04/12/1995
IWDM Study Library 
Buffalo University

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Thank you. I thank the director of public service for her comments and do hope that I can settle down and deliver this address within reasonable time and then conclude in a way that satisfies those who have sponsored our presence here. We appreciate the opportunity, the honor to come here and address this gathering on the campus. We appreciate the college also Imam Fathi Ansari and the Muslim community here, the Imams and I repeat all the sponsor and co-sponsors for the event tonight. We always begin with the Name of G-d whom we put our complete trust. We ask His blessings on our efforts and we ask He protect us, guide us and protect us so that we please Him and serve the purpose of which He has created us. We always salute the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad the Prophet with the traditional salute, the Prayers and the Peace be on him and what follows of that traditional salute to our Prophet. I'll be speaking on the topic, Where is the Darkness? Where is Light? But I would first like to acknowledge that there are Americans, I'm aware and there are more than the average person within. We think there are many Americans in our country, in our big troubled city, cities, everywhere in the small towns who are not hurt by the darkness or by the light, but are looking at what is happening our society today and understanding very well what is behind it. And there are many thoughts that come to my mind with the expression, the topic, Where is the Darkness where is the Light. The first time I heard that expression was at the reception and the program that was planned or put on by Utne Reader to recognize 100 visionaries that it had selected or identified as visionaries. And the topic that they chose for us to address, the visionaries, was this topic, Where is the Darkness and Where is the Light?
And I don't know, I don't know if somehow my, some concern in my soul it reached you all the way over here in Buffalo or not. But I really was hoping that I would've more time to address the topic. They limited our presentation to about..Well they said, can you keep it at two minutes? If not, please don't go over three and a half minutes. So you know, can't say too much about Where is the Darkness, Where is the Light in such a short time and most of 'em didn't respect the time limit on them. I did. It's always that good black man that respects everything. I looked and said "Look, I'm the only one that respected the time." I wasn't the only one, but I was almost the only one that respected the allloted time that was given to us and had my little say in that time. Within two minutes I was finished. But tonight I have an opportunity to say more and I thank you for this opportunity. It should be obvious to most of us who have a religious background where the darkness is and where the light is. The darkness is first of all in wrongdoing and in ignorance. Ignorance of G-d's way for the religious people and wrongdoings are sin. All of this is darkness.
In Islam, or in religion I would say, what we can't see may be termed a situation or a condition in darkness or under darkness because we can't see completely, I can't see clearly, I can't see it all maybe. But at the same time, what we can't see completely, or until our vision becomes clearer sometimes, is what supports everything else, even everything else we do see. I'm talking about faith in G-d for religious people. We have faith in G-d and none of us have seen G-d, not with these eyes, these physical eyes. And none of us have completely understood G-d. That is G-d's Self or Person and this is supported by scripture, that we don't have the ability or access to His into His person. But He has access into the persons of all of His creatures. So that's what make G-d, G-d and us not G-d. One of the things that make G-d, G-d and us not G-d. So I would like to first acknowledge that there is some darkness that is not all bad and we're told that G-d is the one who started the darkness, began the darkness, the rotation of night and day and the light. He is the one who started or made and started the rotation of darkness and light, and darkness and light. Darkness before light. Darkness is given here before light, the darkness and the light.
And we know that G-d has created us to have a nature to obey without knowledge to support or to explain our obedience. What infant would question obedience to his nature, his infant nature that G-d created with to depend on his mother, to trust his mother or her mother, et cetera. So we know that darkness is not always bad. We want to make that clear that when we're talking about darkness we're not necessarily talking about something that's bad. Darkness causes us to have fear, especially when we are in a darkness that we don't know. It's naturally something that causes us to have fear, but we can't say that darkness is bad because it arouses in us a fear because we know fear. Whereas sometimes fear can be a hold back. We know that fear has a role in human life, in the life of society that is good and that has a counterpart, a lot of good behavior and good respect, et cetera. That has all made for a better world. If we didn't have any fear in us we wouldn't be as civilized or as good as we think ourselves to be. So darkness is not necessarily a bad thing. Darkness is a good thing on one side, a bad thing on the other side, and this is true also of light. Light can also be bad. And scripture, we don't have the exact language in the Qur'an, but in the Bible, the light of the world is distinguished from revealed light or the light of G-d. For the light of the world then is not a good light. G-d's light is a good light. Now I think the reasoning that I'm going to give you at this time in an attempt to explain what is meant by the world's light and revealed by the G-d's light. It's also found in the Bible and found in the great religions and that is this, but really the creation of G-d, the system of matter, this universe, this objective world is not in itself sinful or something to contribute to our disobedience. It is ignorance that in us that causes us to suffer bad consequences in our interaction with the external reality.
Darkness that Allah created, that G-d created, is good. The darkness of night is good. In fact, no night is without light. Clouds may as it happens during the day, clouds may block our view, but the clear night is filled with lights, the stars. And G-d says of that light, the night that He made it for us to have rest therein, for rest. And the day He made for livelihood activities for livelihood. Where is this darkness and where is this light? It is with G-d. That is the darkness that G-d created and that is the light that G-d created. For us, ignorance is darkness. The absence of faith is darkness. And faith, which may suggest to us darkness too as some say blind faith, but all of us are required to appreciate a certain amount or a certain measure of automatic, instant obedience to G-d. And that's dictated by faith in G-d and could be called in that measure that we are doing that in, blind faith or darkness. When I was really young under the burden of the concept of black, dark skin, black skin, dark skin, et cetera, I was curious, I did a lot of reading and came across in Qur'an language that could depress, cause someone to be depressed but language also to uplift the spirit, concepts, terms for darkness. And I finally came to the point of really understanding that language is language and because a word may be used in a way not pleasing to the person to who identifies with that word of that term, is not enough really to have to make that person uncompfortable if that person searched the text and see how that term is used in the whole of the text. And that's what I did. So I searched the text to see and saw how darkness of black faces was used in the whole of the text and I came to the conclusion that there is good meaning for darkness and blackness and bad meanings.Then later I learned that in the Arabic language that the Arabic language shows or reveals that at one time in the history of that Arabian people or Arab people, darkness meant for them something noble, a mark of nobility or proof of nobility. And we know they're not black skinned, they're mixed in color like we are here in this audience some very light,or white, some brown, some in between and a few black or very dark. The term sayi in Arabic means Mister and sayi can also mean Master.
