed me to have this much money, right? I get a call I got to feed more than myself, I got to look out for more than myself. This the way I talk to my family. I've been doing it for years. None of my children have ever stolen from me. They have never stole anything from me. Or their mother, or anybody. Nor from each other. They won't do that. And I have not been saying a thief is evil or thief is bad. I had never even used the word thief. G-d is my witness, I never even had used the word thief to them. So, if I can do that in my house, can't we do that in the world too.? If you can get people to buy a state, you can get people to fill the air with the same sensitivity and the same trust and respect that I fill my home with.
We can make this earth like that. Don't think that this is utopian, that you can't have it. You can have it, but you have to work for it. Believe me, some of the best people who will be trustworthy and loved, are those who are now criminals. Then you'll have to live that way. They'll will be forced to think they'll have to live that way. I'm not saying all of them are innocent, no. Some of them are just incorrigible. They won't change. No matter what you do, they ain't going to change. Oh, there's something to do just to have that Prime Time institution out there I was telling you about earlier. That's something to do, all right. To make them conscious. But it takes something like that to make them conscious. But the majority of them are good people, they're just victims of bad circumstances. Bad circumstances are getting right in the house. Parents saying, "Get out of that refrigerator. Get out of my refrigerator." How come it's your refrigerator? It's for the house. Don't be that possessive. "Get out of my refrigerator. What are you doing using my good china. Put that back." It ain't never too good for your child.
If you're thinking they'll break it, don't let them know that you don't trust them with it. You just tell them, "You like that suite, isn't it? Yeah." Let them eat out of it one time. Let them go and use it. And then say, "When you're finished, I want to wash that myself, I don't want it broken. I'm saving it for a special guest that's coming over, and we have to have those for the guest, for the company. See, I don't even use that myself." Now, if you sit down there and eat with a gold trimmed plate....No, it's not for you. It's for your guest. You're supposed to treat guest extra nice, something special for your guest. But let them hear all your secrets that a child can hear. Let them hear all your secrets that a child can hear. Don't be afraid to trust them with all your secrets. They feel free and comfortable in the home that's theirs, and ain't no big deal anymore. Unless outsiders come in. I heard my daughter saying, "If you keep saying that I'm going to make you get out of my house." That's what my little daughter said to one of her friends. They were way out of it with her little friend, it wasn't bad. I was above that.
But I thought about it. I said, "Well, she's right." This is her house. See, I didn't say anything, I let her handle it. She got some respect too. I guess she said, "You don't belong here." And she was right because I taught them it's their house, our house. Not people outside no, it's not their house. She was right. There's another reminder in the Qur'an of how we should not have double standards. Double standards for justice, double standards for righteousness. Don't have no double standards. And I'm going to mention this along with this verse that says, "Don't put into charity a dear friend." This is very broad. That mean you can't spend into the society. It's not the term, that ain't the term that's used, it's ante ku. So, if we can't spend money, it means in the public system. If we can't put money in the public system that's come from something unlawful, that means we cannot sell pork, we cannot sell whisky. And any Muslim that's doing that, they're violating the law of the religion. Not to mention support the drug traffic or sell reefers or something like that. That's really a problem. That's really, really serious, serious, serious criminal matter in Islam. Very, very serious criminal matter in Islam.
And also, a crime, unlawful in our society. You're not supposed to sell drugs. Now, I don't know if they're talking about legalizing reefer somewhere. But as far as I know, in Chicago you'll still be locked up for possessing reefer. So, another reference says, "Don't say we have no obligation to these people." Meaning that they're not Muslim. Or you say they're not Muslim. Or they may be not Muslim, that doesn't matter. They're not Muslim, so you have no obligation under the law with respect to them. That if they come in your store, you're not obligated to be honest with them, give them the same price you give the Muslim, and not sell them bad or interior stuff, or unlawful things. So, the Qur'an is complete. It doesn't leave out anything as Allah says, that they will be amazed. They'll say, "What kind of revelation is this?" Leaves out nothing, big or small. Yeah. We know it leaves out mini things, small, and there's just some things big. But when it comes to what we need for religion, and what scripture has been addressing to from the time of Abraham or before till now, Qur'an leaves out nothing, big nor small.
