04/15/1995
IWDM Study Library 
Pearl Cohn HS
Nashville TN

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Peace be on you. We greet as Muslims throughout the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, wherever Muslims are living. The greetings is As Salaam Alaikum, Peace be on you and we give that greetings to all of you in the audience. That is our desire, that we all have peace, and we know that Islam is the religion of peace. The very name means peace. Islam means peace. Al Islam means peaceful surrender to the will of G-d. And actually the full expression is not known by most of the people in the West. We just say Islam. But the full expression, the full name given in our Holy book is Al Islam. And Al is the definite article, the, THE, added to Islam. And it means the act of submitting or surrendering your will or our will peacefully to the will of our Creator, to the will of G-d. And one who accepts to do that is called the Muslim from the very same root. Salama. SLM is the root and we get from that root, Al Islam, the religion, Muslim, the name of the person who accepts that religion and the greetings Salam, or As Salaam Alaikum also from the same root, SLM. Those letters form the root. And the meaning is peace. And we wish all the people on this holiday of Christianity peace and the blessings of their holiday.
I promised that I would with my address here today that I would address the theme that the community under the very hardworking and resourceful Imam Iliyas Muhammad chose. And that theme was Excellence In Leadership. I would like to begin with thoughts on really the religion of Islam and how Islam affected or impacted the history of the world and the world society or the world community of men, of people. Prayers and Peace be on him, our Prophet to us is a model of excellence and our Prophet is the leader of all Muslims. We have leaders and we have had leaders. In fact, the Prophet was the first one to appoint other leaders for the Muslims other than himself. He appointed his members, his companions, a member in his select group of very special characters, may G-d be pleased with them. Among them is his cousin Ali, who also became one of the rulers and the Shia sect, or the Shia section of the Muslims of the world.
They identify strongly with that leader Ali. Ali, who was known to excel in spiritual, spiritual refinement, spiritual refinement. And we know also that he appointed Abu Bakr as a leader who became the first ruler in Islam after, or the first leader of the Muslims over all of the Muslims after the passing of our Prophet, the Prayers and the Peace be upon him. And today we have many leaders and we don't all agree. Back there, they didn't agree either, but they didn't disagree on very important fundamental issues. They disagreed on things that were not fundamental to the religion and to the community of Muslims. But today we have leaders who agree on things, basic, fundamental, they disagree, pardon me, who differ and disagree on things basic and fundamental. And this is not making for peace in the Muslim community of the world. We don't have the unity and we don't have the peace that we should be enjoying because we are not in agreement as to what is essentially or importantly Islam or Al Islam and Muslim life.
But we hope with the blessings, mercy and blessings of Allah, our G-d, the Lord of these Worlds, that we will overcome that. And I do believe there's desire in the more learned and better leaders of the Muslim world today to see that change from one of division and differing on important basic matters to one of at least agreement on what is essential or what is basic in Islam. Our Prophet, Prayers and peace be upon him, I repeat, is for us the leader of excellence. G-d says of him that he is a model of excellence for any who believe in G-d and the last day. And those two expressions perhaps are the more important expressions for describing any people who have a real religion. You have to believe in G-d and believe that you are accountable to that G-d. That is given in the expression "And they believe in the last day." Something else that I would like to mention right along with this is that people don't feel good when they're not having progress in their lives. It takes something out of the soul, it hurts the spirit and you just can't be happy when you're not having some progress in your life. And progress means success, success.
And we know that this religion has been given to us for the good life and for the success of that good life. When G-d tells us in the religion or in scripture that He wants us to grow, and this is also said in Christianity, maybe not in the Bible, maybe not in the exact language, but that is exactly what it means.. Progress, growth. When G-d says that He want us to grow, that is exactly what He's telling us, that He want us to have a life of success, a life of success, success followed by success. We in Islam devote ourselves to prayer as an expression of the whole life that we give to G-d. And when we are called to prayer, we are called also to success. The prayer call is translated, "Come to prayer, come to success, come to prayer, come to success." G-d knowing the nature of the human soul that He created, invited that soul to a life of success. I think if you missed service, if you're a Christian and you missed service today, I'm going to give you a little bit. I may not be a substitute for what you missed, but you'll also be recognized in my address.