The root from which the word is derived is black, is black. And I believe that if we would search very carefully, we would find this to be true of many civilizations or many societies of the world, that one time in their history black was a positive term and not a negative term. Nothing has accounted for the dawning of the intellect and the expansion of the mind as much as the viewing of the skies, the heavens at night, the stars against the black background or the black canopy of the sky or the black canopy of night, the night sky. We have the story of Prophet Abraham, Prophet Ibrahim in Qur'anic Arabic, how he studied this great system we call the universe,searching for something that would indicate for him what is the reality, what is really G-d? And he studied the starry sky during the night. All night long he was viewing and studying the heavens, seeking those answers until the morning and the sun rose. And he was so impressed with the brilliance of the sun that he said "This must be a G-d." But he stayed there searching as a person with a mind orientation to appreciate science objective truths with do in making a conclusion hastily.
The story goes that he stayed until the sun began to set and he said, "No, this cannot be my G-d. My G-d does not want to set." And he made this conclusion that nothing he had observed in the external world, the stars, the sunrise and all that was G-d. But behind that great beautiful scheme we call the universe of the creation of G-d, he saw a cause, he saw a unity in it and he reasoned that there must have been a single factor or single designer for that great external world in our universe. And he concluded that none of these things I'm looking at is G-d but the designer behind all this, the planner behind all this, the creator of all of this is G-d. That was his conclusion. But how did he begin to arrive at that conclusion? He began because he was attracted to the starry canopy of the night. That's how he came into that awareness. And G-d tells us in scripture that there's a sign in that He created us in darkness. Three veils of darkness while we are in the wombs of our mother. He created us in the darkness and He delivered us into the night. And no one would think that that darkness was a punishment. It was a darkness that protected us while we were being created.
So, I invite my African-American brothers and sisters in grace in African American people, in the black people to appreciate this. And if you would appreciate this, you'd be healed if you still have some problems with colors. We shouldn't have any problems with color. White to me is white. It's not me necessarily. Black to me is black. It's not me necessarily. I'm not the black man that white people hate. I don't know the black man that white people hate. They'll have to tell me where that black man is that they hate just because I'm black. I don't know where he iss, I don't see people hating people because of their skin color. I see people using skin color as excuse to hate as a cover for what they really hate. And it's the same for blacks. None of us hate people because they're white. We have blacks that hate whites. But we don't hate them. We think, we might think that we have put ourselves in a habit of thinking that way. So we think we hate them because of their skin is whitee but we don't. Like Some of you, I know you don't because you don't want to get rid of the white woman.
I've heard some of you myself say you hate the White man but you won't hate the white woman. She's just as white as he is. So if it's really the white that you hate, you shouldn't want his woman either. One brother, he covered it all up. "I just want to punish him." I said "Well, don't enjoy the punishment." We have a term in Islam that I think should be the focus for light in our life. And not only in our life. I think when it's understood, that is the focus for light and the life of any civilization or any civilized society. The term is Tauheed and it comes from the word which means one or unity. Tauheed means the state or condition of the principle of oneness, unity and oneness. In the Qur'an, G-d addresses the topic of light and darkness and G-d tells us in the Chapter of the Qur'an, Chapter is called Surah. The term for chapter in Qur'an is Surah. G-d tells us in the Surah titled The Light, that light and drakness has graduations, graduations. And that there are levels of darkness and levels of light. Now the creed, the Muslim creed "La Ilaha Il Allah," in my understanding is the beginning and the focus for light in our life, light on our concerns, light in our world, light on our feet. "La Ilaha Il Allah, which simply means in English there is nothing worthy to be worshipped or treated as a G-d except the One G-d, the One Creator and that One only. That's what the Muslim creed says- "La Ilaha Il Allah." And we know the other part of it is Muhammad, referring to the Prophet of Islam who were with us on this earth 400 years ago and a few years, preaching and working and establishing the model community for us. Islam, the model community for us in the peninsula we call Arabia today. We know that the other half of that creed, the other part of the creed is and Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d, which again says even the second part of it says G-d is One and One only. Because religions have confused many and even some branches of Islamic society or some branches of thought in Islamic society have also confused G-d with a Messenger or the Prophet of G-d.
So, to say that Muhammad a positive statement Muhammad or positive expression, Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d is also to say G-d is not man and man is not G-d. G-d is G-d and man can only be His Messenger and His servant, His servant and His Messenger. "La Ilaha Il Allah." The philosophers in this problem, they say our creed began with a negative and then it's followed up by a positive. Why a negative first? To tell a man you are wrong in associating false G-d's with G-d. You are wrong in claiming divinity for that that you worship that is not G-d, and then comes to a positive. But G-d affirms the belief that man receives revelation, that man life can be transformed, changed by divine guidance that is true and that this man has a very special office. He is the Messenger of G-d but he's not G-d. See all the negative and positive word? So when G-d says to us there is no G-d except the One G-d is saying, your G-ds are not G-d. So a negative says that. It could have been put in the positive, couldn't it? It could have been put in a positive expression. G-d could have said, your G-ds are not G-d. He could have said, I am G-d. That would be a positive expression, but G-d chose to say your G-ds are not G-d.
