01/25/1998
IWDM Study Library 
Regard The Wombs- Brothers Meeting
Detroit, MI

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
So, then we said from there, from this root. And the Arabic words we'll find, they derive from roots, what is called a Wa-Ki-Ya, which is given in the masculine past tense, which is called the perfect tense, versus the imperfect, which means imperfect, it hasn't been completed yet, which means the act has been completed. So therefore, from this, you derive certain kinds of words. And Wa-Ki-Ya, which means like I said, to guard. Now from this, you derived a lot of other words and we came to the word called Ih-Tau-Ki, which is the verb, and in general it means to fear G-d, to ward off evil, to act piously. And we also said that this represents what form of the word Wa-Ki-Ya? The eighth form. See, we said there are 10 forms. Each verb takes on 10 forms and the eighth form because there's this Revelation even in the grammatical structure, the eighth form then is saying about what in regard to piety?
Yes, but the eighth form. Where's the dominant idea in the eighth form of the verb? You remember, we said? It refers to... Go ahead. Yes, that's general. The eighth form, it means one of interaction. It's talking about this Taqwa, this piety, this interaction over a long period of time. That's one definite and dominant idea. The second is that this produces in people self-reflection. So, it's something you're talking about that goes on over a long period of time, it produces in people self-reflection. And we said it's something that moves the act from an outreach action, it's not something that you are doing outwardly. Yes, it may be something that you're doing outwardly, but the benefit, the real focus is then moving it from an outreach action to an inward action. So, you may do something outward, but the beneficiary is really you in terms of something that's taking place within you inwardly. You may give in charity, but the benefit is an inward result. You may fast, but the benefit is really something that's taking place inward. We're talking about inward, we talking about the abstract or the invisible life. Yes?
That's one of the dominant ideas I've given you. One of the things that means interaction over a long period of time, it produces in the person's self-reflection, moves the act from an outreach action to an inward action. And it stresses the idea of self gain, self-preservation and repetition. Self gain, self-preservation, and self repetition. So basically, it is saying that there's a self gain, self-preservation, but you can only keep it if you repeat the act over and over and over and over again, which is once to say that this is something you can't just do during Ramadan and expect to really get any benefit from it.
You got to keep repeating it. What it's saying, what you're doing during this month, you have to keep doing it. Because you can get it, it's all a muscle. You know how athlete work out, work out, work out. We've seen some athletes, man, they're being tiptop shape for a fight. They work out. Soon as that fight is over, they go on vacation, blow up, weak, fat. That's the same, if we just develop this muscle during Ramadan and after Ramadan, then we stop exercise this much, you're going to get fat, flabby and weak. And all the gain that you get during Ramadan, you lose it. It-taqi. Let me write it up here. Ittaqi is the eighth form. I-T-T-A-Q. I think it's It-taqaa. But then, the eighth form has many derivatives from it, and another derivative in the one that we will find in 283, you'll find the language from which Ta-Ta-Qun comes from is Ya-Taqi. Then also, another derivative of the eighth form we talked about is Muttaqi and we talked about Muttaqi. Now what do we say about Muttaqi?
What is the meem? We talked about the meem, the Mu. Well, no, yeah, yeah, but where does the life go? Taqwa is the idea, but the Muttaqi then becomes the what? There's a word. Yeah, it's the active participle in terms of Muttaqi, the active participle. But the meem in it, when we talk about the mean, you'll find it in Muslim, you find it in Musalla.
But to give it life, it must first become it's what? Yeah, a vehicle was close. Yeah, it becomes a vehicle, that's right. But it becomes the container for the idea. Remember that? Container. So, the Muttaqi, which Allah says, "Dhal El Kitabi Al Raaba Fi Dhal Al Muttaqin." "That is the book and it is guidance sure for the Muttaqin". Muttaqin is the plural of Muttaqi. So the Muttaqin, those who practice Taqwa , but the meem, they become the containers of the Taqwa. It's like the Muslim becomes the container for Salaama, the peace. The Musalla becomes the container, the place where the Salis practiced.