Come to success. Now success depends on really one particular discipline, one particular discipline. And I think that's really simplifying what is a very big problem for most people. And that discipline is given in the expression of our Prophet, Prayers and peace be on him who said, "The believer, when he endeavors to do a thing or to carry out something, a task, he seeks to perfect his performance." He seeks to perfect his performance. That means he seeks excellence, right? He seeks excellence and we know that's what make for success in his life. The artist who is making a painting, he's struggling to perfect his art. That is art. Art is reaching for perfection and we know that that discipline, when we see it in the home or we see it in the business or anywhere we see success and not failure. No one who aims at perfection, is going to be a failure in this world. I don't know anybody that I've met that I would characterize as a person who aims for perfection that's not successful, always successful. So the Prophet said that G-d obligates the believer to aim for perfection no matter what he's doing or what he's, and he gave an example, he said something as simple as cutting the animal's throat to slaughter, slaughterhouse, the slaughtering of the animal that you are going to prepare for the market or whatever. He said "When you do that perfect it. How do you perfect it? You follow the rules of halal, our kosher for Muslims.
Kosher food, kosher way. And you sharpen the knife so that the stroke is clean and as painless as possible. That's how our Prophet described perfection in slaughtering, or excellence, pardon me, excellence in the performance of the slaughtering of an animal. And I would like to say much about what the Prophet called our attention to regarding animals, but I don't want to take up too much time on that.
But I will say this, that Muslims are to be supporting animal welfare, animal care and the issue of abuse of animal life. We are supposed to be supporting all of that. And all you have to do is read what in the Prophet's life, what he said to Muslims concerning animals. One Muslim was so impressed by what the Prophet said to him, and this was not an ordinary man. This was a man of great statue. He was walking down the road with some others in his company and a dog was approaching walking the same path but approaching them. And they wanted to make the dog, shoo a dog off the path. And this Muslim man said, "G-d has given the dog rights too" A wise teacher. He said G-d gave the dog rights also. And they didn't make the dog get out of their way. And most dogs, they got more sense than human beings. They respect their superiors. Success generates success. The Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him. He also said to us, "G-d inscribed excellence on everything. G-d inscribed excellence on everything." It means inscribed. Means He wrote it into the nature of the creation of that thing. He wrote into the nature of the creation of that thing, excellence. The prescription excellence.
We are created for excellence then. We are created for excellence. When we look at the fetal life, the unformed life of a human being in the mother, it gets its form. Its form, its physical design, in its mother. As Allah says, the words in the Qur'an of G-d says, I give you, says, "And i give you all," meaning all people, no matter what your color, your national origin or whatever, you are given your design or your form in the stomachs of your mother, in the stomachs of your mother or in the wombs of your mothers. Because of that success, that's really not in our hands, that mean not in our control. We come out with the capacity unless we meet with some mishap. But ordinarily we come out with the life and the capacity for growth in excellence or for progress. Success behind progress followed by success. Success followed by success. I repeat that the Prophet said "G-d wrote into the very nature of the creation of everything, the prescription or the obligation to perform in an excellent way." To evolve from lower form to higher form, from less developed form to more developed form, from less performance to greater performance. From crude performance to refined performance.
This is the meaning of life in its line of growth, our progress, our evolution. So, when we find excellence in the leader, we find that that makes that leader important to us, not just for today and tomorrow but for generations to come. As some leaders, they're great in some areas, but on the whole they are not seen as men of excellent character, excellent character or men that we associate with the spirit for excellence, that they had a drive, natural drive or natural spirit for excellence in their life or in their performance. But nevertheless, they can become very important for us for a brief time or a season. But those who will be important for us for generations are those that we see as moral leaders or men who pursued excellence and had a spirit for excellence. The Prophet said, Peace be upon him. Pardon me I want to hold that point for a moment and I first want to say something else of him because I think it's important for us to also recognize the need for freedom. Freedom, the need freedom in our lives.