To address man's error first, "La Ilaha Il Allah" and then the positive to bring peace and reassurance to the human soul because the human being is a very complex creature. The human being is a very special creature. He knows he must be special. The environment is brought under his influence, the material environment, the animate and inanimate environment all comes under his influence. So that's enough to make man think he's very special. In fact, it's enough to make man, if he gets off or get out of touch with his, as G-d say, with his own creation, the limitations for his own creation, it's easy for him to slip into the belief that he is a G-d. In fact, there's some religions that right now call man with extraordinary ability, G-d. They will say, "What a beautiful shiny god" talking about a man. But we won't find those societies that have that as evolved as the societies that have grown out of that, that has evolved socially and also industrial, scientifically every other way. You won't find them as evolved. I don't want to say that they're primitive societies but they are not as nearly as evolved as those societies like the Christian society, the Jewish society, the Muslim societies and a few others.
Buddhists.That they have now for Buddhism, it is a religion that permits a lot of ignorance from the primitive times to have place or to keep a place in the society while they advance leadership, are now themselves subscribing to the ideas and the beliefs that are associated with idols or with the, what I would say is the man's primitive worship. So because they have enlightened persons among them, they're able to realize sustained life and progress or growth for their society. And I think all of us have, that is every civilization, it has that kind of darkness in it among even Muslims, and I'm sure among Christians and others in what we call modern, advanced civilized West, we have some people still have haven't abandoned that ship of false worship. Some people are still worshipping false G-d's, they don't know the difference between the worship of the true G-d and the worship of idols or false G-ds. The idol may be a saint, the idol may be a dependency even on something and they will worship it. They will depend on it than they depend on anything else. They appreciate it in their lives or they appreciate it more than they appreciate anything else. We had some people who were like that regarding the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, my father, our late leader. I had some of them tell me, he said, "Well, your father saw Allah, your father knew Allah. I only knew your father."
And they were clearly telling me that for them my father was G-d, that they couldn't perceive any other G-d. And I'm sure that there are many Christians in our society that are either consciously identifying with false G-d's, or unconsciously having false G-ds in their life. Your G-d is what you respect the most. Your G-d is what you fear the most. Your G-d is what influences obedience in you the most. If your obedience is given to a man, to a woman, to an interest you have in the world more than it is given to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, then you are really the worshipper of a false G-d. That's the darkness and many of us are in the dark and don't know it. Tauheed is the concept, our creed, "La Ilaha Il Allah." And G-d doesn't even say "Muhammadan Rasul Allah." Not in the text or in the reference that in the text reference that I'm addressing right now. G-d says that if anyone holds on to "La Ilaha Il Allah", There's no G-d except the One. That alone will save that person eventually, even though that person fall to the depths of ruin or hell, hell itself, that that will eventually bring them up, bring them up again,
But we can suffer the burden of sin, be ruined through and through. Be lost, completely be reduced to a life of misery to the lowest depths of misery . But if we don't give up the belief that there is a G-d and that G-d is the one that created you, G-d says that that will eventually bring you out the depths of hell. That's a powerful creed and I do believe that. The influence to lessen race hostilities, hostility between one race and another. To me there is no influence to lessen these hostilities between us, more effective, more powerful than that creed if we accept it, that there is but one G-d. It is true for Judaism. It's true even for Christianity. We let the concept of Trinity, of the Trinity sometimes blind us to the real truth that the Trinity is just attempting to explain and that is that there is One G-d, One creator only. Now we don't buy the idea of the trinity, but the more knowledge G-d blesses us with of His way and His law and His word and His will, His creation, the more we come to understand that the Trinitarian shroud covering the oneness of G-d, it does not necessarily make Christianity a polytheistic religion. No it is a monotheistic religion. Now I'm not here to bring us all into agreement there. I'm just telling you that. You're still my brother If you disagree and my brother if you agree. I don't have to live with you, you don't have to live with me, but we all are put in a better situation if more understanding is given to us. When we believe that G-d is One and One only, we are automatically put in a position to be more rational, more correct in our judgements of each other. Because if G-d is One for all of us, then I have to admit that the same G-d who created me created you. And if our constitution was not prefaced by statements like this, I think we wouldn't have survived as long as we have survived. We wouldn't be a nation as strong as we are. We wouldn't have as much faith in the future as Americans do despite what happens in the skies of American politics and government.
It looks real gloomy at times for some of you I'm sure very dark and gloomy right now. You are hearing the sound of storms coming and disaster coming to the social progress that has been made in this country for minorities, but even in such time we still have faith in the future of this country, the future of this society. And I think what helps it more than anything else is not just processes of our governments democratic processes, but it is a belief that every citizen of this nation is equally the creation of G-d, One G-d. And that One G-d has created each and every one of us, regardless of our national origins, or race have created every one of us with certain natural inherent values, expressed in this way- Rights, certain rights among those rights or among these Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That G-d, our Creator, has endoweded us with that. The right to Life, the right to Liberty and the right to the pursuit of happiness. And we know that pursuit of happiness has been explained by the interperters of the Constitution to mean the right to property. Every one of us have the right to life, the right to freedom and the right to own property.
That is natural, right? G-d created us with those rights. And we know that those are the rights or the circumstances that we need to be on the equal footing. If you respect my right to life, like you respect your right to life, and if you respect my right to liberty as you respect your right to liberty, and my right to become responsible, step into responsibility for ownership on equality and wealth, et cetera, then you have put all of us on equal footing and this is what G-d does. And to not to believe in the inherent worth of every creature, every human being G-d created or not to believe that G-d, the same G-d designed all of us and there is really one human pattern. G-d made the pattern. We may differ in color, tongues as Allah tell us in the, Qur'an. We may have all these differences. But these differences are really minor when we look at what is essentially the human person's identity and the human person's worth. To not see that or to reject that is to prefer the darkness to the light. And that darkness is the punishing darkness, not the soothing darkness.
G-d created a soothing darkness for us. And some of us, because of human weaknesses or the tendency to give ourselves personally to human weaknesses, we prefer the punishing darkness to G-d's soothing darkness. And we prefer the blinding light to G-d's light that shows us the way. We are responsible for that ourselves. That we know the truth and reject it.
