Imam W. Deen Mohammed on the Superego

As Salaam Alaikum. That is peace beyond you. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin. The praise is for Allah. That is G-d Lord of all the worlds. We witness that there is, but one G-d. And we witnessed that Muhammad to whom the Quran was revealed is the last prophet, Allah's servant, and messenger. The prayers and the peace be upon him and what follows of that traditional salute to the last prophet. I want to talk a little bit about the title we've chosen so that we won't confuse it with the common or the ordinary meaning that we would associate with the expression ego and super ego.
I'm aware of Sigmund Freud's Study of the human nature, psyche, and what is said of the ego in field of psychology, of psychoanalysis. I don't particularly accept this idea of the ego that we find in the psychology. When I say super ego, I'm only recognizing one meaning for the super ego. And that is the personality, psyche and psychology or the personality of the human being, its behavior and all that we would think of in the total picture of a sensitive, responsive human person.
And for us, that person really comes into his or her real life or intended life when that person finds its place in society, its service in society, and accepts responsibility for the welfare of society or accepts at least his or her share in the responsibility for the welfare of the society.
I would like to point to a few figures in African-American history and identify this super ego as I am seeing it. When we look at the history of our own people, our life since that history and life began in this part of the world, America, the West, the United States. We can see something very, very special.
And I don't think anyone with a knowledge of the life of the people, how they began their life, how their life was lived and how they turned out to be, or how they came to be established. If we would look at the report on people, families, tribes, or nations, or races, whatever, however, we may describe the group. If we would look at the report on people, the life of people, their struggles and their final Achievement Of success for themselves, we can't find any, I don't think, more deserving of our attention Than the life Of our own people, African-American people.
Now I do believe, and I've said this on more than one occasion. I do believe that had we been put in a time far behind us and what happened to us had happened like 2000... Well, even a 1000, - no I would say prior to... it would have to be prior to the event of Muhammad, the last prophet; prayers and peace be on him. If what had happened to us had happened prior to the event of the last prophet, then I'm certain that we would have had our life and our history form in the context of revelation, because I find no people in revealed books, having a life more deserving of that kind of attention than our own people, the African-American people. But I'm going to just begin with our life here in the United States of America or in America, in the Western hemisphere; we were brought from the Homeland called Africa And we were sold to individuals of the European, American, Caucasian race, we were sold to them. And there are few, which is of more importance right here in this particular vain, that I'm in now, but there are very few reports of free people of color purchasing of very, very few slaves that were brought... People that were brought from Africa and having them as their slaves.
But we know the great majority of the slaves were the property of what we call the white race, white folks. So our life, as we can know it, circumstances don't permit us to know our life on the continent of Africa. We can only know of our people's life on the continent of Africa. We don't know of our life on the continent of Africa. We only know how our people lived prior to the slave trade and during the slave trade. We can know how African people lived today. And since that time, till today, we can know that, but where did this man come from? Where did he come from? Did he come from Egypt? Did he come from Sudan? Did he come from Ghana? Did he come from Sierra Leone, where did this man come from? Did he come from Nigeria? I don't know. And you don't know. And the same goes for you, even for Alex Haley; though I recognize his great works, his great book. We don't know. We don't know because the circumstances, that we came into this country upon won't permit us to know that.
We were just purchased by people, nobody was recording history. Nobody recalled the name of the person that was purchased or taken from Africa, that he was taken from this part. And his name is - no, that wasn't the interest. The interest was simply to bring persons to this part of the world that could do the labor that had to be done. And in some parts of the United States, the conditions were such that the Indians, the first natives of this part of the world, they couldn't survive those conditions. This is history. So the American Indian was tried. He was used for labor, couldn't survive the condition. So they thought, well, Africa, the human country of land of continent of Africa, those people over there, they live in similar environment like Carolina's North Carolina, South Carolina, and different parts of the United States.
So they say this, they live in similar environment, they can stand the heat and the humidity and the mosquitoes. So let's try them out. And we were brought here for that purpose to work in the wilderness or the unestablished, this unestablished land when it was a wilderness or Virgin Wilderness, we were brought here to supply the need, the need for a particular kind of laborer.
And there was no interest in who we were, what tribe we were being taken from or what history we were being taken from, what culture we were being taken from, what religion we were being taken from. There's no interest in it to know that. As much, I would like to say about this story, when we look now at the history of other people that were taken from their land of origin and brought to another land and put in a terrible situation, made the subjects or the dependents of another people.
We can't find the likeness of our history and our experience. We can't find the likeness of it. Now I asked the question that I used to ask when I was a minister for the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. I asked this question now again, I asked it maybe 30 years ago, if there is a G-d of justice, who came to other people or sent helpers us from himself to help other people in terrible situations who had been cut off from their forefathers or who had been cut off from their traditional life, their traditional life and their past history of freedom, of glory or whatever. If he, G-d that is, was justified to come to their rescue, intervene himself and send a helper from himself with a message from himself to those people. To me, my common sense says we are more deserving of an answer from G-d than the people that we give recognition to in scripture and in history.
Yes, I know no people in scriptural books or in history books that are more deserving of divine intervention on their behalf than my own people, myself and my own people. I know of no other. And I repeat, I believe if we had, had this happen to us prior to the event of Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet; prayers and peace be on him, we would be in scripture, our life would've come in scripture.