We talked about the meem, and you also before, we said it's beautiful because if you look at the meem, the meem said it resembles a sperm, in terms of something that gives life to a thing, gives life to it. If you just have the idea of peace, but you need the Muslim to give the idea to Salaama, peace. You need the Muttaqi to give the idea, give life rather, and become a vehicle, a container in a vehicle for the idea of Taqwa. All right.
So, we got through that and we said Taqwa is a feminine noun, it's a feminine noun, and we talked about it being a womb. Taqwa, it being a feminine noun, and it being a womb because our life as Muslim, it said, "This is a book, it is for the Mutaqin, those who practice Taqwa." That's what the Qur'an is for. So, it becomes an essential womb in the life of the believer. And a better term for Taqwa than fear is what? Regardfulness. Regardfulness for Allah, regardfulness for G-d. But Taqwa, in its general application in its general application, does it just mean regardfulness for G-d? It refers to regardfulness to G-d and everything that G-d has created.
Of course, to disrespect Allah's creation is to disrespect its Creator. Everything that Allah uses, not just created, but everything that Allah uses as our Rabb, He is our Rabb. And what is Rabb? Yes, but what else? One who takes you from an inferior state and brings you into your excellence. One who finds you where you are at, and does whatever He needs to do in order to get you where He wants you to go. One who observes His creature from a distance, but steps in whenever He needs to in order to make sure His creature gets to where it needs to go. This is the Rabb.
So, we have to then be regardful of all of the instruments that our Rabb put in place to foster our development. You have to be regardful of them. That's what it comes down to when we said in the Qur'an, "Have regardfulness for Allah, through whom you demand your mutual rights and also for," we use the term... We also use also for what? Arham. Which means what? Womb. Does it mean one womb or many? Plural. Arham is the plural of what? Rah. Yeah. But Rah, it's the plural of Raheema, or we say Raheem. It's the plural of Rah, we say Arham. So, Raheem, we say "Bismillah Ar Rahman, Nir Raheem." Raheem, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer. Raheem, we've been taught is the special, Rahma is for everyone. Raheem, we've been taught it just for the believers. So, this is just the plural of this. So, this special blessing, Allah says, "It's not just one, there are many." And really the language of the Qur'an stops with Arham. Yusuf Ali adds, "The wombs that bore you." He adds, "That bore you."
But Arham doesn't mean, once again, you see the interpretation, but this particular time, you see it in a parenthesis. But it just means literally, Arham means the wombs, those things that Allah in the role of Rabb uses to foster or bring about our development. Now, what are some of the wombs? Family. What else? Community, what else? Government? Government's a womb? The mother? Now we talked about why did Prophet Muhammad, why did he tell the man that basically he should have three times as much regard for the mother as the father? Okay. That's two. What are the three developments that we get from our mother? Emotional development, what else? Spiritual or rational development? Yeah, but that's rational development. What's the first development? Your physical development, man.
You feed off of your mama first. She's first your physical wound, then she's your emotional womb, then she's also your rational womb, in terms of your first educator. But before she can start educating you first, the main thing she's doing is just giving you a lot of love. That stays consistent. Each womb is dependent upon the one that preceded it. The emotional womb is still dependent upon physical nourishment. Then when we come into the emotional womb, the emotionality, when we move to the rational plane, the rational plane is still dependent upon emotionality, as well as physical nourishment.
All right. So Itaaqi, it says have regardfulness for Allah in the wombs. Now, Itaaqi means it comes in the imperative form, which means it's a command. An imperative form, which means it's something that we have to do. We talked about that and we talked about Wataqun Nar, have regardfulness for the fire. Now, what did we say about fire? We talked a lot about fire. Yeah, the word for fire is what? What is the word for fire? The word for fire is Nar. The word for fire is Nar. Okay, it comes from the what root? Nar wa ra. This is the root that it comes from. Nar means fire.