That same creed or principle in my opinion is what's needed put us in a situation to establish our social life, our social life. Now I'm not speaking of socializing in a loose term, our loose expression, not talking about entertainment. By social life I mean the vital social relationships that begin first with the inception of family, what a human family is supposed to be, what the relationship between parents and children is supposed to be, what the relationship of husband and wife is supposed to be, et cetera. If we believe that there is One G-d and then obey or at least appreciate the guidance of G-d, African-American families can grow in strength. We can achieve organization for our families. Families are intended by G-d to have organization. You're not supposed to have families and there's no presence or no awareness of an obligation to have all of your family.
We are not to worship our father or to think our father more important to us than our mother, but we have to give our father due respect in the organization of family. And we have to give our mother to respect in the organization of family. And the parents are to see their future in their children and to realize that the best account for them to invest in is the account we may call the children. And to then work and not make the mistakes that many of us make of exaggerating our own importance in the family. And this is a habit I think that has come about, that has grown to be a real serious problem for us recently for black people, African American people and for people and people on the whole in America. And this problem I'm talking about is this loss of family organization and loss of respect for every member in that organization. Parents are really creating a generation gap for themselves. We can't blame 'em all on the media in the world on a popular culture. We are creating a generation gap for ourselves when we use this kind of language.
"Get off my sofa, stay out of my refrigerator. Who told you you could use those glasses? I understand that there's some glasses that you would everybody use but don't you use them either until the special occasion. Don't tell your children don't use them and you use them and it's not a special occasion. So if we be a little more sensitive to how what we say and do is going to affect each other, we can have much more healthier families, we can have much stronger united families, or organized families, we can have much more cooperation from each other in the household. And the thing that has counted for my observation and awareness of these expressions of ours as a problem has been mainly this idea that G-d is One, we are all equally the creation of G-d and therefore G-d is the Absolute Owner. So now I come to another problem we have. "Don't you know are my child, I birthed you into this world." I know you're innocent when you're saying those things. You're just trying to get the child to be sensible or respect you, but you're going about in the wrong way.
You didn't know when you were going to get pregnant, you had no say so what was happening for the nine months. You just waiting for it to end. So don't take too much credit for it. "I birthed you into this world." You're so frightened, you probably forgot whose hand caught the baby when he came out. Now you don't hear men talking that kind of talk. Men won't say he birthed anyone. Man just remember what he spent on it. "You no good so and so. I been spending money on you ever since you came into this world." And that's wrong too. G-d is the Absolute Owner and if we arrive at that reasoning from the position we take that G-d is One and G-d created everything. G-d is One, created everything and is the only Absolute Owner. Every other claim of possession or ownership has to be qualified upon that belief that G-d is the Absolute Owner because someone could easily tell you like G-d tells us in scripture, if you are the owner then know that pretty soon your time is going to run out and you are not going to be around here to say who get your property. You can write a will too. That doesn't means it's going to happen that way. So, we are trusted with ownership.
G-d has created us for a trust and that trust permits us to exercise authority and the duties of owner of responsibility, of disabilities, of the owner, etc. But if we want to be help from that creed or that principle of then we will accept that the absolute owner is G-d and my ownership is qualified upon that realization and my ownership is temporary. It is in reality only a trust G-d has trusted me with this. This is Islam. If we can come to that idea, we can plan o our family, institute more organization for our families, more respect for our families and also more productivity for our families. When a man marries, he's supposed to be more productive than he was when he was single. When a man and a woman are blessed with children, they're supposed to be even still more productive as those children grow up themselves to join you in the work of sustaining your life and making better circumstances for your life. But if all of us go our separate ways, we don't benefit from that. The social organization is the situation for establishment and a productive life. The abuse of sex is ignorance and ignorance is the darkness.
When we think of sex firstly as the gratifying or relieving of our biological urges or our chemical urges, sexual urges in the body and the flesh body, we have really reduced ourselves to a level on the social plane of evolution lower than the animal. Because the animal by animal nature or instinct is aroused at certain times to meet and the purpose for that is to preserve the life of the life of that species. The purpose is for them to extend theirselves into a new generation. If man loses that knowledge and approach sex without that knowledge, then socially he has lowered himself to a level beneath the cat, beneath the horse, even beneath most dogs because most dogs, the better breed of dogs, they have some respect for the sexual activity or for sexual engagement. They have more respect for it. But man because he's free if he gets out of the light that G-d created for him, as Allah says in our scripture, he's subject to fall to a condition of life lower than any of the creatures that he at one time looked down on or despised. Tauheed, the oneness of G-d is the light and G-d has called Himself the light hasn't He in the great religions. Allah says that G-d, Allah, He is Al Nur Samawati Al Ardi- He is the light of the heavens of the skies and the Earth. Then in this chapter title The Light, G-d goes on to give us parables of The Light, to guide the intellectual or the thinker, the deep thinker, the philosopher, the philosophical thinker or the thinker looking for meaning behind meanings or looking for meaning behind objective reality. Guide you on with parables to understand what is The Light of G-d. And when we follow what G-d says about The Light, I don't have enough time to manage all this that I have bit off for tonight. So I'm going to shorten it a bit, but yet I intend to cover the whole of it. We discover that G-d is saying to us the essence of truth behind the appearance of things is also the light.
Now, I may trouble some of you in relation when I say this, but not those who are really qualified as scholars in Islam. The true sciences, not as they are practiced in the West. No. But the observation of the true sciences of the scientific working nature and workings of things in human life, animal life, plant life and the rocks of wherever, whatever we are looking at, if we address with the scientific tools and tools of a scientific mind and scientific aid from the material world to approach and observe the science body for every gross thing we are looking at, we are looking at the light of G-d. Not that that is G-d, but that is the light of G-d. G-d has told us that His Light are in graduations. Now our perception or our concept of G-d won't permit us to believe that G-d's Light is G-d but G-d is the Light. See the difference? G-d is the Light but the Light is not G-d. G-d is the possessor of the Light. The Light is G-d. G-d is the light, but the light is not G-d If the light is G-d, then it says this chapter by that title, the Light says that G-d Himself evolved, that G-d Himself is to be seen in stages of illumination. Whereas G-d, according to the idea of G-d in Qur'an, cannot be seen in stages of illumination.