The great men who were able to influence at the beginning of a super ego, the great men like Frederick Douglas and others would not just be called men of vision. They would be called men of divine vision. They would not just be called social activists or political activists or educators. They would be called prophets, prophets. I can't find... Even Moses... Well, Moses' parted of the red sea. Yes. I'm still trying to see that. I can't find any man any prophetic figure that is a more significance in my opinion than Frederick Douglas in the life of our people. Now I know this is saying something to you and disturbing some of you maybe. So why, why are we not recognized?
Don't you know Dr. King is called a prophet by many of his people and some of the same African-Americans that call Dr. King a prophet, have been in conversation with me and called Elijah Muhammad a prophet. And I mean with reverence, why is that tendency in some of us to perceive or to see Dr. King, or men like Dr. King and Hon. Elijah Muhammad as prophets. Because common sense says these men roles in our life is no different from the role of Moses in the life of the Hebrews, no difference.
And G-d was with Moses. G-d was with Dr. King. G-d was with Moses. G-d was with Elijah Muhammad. Now I'm speaking for his followers. His followers will tell you that right now, G-d was with Moses, G-d was with the Elijah Muhammad. They'll tell you that night now. And I for one, won't have anything to say. I'll just listen. I want to make it clear to you that I do not recognize any prophet from Allah, from G-d after Muhammad the prophet, make that very clear to you. So if I recognize and I do, Muhammad of the Quran, I the holy book read by Muslims all over this world as the last prophet, Then how am I to explain what I'm saying.
I see Prophets as messengers Of G-d in a very, very particular special context. Outside of that context, I respect Christians and other people of religion referring to their figures as prophets, but not in that context, outside of that context. I have read the Bible. I'm very familiar with the Bible and the older books of the Bible use language like seer, S-E-E-R, seer for prophets.
So a person with the ability to foresee... Psychic people, those who have strong psyche and the ability to see into the future or to anticipate what's going to happen and predict what's going to happen. Such persons, if they come as servants of G-d, they would be identified and even today there're those who identify them as prophets. That is not prophet in the context of the major prophets, of the classic prophets of scriptures. Prophets like Abraham, Ibrahim; we say in Quranic language; in Arabic, Moses, or Musa and Jesus or Isa, upon them be peace and the last Prophet Muhammad.
So what make these prophets now of scripture, a different group or set of beings or prophetic figures, from the rest of these, what make them different? What separates them from the rest, from the many, many others that people are calling prophets? G-d, the creator, highly glorified is He, - He sends prophets to introduce to man or to society a particular page in his plan. Yes, for man or for society, this is to be seen and treated separate from this Nature of man and woman that permits individuals to anticipate the future, to explain happenings in the life of man and society. And predict or anticipate the future and do it in the name of G-d, a supreme being; an almighty power above them.
There's a different from that, prophets like the ones that are called minor prophets in the Bible. And I would say because maybe I'm not quite comfortable with that language, but I am comfortable with this language; prophets like Dr. King and many others that we have great respect for. Prophets like them, though their life be worthy of our study, worthy of our attention and maybe will excite in us respect for G-d and belief in G-d, just like the prophet Abraham, the prophet Moses and others will do. These prophetic figures, they did not come revealing to us or as a sign from G-d to us that now G-d is opening up another area for us to see in his plan for man on this earth. We will find there're already being in existence. The original type for men like Dr. King, the original type for men like anyone that we would give such or want to give such respect to, or such credit to.
We would find already in the prophets that came from G-d and written in the classic scriptures, we would find already figures, original type for them. So we would have to say that Dr. King is a man, like one of the prophets of the bible, all the types are already there. And any other figure, some of these figures, they can't rightly be called men like types in the bible because we find in the bible, the type is sometimes shrouded in secrecy, shrouded in secrecy, covered with mud. So we can't even really see exactly what is the original figure.
What is the pure figure? Because the figure is shrouded in secrecy, shrouded in mud. I didn't want to say filth, so I said mud. So I have to sympathize with followers of men like prophet Jones, Father Therry and prophet Elijah Muhammad or messenger, Elijah Muhammad. I had to sympathize with those who have been influenced by the bible.
And they have no reference except the bible. So they say Elijah is a prophet. Elijah is a messenger of G-d. Prophet Jones is a prophet and there are others. I'm not naming all of them. In our history that I identify as prophets. All right, am I making myself clear?
I hope I'm making myself clear. I understand now that G-d, in creating this universe set this universe to laws and everything that he created of life on this earth, he set it to laws. And these laws work to eventually establish G-d's plan; G-d's plan for human beings. We speak of the natural phenomena and we see the natural phenomena in the physical or natural order, the effects of climate, the effects of weather. And we see how this particular area or this particular
PART 1 OF 5 ENDS [00:30:04]
realm of reality, has affected human beings as we have lived and multiplied on the Earth. We can't explain how human society is today without some respect for the role of the natural environment and weather in the destiny of man. All right? Okay. Well now man comes up and he reacts to this natural phenomenon, natural world, and then he finds that his social life, his social life is not only affected by him, but is also affected by natural phenomenon. And that just as the physical environment and climate and weather influence the shaping of man's social order, economics, business, economics, affects it, and these influences are not always in the hands of man. Why? It is because of the natural factor, the physical factor. The nature of the earth itself. The nature of the earth itself.