So, I said, "Don't say we have no obligation to these people." Meaning, don't say we have no obligation to them because they're not Muslim. So, we have no obligation to the Muslim, it's not my obligation to him. Your obligation is to truth, virtues truth, honestly, justice. If you've been wronged by anybody it's wrong. When you look at the Islamic world and see the bad condition of Islamic world in terms of their awareness of the respect that they should have for their public, and for members in their public. You can understand that ruin and that deterioration in the Islamic society or community life. So, you look at what G-d ask of the believers, and look at what they're doing to non-Muslims, and even to Muslims. They'll look at you, you're Muslim. Not all of them. I know there are angels among the Muslims. There are holy men and saints and angels. They are impeccable Muslims who are rationale and everything. We have men, honorable men, honorable angels even, among the Muslims of the world. We know that. I'm not talking about those few, I'm talking about the ones you're running into all the time.
And the ones you'll see most likely when you go to their country. They fit this description. Now, this wouldn't be in the Qur'an if they weren't some people among them already like that. So that was in them even in the time of the Prophet. They had the Prophet as their leader, and they were guilty of these things. Now, what you think now that the Prophet is gone and not sitting here among them, what do you think will happen now? If they were that bad then, what do you think would happen now? They're just lost and swaying from the real purity of Islam. Everything you see what's happening. Lottery. Go in his store. He may not care for you, but when his brother comes in from his race, As Salaam Alaikum. The lottery is there, the liquor is there, the pork is there, the pig is there, maybe even some little reefer holders, to hold the reefers. All that stuff's there. Not conscious, he's getting out of it what he wants, might be selling drugs in there. Come on. Not all of them. They're no better than the worst people in our own society. They know better, but they say, "As Salaam Alaikum". And you tell them you're Muslim, "do you pray brother"? Do you do what I don't do brother?
Do you pray five times a day? You do. Do you do what I don't do brother? Do you believe in Allah and Muhammad the Prophet? Do you believe what I don't believe brother? They will acknowledge that, maybe pretending like they believe all that, right? That they do prayer, that they believe all that. And they ain't nothing but liars. And we should get ready to show them up with our obedience to Allah. Not attacking them. This is only for you; I don't want it to go outside these walls. Only for you. Don't go out there telling the immigrant Muslims that Imam WD Mohammed, unless you want to make trouble for me. And if you want to do that, help yourself. I'll stand up for whatever I do. Anywhere, any day, anytime. I wake up 4:30 in the morning and answer for what I did. Yeah. But you, you scum bag dog you, you're going to get the punishment for being that way. For trying to hurt Imam WD Mohammed's image in the eyes of other Muslims. You're going to get the punishment. In fact, you're under there already. It's going to get worst for you. The more you have that mind, the worse it's going to get for you. Nobody will be able to help you buddy.
But don't think I'm afraid of them, I'm not afraid of them. I don't live for them; I live for Allah. I'm not afraid of them at all. I don't care if they all dislike me, it wouldn't matter a thing with me, a bit with me. And if I was among them, you think I would hide what I'm saying to them?
Audience:
No.
IWDM:
But it's not just for you to take what I say to you to them. And when I'm with them I remind them of their bad behavior. I never dislike a person because they were better than I was. I was happy..... I just thank G-d that there's a person that's good. There's a lot of people better than I am. I thank G-d that there are more people better than I am. That's good. The more good, the better. And I never have felt uncomfortable with a person better than me or worse than me. Reminding me what I should be like.
Now, anyone who wants to remind me what I should be like, I accept it. And I don't care how wrong you are, I don't see you at that time as the wrong person, I see you as a person trying to help me do right. But most of us can't be like that. If we can't be as good as the next person, we're then uncomfortable with them being that good. If we can't bring everybody down to our low level, we ain't happy. So, I believe that's part of the hell that's fixed for people like that. You can't be happy because people are better than you. When are you going to be happy? Never. Because there's always going to be people better than you. So, your worry is eternal. And the Lord know I'm trying to encourage you right now, for your own good. So, you'll have happiness, so you'll be free of that demon in you, and have a good life. So, the tempter now. We come to the tempter. Allah says "Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem". The evil one threatens you with poverty and encourages you to conduct unseemly. Now, this is the revealed long, long time ago. 14 centuries. Now, that's a long time, isn't it?