But nothing hardly can happen for us unless we have freedom. And this freedom is free will. the freedom to exercise our will, the freedom to achieve as our spirit, our appetites move us to achieve and not be held back from reaching the excellence or the success that we have the ability for. And if we are held back, that's also depressing. It hurts the spirit. It makes the soul miserable. Don't think that the western idea of community excellence is not also in great measure the Muslim idea of community excellence. Freedom is cherished in the West, is something that the West could not be without or could not dismiss. And everything else began as progress or success for our society, for this conforming society that we have in the West. Democratic society. Because men stood up for freedom and demanded that they be free to pursue the excellence that G-d had prescribed upon the very nature of their creation. The Prophet Muhammad in the Qur'an is given to us by G-d as a free man. Where do we find this? In the Qur'an where the revelation says of the Prophet, it puts the words into the Prophet's mouth himself. "I am a free man in this city. I am a free man in this city."
Now I want to get your attention or ask you to give your attention to Islam, its effect on history and the character of our Prophet and its effect on history. Historians like the great Arnold Toynbee and many others of the West did not overlook the impact of the Qur'an and Muhammad's life or his person on the history of the world and on the development of the world, the progress of the world. The Qur'an is the book that represents the supreme authority in the life of all Muslims, no matter where we are found in this earth. And the number is said to be now about 1 billion and some more than 1 billion Muslims. One out of four persons on earth is believed to be a Muslim. The Qur'an is a book according to the language in the book itself. It speaks of itself or G-d Himself speaks and tell us what the book is. It is a book of guidance, not just for Muslims but for all people. And I'll give you the words if you speak Arabic, I'll give you the words in Arabic-Hudan Lin Nas. Guidance for all people. Didn't say Hudan Lin Muslim or Hudan Lin Muslimeen. It said, Hudan Lin Nas, guidance for the people, meaning all the people on this earth.
So how should we approach the Qur'an? We should approach it seeking guidance. It is guidance. "Hudan Lin Nas La Bayan Natin Ma Hudan Al Furqan." it is guidance for the people and it is the evidence of what is guidance and what is the criteria. It is addressing issues in the religious community of the world from Adam till the present time. And it is saying that this is no strange teaching. It follows the progression that you see in the classical scripture or in classical religious movement from the beginning of time to the end. If the Qur'an, and we know it has because Arnold Toynbee, perhaps the greatest Western historian said so. It has impacted the worlds history and man's community life. And if Muhammed the Prophet, who the French scientists Michael Hart I think his name is, listed first among the 100 leaders, I think he listed as being the number one or the first one, having the greatest influence on history and the world. He listed Muhammad. Now this is not to toot our horn or anything, believe me, that's far from my nature. But it's just to give support to my position that I'm taking.
And my position is that if any idea or if any development has happened for the world in that magnitude, of that gravity, of that impact, it deserves respect from all intelligent people. You don't have to accept it as your way of life, but intelligence should dictate that you respect it. Therefore all people, intelligent people can benefit from it. It deserves to be studied by everybody intelligent, by everybody that's intelligent. It deserves your study. You should study it, you should learn from it, you should take from it, gain lessons from it. If I would tell you that I haven't gotten anything from Christianity, I would tell a big lie. And my religion tells me to take good wherever I'll find it. If I reject anything good in Christianity, I'm committing a sin because my religion tells me to accept good wherever I find it. Now, if I have already have something that serves that need in me, I don't have to accept that good, but I should at least recognize it as a good, as something that people need in their lives. Though I have already something sufficing or taking care of that need in me. Many things we should study because of Islam. Because Islam has made so many contributions. And when I say Islam, I mean the Qur'an number one and Muhammad's life, the Prophet's life, Prayers and peace be on him. Number two.
The focus in this religion as it is for the great idea of society that we have is firstly on what is inherent. In the preambles, the Constitution of these United States, those words and that language that sets the mood and also establishes the disposition for getting benefit and for being involved in the idea of this country or this nation we call democracy. It says "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator." See, some of us don't even register that. That those great men recognize G-d and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these life, Haya Al Salah. Haya means come to life, come lively to prayer, to worship.