Allah says, and this is revelation, Allah, that is G-d says in the Quran that man should not think that his is a bigger creation than this world order we call the universe, or the cosmic order. We are never to think, "That is Muslim." Muslims are never to think that the human creation is a bigger matter than the creation of the stars and the moon and the sun and all of the physical reality. No. We come into this world and our minds are freed and we have the power of reason, and we begin to shape our environment with our own hands, even shape the circumstances for our life in the future, with our own hands, and we forget that individually we are to be identified. You don't look at the history of man as a society or as a group and come up with a description of what a man is. You look at the individual person in his anatomy and in his makeup and the possibilities for his mind, and you come up with a definition for what a man is, for what a human being is, right? And individually, we are subject to physical reality.
We cannot get life except by the means of physical reality, and physical debt comes upon each and every one of us. We cannot escape it, and we are born physically in the wombs of our mothers, coming here with no authority, no power whatsoever, knowing nothing, helpless. That tells us that our first support is this physical reality. That's our first support, and it is a necessity we cannot get around. We live on the physical reality. We are born of the physical reality. We must live upon the physical reality, and the physical reality finally swallows us up again. We are dead, and we are cycled into it again. This is the reality.
So what makes us so super when we are born like a rabbit or a chicken or a horse and live like that and die like that? No superego. No superego. But when we are born, like Muhammad, and turn out like Muhammad, there is a superego. When we come into this world and we find a scheme, a plan for our life, and we believe that that scheme or that plan was long ago written in the very physical reality itself, and at the physical reality, like a seed of any fruit or any living thing, it has in it the plan, the pattern for its life, its future, and its destiny.
We believe then that our physical reality, this physical self of mine, nothing but the flesh, the human anatomy, the design that we study as a physical thing, as a physical, purely material, a physical entity, in it, as it is in the seed, in it is a plan for my life and for my future. I cannot get any more for myself that's already written in this physical entity. You can't get a more of an apple out of an apple seed than it's in an apple seed. Similarly you can't get more of a human being out of a human being's body than that is already in the human being's body, and Allah created the human being's body. G-d, the creator. He is the producer of the human being body. G-d says, in revelation we call Quran to Muhammad the last prophet, of us the following of that prophet, you are the best community brought out or evolved for all people. [Arabic], and I repeat the translation in English, you are the best community brought out or evolved for all people. [Arabic] means for all people.
You, speaking to us collectively, speaking to us collectively, and the same G-d tells us with the same revelation, with the same Quran, or holy book, you will certainly find in Muhammad an excellent model for you to emulate. Any, not just us. Didn't say just Arabs, Africans, or just Muslims. No. Any who believe in G-d and the last day. Any who believe in G-d and the last day. One condition is that the person believes in a G-d, that there is a G-d over everything. The other is that they also believe that that G-d will have the final say, that G-d will have the final say. We all will have to one day, hear that G-d decide our life, our judgment, justice for us. That G-d will one day decide that, any who believe in G-d and in the last day.
So that means all the religious people who believe in G-d, the G-d, the G-d of everything, and believe in a final day that's going to bring the matter clearly before all of us, it's going to settle the matter for all of us on this Earth. The great issues we have between each other, the great questions that lay, weigh heavily on our minds and souls, there will be a day when it all will be cleared up by one who is that G-d, same G-d. Any who believes in that, they will find in Muhammad a most excellent model as an example of what the human being should be about, of what the human being should devote himself to, of how the human being is to live, behave, and progress in this scheme of things created by G-d.
The best community, and look at the language, [Arabic]. The way the language is written, it is not written to make us arrogant. It is not written to make us feel that we have some exclusive to this. The language is written really to make us feel that, yes, we have this, but we can lose it. We have this, but we can lose it. Some other people may qualify and G-d may give it to them. That's how the language is written, and that's how G-d addresses his special favors to people. That is it is yours as long as you respect it. If you don't respect it, he might pass it on to somebody else. Yeah. You are the best community brought out or evolved for all people. Now...
We want to make reference to something else now, and that is to man's... Or to the origin of individuals in society. The origin. We know that we are matter that is material that belongs to the total system of material things. That's why G-d want us to understand that our creation is not a bigger creation than this total material scheme we call, or plan, we call the universe, or whatever we might call it. We know also that G-d has given us a free will and a rational mind, and because of this special creation, this is a special creation, because of this special creation, our life, our conscience, our sense of awareness, and our connection with the external existence goes to the farthest region, to the farthest horizon, of this big, vast material reality.
So those that we are in body, kind of enslaved, that is restricted in our movement, in our spirit and in our mind, we are not restricted. I can sit here in this small place, and if I have a way to look out upon the world beyond this place, my spirit and my mind can venture out, extend outward, and put me in the farthest region of this universe. I can think myself outside of the small confines into the big open vast space we call this material reality. So upon that, we have to say that though man is a human mortal having his birth on this Earth, the place of his existence and his travel is the extent of the whole physical creation.