But our world is seen in stages of illumination. Man, man's life struggle on the path of understanding. His classical struggle on the path of understanding is seen as graduations or stages in illumination. There was much to say on that topic, on that note, but I will stop right there and turn again to darkness. Where is the darkness? G-d says to us in that same chapter in the Qur'an that the parable of darkness is as the sea and the graduations of darkness becomes greater or darkness is intensified, becomes more dense or more intense as we go down into the sea, right? Is that necessarily a bad darkness? I think some of us misunderstand It's not. In man's language, water has always been a concept for his spiritual nature or even for his soul. Water. And if we see water then as us going down deeper into it where it is darker into the bottom where it is darker, and we know that man and especially modern scientific man, has gone down deep into the ocean and into great bodies of water. He has equipped himself to go down deep and have gone down there where in the daylight it is night. At daylight it's night on the bottom, on the ocean floor.
That's how the water blocks out or dims the light. As we go deeper and deeper into it. We have to understand with G-d's help that the more we seek to know or fathom, the reality of our own existence, the deeper we go into the sea and we reach a point where we can't see it all. Doesn't mean that it's bad, but there is knowledge of the soul, human soul that's just not available to man and to be drawn to his own soul or to his own spiritual identity or spiritual constitution to explain everything or every answer, every question will keep him tied in the water until he dies and he'll never have a chance to become a community and productive on the land. But when he permits his interest in his soul to be reconciled with his interest in community life and growth and establishment and production, et cetera, then he has that wonderful golden opportunity that we see when water and suitable quantities are measured meets land and give the land its essence and the land under the air and under the sunlight has the four elements in proper measure working for it and it bursts into life and pretty soon this is supporting man and society.
To me to understand this language, this written message of G-d that is in the Qur'an, powerful and clear for us, but can be read also in the creation as G-d as G-d says. His verses, Ayats, are in the skies. We know the verses in the Qur'an, but our G-d who gave us the Qur'an says in the book, in His book, in Qur'an that his verses are in the skies and in the earth and also in ourselves. Could it be perhaps that western man, not divorcing himself from intellectual curiosity and pursuits of that curiosity, the examination of the external world seemed to know its nature, its utility, et cetera. Could it be that the western society that was helped by the Qur'an in that effort, continued while the Muslims world slept and they got what we should have gotten? When I say we now I am talking about the Muslims of the world. I think so and I think many of the better minds of the Muslim world are realizing that now and that's why they're coming to America, to Europe, to Western institutions of learning, higher learning.
Joining the Western effort to promote the sciences and realize more and more progress, scientific progress and technology. They're doing that because they realize that they went to sleep. And G-d intended for man to benefit as the Bible says from everything that G-d made in the heavens and in the Earth, the sea and the land and everything. The Bible gives us in the way and a way that is not quite acceptable to us. It says dominion. We believe dominion is only for G-d. G-d says anyone who who strives for the dominance, it'll be denied him by G-d. Meaning that you may have the dominance but the dominance will turn out in the end to be a punishment on you and not a benefit. And we see how every nation that has sought the dominance over other people all over the world have lived to see that interest punish them. I don't think the scripture, I know the scripture wasn't originally in error but later translators and interpertators, we believe are responsible for the wrong kind of language being in the Bible. And I know there are people of the Bible or students of the Bible and preachers of the Bible in the audience who would disagree with me.
And I say what I said earlier, we are going still be friends if you want to. I don't have to live with you and you don't have to live with me, but understanding helps us all if we can accept that. Now the same kind of language is used in the Qur'an. G-d says He has made everything in the sky and in the earth to yield its utility or its service to man. Not to any man. Not to any man, but the man that will obey G-d. Which says again that you may get it into your posession, you may make use of it, but eventually if you don't have the right attitude and respect for G-d, you won't have the right attitude and respect for His creation and in the long run you're going to be punished by your own involvement. And we've seen that too haven't we. We've seen that. We've seen how the city planning has been really against man because the city planners, were not trying to find out what G-d wants for people in a serious situation. They're trying to find out what would benefit the investors, what would benefit the developers, how to share the products or the benefits you see instead of straining their brain to see how to industrialize a city or how to develop a city so that this respects what G-d wants for man's life. They didn't do that. So their own works have punished them and us. So am I addressing the darkness and the light? I think I am.
Audience:
Takbir. Allahu Akbar.
IWDM:
But darkness is ignorance. If it's a bad darkness and that darkness is painful, especially if you are a human being, you don't want to live under that kind of darkness. So I believe that that creed, "La Ilaha Il Allah" is the influence we need in our brain and our thinking and our actions, our behavior to make possible for us even more material progress, more material progress, more lasting material progress. We need that to even advance our ego. There's nothing wrong with your ego, but there's something wrong with arrogance in the ego. G-d never said in our scripture, Allah never said that ego is bad, but He said for the ego to exaggerate its importance is bad.
See ego only mean your sense of self-worth your sense of self of importance, but you do have some importance of self. If no person has importance of self, then that's depressing. If myself is not important, that's depressing to me. I believe myself is important and I place importance on myself. I associate importance with myself. But to "Staghfara", the very expression in Arabic is "Staghfara". Says there's nothing wrong with seeing yourself big but don't exaggerate your esteem.