But look how it applies. That's how relevant this is today. So, you look at the people who are supporting the unlawful and getting money and getting wealth off of the unlawful. And how they close their eyes to the wrong that they're doing, and how the society that they're influencing resembles the society of Satan. Yeah. Help the brother there. Estimate how much we can take. And some of us will even ignore our medicine, don't do that. Don't ignore taking your medicine. Especially if the doctor say, you should take that medicine. If the doctor doesn't excuse you from it during the fast hours, then you take your medicine. In fact, a question, that was put to me, and while I'm doing it since you've already blocked me, I've been separated from this verse here, from this Ayat. So before going back to it, a question. "In Ramadan for someone who has to take medicine during the daylight hours, and they have to take it with water, and they take the pill and take water with it, is that breaking their fast? Yes, it is. It's breaking their fast. Why? Because there's an exemption phase, the sick are exempted. So, you shouldn't be fasting.
Now, say your situation, and the situation of another brother I know that's present here. He brought his situation here to me too today. You all know him very well. I don't want to tell you who he is unless he wants to say who he is. And if you don't have to take your medicine but once in every 24 hours, so you can take it at night. But occasionally, he forgets to take his medicine. And it was day, and he had forgotten to take his medicine. So, he had to take his medicine, so he took it in the day. And he asked me, "Have I broke my fast if I did that?" So, I told him, "It wasn't you consciously not taking your medicine in the night and waiting till the day, you forgot. That's forgiven, that's excused. You didn't break your fast. I said, "You should continue to fast." So, at this point, he can fast because he only had to take it one time a day. He takes it in the night, night hours. So, you, if you have to take your medicine three times or four times a day, you have to take it in the day. And if you think you don't have to take it, then don't you do it without you doctor's permission. Go to your doctor and ask your doctor. Say, "I think I can go these hours without taking this medicine. Is that okay?" If your doctor feels comfortable with it, then you do it. If your doctor does not feel comfortable with that, you cannot fast. No matter how much you want to fast, G-d does not want you injuring your life and injuring your health and putting your health and putting your life at risk. In fact, that's why He said if you're sick, you're exempt from fasting.
Imam, the nurse wanted to know if anyone here has a glucose monitor.
I don't. I don't have one. Does anyone here have a glucose monitor for diabetics?
Speaker 1:
Yes.
IWDM:
Yes. Sister has one. She's coming. Told you this community is ready, man. Yeah. You told me that. David Hassan, he's been telling me that. Say, "Imam, everything you want, everything that we need is in this community." That's what David Hassan said. And it's been coming forth too. We've been seeing that. So, we thank Allah for you all, and our brother InshAllah is going to be fine. Now, let us come back to the Qur'an reading. The chapter 2, Al-Baqara, verse 268 now, we read 267. 268. Now, 268 follows 267.
Now, 268 follows 267. What does that tell us? There is a direct connection between 268 and 267. And the connection, I was already discussing it, that any society that permits people to do the forbidden in the name of goodness, that actually we are helping the society, but they know they're doing a wrong, a sin. They opened the way for the devil to influence the society and put his design on the society. And don't let nobody tell you that this country did not welcome the devil. The United States of America welcomed the devil. And the devil has his presence in these United States more than he did anywhere on this earth since time began. Do you hear what I'm saying?
So, what Dr. Fard saw and what he identified was not incorrect. He saw the presence of the devil in the Western world order and he's correct. Now that my eyes are open, I know he was correct. If the devil had a presence anywhere in the creation, it was right here on this earth, in these United States of America. Look how they separated us from humanity. Separated us from humanity, we weren't even human beings anymore, we weren't full human beings. Separated us from humanity, made lawful any and everything. Not lawful, but acceptable in this society. Drinking whiskey is lawful, it was legalized. It was legalized, but it wasn't always legal. They knew it was wrong to be...
The Bible say, the drunk beat him or banish him from the society. The Bible is not supporting liquor and alcoholism. That's not supported by the Bible. They say, "Oh, the Bible say take a little bit for your stomach's sake. Take a little bit for your stomach's sake. Well, thats medicine that's saying take it as a prescription for illness. That's okay, they do that. They put a little alcohol in some things for certain illnesses. It doesn't say drink it like you do milk and lemonade. It's a sin to take the mind from the people and that's what alcohol will do, and drugs will do. It takes the natural mind, a normal mind from the people. That's a great, great violation of G-d's laws. But they allowed it to flourish and thrive in the society. Finally, drugs came. Drugs just everywhere. Prostitution, child pornography, everything you can imagine.