So while we are native people of Earth, when we broaden our mind and venture out with our spirit to visit the regions beyond Earth and this solar system, we must say that we are also natives of the universe. Does that make sense? We are natives of the universe, and we didn't need the great astronomers to take us out there. It's just the nature of every person, to want to go out and senses the great distance beyond, to look as far as we can look and let our imagination take us beyond our physical sight's ability, and we will have thoughts about what's out there in the great distance. Yes. Now this is superego. Now that's superego. He's a human being that's just born like a rabbit or a chicken or a dog and live their life out that way and never get that second breath from G-d. No superego. No superego, and it is because of men so favored by G-d that we can collectively identify ourself in our movement along the plan that those men receive as the superego.
And again, I want to let you... So I want to say, and make it clear, that there is no prophet for me or for any Muslim in his sane mind and have good understanding after Muhammad the last prophet. But Frederick Douglas to me, and the movement that he kind of provided a hub for, a center for, a superego. Yes, a superego. Well, I can easily see language like this in scripture. Frederick Douglas said, "Your claim to Christ," and we say peace be upon the prophet, "Your claim to democracy..." He said, "You're presenting yourself as a model for other nations to emulate, to follow. Your behavior would shame a nation of savages." Now, I find no prophet speaking with more succinct language, with more powerful language, with the power to punch and hit the heart and make the heart come to its senses, hit the head, make the brain come to its senses.
I find none of them with any more punch in their words than Frederick Douglas had when he, as a slave, he was born a slave, raised a slave, fled from slavery, came up and then speaks to his masters who had his whole race as their properties, in slavery as their property, as their personal property, and then he'd speak to them like that. He sees a contradiction, that here is a people that claim Jesus, and the man that I see in the gospel, in the New Testament, has mocked the society I see oppressing me, holding me down and keeping me from my human life.
And then he said, "They claim democracy, but the democracy they claim, I don't see it working. They claim to be a society that other societies should copy, to see as an example, a democracy, a perfect democracy, a great democracy, a divinely destined democracy, but when I look at their behavior, I see a nation that will shame a nation of savages." Oh man, I'm telling you that's powerful. To me, that's the proof that the African-American people have a superego. Yes. We have a superego. See, the superego does not come all at once. The superego evolves just like humanity evolves, from low and weaker, from small to greater and stronger and great, et cetera, until a great civilization is realized, and then we start talking about ego and superego. Right? Yes. Now, I want to make it a little bit more nervous for you.
Now, after Frederick Douglas and the Freedom Movement comes something called the Lost Found Nation of Islam. Now, not just the Nation of Islam by itself, but when I look at the Nation of Islam as the most noticeable element in another movement. Another movement. Not the civil rights movement. Not Frederick Douglas's movement. Another movement. However, it's not completely to be separated or divorced from Frederick Douglas's movement. Can't be, but because it is so, so strange and so odd and so original, we have to say, "Here is a new movement coming into being." But we can't, again, see, as I repeat, see this movement as only the Nation of Islam because when we study what was happening in the early '30s, and even in the '20s, we see likeness of what happening earlier in what was formed as the Nation of Islam.
We still have the photos, the photo, of the Fruit of Islam under its first captain who was called the supreme captain, the brother, blood brother, to Elijah Muhammad, my uncle who's also passed, passed before my father did, Kallatt Muhammad. Kallatt Muhammad. His name is spelled K-A-L-L-A-T-T. Kallatt. Kallatt Muhammad. How did they dress? The photo showed them, the men dressed in suits, dress shirts. ties like this. This tie, not the bow tie like what you see now. Straight ties, and Fez's like the Moroccan Fez or like the Turkish Fez. Now, if we can't find that picture of the male member in an order called Muslim or Islam before Fard did that, then we have to say Fard began that. He started that.
But it is a known fact, the more Science Temple members will tell you that that was a dress given them by their leader who also was thought to be a prophet, Noble Drew Ali. All right. So here is Fard imitating or borrowing or taking from Noble Drew Ali, who came before him. Did he only take that? No. We find him also taking language, terminology. Fard was not the first to claim that the whole world was Asia and that Africa's only, is Asia, and that we are to be correctly referred to as Asiatics, not Africans. It never caught on. But that's what the Drew Ali taught his followers, and they would tell you right today, they're Asiatics, after the Moors. That's where they'll tell you.
But where the Moors came from. Did they come from Asia or Africa? They came from Africa. The Moors came from Africa, not Asia. North Africa. This is history, and when anyone said the west prior to the discovery of the new world, they were talking about the Moors. That part of the world. The Moors. That's what they were talking about. The magrib, the west. So Fard comes now and he borrows from the look, from the dress, and he borrows from the language, and he says to us through Elijah Muhammad... Now a lot of you don't know this, but Fard didn't hardly ever speak directly hardly anything. Everything he said was through Elijah Muhammad, his student. Those lessons that many of you studied, you thought they were original and from Fard, if you look on those lessons it says these questions are answered very near correct by one of the lost founds in the wilderness of north America by the name of Elijah Muhammad.