That's all it says. Says, says Satan, when G-d put His plan before Satan or Shaitan who was at that time called Iblis, the angel leading the jinn in the role of an angel, leading the rest of the angels, when G-d presented His plan for man esteem on the earth for his special role as G-d's trustee and the creation on earth, the Shaitan, or the Satan, he "Istaghbara". And if you say that word "Istaghbara", it constricts the chest. "Istaghbara", it constricts the chest, it chokes the heart, it chokes the lungs, "Istaghbara". But it raises you up in height. "Istaghbara." So he shrinks his heart, he shrinks his breathing space to exalt his head. Say he exaggerated his importance, his self is importance for himself, his own importance as a creature and he did that because he was put in that situation because he what? He refused to respect G-d's will. And then he was puffed up with self-importance or with pride. It doesn't say that ego is bad, it says exaggerated ego is bad, exaggerated self-importance is bad, not a belief in your own importance. African American people you have to believe in your own importance. You are as important as any other man and woman on this earth. G-d created you for equal importance and you are more important than any other creature He made. You have this special position of superiority with all men, white, brown, yellow and red that G-d made. And if you are not enjoying that is because you have not responded to the light.
Maybe you haven't had an opportunity to respond to the light, but when the opportunity comes, respond to the light and if you do, you'll have a situation in your life that will put you on an equal footing with every other race or ethnic group. I long ago stopped even being concerned about white people interfering with my aspirations and my plans to improve my life and my future. Long time ago I stopped worrying about that. I know some of you might say, "Well how can you not worry now with Newt Gingrich doing his thing," He doesn't frighten me at all. I might even become more successful with him doing his thing. My thing doesn't depend on his thing at all. Not that we shouldn't be concerned. Certainly we should. We don't want the lunch program to stop. It'd be stupid for this country to kill it and we want qualifying students to get more support for a good education. A civilization like ours with it's big claims in the Name of G-d and human value or human worth. We should be guaranteeing every one of the citizens that can qualify for guaranteeing them all the educational opportunity they can qualify for.
Education should be the number one priority. It should be a sacred obligation on a great nation like ours to make sure that none of this citizen because of the want for money or material things will be denied the opportunity to advance or progress as high as it can go as far as it can go in education. That is securing the nation. That is looking out for the better future of the nation. We don't know in what child G-d has placed or put His blessings there that this child is going to succeed and become a great contributor to his company, to his country, to his people, to his family, to his nation, to the world. We don't know. It could be the black child, it could be the white child, it could be the red child, the yellow child we don't know. Could be the poor child. We don't know. Scripture obligates us to give every member of our society equal access to education, the benefits to the learning and to the benefits of education. So Muslims, if you don't understand the important placed upon education and the obligation on society to make education available to all of the citizens without discrimination. Then you are in the dark.
So, let's be on the right side in this struggle that I won't say Republican Party. The elements in the Republican party, Republican Party can astonish. And be aware also of the other extreme, the liberal extreme, both extremes to me are equally bad. The liberal extreme and the Democratic party, what they did is really made a party of us. They turned us over to pottying. Yes, that influence in African-American people have made us a party race. A partying race. I've been with the members of the Black Caucus and I don't care how important their interest is or concern is that caused them to adjourn or cause them to meet. Even while they approaching the business table, they're talking about the party that they're going to have when its all over. Yes.
Now there's an exception. There's some that's different but I'm talking about the majority. That's the majority. I'm not a Republican and I'm not a Democrat. I'm as much Democrat as I think my intelligence dictates I should be and I'm as much Republican as I think my intelligence, my intelligence dictate I should be. Yes. You have to take the best of both parties and identify any way you want to. You can say you're a Republican, you can say you're a Democrat but don't buy all what the Democrats advocate and don't buy all that Republicans advocate. Then you'll be among those who shape the future, those who live while others die and drop off. You'll be around. Some of us have made the Democratic Party the church of Jesus Christ. Peace be Upon the Prophet. May be forgiven for our ignorance by saying you are Republican. It's changed a little bit. If we want to grow our moral life up to more strength, more usefulness for ourselves and society, we should accept and nourish in ourselves the belief faith in the principle of oneness. One G-d is what our Tauheed is founded upon, built upon and Tauheed begins with the Oneness of the Creator and it progresses from that position to the Oneness of His creation.
And from that position, from the belief in the Oneness of matter or the Oneness of His creation to the belief in the Oneness of life and finally to belief in the Oneness of mankind, of the Oneness of human family on this earth. And if that belief was not with us, we wouldn't even have that idea. Human family.
Family says that man at large is one family, human family. And human family implies that that family has the same progenitor, same parent and if so and we do it believe that, it further implies that the family of man should want a model family for mankind like we want a model family for a stable male and female who married and join each other to have a home life. And I do believe that little simple house that G-d calls the house, Al Bayt, the house that we turn toward in prayer that we go to when we make pilgrimage to Mecca, built by Abraham, his son. I do believe that that house among other things is a symbol to communicate to our minds and our hearts that as you begin your family as a male and the female, as the male and the female, were helped by G-d and His creation and in the natural state that G-d created them in. That innocence that G-d created them for and in, they cared about every child, they cared about every weak person in the family. They were one in their concern for each other. That G-d wants that condition for the human population of this earth, for the human family He wants the same. He wants us to live as one single family and care about each other and be just to each other not to discriminate against each other, not to be unfair when we have power authority not to be unfair or unjust to any single member of the human family and to work for the end and the end is that we have a home condition on this earth for all people.
Where no member will feel outdoors or mistreated or discriminated against. Now you will say that's utopia. Well let's work for utopia so we can have better than what we got. That's position taken by the WCRP, the World Conference of Religion and Peace, the Parliament of Religions and many of the other organizations. That's a position that they're coming to and great religions, leaders from the great religions, leaders who have millions of people influenced by what they say and what they stand upon are joining in this effort the great religions of this planet with the secular world leadership too, to work for this area, for the earth, for this planet and for mankind. I thank you very much and I hope that I have said something about the darkness and the light and where should look to find darkness and light. May G-d forgive us our ignorance and our errors and may He bless us always with guidance and His Mercy. Ameen. Peace be on you, Asalaam Alaikum.