Life, liberty. I am a free man in this city and the pursuit of happiness. Follow me. I will meet you as the great pool of abundance. That's what our Prophet said. That's the invitation he gave to all of his followers of the world. Follow me, I will meet you at the great pool of abundance. The focus is on inherent worth, the worth that you come with as a new baby. Born today on Easter Sunday from the stomach or the womb of your mother. You come with it. Scientists with all of its progress now and technology, et cetera. It still says that it can't produce no computer, no machine to equal what G-d patterned. G-d patterned every girl and boy that's born. That's G-d's pattern. And He inscribed upon it upon his very nature and his potential, his growth, potential growth, responsibility to respond to the demand for excellence in the life or on the life. I've never seen a baby doing anything but struggling for excellence. Yes. I don't know what happened to us when we get a little older. Yeah, when the baby first attempt to find his mother's breast to feed on it, it doesn't know, it's new. So, it's missing but it keeps struggling for accuracy. And a little time it's accurate. Oh, got it. And what still excites me, like observing I guess a new star forming in the heavens, a nebula or something is the thought of how a baby struggles to stand and balance itself upon his feet and finally arrive at that victory, finally gets that victory. And once, if you ever watch a child stand for the first time, the whole expression on that child says victory. I would like to now just give you a few sayings of Muhammad the Prophet that are really samples. Just a sample, pardon me, only a sample of the sayings of our Prophet that I think comes in the context of this particular kind of drive, this particular drive or discipline for excellence that makes for all success in life. The Prophet said, Prayers and Peace be on him to a man... Understand now that when the Prophet became a leader, slavery was accepted in the world. Slavery was part of the natural order of things. And there was a man that the Prophet observed, he was yelling at his servant or his slave.
Calling him Abdi, which means my servant or my slave. Literally at that time it meant my slave. Abdi, saying Abdi. The Prophet said, "Do not address him saying Abdi don't address him saying or calling him your slave. He said, "Call him your son." Say my son. See how wise the Prophet was, how wise he was. That speaks for his great creation, for the great excellence of his human creation. He's the model of human created excellence, human excellence, human excellence, created human excellence. He's the model of that. He could have said like we said, "Oh he ain't your slave." But he didn't say that and he did say that, but he did it in a very intelligent, tactful way. He said, "Don't call him your slave. Don't say my slave, say my child, Waladi. He said, say my child Waldi. Because the term child is affectionate isn't it my child that's affectionate. My child. He didn't say you don't have no rights to put yourself over him like that. My slave means that the person I'm referring to is my dependent, is in my charge, looks to me for all of his needs. And what will the natural parent expect who accepts that responsibility to a human life?
You expect them to obey and you expect them to do what you tell them to do. To do those chores and to do it in a good spirit. See a lot of things that we have made quick decisions on need to be rethought. We need to rethink those things. If a man has another human being in his charge and this human being is accepting it, understand when slaves start to revolt, pretty soon they are no more slaves. Or either masters get rid of them or kill them. Slaves accept their situation until they think they're more important and then they change and pretty soon the change has to be made and they're freed. He said, "Call him my child." Now let me continue. I get in these veins and I can't come out. Praise be to Allah. The Prophet said, also, "Feed your slave the food you yourself eat and clothe your slave with the clothes you wear." Wise man, wise man. He didn't want a lot of unnecessary problems. He didn't want to create more problem for himself than he had to. The most important responsibility he had was responsibility of teaching and leading people out of darkness into the light.