So we were reciting lessons and blowing our head up, inflating our heads, and some of us thought we were so big that we could, now ignore Elijah Muhammad and wasn't doing nothing but repeating the answer that Elijah Muhammad gave his teacher Fard. Fard would ask Elijah the question, and Elijah would give the answer. Who is the original man? The original man is the Asiatic black man. Didn't say the African black man. The original man is the Asiatic black man. You cannot like what I'm saying, but you can't take it out of history. These are not my words. These are words of the Nation of Islam. The original man is the Asiatic black man. Now here comes the inflating. The owner, the maker, the cream, best of the crop, of the planet Earth. Now it's going get it. It's going to get heavier and heavier. The father of civilization. Now, here's where this blows the black man's mind, and the G-d of the universe. Oh, Lord.
Now, let us see how original is that language. The Catholic theology from G-d, man, and back to G-d. That's where the idea came from. In Catholic theology, they say man's origin is to be traced back to G-d, and he descends from G-d into the Earth, into the world, and ascends again back up to G-d to rule on the throne of G-d. So Fard say, "I got to get something for this black man that's crushed by these people that believe that. I got to get something for this black subject of theirs that's equal to that." So he said, "The black man is the original man, the owner, the maker, the cream of the planet Earth, father of civilization and G-d of the universe." What would give him the idea now that there was an accommodation in the suffering...
PART 2 OF 5 ENDS [01:00:04]
Black communities of places like Detroit, Chicago, Newark, for that kind of talk. There was already Black men that were saying, to Black people, they were G-d, divine G-d. They were already... Yes, Papa Jones, Father Divine, Daddy Grace, and Father Divine, he was teaching that before even Fard.
So, there was already an ear for that kind language, and Fard knew it, so Fard used it. He says, "What means and methods must be used?" Here is the man with the original idea the teacher himself, putting the problem, or the task, to the deaf and dumb and blind people that he comes to give sight and hearing, et cetera to? He says, "Ask them." It's like a man coming to the sickest part of the neighborhood, no water, no electricity, no medicine... Everything is contaminated... Disease is spreading... And he asks the sick people, "What means and methods must be used?" See, we have to see these things. When we see these things, we can come to the right understanding.
All right, and it was not just African Americans. There were some Whites of that time, too. They were saying outrageous things. They were saying some things that shook the world at that time. You'd be surprised what Henry Ford said back then, at the time of Fard and Drew Ali, about the evils that he saw in the society and the world. You'd be surprised what he said. I'm sure his family wouldn't want it to be heard now.
And there are others who predicted... In fact, even in 1914, that was supposed to have been the end of the world. In 1914, there were men of Europe and America predicting the end of the world. And they weren't just predicting it behind closed doors. No, their predictions were carried by the press, carried by the press. "The end of the world is coming in 1914." The end of the world came so often for us, I forgot about it. Yet, we were told... I was a boy at that time of only three years old... But we were told that the first prediction of the end of the world was for 1936, and they the world is going to end in 1936. So, we got some more predictions, and between the 60s and 75, man, we got a lot of predictions, but it was always kind of soften, because we were told that, "Well, if they behave better, they will get an extension of time. We can beat prophecy if we know prophecy." Now, that's not me spoke speaking it.
That's that was the voice of the Nation of Islam. "We could beat prophecy if we know prophecy. What I'm getting at is this. Nothing has appeared in the history of man on this earth as noteworthy as the life of the African or the Black people on this continent. Now, here is this new movement now, and I'm saying that, out of this new movement, we're going to see progress for the superego. With this new movement, with this strange movement, called the Nation of Islam, we are going to see progress for the superego in the African American people. In spite of all the strange teachings of the Nation of Islam, the Nation of Islam made a contribution to the progress of the African American people, or the Black people, on this continent, a real contribution. James Brown, who sang and got popular, "I'm Black and I'm proud," I met him, and I was telling him how that song affected me, and how I appreciated him singing such a song, because I was a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and we appreciated that language.
He told me... He said, "Minister, it was your father that inspired that song." I have had conversations with Jesse Jackson, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the Reverend Jackson, in conversations with me, referred to my father as "the old man," and referred to him also as "dad," and he surprised me when he referred to my father as "dad." He said, "You didn't know that there are people in our circle, Blacks, that see your father as their father too?" That's what I was told by Reverend Jesse Jackson. Now, here is a man, and a very strange movement called the Nation of Islam, being rejected by our people, and at the same time, being recognized by our people, our people rejecting it, but the very same ones that rejected it, we find among them those that recognized it for making real significant, real important contributions to the betterment of our race.
It was the Nation of Islam that had the boldness to challenge White America, and to speak to Black America like a daddy, and tell Black America how to behave if you want respect, and not to be ashamed of your color. Your color is the best. It's effect, positive effect, is seen on our people. Not only that, but our people wanted integration. That once was a movement with Booker T. Washington for self-help, for self-employment, for entrepreneurships, et cetera, a business idea, a self-help plan, but that was lost and forgotten, and it was the Nation of Islam, under Elijah Muhammad, that awakened it again when there was no support for it, and encouraged our people to be responsible for creating jobs for themselves, to open businesses, acquire land, become producers, Nation of Islam. And I mean a big vision, bold, aggressive vision. He would have, in his paper, sketches of his ideas.