Now, the devil ain't here. Where is the devil? Every sin that you can imagine is right here. Now, the devil's not here. Tell me, where's the devil? In my heart? You crazy. I never had that kind of stuff in my heart. And the worst criminal out there, he ain't got the capacity to having himself all the wrong that's out there. So, if there's any kingdom of the devil, the kingdom of the devil is in the United States and in those other countries of the Western world that license all these wrongs, or at least turning a head and let it happen.
So, you all wake up. You all wake up. Say, "Well how can you be President and get that certificate from the State Department?" Because I'm the man I am, that's how come. They know I'm not a hypocrite. They know I'm not saying what I say good about United States because I'm a weakling. I'm not speaking from weakness when I say I love these United States, I'm speaking from strength, not weakness. I'm not no Uncle Tom. Ain't no Uncle Tom here, buddy. So, I'm not saying this because I'm emotionally in love with the United States or with their democracy. I'm not saying that for that reason. I'm saying it because I see a more important United States that good believers in G-d cherish, respect and love. But, on the other hand, I see, too, this combination that they give Satan and wrongdoers.
I know that's not their intention. That's their big mistake, not their intention. Their intention is to have a beautiful nation, fair of our citizens and accepted by G-d. That's their intention, that's what they want. So, I'm with them, with all of them. President of the United States, both parties, Democrats and Republican. I'm with all of them for that. This is the real destiny, this is the real aim, this is the real life that the good people want. But, to keep the bad people from overthrowing the government, they think the only safe way is to let them have their, accommodate them, too, in our society. Accommodate them to a certain extent. Smoke all the reefer and shoot up. Do everything you want at your own home. Don't let my daughter see you doing it, I'm going to lock your ass up or string you up or chop your head off with an axe on Primetime television.
If I could execute what I want, that would be what I would have. Now, you do what you want in your private room by yourself, don't let my daughter see it, don't let my son know about it. Don't let your stuff spill out of your house, your private quarters into my house. If you do, we're going to check it and get rid of it. That's the way it should be. It shouldn't be in the public self, that some cities, Philadelphia, I lived in that city for three years. And, Philadelphia, they knew selling whiskey was wrong. So, on Sunday you couldn't even buy whiskey in Philadelphia. I don't know about now, they might have changed the law since I was there, but on Sundays you couldn't go to the state store and buy any whiskey. It was controlled.
So, that shows that they know is not right. At least on Sunday, they tell the devil, "Close up shop." I don't mean the shop owner is the devil. The devil is the influence in the society, that have brought this accommodation about for him and his wrongdoings. It's the influence. It's not any individual, but his presence is on this land, on our soil. His kingdom is on our soil. You won't find his kingdom in Mecca, it's on the soil of the United States and other European countries that have the same law as the United States, to accommodate the devil. Satan. Allah says, "Fight the schemes of Satan." Fight the schemes of Satan mean fight his design, you don't look for the individual. "I'm looking for Satan, it's a white man. I'm looking for Satan, it's a German." No, I'm looking for evidence of Satan's presence. That's his scheme. And when I find an unlawful, Allah says, "Surely, these sins, this sin, that sin, and Khamar, alcohol. Anything that takes away your consciousness, your natural mind is from Amana Shaitan, the works of the devil. Astalay bu.
So, what I'm saying to you, I told you I never come, but from scripture. What I'm saying you, has already been said by Allah, that these things are from the works of the devil. So, if I find drugs and alcohol and the people encouraged to drink, is selling it on television, encouraging them to drink all this stuff everywhere you go, and they're suffering alcoholism in this society, et cetera, and crimes and unnecessary murders, killing people on the road. When I see the presence of this, from what the Qur'an say, how am I supposed to identify that as the works of the devil? That's the only way I can identify it, if I follow the Qur'an. That's the works of the devil. Child pornography, the works of the devil. All these evils, the works of the devil. And, they are tolerated, if not legalized, in these United States. You think I'm happy with that? You think it shouldn't be part of our dawah to work against that?
You chickens. Chickens with no sperm, you roosters with no sperms. Be ashamed of yourself. Calling yourself men and Muslim men, and you don't have the courage to stand up for what's right. Your country will love you much more if you became like Warith Deen Mohammed. And the power, the establishment, will appreciate you much more as a citizen if you became like Warith Deen Mohammed. You think they don't know these things about me? They know all this and more. You should put my certificate I got from the State Department into a nice frame.
And, put it in a nice place in your house, and be proud to show it to your family and your guests.
Some of you can't do that. I'm telling you what you should do. No, we're working for a community under G-d.