It means physical fire. Is it just physical fire? What kind of fire is that? No, before we get to Nur, it can be what kind of fire? Rational. It's a rational fire that purifies you. What's the rational fire that purifies us? Huh? Conscience. Yeah, conscience for sin. That's the rational activity. You can have rational activity, but like Dion had mentioned, Nur, but we ain't talking Nur here, that kind of rational activity. Now, it's the Nur that's fed into the conscience that brings about the Nar, rational activity. It's the Nur. As an example, when enlightenment comes and you're practicing what is wrong and enlightenment comes, then that produces a rational activity that brings about enlightenment, but if you are not in line with that enlightenment, that Revelation that is distinguishing right from wrong, if you're not in line with that, it creates a rational activity that's Nar, that's fire, that burns.
Well, Nur means enlightenment. Nur is the enlightenment that comes from Allah. That's Nur, enlightenment. Nur is also one of Allah's attributes, which means it's something that it's origin, its source is Allah himself. So, Nur, this is Nur. They both have the same root. This is the feminine we talked about. This is the feminine noun. And this is the masculine. There are two parts of the same thing, they work together. They work together as one life. Huh?
Go ahead. Go ahead, explain further. Now the Nur produced the what? Produced that rational activity that produced what? That shame. So that was fire, right? But it was a burning fire. It was enlightenment, but that enlightenment burned. Go ahead.
That's right.
And that has some other meaning. But the same thing, that conscience. That fire of conscience, it is a light, it brings about a light, but it can be a painful kind of light, in terms of the fire. But fire also we talked about is something that purifies. When you want to take metal and purify it, you put it in a fire. And when we talked about in terms of the feminine aspect, basically it's a feminine principle, the feminine principle in terms of whether they're mothers or wives, basically they are a purifying element.
That's Nar. That's Nar. Trying to drive you into the Nur, or trying to at least so that you can better represent the Nur. So many times that yes, that can be that, it's a certain kind of pressure. We give an example of many times people say, "Stop sweating me." That pressure that's put on us to perform many times. Now, that can go to the extreme. Anything in extreme is not good also, but nevertheless it represents a positive element, it can represent a positive element in our life. Now, the Nur, as I said, when the Revelation comes and we follow the Revelation, and then basically, we are not dealing with the Nar. That's where the Qur'an even talks about the fire that comes up to their hearts. And we talked about Musa, he says, "Perhaps I perceive a fire. And so, I might bring back from that something that could be a benefit to you." But he's talking about rational activity, Musa coming into Revelation. All right. So, we talked about that.
It was rational activity at that particular time he perceived the fire, but basically, it doesn't all the time represent anything negative in the sense that it's bringing about a correction in your thinking. And we talked about Musa in terms of Musa's mistake before he went up and received Revelation was that the Jews had made him their savior before Allah made him their savior. And then he killed a man because he was Nationalistic in his thinking, which is not what Allah wants. Then after he went up to Mount Sinai, he came down, now he was a universal Prophet. He wasn't just following the assignment that the Jewish people had given him, now he was following the assignment that G-d had given him.
All right. All right. Okay. All right. Yes? Write them down? Yeah, because they come out of the Arabic dictionaries, but we can take that and develop them, sure.
Right. And that's why we say there's a lot to be learned by starting with a root because when you start with a root, then you see all the words that come through the root. By using your imagination, you can begin to see, okay, what's the connection? I know there's a connection here because they come from the same root. They all coming out of the same womb, there's a connection. And that's part of Allah says, "Think because thinking benefits the thinker." That's part of the thought process. You check, you use your imagination, then you make sure that it meets the rules of logic, that it's logical, that it's sound, that it holds up and you develop, you come into ideas and enlightenment.
Okay. Now we want to talk about the womb. This brings us to the womb that we want to take some time to talk about today and that's the family, which is the source of all social life and institutions. What do I mean by the family is the source of all social life and institutions?
