08/10/2001
IWDM Study Library 
Rush Presbyterian- St. Lukes Hospital Chicago, IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Peace be on to you. As Salaam Alaikum. (Arabic) We glorify G-d Subhanallah. We glorify G-d. [Arabic] Highly glorified is He [Arabic]. There is no partner with him in the rules of the heavens and the earth. He exists and he exists by himself without any support from anything of the Creation. And he says in our Holy Book, nothing, no one comes to him except as a servant. That is angels, men, jinn, whatever. G-d needs not to be fed. He says, "I don't need that you feed me." He feeds all and he is not fed. He's eternal, never born, never has children or consort, wife and children, and he never dies.
[Arabic] the living, the self- subsistence, existing eternally. We worship him and we worship him alone. And he says that all people in the Quran, that we are his servants. [Arabic]. He says, "[Arabic]." "Oh, my servants" and he says that he did not create human beings or jinn, the spirits, the jinn spirits for any purpose other than to worship him, for his worship. And we know even the jinns, who are not human beings, it's said of them in the Quran that a party of them heard the Holy Book being recited and they say, "We witness that this is a wonderful recital," though they are not humans. They are not humans but they witnessed that the Quran, the Holy Book, is a wonderful recital, a wonderful recital.
The highest position for any creature is servant of G-d. Muhammad, the most beloved of all human beings by the believer, and I speak for myself. I love him more than I love myself, more than I love my mother, my father, my family. More than I love my precious son that's sitting down there now with me, Muhammad Shakir Muhammad. I love him more than I love even my precious son, and G-d said our love for him should be more than our love for our own relatives.
Islam is a religion of devotion to G-d. The whole life is devoted to G-d. Islam is a religion that appeals to every good interest of human beings, and the military man finds his favorite passages to read in the Quran. The artist, the love of beauty. The mechanic. The doctor, we are in this wonderful hospital now, and the doctor, he will find his favorite passages to read in the Quran. The book is a universal book. The Word of G-d is for all people. It is universal and it has appeal for all good interests.
I was in Saudi Arabia and visited to make umrah there, the lesser visit to the Holy House, and I was invited to be the guest of Rabita, World Muslim League in Mecca, in sacred Mecca, and as I was leaving the office of the president, he told me, he said, "Imam, Islam is universal," and he said, "We should not forget the universality of Islam." And I thanked him, and in my own heart and mind, I was saying, "Well, that's where I am grounded right there." He couldn't have said more pleasing words to me than to tell me to remember the universality of Islam. G-d created all things. In the Quran, Allah says that he is [Arabic], the creator of everything, human beings and all. And then we create ourselves over again and we make a bad job of it.
And he says, he knows, that his creatures can create. He says that he is the best of creators, he is the best of creators, and [Arabic] the plural is used. He is the best of creators. Man has been free, given free will, free mind, rational mind, and free will, free spirit. He can alter his own creation. The cockroach or the roach that was thousands of years ago seen in the palace of the great pharaoh of Egypt. If you find him today, he hasn't changed. He's not wearing a different dress; he's not trying to alter his form. He's just as G-d made him and G-d is evolving all things and nothing can go outside of the mold of their own life that G-d, the Creator, gave them on their own, except the human being.
We should thank G-d for this freedom and love him even more for this freedom and devote ourselves even more completely to worship G-d and to make G-d the highest authority in our life. Muhammad the prophet is the promised word of G-d, promised word of G-d. G-d promised that he would send his word again into the world, and Muhammad is that last, last messenger of G-d. The last, the seal of the prophets and he is, as his wife said, Lady Khadijah [Arabic], may G-d be pleased with her, "He is the Quran living among us. The word of G-d, living among us."
The Quran is the Word of G-d and Muhammad the Prophet to whom it was entrusted for all mankind, he himself is the answer to the promise that the Word of G-d would be sent into the world again and would live and dwell among the people. We thank Allah for his revelation, the Quran, the last book, and we thank him and praise him for the gift of Muhammad, the model human being for anyone who believes in G-d and the last day.
We praise G-d. We ask him to guide our actions and our thoughts to purify our intentions and grant us this life in this world, that it be good, and grant us the life that is greater in quantity and also greater in quality, the life in the hereafter, Ameen. We praise G-d Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin
I want to say that it's a great honor that you have extended to my community, our community, the Muslim American Society, and we pray G-d bless you all and your staff here, especially those of the organization that extended their hospitality to us, the religious and health organization. We pray G-d give you the best that you want in your desires for your professions, for this institution, this hospital, for your patients and the environment that you doing such a wonderful job to (unclear), to make your patients who belong to the various religions, feel comfortable here. We thank G-d for you and your great service.
This is the day of Jumah for Muslims, the day of congregational prayer. It shouldn't be perceived as we perceive Sunday for Christians or some other day for other religions as Jumah is the time that we are given and we must separate ourselves from our business, put the world's interest aside and give time to go and pray together in unity, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with your brothers in prayer and the sisters doing the same with their sisters in prayer. This is what we commonly call the best day in the year, so that's the Jumah, the Friday prayer.
So, it tells us immediately that G-d wants us to stay together, come together and pray with your brother, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your brother, and make prayer on the floor, in unison with your brother. How wonderful it is. I know your time is precious here so we ask G-d to give us his mercy. [Arabic].