We want it to be a model community, like Allah want, under G-d. And, we have to work with our fellow citizens and help make them more conscious of what Allah wants for our society on this earth. Not as enemies. They're not our enemies, they're our friends, they're our brothers and sisters. We love them and they've been led astray by the Satan. So, we want to bring them to see that these evils have gone too far, and we will never have the America that the good Christians want and the good people want, until we make Satan pack up and go.
Yes. Pack up and go. Or, at least have your demonic parties in your own house and don't let us see it. Oh, Imam never can change that. Yeah, they thought that Muhammad could never realize what he was presenting to them, too.
This man ain't got no army, ain't got no wealth. His own people have rejected him. The wealthy people won't support him, they kicked him out of Mecca, drove him out of his own city. Ah, he'll never be able to do this. In less than 20 years he was saying, "Allahu Akbar" on their territory.
Now, we are not blessed to have that most excellent of human beings on this earth right now, but if all of us will respond to the call, in our many numbers, we can have the same power.
The evil one threatens you with poverty. Now, how does he do that, threaten you with poverty? By giving you false expectations and your expectations make you think you're supposed to have much more than is realistic for you. So, he keeps you thinking you're always poor, you never got enough. The Satan. Especially, your children, your sons, you're being nice to them, you're trying to do the best you can for them, but they never have enough. Want you to buy them a Jaguar and just five years ago your whole life was jag-jag-jagging, but not Jaguar. Jagging, not Jaguar.
And just because you done got a little better now, you got a business, you're paying some bills and got you a nice ride, he wants you to get him a Jaguar. And it's Satan that made him think that because he puts the Jaguar on television and he doesn't say, "This is not for everybody," because he wants everybody to get one, even if you have to steal or kill somebody to get the money. He said, "That ain't on me." Say they want it, they supposed to have the Jaguar, Air Jordan shoes, all that. He sells you unrealistic expectations and make you think you ain't normal or you are not treated justly, unless you have what's presented by him. Not him directly, his influence has presented that.
So, this presence of the devil is stronger than it ever has been on this planet Earth. You hear me?
So, "Brother Imam, how can you say this the day of religion in a beautiful time and at the same time you say that that's the end of the world?" That's how it comes. "At the end of the world, you shall see both extremes." This is Prophecy, this is Scripture. You can see both extremes. "You're going to see the extremes of the righteous and the righteous reaching their peak. You'll see the righteous reaching their peak and at the same time, you'll see the wicked reaching their peak." This is Scripture. If Scripture is correct, then it can't happen anyway, but the way it has happened.
And, in the time of the coming of a rising sun of renewal for the world and righteousness, the devil and his works are at their peak at the same time. Yes.
So, to understand me and not be confused, lot of you are confused because you're seeing what you're looking at every day. "Imam, what is he talking where he's coming from?" I'm seeing what I'm looking at every day, you're seeing what you're looking at every day. And, what I'm looking at is much bigger than what you're looking at, much bigger than what you're looking at. You got a small little screen that you are watching. Yeah, really. But, because I'm all over the world and meeting the people in high places, all over the world, I got a big screen I'm looking at. So, my screen tells me that this is really a serious problem for Chicago, for certain parts of the United States. But, on the whole screen that I'm looking at, these drug addicts, it's a small problem.
See, drug addicts for you, a big problem. Drug addicts on this big screen is a small problem. It takes about two years to get rid of that. If the society really wanted to get rid of it, maybe less time than that. So, the evil one threatens us with poverty, threatens you with poverty and bids you to conduct unseemly. Allah promises you forgiveness. Isn't that a wonderful G-d? Now, Allah is saying, "This Satan that entices you, seduces you, I know him, and I know he is too powerful for you. I know he is too much of a match for you. But I'm not lost for words to you. I'm a forgiving G-d and no matter what he has made you do or enticed you to do, I can forgive you."
Isn't that wonderful?
So, see how Satan is powerful and mighty, but how Allah's Mercy and Forgiveness just brings Satan down to a little small-time troublemaker. Yes. For me, if I accept that from Allah, he's a small-time troublemaker. He's still big for those who don't accept that, but for me who accept that from G-d, he's a small-time troublemaker.
Well, yeah, you got big sin going, but your sin won't reach me. And, if I fall victim to it, I got a G-d that I can turn to, and He'll pardon me, and I can have another lease on life. I can start all over again.