Host:
Imam Mohammed, Thank you for your enlightening message and as you indicated it's a very complex message and it's given us a lot to think about. And so we hope that you have been able to talk with us as long as many of us desire you to.and Perhaps you would take a few questions from the audience to help further broaden our horizons on what is the darkness and what is the light. If anyone would like to ask a question, there are microphones in both aisles here in the middle aisles and so if you would take your place there now Imam Mohammed has agreed to take questions.
Question:
Could you make some comment on maybe why Mike Tyson has accepted Islam?
IWDM:
Yes I will but only this one question. I will accept that it is not addressing something that I have said here today this evening. I will respond to this one question.
In fact, I paid visit to Mike Tyson while he was still serving time in prison. A brother who was also an Imam and a teacher and educator, his name is Mohamed Sadiq. He told me that there was an opportunity to visit the facility and meet in person Mike Tyson and he thought that my visit there would be good for the other inmates and also for Mike Tyson. I accepted and I paid him to visit. I talked to him and I was impressed right away. What I look for when someone tells me they have converted right away to islam. I look to see is this conversion a serious conversion or just an emotional conversion or superficial conversion. And and it didn't take long listening to him and how he was commenting himself on his coming into Islam, being interested Islam. He managed to make me right away feel very relaxed and I felt very comfortable that he knew what he was doing. He knew what he was accepting and that he of his own choice, of his own will and choice accepted to be Muslim or accepted Islam to be his religion and that he himself perceived meaning and importance of value in Islam.
With convincing proofs to him to make him say yes, I want this as my religion. That made me feel so good because many times a person who's in a situation like Mike Tyson to benefit whatever group he changes over to. That is a question in my mind. Did they go out to get him for what he can give them? Did they give him what they call a sales talk to sell him on becoming a Muslim? So those are the concerns I had. Another thing I discovered too is that Mike Tyson, though he doesn't have formal education, I don't think he finished high school. He's not stupid, he's intelligent. He's just in a situation that is unfortunate that a person with his mental ability was in an environment or was kept in an environment that didn't motivate him to finish high school and try to go into college. I believe that Mike Tyson is going to be in his Muslim character, a Muslim that all of us can respect and admire. I do believe that and I do believe that he will be much better at anything he will do in the future. As a Muslim, I wouldn't want my son to be a fighter.
My Islam has graduated my human refinement and I see that kind of game as savage. Any society that will pay all that money to see two human beings go at each other, to annihilate each other, something's wrong with you. I know the money that he can bring to the Muslim community. But I'd rather see him make his public announcement that he's a Muslim and say, this game of boxing is just too savage for a servant of G-d. But there are those who want to burn up the tape. If there's a tape being made now. There are those among us that would like to burn that tape up and make sure no one else hear what I said. It doesn't make me comfortable, put problems before them either, but that's the truth. That's the truth. That's a savage game. That's a game for savage people and I hope one day this country will outlaw that kind boxing or that kind of competition, that kind of competition. A fighter just recently was put in a coma. I think he died recently. I used to want to be a prize fighter myself. My mother stopped me and in my whole lifetime I believe I can, If I would start counting, I could almost count 10 good boxers that lost their lives in the ring.
That's bad. I can count that many myself. That's bad. it's savage. Think of the many that have just been made invalids.
They were not killed, but they're not mentally anymore any good. They have been made almost vegetables. And this used to be common to use the expression, "Oh, he's a punch drunk fighter and the man be walking on his heels and shaking, "Oh, that's a punch drunk fighter. Something wrong with that and something wrong with all other evils too. In this country, this country is not yet the country it should be. We have a lot of work to do and all of us who believe that this country is not yet in the promised land completely. It has the potential to be the promised land but we are not yet promised land people. We should work to bring more civilization, more human excellence to this society so that we will realize the promised land that this country was created for. I do believe that the designers of the Constitution or the framers of the Constitution, I believe that they were committed wholeheartedly for motivating this society, a new society through the promised land as they visualized it, the promised land that G-d intended for human society, human civilization. And to me that's what we should be working for.
And boxing, again, is just not the right one. Some other games we know that there are injuries, but the point, the object is not to injure. In boxing, the object is to injure. To injure until you stop your opponent, until your opponent is helpless or knocked out, he can't fight you anymore. That's savage. That's barbaric. That's uncivilized. It should have no place in our society. No more questions.
Question:
Imam Mohammed. I've been writing a book for the last 15 years and it's concerning, it's about the personification of the darkness. I feel like I'm right in sync with you. I always have been behind you with your ideas in terms of the subject matter for this evening. And I'm looking for some kind of extension of help for somebody praying of any kind. If you would be willing to just pray with me as you said you prayed with Muhammad Ali. I've been jealous since I heard that.
IWDM:
I don't know how I can assist you, but if you would just write me a letter to 266 2 6 6 Madison. Yes sir. Calumet City, Illinois 60409.
Question:
Good evening. On behalf of the University of Buffalo's Muslim Student Association. It's a pleasure for you to come to our university and bless us with good darkness and good light. My question is for you as a Muslim leader, what do you think we as Muslims can do to bridge the gap that we have between immigrant Muslims and African-American Muslims in this country?There's a big problem. They don't get together, they don't sit together, they don't talk with each other. What do you think is the most constructive way to solve this problem?
IWDM:
Yes, I think it has to be addressed by us in our separate communities. The immigrant Muslim should address the problem when they gather. And the indigenous African-American Muslims, those who have lived here so long, we call ourselves or who've been here for four centuries, almost four centuries, and we call ourselves indigenous. We should address this problem when we gather. And I know there is a problem, but I'm aware that it was much worse for us five or six years ago. A lot of improvement has been made. A lot of the ignorance and that's what it is, ignorance, a lot of the ignorance among us regarding the relationship that we should have with Muslims who migrated or become nationalized citizens here is being dispelled. Has been and is being dispelled. But we have really fallen short of meeting what is our obligation to correct this attitude in ourselves.