Speaker 1:
Community Life.
IWDM:
How? How does the family bring about all social, all the institutions in society?
Speaker 1:
From the beginning because the family, the community, the society for you is for Allah on the basic level, what's proper, not proper.
IWDM:
Listen to what I'm saying, listen to the question. How is the family responsible for the development, the establishment of all social, political, economic institutions in society? How is the family the catalyst for all of those institutions?
Speaker 1:
In order to have a family, you must have a man and a woman coming together. The man then realizing, for example, that now I need to make more money so that I can provide for the family. So in order to provide for the family, I need to step out into the community and create institutions, banking institutions. I need a bank. I need a bank institution so that I can be able to manage the money so that I can deal with this. I need an educational institution so that I could better deal with my children and make sure my wife and family are educated. I need a religious institution so that we can stay close to Allah. So from the family and from the commitment to family and the development of that family, the male and the female must move out of the family to develop the institutions necessary to support the family. The family becomes the source of all of that that came out of it.
IWDM:
See, everything out there, would it be an accurate statement to say everything that we see in society, we go downtown, we look at every institution out there, will we be able to say that in its nature is designed to support the family?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it should be.
IWDM:
Yeah. Everything out there that you see, even the United States military, right? To die and to defend and protect the family life and the families, everything. It started in a more primitive way you might see it. Say there's a warring, way in a tribe, and there's a warring village that wants to attack us and take what we have. I can't defend my family by myself. I need you and you and we got to come together in order to defend all of our families. If we don't, then basically all of us going to lose our family. So that's the necessity of social institutions, which is designed to even benefit the family institutions. You got it.
Speaker 2:
I was just thinking that, and I found before institutions of saving and loans, whatever, introduced that my mother used to give us the basic insight on saving some money. Wasteful spending and settle an argument between the children, and policing her family and governing her family and establishing the criteria of different respect for elderly people, manners, thoughtfulness of G-d.
IWDM:
So, everything, it comes out of that family. The family is a very sacred womb that produces all the developments that we see in society. Now having said that, in Detroit on the 11th of this month, Imam W. D Mohammed, he gave a talk and it was supposed to have been a talk just for brothers, but he told the sisters they could stay there too. And he told them just move, had all the brothers move up the front because he wanted to address the brothers. But he wanted the sisters to know as I'm giving this talk, I'm talking to the brothers now. And actually he said as he got into the body of his talk, as he got into the body of his talk he realized "man oh man, I should have just talked to the brothers because there's some things I want to say that I can't say now." As he got into it, he said, "Next time I got to make sure."
Speaker 1:
You notice which way of circulation he's going now?
IWDM:
Yeah. All right. Now, so the Imam began by talking about, he said that in Islam, he said, "The man is seen in Islam as the Khalifa." He said the man, he meant especially talking about the man, the male, that man is seen as Khalifa. Now, the word Khalifa means what?
Speaker 2:
Vicegerent
IWDM:
Vicegerent you've seen in the Qur'an. What else?
Speaker 1:
A representative.
IWDM:
Custodian. And what else? Huh?
Speaker 2:
A guard.
IWDM:
A guard. What else? One who?
Speaker 2:
Takes on the responsibility.
IWDM:
One who takes on responsibility.
Speaker 2:
A leader.
IWDM:
Leader but one who leads from where?
Speaker 1:
From the rear.
IWDM:
He leads from the rear. Why is it good to lead from the rear?
Speaker 1:
Because you looking after the back.
IWDM:
Yeah. You ain't just looking at what's up there, but you looking at all the people that you supposed to be leading too. If you leading from the front, they just got your back but you ain't got none of their back. So, one who leads from the rear, he sees everything up ahead but he also sees and can care for and tend to the needs of those that are in front of him. That's why the word Imam comes from what root? Some of y'all know this.
Speaker 1:
Amama.