Yeah. So, he ain't no big-time thing for me. And it says, "Allah promises you His forgiveness and bounties. The devil threatens you with poverty to drive you to go unconsciously after wealth," after income, after money after wealth. That's his method to make you fear being with the poor or ashamed to be classified with the poor. You have to get rich because he's even given you an idea that all citizens of United States supposed to have all these material comfort. So, it's available on television to everybody and to every home. So, I'm supposed to have this, too. I don't have it, so let me escape this bad situation I'm in. "Oh yes, son, what else you got? What you brought in the house this time?" "Oh, I bought a few hot leather coats" "Let me look at one of them, see if it fit mama."
Yeah, the devil has made you like that, have gotten into your life without you seeing him coming in. "Oh, that's the current television?" Now, you know that guy ain't got no job. "Did you bring mama this for Christmas, son? Oh, my boy is all right. Pick that old piece of thing up there and throw it out there in the alley. Put that new television up for me." So, the devil threatens us with poverty and Allah promises us forgiveness and bounties. Bounties. The word is Forgiveness from Himself and Fatla, Fatla. Fatla means welcome, really, but it means by reason, if you take the logic to its conclusion, it means that He's going to give us bounties. It does mean that, but it doesn't say that. It says that Fatla means whatever you want, G-d says, "Welcome. Welcome. You're welcome." Fatla means, "As you like." Fatla means, "It's up to you. If you like this, have it." That's G-d. And believe me, if you serve and obey him, that's what he'll do.
He'll open up all the things that your soul really wants because if you really know your soul, your soul doesn't want crime and corruption and lies, that's not your soul.. That's not your soul, that's your mind. You confuse your mind with your soul. Your soul doesn't want that. So, if you really accept Allah, to obey him, you ain't got to be an angel, don't have be perfect. Just strive not to be wrong in anything or at any time. And Allah will reward you for your disposition. You'll never be perfect. We are not perfect, we're human.
We can't be perfect, but Allah will reward us for our disposition. And that's our perfection. Our perfection is to come in our spirit and our consciousness, and our souls and mind to come to the position that we don't want wrong in ourselves or charged to us. That's perfection for a human being. Once you come to that, then Allah's going to give you plenty help from good people, from his angels, even from the Jinn. He's going to give you plenty help. I guarantee it.
And Allah cares for all. You hear that? And Allah cares for all, and He knows all things. He's the only one that can give us justice. Allah is the only one that can give all of us justice. You can't give me justice if you don't know my whole life.
You have to know that the secrets of my life. You have to know my whole life to give me justice.
You could give me citizens rights, but you can't give me justice. Only Allah can give me justice because He knows everything about me. So, your life is just like earning G-d's help... Your life is just like working on a job. And your time clock is the whole time that you've lived. So, who can correctly read your timecard but G-d to give you your pay, your just pay? Only G-d can read your timecard. He's the only one that knows what you have done every minute and second of your life.
So, Allah cares for all and knows all. These are tied together. He wants us to know that He cares for all. He didn't say, "I care for all but the sinners." No. He said, "I care for the sinners." He's saying, "The devil is going to get you. He's out to get you. He's powerful. He threatens you with poverty, but remember Me. I forgive sins and I am always inclined, wanting to forgive the sinner." This is G-d.
When it says Oft Forgiving, that's what it means. It means that G-d is not inclined to punish. G-d is inclined to show Mercy and to Forgive. That's what G-d wants, not to punish.
He punishes because He has to punish. Just like a good parent love his child so much, the parent will die a thousand times for that child if they thought that child would die, and he could save it. But that same parent that loved that childlike that will hurt it and make it cry and leave a sore on it, from a strap, from a strap, a bruise or something from a strap because he loves the child.
So, Allah punishes His creatures because he loves us. He only punish us because He has to punish us. He punish us to bring us back to consciousness, to save us for the future. But the devil punishes because he enjoys it. He's a sadist. He's a freak. He punishes us because he enjoys it.
Allah cares for all. So, Brother Imams, understand that. Don't see a person that's not as morally upright as you and take yourself above them. You don't know their whole life. You might be above them only in the amount of awareness that you have of them and yourself. But if you could see the whole of them and the whole of yourself, you might feel comfortable in the company with that wrongdoing. And that's a fact.
Some of them are selling hot goods and selling reefers of dope, stealing, robbing people, sometime an old lady, sticking on an old lady. They lost consciousness. The devil has taken away their consciousness. But they're ready to die for a friend, and you won't even just stand up to an outsider for me.