Like the White man, long before we had TV, electronics, transistors, and all that, he'd put it in the funny paper, Buck Rogers, the world of Buck Rogers and Dick Tracy, et cetera, long before those things came out. Finally, now we are realizing the world that was seen in a cartoon. Now it's reality. The transistor that Dick Tracy had, nobody had it. It became reality. The modern transportation that we saw in the funny papers is not reality. The TV and everything, when you see the picture, -, it's reality now. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad saw us having land, having our own trucking lines to bring crop produce from the farms to centers in the city, to supply the grocery stores. He saw us having cargo planes. He saw us having ships. He did more than (unclear name), who was, in history, a man, when we were still slaves, he was a free Black man, while others were still enslaved, he had a vision to go and open up trade with Africa, and got support from Whites to do that.
And they deceived him, as they deceived Garvey and his people too, but anyway, the idea was existing, but they never were as bold and as effective with their language as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They never were that determined to get their message across to the masses of our people, as was the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he used the typical man, robbed, deprived culturally, no education, no wealth, no job, no dignity in the society. He used that man to form his vanguard. He used that man to form his vanguard, to bring the whole race, the poor, the ignorant, the intellectuals, and all, to another high level of awareness.
Yes, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad did this, and he was effective, very effective. He was so effective that the media changed its psychology, said, "Look, ignoring Elijah is not working. Elijah doesn't need newspapers. He's got his own," said, "Elijah doesn't need the TV. His people see him in person, and he gets thousands to look at him and listen to him," said, "So, we are not winning against Elijah by denying him public exposure," so they... On 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace came and told America and Primetime about the hate that hate produced. Look how he introduced it, the hate that hate produced, said, "Don't be angry at me for showing this new type of negro, for giving him exposure with all of his dangerous nitroglycerin and everything else that he's carrying in his language. Don't don't blame me for it now, because he's not really the cause of himself thinking that way. He's thinking that way because you hated him first. He's just the hate that hate produced."
I look back at that time, and I say to myself, "Boy, oh boy, if it wasn't for Muhammad, the last prophet, our race would over shadow the Jews and Hebrews, the Jewish and Hebrew scripture, prophets and scriptures." Our race and history would over shadow it. The most talked about plight of people would no longer be the plight of the Hebrews. It would be the plight of the African American people or the Black people, and it would be no more their prophets that people would be talking about looking at. It would be Frederick Douglas, Dr. Martin Luther king, and even Elijah Muhammad that the people would be looking at. And they would say, "Here is a sign that G-d exists. Here is a sign that G-d is a G-d of justice," say, "Look, they brought our forefather, or the forefathers of these people." See, we would say it and others.
"They brought the forefathers of these people to this land, and completely separated them from all knowledge of their past. They cut them off from their land, from their life, from their cultural life, from their history, and everything, and raised them as empty vessels, as animals with no human recollection at all." And G-d, the G-d of justice, came to them and quickened, in the dead matter of the slave, a desire to be a man until there was a Frederick Douglass lashing out, cutting into the heart and soul and conscience of the White rulers, until he caused them to repent. And they said, "We can't continue this. The slaves must be emancipated." Yes, it would be told in that light. It'll be told in that context, in the context of scripture. I read about the moaning and groaning of the Hebrews, and how G-d heard their moaning and groaning, and I said, "Well, they were told to make straw, and not even to use bricks."
That's a hell of a thing to tell somebody to do. No they were told to make mortar. "Make mortar. Make bricks." They were told to make bricks, but just with mud, no straw. And you had to add the two together. That's a simple way of making bricks back then. You couldn't make it out. You had to put the straw in there to hold the mud together. So, they were told that, "Make it without straw," but when I look at what we were told in this country, from day one, even until now, I think our sad story deserves more attention than their sad story. For at least they were expecting a deliverer. Even had an idea of how that deliverer should look. What kind of ideas he should have in his mind, what his interest should be, and they had a belief that he would be an opposition to oppressive Egypt. They had an idea of Moses before there was a Moses. We had no idea of a Frederick Douglass until there was a Frederick Douglass, because there was nothing told to us.
Yes, very special people. Now, why am I telling you all this? So you can think of yourself special with G-d? So you can think of yourself special with G-d? We don't have a prophet in the prophetic scheme, or in the classical scheme of prophets, because that means one thing, and the reality means another. "We are yet like them, and even greater. We are greater people than the Hebrews. We are greater people than the Jews. Our Frederick Douglass is like Moses and greater". You know what we will do? Now, just to sober you up, so you don't go crazy, I have not told you that so that you will have some arrogance, some high nose over other people. No. When G-d comes to a people, He comes to a people because divine wisdom and divine plans ordered that. Yes, He doesn't come just because your sickness was worse and your death was more pitiful. That's not the only reason. He looks at what affects his will, what interferes with His will, what interferes with His light, reaching His people, His creation, His dependence, us humans.