IWDM:
Imam comes from the same root as what other word? But there's another root.
Speaker 1:
Amama.
IWDM:
Yeah, but it's another root. Right? It's Amama. Amama is the Arabic root. Okay. But what word, what is another word that's affiliated with Imam that comes from the same root? Ummah or what?
Speaker 1:
Ummi.
IWDM:
Mother. Same root. See how now you get your imagination to working now. Ummah comes from the same. Ummah and the Imam comes from the same root, mother. And the Imam is saying that should be the kind of leadership, a nurturing kind of leadership, a nurturing kind. We find Prophet Muhammad, he was a nurturing, gentle, loving kind of person. He probably couldn't find any woman that was more gentle and loving and kind than Prophet Muhammad, although he was a male. But he understood his responsibility as the leader of the community to be nurturing to the needs of those whom he was leading. Okay.
So, in Al-Islam, the man is seen as Khalifah. G-d created man to be the representative for the environment. Man is the representative for the social or human environment. The woman is the representative for what environment?
Speaker 1:
The home environment.
IWDM:
The home environment. Imam told us a long time ago, she is the leader in the home, right? He said leave her alone. If she want to paint the house polka dot, leave her alone. Don't go there telling her she can't do it or imposing your will. So, man is created to be the Khalifah for the environment down here on this earth. He said not the sister, not the wife, not the girlfriend. He said the male. The female is man's mate, she is man's mate, and she's responsible in that she is half of yourself. She is half of yourself. He used the term in the Qur'an that says Zawajin, which means mates. Mates. And he said these, they make a whole when they come together.
They're complimentary halves. This is my commentary in terms of what he said. They're complimentary halves, not identical. They're not identical. How do we know that they're not identical? Well, Allah says He created Adam, but Imam explained that Adam represented one entity. This concept, this idea being called Adam, but the male and the female were birthed both in our makeup, our human makeup. Now Allah says in the Qur'an, if those of you have the Qur'an, the third chapter of Qur'an 36 ayah.
3:36, it says in reference, it says, "When she was delivered, she said, Oh my Lord, behold I'm delivered of a female child. And Allah knew best what she brought forth and no wise, and no wise is the male like the female." No wise is the male like the female. it says here in the Qur'an " Wa Lay Sahdkaru Kal Unftah". This is the male, this is the female. Now it's interesting, this word Dhakra comes from the same word which means Dhikr, to think, to reflect, to meditate, to ponder. Oh, he go off and running already. Hakeem off running already. Comes from the same, the word Allah says Dhakar, Dhikr, just means think.
So here, that's basically what it's saying to ponder, to think, to remember, to be mindful of, but the emphasis on to think about something. And Dhakar, this is the masculine and the word Untha is in reference to the female. Now, and this is to show you when I say that with Imam W.D Mohammed, he gives us the effects but we have to find the cause. Somebody might say, "Where the Imam get this from in terms of talking about that the male element, the male principle and the human being refers to rational activity?" And the female, the female principle, which exists in male and female, refers to the emotional life forces or the moral life forces, the instinctive nature.
All you got to do is get into the Arabic language and look up the word Thakara and you see the emphasis is on rational activity. Yes.
Speaker 1:
What word is used for male?
IWDM:
Well, there's eight different terms for the male. We've gone over them, we brought that. There's eight different words that Allah uses for the male, for the man. But we talking male. There's Bashir, we know there's Nas, we know there's Rajil, we know there's Insan. Yeah, yeah. It is eight different words for man, but here we are talking about.....And the old man, we know old man is Sheikh. Sheikh, that's all Sheikh literally means old man. But now it's come to mean you get a degree or something.
Well, Sheikh used to be like the Indians had tribal chiefs, like an Indian tribe, Native Americans, the chief of the tribe we call the chief. During the time of the Prophet, the leader of a tribe. They had tribes during the time of the Prophet. The leader the tribe they called Sheikh because they've relied upon him basically for his wisdom, like the Prophet's grandfather. He was a Sheikh and Abu Talib, these men who were the caretakers of the Haram and so forth and so on. The leaders of the tribes at that particular, they will called the Sheikh, which means they were the chief, they were the leader.