So, I'd much rather have that criminal as my buddy. I much rather ride to the north side with him in my car then to take you. At least he's not a hypocrite.
So, we think of the Gospel... Muhammad the Prophet, the servant of Allah, he said... And you'll see this is one of his Prophecies. "You'll see Christ Jesus and me together." That's what he said. And the more I see the Qur'an and Muhammad the Prophet, I see Christ and Muhammad together, the two prophets together. Peace be upon them.
So, we think that Islam is not a religion that says to the sinner, "Come ye sinners. Invite sinners to come to salvation." It does. Right now. Right here. Pardon me. In this, the verse 268, Allah is inviting sinners to salvation. He says, "The evil once sentenced you with poverty, and bids you to conduct unseemly. Allah promises you..." He's talking to the same people. Allah promises you forgiveness, His forgiveness. And Allah cares for all. The sinner and the righteous. Allah cares for all. He didn't say all but those who sin. He cares for all. And Allah cares for all. And I see you care for all, my G-d. I see it when you are saying that the devil's a powerful force and he will deceive us and we will fall a victim, but You will save us with Your power to Forgive and Your Mercy. I see You caring for all.
And Allah cares for all, and He knows all things. He knows the Satan. He knows the limits of the Satan. He knows the power and the limits of the Satan. And He knows the power and the limits of His human creature. He knows all things, and that's why He is the best to judge and to protect and to give Forgiveness and show Mercy after the poor creature has fallen victim to the mighty schemes of the Satan.
Allah knows that you can't fight Satan and be successful unless you become as wise or wiser than he is. So, the next verse says, "And He granteth wisdom to whom He pleases. And he to whom wisdom is granted, receiveth it indeed a benefit overflowing. But none will grasp the message but men of understanding." I thank Him for including me among those men. Praise be to Allah.
And whatever you spend in charity or devotion, be sure Allah knows it all. But the wrong doers have no helpers. So, what is it saying when I say Allah knows it all? It means Allah's going to help you. Allah is your helper. That's what Allah is saying. Whatever you spend in charity or devotion, be sure that Allah knows it all. It means He's going to register your good deeds to your account and you're going to get great rewards for it. And He knows everything about you; that your mother and your best friend can't know. He know things about you can't know.
Your knowledge of yourself is nothing like G-d's knowledge of you. You will look at yourself and say, "Yeah, well, I'm going to the gallows. I have to go be executed or life in prison." But Allah would look at it and say, "You'll get a light spanking and you're going to heaven." Because He knows you in more detail and in more areas than you know yourself. And you are subjective, and G-d is G-d. You are subjective. You're moved by your feelings. You're moved by your hurt. You're move by a lot of things. G-d have none of those emotions in the way when He's looking at something. See the right. See the picture correctly. So, you will maybe overestimate your account in your favor, and you say, "I'm going to heaven." And wake up. Barbecued. Barbecued. But the tendency in most centers is to really punish yourself too much. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Sadaqa Alahu Azeem.
Well, it's 4:15. It's close, really close. 4:15, isn't it? We have about 45 minutes. And the devil already tempted me. I passed by there and saw that stuff on that table. The sisters, they just want you to see that they ain't forgetting you. They're getting ready for you and you're going to have all that good food there. But the Satan laughing at them. "I got them. I got them hurting. I'm going to make this fast, hurt them so bad, they're going to wish they hadn't took it." And some won't be taking it next year. I'm already working on it. Yeah, Satan is something now, especially when you can't see him coming.
So, sisters, next time, cover the food if you have to put it out here. Cover it. The believer does not want to see any discomfort come to another believer or to a person if they can prevent it.
All right. So, let's... Well, we can finish, I guess. We going to try. On prayer. Okay. Coming back to prayer. We going to first discuss prayer in its tradition or established order, the established order of prayer. Then, we going touch prayer in it broadest meaning. In its broadest meaning, we're going to discuss prayer.
If it's okay to you all, we want to go up to about... We want to eat, breakfast. That'll be at 5:15. What time is it, Brother Imam?
Speaker 2:
That'd be at five.