And then he responds and advances his plan, because when we look at some of the people who say, for example, "Abraham, where is the great story of suffering in the time of Abraham?" The societies were really advanced and progressing societies in the time of Abraham, and Abraham was well situated. He was a son of a father who was a boss. He was a chief of that time, and his people had a great civilization, but they had one ignorance. And that was they were not understanding how to see or how to perceive G-d, the creator. They were seeing gods in their idols, the gods in their idols. And Abraham's life began with him rejecting the idol, destroying the idols that his father worshiped, but they had a big civilization just like England, just like America, big civilization, idol gods, advanced civilization, idol gods. Don't ask me to explain. I don't want to hurt any more and that I'm hurting. And the truth hurts sometimes. No, I'm not. I'm going to leave it just like that. I just said, "England and America, great, advanced civilizations, but idol gods."
And that's how the society, or the civilization of the prophet Abraham was, Ibrahim in Qur'anic language. Peace be upon him. So, where was the great moaning and groaning that justified G-d coming to Abraham? Where were the people that suffered so much that it justified G-d coming to Abraham? They weren't around. They weren't in existence, but there was a need for logic, for sound reasoning, and faith to be reconciled in the scheme of G-d, for man, and it was time for it. So, G-d sent Abraham, raised up Abraham the prophet. So, why have I said this? Why have I pointed and compared our history, our suffering, and have said that a G-d of justice should come to us, should hear us, if that G-d heard the suffering of other people, and came to them? Why have I said that? I've said that to say this. G-d has come to us.
G-d has responded to us. G-d has chosen us. Chosen us for what? Chosen us to send the message again that's been sent by prophets over and over again, and especially by Muhammad, to those who will take, and separate, or isolate a group of people from the family of man for mistreatment, for servitude, et cetera. The message comes again that no matter how elaborate your scheme, no matter how treacherous your scheme, how deceitful your scheme, how complex, how hard to decode your program that you may use to hold the people down, and deny them admittances, the G-d of heaven and earth sees you long before you start your thing, and already have a plan to undo your works before you even began your works.
And now G-d will take that that you put down, and find in it someone worthy for him to embrace. Don't think G-d embraces a Black man or a Black woman just because they've been kicked in the butt so many times, or just because they've been rejected so many times, or just because they have so many stripes from lashes and inflictions from White man's rule . No, that's not what brings G-d to pick up a Black man.
When G-d sees a Black man in that state, crushed and beaten and denied and rejected and cut off from all understanding, but he's yet trying to be a decent human being, then G-d picks him up. And He said, "Here is the thing that you reject. Here is thing that you single out for abuses, the thing that you cut off from his humanity. I will take this thing you have cut off from humanity, and because you don't have as much conscience as it has in it, I'm going to raise it to be your example, to be your model, to be your boss. Yes, we have been chosen. We have been chosen because of the circumstances, because of our history, because of the circumstances in our life. We have been chosen to be raised up and be models for the world. It is going to come whether I preach, whether Jesse Jackson preach, we don't have to preach. You will preach. Your children will preach.
It's going to come. It's in our destiny to rise up and be the model that G-d wants for the rest of the society, for the rest of the world, because America was not alone. It had wrongdoings to Blacks. The whole world sat by idol and watched what was going on, and did very little or nothing about it.
So, the whole world now should be shown a new model of what G-d approves as a picture for man, and believe me, out of that strange history, beginning in slavery, the worst form of slavery ever in the history of man, out of that freedom movement, out of the strange thing that occurred called the Nation of Islam, and whatever affected it to come into existence, has come now a new man, a new man. No one can tell me that Allah has not created a new man in America, born out of circumstances strange and dark, dark and confusing. Here we are today, myself and those who think like me. Here we are today. We are not coming up on any kind of false idea of our worth. We are coming up upon the true idea of our worth. We don't even want it unless G-d said it. We don't even want it unless it's true to reality.
And here we are, rising up, rising up. I myself, no degree from college. I only went to college a few hours, hope to go back, but I only have a few hours. And I'm the leader, a leader of these people now that identify with me. And in the following are bachelors, masters, doctors, and I get the most recognition, and the strongest tribute, or whatever you might call it, compliments or whatever, from those with the highest degrees and with the soundest knowledge. They look at me and they submit to me. I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't ask for it, but they give it. They give it because it's demanding of their own knowledge. Their own knowledge demands them. Their own human mind and conscience demands them to come to me and say, "Minister, Imam." And I look at it and say, "How did this happen?" And I know myself. I know myself. I said, "No, this ain't... I didn't bring this about. I haven't earned all this." "I know what you're saying," but I'm saying something that's even more important.
This is a group life, and I'm just a focus for it, a superego, a new superego. See, when a new super ego is born, it's like a new star born in the heavens. It becomes the center for all the bodies around it, a center for all the bodies around it. And when that new superego is born, it begins to feed the whole society, the whole society. Pretty soon, a culture forms, life, knowledge, culture. All the needs for society form. You are the best community raised up, brought out, or evolved for all people, super ego. What has made your Imam successful? It has been the fact that he has done the unexpected. That's would has made him so successful. It was expected that he would come up and try to pretend that he was the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
It was expected that he would claim maybe that he's Fard in incarnate, but he did the unexpected. Yes, they thought that he would lash the white man, but instead he came out with two whips, lashing both White and Black. It was thought that the successor would take us a step farther in the building of a Black nation. Instead, he universalized it, and chose just to be a member in a universal nation rather than to be an isolated...