Out of savagery, into civilization. That was his main job. So, he didn't want to create a whole lot of problems for that. That would probably take up his whole life, just fighting slave masters to free slaves. So, G-d guided him and blessed him because of his human excellence with the tactfulness that would make big problems small. So, he said, what I just repeated to you and one man when he heard it, he said, "Me, feed my slave the same food I eat and dress my slave in the clothes I wear? And the Prophet said "And also provide for his education." "And provide for his education? I don't want him anymore. That's exactly what the Prophet expected. Allahu Akbar. G-d is greater. And the influence was already coming from the Qur'an to help the Prophet or to make possible that change and to condition the people to at least have patience. And listen, G-d said to all men and when He said it right away, the big man, he doesn't think of the little man that he has control over. You see, or that he's the master of. G-d says, "You all are my slaves. And I am your Lord. Therefore worship only Me." That's what G-d said, huh? You all are my slaves. So that's speaking to the slave master and the slaves working for him, shining his shoes or whatever he's doing at the time. When the revelation comes, he hears because they didn't have loud speakers but they had loud voices would call it out over the air, stand on top of a minaret, on a hill or something and say it to the people, to the public. So, when they're saying this and the master standing there and the slave, his slave standing there too and they're hearing the same thing, G-d saying, you all are my slaves and I am your Lord. Therefore worship only me. Now I'm sure that slave, when he first heard that he's kind of jolted a little bit. If he was intelligent, he kept quiet and continued to pretend like he didn't hear anything but something started to work in him to liberate him. If he hadn't already been thinking about it. And the master, it might not have hit him. It had, what do you call it, the after shock, delayed shock. He probably looked at his slave, said, "Hey boy, hurry up, hurry up, get finished with that job and went and sit down during the break. "G-d damn, what the hell?"
Now look at this statement that we think too is foreign to Islam. It is not. It is in Christianity in the Bible. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. So, this is an expression too, addressing what G-d ordered, what G-d ordered to be must be in the end. That's what it's saying. As G-d created you, this is Qur'an now I'm comparing it, making a comparison. As G-d created you the first time, there shall be another deliverance. As G-d created you the first time there shall be for you another deliverance. How wonderful that is. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. What accounted for the great success that Muhammad had other than his obedience to the best of his human nature?
The best of his human nature. And don't think we should see this separate from G-d's invitation to us when He says to us who are having difficulty understanding very complex problems in life and how the Qur'an serves to give us a solution or to answer these problems, the need in us to have these problems solved. What does G-d say? "And take from the Qur'an," I'm putting in brackets, I'm adding that because that's exactly what He's talking about. "And take from the revelation, from the words of G-d, or take from the Qur'an the best thereof, the best thereof." So that tells me then that help in the Qur'an has grades. That there are grades of help for me in the Qur'an. And some of us tend to want the weakest help and the real strong help that can really change our life and make it what G-d wants it to be, we look around it or pretend we didn't see that. So, G-d cautions us "And take the best thereof." And only those men who have a spirit to pursue excellence, we'll take the best thereof. Sometimes they have to grit their teeth and bite their lips. It's so hard to do some of those things. But you say "I got to do it. I'll never be satisfied with myself until I do that."
Allahu Akbar. G-d is greater. Now, Muhammad the Prophet, because of the excellence of his human model that he obeyed, that G-d intended for him and all of us, there manifested upon that human nature also a cultured nature or cultured person who was loved by his people before G-d mission him, before he became Prophet, a Messenger of G-d and who was respected. And not only that, he was the one that they would point to as a model. Even before G-d said that to the world, they would point to Muhammad as a model. They say he is EI Amin. He is the trustworthy one. When there was dispute that had to be settled, if they couldn't settle it among themselves, they would call on Muhammad and ask him if he would be an arbitrator, if he would be a judge or help them come to some kind of settlement. That was his excellence. And G-d said of him that the people were endeared to you because you were gentle with them. And if you had been rough with them, you wouldn't have drawn to yourself their affections. They wouldn't have been endeared to you. Brother Imams, listen.