IWDM:
About 5:00? That'll be about five, 5:00. So, we will break fast, and then we will pray Maghrib. And then, we will have dinner. That probably would be like about 6:00 now, about 6:00 maybe. And then, we would like to go till about 8:00. Okay? We're going to... We took too long last night. Let's go till about 8:00. The deadline will be 8:00. We go till 8:00, and tomorrow I won't be with you at Maghrib. I have to go back. I'll go back at Maghrib time. But I'll stay here up until about 4:00.
So, we'll have morning session. We'll have session in the midday like we're having now. And after the Dhuhr prayer, I would stay and we continue, say, up to about 4:00. Then, I'll leave to catch a plane, and then, InshaAllah, you all continue and breakfast together, and have Maghrib prayer. And then, after your Maghrib prayer, you're finished. Unless Imam Clyde Rahman have maybe something to bring your attention or something. I don't know. Maybe make sure everybody paid, or something like that. I don't know.
Or the Convener of the Shura, seeing so many imams out here, might want to bring some good news to you. That would be good to share the good news of our... We have been to Israel. We've been to Jordan, and we have been to South Africa.
I, myself, went to Israel and Jordan. I couldn't get into Syria... And Syria. Pardon me, let me go start again. Israel, Jordan, Syria, and South Africa. I, myself, couldn't get into Syria. It was my fault. They told me not to have Israel stamp a visa in my passport. That if I do, I can't get into Syria. They told me that. And once I had it, I couldn't get in there before because of that. So, I had to go and get me another passport. My passport was just about expired anyway, so I got me another passport and I went into Syria.
This time, I forgot, and I went to Israel. So, I couldn't get into Syria. And they tried, too. Abu Nur Mosque, The Grand Mufti, tried to use their influence. They told me before and there's no way to work it. So, it was my fault. It's just my fault. But thank Allah, I took Imam Abdul Karim Hassan with me to Israel. And I told the Convener, Imam Plemon Tauheed El- Amin, I told him that I didn't want him to go with me to Israel, that I would meet him in Jordan. And he said, "Well, I hope to get there before you and have everything ready." And he did. It was a great relief, too. When I came to the hotel and saw him, I was relieved. No burden at all. He already had the room. He already was there and had everything ready. So, he didn't go to Israel. He had no problem crossing the border and going into Syria. So, he went to Syria. And he's also the Director of Education for us in Atlanta, Georgia, where we have the best school, the best high school, best school. So, he needed to go there, and the children needed to see him, our students in Damascus, Syria.
Allah is the Best Knower. When I told him to go there, I wasn't aware what was going happen. You could have been out, too. You could have gone with me, and you'd have been out, too. He could've had his passport stamped too in Israel, and he wouldn't have gotten in there. And then, our students wouldn't have seen any of us. But see how Allah prepared and planned and protect without us knowing it? Yeah. I just thought it's to save money and it wasn't no sense in him going there. And another thing, I thought, it's not best to take two of my top men to Israel not knowing I might meet a crazy Israeli fanatic, a crazy man, over there and might kill one of us or all of us, go in the Mosque and just shot at people. Crazy Israelis. Yeah. So, I won't take two of my best. No. So, I say, one is enough to risk over here with me. I mean this is honest to goodness truth. This is the way I think. That's the way I think.
Yeah, I think so, brother. Thank you. Yeah. As it was, it worked out fine. Worked out fine. And South America, I was just too tired and too stressed out and had too much to do at home for me to go to South America. I mean, South Africa to the World Parliament of Religion which I'm a member there, too. I'm a member and also a board member of the World Parliament of Religions, but I couldn't go. I couldn't go. No way. I couldn't see myself going. I tried. I really wanted to. In fact, when I left you, I told you it might be a possibility because I was still trying to find a way to spend maybe two days there, but I couldn't do it.
But it worked out fine. He brought all the materials back to us, and he has a report for us, and he represented us there at the World Parliament of Religion. So, that's quite a lot of territory we covered. Israel, I'll report to you all on this sometime later. It's something. All of you get reports from the paper. Our imam and also our reporter and photographer, he's all of that, and a good one. Imam Abdul Karim Hassan. Where is he? He's here somewhere. Oh, there he is. If you don't know him, he just stood up there.
Stood up there like a flasher. Get back up, man. That's too quick. All right. Thank you. You read his reports in the Muslim Journal. Beautiful photos, good photos, and excellent reporting that he does. And really, every time I go out of country, I want to take him with me. He's sensitive to it. His ears is sharp. His eyes are sharp, and his pen is good. Pen is very good, and camera is very good, so can't beat it. Can't beat that.