We have made progress and we are continuing and we are making progress, but we are still falling short. And I will take this message on to the Shura when we meet with Imam Plemon El Amin of Atlanta, Georgia, who is the Convener of the Shura. When we meet, I'll bring this matter to them and let them know that it's still this serious problem and not enough is being done on our part to remove this ugly Islamic attitude.
Question:
We're very happy to have you here. We came from Rochester. There are many people here from Rochester who have come over to hear you. We appreciate all of the information you've given us. Actually, my wife asked me to ask this question. The concern is when you mentioned the issue of the Trinity in Christianity and then to say that Christianity still is a monotheistic religion. Would you just expound on that issue for us please?
IWDM:
Yes. Yes. If you ask any Christians how many G-ds they believe in, they would say One. If you read the New Testament of the Gospel to see how many G-ds are really to be seen in the New Testament, you'll come to the conclusion that it is saying it in a confused way, in a way that is not immediately understood. It is saying that G-d is One.
It makes the man Jesus, Peace be upon him, the lesser and the Creator the greater. And that's exactly what it says. And makes him the servant and the Creator, his master than they are not G-ds and equal. They're not G-ds and they're not equal. One is G-d, not the Holy Ghost and not Jesus. Neither is G-d. But we know they have these in the Trinity. G-d the Father, G-d the Son G-d the Holy Ghost goes. But when you actually read and search the gospel, the gospels, you don't find that these three are really three G-ds. They say three in one. And even that language is confusing, that language is confusing. So actually there is but one G-d and the Trinity is a confused language and the Christ, Jesus the Prophet is a sign and not G-d. A word from G-d and not G-d. A sign from G-d and not G-d. A spirit from G-d but not G-d. Now we know we have some critics of Islam, critics of the Qur'an from the theologians in Christianity and other faiths who say that our Qur'an even makes Jesus Christ a superior to Muhammad or other Prophets because he is a spirit from G-d. G-d said that every one of us has a spirit from Himself. He has given this Ruh to all of us, to every single one of us.
But the difference is that the Ruh that the Prophet receives and not just the Prophet Jesus Christ Is a higher plane of manifestation or a higher plane of revelation or inspiration than that given to ordinary people. A much higher plane than that given to ordinary creatures. But all of us in some measure have something of the spirit of G-d. This is the Qur'an. So we should understand this as Muslims because even Muslims will become confused if they don't read carefully what the Qur'an says about Prophet Jesus or why is is he singled out to be called the Ruh from G-d, whereas others are not singled out or that's not emphasized for others. That is because he was more motivated by the spirit and his life and his role as a Prophet was more ordered by the spirit, by the inspiration, by inspiration from G-d than by other help that comes from G-d. Whereas with our Prophet, our Prophet, his role in his life, his work on earth was shaped more by the logic that was given to him from G-d. You see. So this language is confusing and for the Christian thinkers, they had to make judgments In the absence of all the information and facts that were available, the first followers of Jesus Christ the Prophet Peace be on him. Which is a lot for us to go into. But we believe that mistakes were unintentional and we do believe they made mistakes and given language. Another thing we should understand too. All Christians don't believe in this Trinitarian language. There are a few denominations of Christianity that hold that Jesus is not G-d, not equal with G-d and that Jesus is a Prophet. In fact, they understand Jesus to be exactly what Muslims understand Jesus to be. A Prophet, a human being and a Prophet, a Messenger of G-d inspired by G-d. But his mystery is also how he came to be Jesus the Christ. That man did not make him. G-d made him. This is a mystery. We accept as Muslims.
So, I will conclude this by saying that if Christians believe that their belief in G-d is monotheistic, that G-d is One in spite of the language of the Trinity, we have to accept too that their belief is in One G-d. And I'll give you the Islamic rule for it. That matters are judged by intention. That's Islamic rule. Matters are judged by intention. So we are not to tell a person who believes that he's believing in One G-d, that he's not believing in One G-d if he himself or that person believes that they are believing in One G-d. Especially when we understand the confusion often for us in that language we call the Trinity or the Trinitarian language. We are really going beyond the time that I hope we would spend with taking questions and I'm going to accept only one more question. Then we have to conclude.
Question:
As Salaam Alaikum.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
I've already said on this visit, I've said that we don't believe that we should subscribe to any particular School of thought, but that we should respect all the Schools of thought and study them and seek help from what has been done by those Imams.
Imam Shafi, Maliki, all of them. Hannabali. To seek help from what they have done from their labor, but to use our own good intelligence, good senses and make our own judgment as to what should be the Sharia or what should be the School of Thought. Or if we should even have a School of Thought, or Madhabs anymore Maybe we don't even need those Madhabs anymore. Maybe we just need the benefit from the good works, good examples and the good works of the followers, the best followers of the Prophet, and apply that that is suitable for our new circumstances. Because this is a new time and new circumstances in America. If those thinkers differed and they all existed and live in relatively the same time period almost.
But they differed. Why did they differ? Why did every school or every Madhab not think the same? It's because the circumstances in parts of Africa or parts of Africa where the Maliki school is located is different from the circumstances in Iran, Iraq and where another school is. And in the other parts of the world where another school is more popular. In Arabia, where still another school is more popular. And in Arabia now really, they have the Wahabi School of Thought. The Wahabi School of Thought is neither of the four great Imams. But they are influenced by the Hannabali School of Thought. So why can't we have our own School of Thought influenced by any one or all of them. But the final decision should be made by our own people, our own authorities in this part of the world who know these circumstances over here and experience these circumstances over here. That's my position and I think that's what you're interested in. Yes. Was that good enough? Yes, sir. Thank you. As Salaam Alaikum.