That's our model. We're supposed to follow him. Now this Prophet Muhammad came to his mission upon his own human urge. He didn't hear a voice saying, "Muhammad, wake up. Stop what you're doing. G-d has a mission for you." Here's how he started. He looked at the social confusion, the social disorder, his divided people divided along lines of clan importance, tribal importance, clan importance, et cetera. And it burdened his heart so much that he decided to go out from his city, out from the population center to a mountain that is now called because he received enlightenment there, Mountain of the light. Jabil Nur, Mountain of the light. He went out to that mountain and climbed up the mountain and we can do it now whenever we make pilgrimage. In fact, it's recommended that we do it. See exactly, go up to that mountain and see exactly the hole that he went into and sought seclusion there to ask the powers that are over all this creation for guidance. He didn't know how to perceive G-d, but he knew that some power was over everything. So, he went up in that cave. It has different names, but Muslim scholars object to one of the names that's very popular. So, I'm not going to even give that name. And I understand why the objection, because it's from mythology, from Greek mythology. The name itself. So, he went up into the cave and he stayed in there alone thinking. Now at the time, at that time when he was alone in the cave thinking, I'm going to venture out to say that he was not making du'a or praying, "Oh G-d, he was not doing that. He was straining his brain, his mind, his thought, his intelligence to come up with answers on his own. The Prophet was a free thinker before he became the Messenger of G-d. Just as the free thinker leaves his environment, rejects his world and goes somewhere to be alone and rest his head on his hand and think hard, think deep, ponder the situation to come up with some answers. Muhammad did that. But because he was such a genuine person in his human makeup, just as G-d wanted him to be created just as G-d wanted man to be created, he was completely innocent looking for no importance for himself and therefore he was the fit vessel for G-d to put the light in. So, G-d responded to him and the proof that he was not expecting G-d was that he didn't understand what happened and he had to go and he told his wife, Lady Kadeja, his first wife and at that time his only wife, he only had more wives after Revelation, not before. And he was 40 years old when he got the first revelation from G-d. He told his wife his experience and his wife knew of a man.
And she said, "I know someone who is a Christian who has knowledge of these things. She said, I will consult him. And she did. And to make the story short, Prophet Muhammad was, his nervousness was quieted when he was given the answer. The answer was that things similar kind of experiences other men have had who became Prophets or Messengers of G-d and that we believe that you are being selected by G-d to be His Prophet or His Messenger. So, when he got that, he felt more at ease. And finally the clear revelation was communicated to the Prophet. "Read in the Name of your Lord who created, created man from a small life germ. Read. And your Lord is most generous, who taught man how to use the writing pen. Who taught man what man was not before knowing." Those was the first five verses that came to our Prophet of revelation. First five verses that came to him, conditioned him to respect the human intellect, conditioned him to see knowledge and creation tied together. The creation of G-d and knowledge tied together because He said, read in the Name. G-d said, Read in the Name of your Lord who created, created man from a small life germ. So that means G-d evolves man, didn't it? Isn't that what that says?
If G-d says He created man from a small life germ, we know from there we can take it from there. We know that small life germ does not stay a small life germ. It becomes a lump of flesh, a fetus lump and then order. Structure. Orderly structure takes place and it comes out with human symmetry, human edifice, human building, human construction, right? Yes. So that positioned Muhammad for scientific thought, for scientific thought. Now this first revelation that came to the Prophet addresses the beginning of human life and ties with it G-d as a teacher, G-d as the teacher, the first teacher and the most resourceful of teachers, the most efficient of teachers. G-d. So, wouldn't you say that these first five verses of revelation introduced the process of social development for that disordered society and also interest in social establishment for that society? Yes. I have to say that myself, yes. It's not only true of Islam, it's true of the other great religions. So here we have G-d inviting Muhammad to come into a covenant with Him. And the covenant will eventually be a covenant for all the Muslims.
Our covenant with G-d. What kind of covenant is it? It is a covenant of social life that we make an agreement with G-d that You who created my life, You who prescribed for me the social life and the social role. You prescribed this for me in my creation. I accept a covenant with you to uphold the social life that You've created for me. And we may say also that it brings to mind the paradise that G-d showed to the angel Jibril and the effect of the influences of the devil, the Satan upon what G-d had made that would come later. And hence the great task that man would have to accept as a challenge in order for him to realize peace and happiness and abundance of benefits or pleasures in his life. The paradise is a picture of the ideal situation for man's life. That picture has most prominent in it man and woman. Two. The beginning of the social order, right? When two become together, that's the beginning of the social order. I have an association with someone other than myself. That's the beginning of the social order. So here we have two in the garden.