PART 3 OF 5 ENDS [01:30:04]
isolated person from that nation. That is universal. So he became universal, where the others were not. They were island creatures. So here is a child departing, leaving the island people to embrace the universal people. And instead of emphasizing strange and attractive, narrow, dogmatic truths, he chose to emphasize universal truths, that are broad and all embracing.
And they look for him to die. They start predicting his death. Said he won't make it out of the 60s. He won't make it out of the 70s. He won't make it out of the 80s. And I guess some around now saying Wallace won't make it out of the 90s. But here we are. Here we are. We got more of our members now rising up in society, every legitimate interest, we find our people getting into it. Business, politics, science, technology, the armed services. Whatever it is, we find those that belong to this new group that represents a new African-American superego. Find them getting into all these important avenues, all these important positions of interest, legitimate interest. It's wonderful. It is wonderful.
We have more professional people in my time than we ever had before. Anybody can prove me wrong, prove it. We never had as many professional people as we have now. We have more business now than we ever had. How can you say that? We had 1000 acres of farmland. Producing what? We had our own trucks. We even had our cargo plane. What was it doing? We had our own fish business. You sure did. I know. But I'm prouder now of our fish business. Maybe you don't want to call it our fish business, but I believe that honorable Elijah Muhammad came to help people, to help his people. And I believe that business progress was supposed to be the progress for his people.
We have one man that's handling the volume of fish bigger than we were handling in Chicago. One man. His business is more financially successful than the whole program of fish. The fish program of the Nation of Islam had to come and borrow it from the charities. This business person I'm talking about has never asked me for a penny, but gives to my ministry and gives to others. He helps other African-Americans come into that business. He's in Atlanta. He's one businessman. He used to follow the honorable Elijah Muhammad. He was a good follower of the honorable Elijah Muhammad. And he's a good follower of Imam W. Deen Muhammad's ministry. Yes.
And I can go on naming them to you, how we have people progressive in business, in education. We have Imams now, that have a much higher level of formal education, much better sense of what is true in this world of reality than we ever had. I'm not putting down that time. In fact, I've lifted it up. But I'm more telling you this, that we now have more progress than we ever had before. And it's all progress for the better, progress for the good. In Atlanta, we have a better school than we ever had in the time of honorable Elijah Muhammad. I'm just singling out that school because it's at the top. It's one of the top. In fact, I believe it's the best school we have. We have elementary school there, preschool, elementary school and high school there.
The one responsible for that school is not only a principal or director of the school, also an Imam, a former Harvard student. Harvard student. From that school in Atlanta have now graduated the daughter of this man. And she is now a freshman in Harvard. So here's a tradition that looks like it's going to be continued. She will come from Harvard maybe, and when her father gets too old, she will become the director of the school. And this is just an example I'm giving you of good things that are happening for us.
Here is the son of the honorable Elijah Muhammad invited by the state of Georgia where Elijah Muhammad was born, Sandersville, Georgia, to address the Senate or the two houses in Georgia. I made an address there. You think I didn't mention my father, Elijah Muhammad. I did. And I made an address there saying nothing that wouldn't be approved by the Quran and our prophet, our leader, Muhammad, the prophet, prayers and peace be on him. And what did I get? A standing ovation, from those learned men. And when I finished my talk, they rushed upon me like I was celebrity. Wanted to get some conversation with me, wanted my autograph. What makes me so special? Went about six hours of college, that's all.
Yes. So just previous to that, I was invited to Washington, supported by three powerful senators, one of them a Republican. Great tribute paid to me. Great tribute. The language was so impressive. Compliments they paid to me, but they were not to me. When I heard those compliments, I know who they're to. They're to us, to our life, to our victories, to our success, to our achievement as a group here in America. Yes, please (applause).
So that's all in the record. It goes all down in government record. Right now I'm invited by a very special group of people. Thank you very much, sister and brother. By a very special group of people I'm invited. I tell you the kinds of persons that address them. I'm the speaker after Warren Christopher. Yes. So if I continue to live around here a little longer now, and I'm not an old man, if you don't believe it, ask my wife. Because she wouldn't have accepted an old man, and I'm recently married. Okay? Again. Yeah. I'm proud of decisions I make in my life. I don't make no crazy decision. Yes.
Now if God spares me to continue and be around here at the rate that we are gaining recognition, man oh man, I can see us 10 years from now established as a people because just like the honorable Elijah Muhammad didn't reach our people directly. They rejected him, but his influences did reach them. Don't think our influences are not reaching our people. Our influences are reaching our people and our influences are bringing messages to our people that don't identify religiously with us. Don't identify maybe ideologically or philosophically with us, but our influences are reaching them.
And as a result of our presence, our life and our progress in this life, we are influencing the being, the existence and the destiny of all our people And in the long run when the wise men and women sit down and try to explain the life of black people on this continent, they're going to have to say the most potent factors did not come from white civilization, from Western civilization. Came from the Quran. Came from the Quran and came from Frederick Douglas, Elijah Muhammad, Drew Ali, WD Muhammad. Thank you. Peace be on you and may G-d guide us always.
PART 4 OF 5 ENDS [02:00:04]
This segment could not be transcribed due to issues with the source file.
PART 5 OF 5 ENDS [02:25:15]