And the garden is a very blissful place, a very beautiful place. A place that excites the appetites. It's beautiful, blissful, peaceful at that time and it excites the appetite. That's a great challenge, especially when it has in it, though it's paradise, also that that can harm you. Now some of us never think of paradise having something in it that could harm you. But G-d said to him, "Eat from every tree except one." So, there was some harm there wasn't it? So, there was some harm there, but his appetites were excited for everything. The Prophet says, Prayers and Peace be on him. Muhammed the Prophet of Islam, of the Qur'an. He says, "You'll never enter the garden of paradise until you have faith and you'll never have faith until you accept to practice love, practice loving one another." That's what the Prophet said. Now G-d says that He put the man He created into the garden and charged him with responsibility for maintaining the condition of the garden and for also utilizing everything that G-d put before him in the garden making it of service. Everything but one tree, right?
Man is then created for struggle. Here is something to tempt him, to make problems for him. He's new. He hasn't met with any great challenge. G-d has given him a perfect picture of the world that his soul wants. But now G-d has designed it so that it challenges him to make him tougher, to make him grow up, to increase him in ability and in strength and endurance so that he will himself grow up to the demands on his development that is given in that picture of paradise. Because there was a subtle creature there that tempted him to eat of the forbidden tree and he fell victim not knowing what he was doing, which tells us that he was not yet grown up enough for the challenge of the garden. You follow me? The garden is a futuristic thing, though G-d gives it as something that was present. The garden is a futuristic thing and G-d is telling us that man is not yet ready for the great state that he was created for, but in time he will measure up because G-d has put it in him to measure up. So, I repeat, G-d said, you will find in Muhammad a most excellent mobs for any who believes in G-d and in the last day.
And there's a saying in Arabic common saying among the Arab people in the Arab society, "If you want to be successful or if you want to succeed, then struggle hard." And this is a belief of the American people, at least the old American people, early American people. They believe that man has to accept challenge and man has to gain the condition that he wants for himself and his family and his society by accepting hard work and working hard to realize it. Yes. And the reward to someone or to anyone that accepts to work hard for what they want is the greater measure of paradise. Those who get it the easy way, they don't enjoy the level of happiness or the level of satisfaction or the level of paradise that those enjoy who paid a lot to get there. Yes. So, some of us want happiness and we think happiness is something you go at directly. That's what Satan want us to believe. That hey, happiness is something you go at directly. Like you go at that wall directly, you want to reach that wall, you got to go over there and touch it. But sometimes happiness is something you have to walk away from. Like victory against the enemy on the battlefield, sometimes the strategist, the general has to pretend like he's defeated and retreat to get in a better situation to deal with it. And happiness is one of those things. In fact, I would say all abstracts are like that. You don't reach abstracts by going directly at them.
If you want love, don't go after love, go after responsibility. And believe me, women are just naturally attracted to men that are responsible. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. Another saying from Allah's words in the Qur'an. The parable of your life and your death is the parable of one soul. A parable of your life and death is a parable of one soul. And we know that we all are blessed to have life, this human life through one Adam. Right? Through one. That's Adam. Because of G-d creating Adam, all of us have our human life to have this human life. And the Prophet said of Adam, he said, Friday is the best day of the year. No day better than Friday. This is what our Prophet said. Even our holidays are not more important to us than Friday. And the Prophet said, it is the day on which G-d made Adam and no one and He made him on a pattern of 60 arm spans, arm spans, my arm carries my hand.
My arm holds up my hand. He made him on the pattern of 60 arm spans. And you know when we go and perform the rights of Hajj, you have one draped over it and the other one you have it showing it like you're proud of it. Arm spans. He made him on the pattern of 60 arm spans. And He says no one dies or is resurrected from the death except on that pattern. That's a lot. That's saying a lot. The parable of your life and death is as the parable of one soul or one person. Now an African-American by the name of Ralph Ellison wrote The Invisible Man. And I read that book. The first time I picked it up like we do when got a lot of burden on us. We just browse through it. First time I picked it up, I just browsed through it, but I couldn't help but go back and pick it up again. Much later. In fact years passed. Finally I saw that book again. I said, I got to read that book again. I picked up that book. And one expression I found in that book to me represents the worth of the whole book.
And that expression from him is, and I don't give it to you as exact quote, but I'm giving you exact meaning. Somewhere along the way behind me and my journey on this earth, I missed or I got separated from my social establishment. I said earlier that the covenant with G-d is a social agreement, a social pact with G-d. G-d says that He brought us out and brought out is like by an exodus, by an exodus. That He brought us out of the darkness into the light. And G-d also says, you are Khaira. Khaira they say means best, but Khairah means best in the sense of what benefits. There are benefits that man wants that does not serve his needs best. But they are benefits too. You are the Khaira Ummatin, for want of a better expression, I'll use the saying that they use. The best community, brought out or evolved for all people. So, He says that he brought us out of the world of darkness and ignorance and disorder.
To be a model community for the good or for the benefit of mankind. That's what G-d says. A community is a social order isnt it? A community is a social order. He didn't say you are the best Government. You are the Khaira government, you are the Khaira community. You are the best community brought out or evolved for the benefit for the good of all people, all mankind.
If He brought us out, don't you hear the same language? G-d speaking to other communities, the Jews and others, He brought them out too, didn't He? G-d brought the Jews out and they had a covenant with G-d, didn't they? And doesn't Allah say to us, G-d says to us, He says to us in the Qur'an that He had a covenant with people before and now He has passed his covenant from them to us. What kind of covenant is this? It is a social agreement. It is a contract that we make with G-d that we are going to work for the social destiny that He created us for. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end.
How was it in the beginning? In the beginning, man had his ear open to no one but G-d. And what caused him to fall from the grace was that he opened his ear to the wrong speaker. Well, there's a lot to be said here.
G-d also says to us that He created us expressively for His mercy. Isn't that wonderful? And for us, and Christianity, mercy and love, the same. Christians say for G-d created us for His love. It was G-d's love that He gave to us. The word for us is not the love, but it is love. It is mercy. The mercy that He gave to us is the kind of mercy that we see as divine love. When we look at that mercy, how it benefits us and how G-d singled us out for this special treatment and special destiny and how He's so patient with us and permit us to go astray and even worship other than Him, but yet have patience with us and wait for us to wake up our return back to our better nature. And when we do, He accepts us over again. Forgives us over and over again. Finally brings us into the gift, into the promised land that He created us for. G-d's mercy. Say He created us for His mercy, especially for His mercy. We will have that mercy when we come into the socially establishment that G-d intends for us. Now as another expression that I want to bring to you that's in scripture and I think it is powerful in terms of the power to broadcast a big and great message. I've read in scripture and I just couldn't get away from it. I knew there was more there than it was meeting the eye where the people longed, this is in the Bible. The Bible. Longed to see the face of G-d. And when you read how they asked "G-d show us your face, I want to see his face." When we understand what that symbol face means, we can appreciate that more. And to understand it, we don't have to strain our brains and go out in the far regions of the heavens looking for the answer. Just look at each other. If you really care about a person and you have a strained relationship, you want to have understanding with them, don't you? You want to be able to come to an understanding. You want to get this trouble out of your relationship. You want to see the face the way it was when everything was right. And when we suffer in this world, we don't blame G-d, but we know G-d has the power to change it. So, the relationship becomes real burdensome on us. It's painful to go on like this. Say, G-d, we know you. We know you can change this.
Is this what you intended for us? Is this the life that you accept? The hard task master over us. Do you approve of him? I want to see your face. Now let me take this commentary just a step further. Now we know that symbol for the son of man is the physical sun that lights our shadowed and darkened world, right? Yes. I want to see your face.
Where Is the face of a human being? It's at the top of the construction. And it is that part in the top of the construction that communicates best to us. The mouth that speaks, the eyes that says things, huh? The expression on the face that tells us a lot about the state in the heavens at the time. Yes.
I want to see your face. They're not talking about just the face, they're talking about we want to see this government state that you want for us. G-d, what is the design of the government that you want? And man have been struggling for that design, that governmental life design that will satisfy all the citizens and be just by all citizens alike. Thy Kingdom come, Thy government come, thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our daily bread. Read in the name of your Lord who created. Thank You very much. As Salaam Alaikum. May G-d guide us always. Ameen.