But now it's taking on a different kind of meaning as we see. Okay. So here you see Thakara and you see Untha. Now, also Allah says in terms of the male is not like the female, now we go to... If you turn to verse 195, what Allah says, and same of Surah three, 195. 195 it says, "And the Lord accepted of them and answered them. Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you. Be he male or female, ye are members, one of another." Ye are members, one of another. And then to drive the point home, if you turn to the 49th surah of Qur'an, ayah 13.
Speaker 1:
What was the one you just said? 195 surah
IWDM:
Three 195. "Be ye male or female, one of you is as the other. You are one of each other."
Speaker 1:
And then the first one you just said?
IWDM:
49 13, and it says, "Oh mankind, we created you from a single pair of a male and a female." Right? Ayu al Nasu. Male and female. Yes, 49 13.
Speaker 1:
49.
IWDM:
49 13. Once again, we see it there. But understand this mankind here is talking about each and every individual. Look at the perspective, but what it's saying each and every individual is made or composed of a male and a female. It took a male and a female to make you, right? So where did all that energy in that life go? It's still there. In terms of principle. We talked about this, the Thakara represents rational activity. And here talking about emotional life, emotional activity or instinct or what they call moral. In every individual you have these two activities, you have these two forces. In each individual you have rational life, rational activity, and in each individual male and female, you also have moral or emotional or instinctive life. The point is that Allah has taken males and females and put each of us on display so that we can, because we cannot see the invisible life forces, He has put each of us on display so that we can see clearly the two various aspects of our nature.
And you see that and you'll find much more emphasis with the female towards the emotional life. Towards the moral life in terms of having real good instincts about things. And you'll see a whole lot of activity with man, he may not get as emotional, but basically he's given more to the rational activities. Though he has emotional life now, he has instinct, but that's not his emphasis. Though the woman has rational activity, but that's not so much the thing that she is more so focused on. She wants to know what's really happening on an emotional level. As I said, she is the one who safeguards relationships. And relationships we know are bound together by love and trust and communication, those kinds of things. So that's her role in terms of safeguarding that. The man is more so focused on rational activity and being productive.
Speaker 2:
You can almost accept a strain on a female when she has to enact both as the male and female in her family.
IWDM:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Is it a strain on a...
IWDM:
A male? I'm sure it will be because it takes two. Allah, it takes two to raise a family. It takes two. Child needs both, he needs both of them. He needs that balance. He needs both of them. One can do it, but not as effectively as two. And yes, the other one trying to compensate for that with the nature that they haven't been given. It's very difficult. But go ahead.
Speaker 2:
Like we always said, the woman left with the family. Separation.
IWDM:
Yep. She's going to be there.
Speaker 2:
Does the Nur of a man weigh heavy on him when he is not taking care of his responsibility?
IWDM:
Well, if he ain't taking care of his responsibility, that don't become no Nur, that becomes Nar. Yeah. Now, if he's following the Nur, he's going to be at peace.
Speaker 2:
Right. I meant Nar.
IWDM:
If he's following the peace, then you basking in the light of the Nur.
Speaker 2:
Right.
IWDM:
But man, if you ain't doing what you're supposed to be doing, then basically your own conscience is going to introduce you to the fire.
Speaker 2:
Whether you're at home or away.
IWDM:
Yeah. That's exactly right. Yeah.
... More so? More than before, but I still think you still find the majority of the caretakers of the children are still females, but just more, 'cause I know developments that we go to, man, it's tragic, 90%, like in Winton Terrace and Cumminsville and those, 90% of the homes are single-parent homes and got females, no males. Nowhere to be found except for the first of the month. Yes?
Speaker 3:
Is there a permanent effect on a woman's stand in that state?
IWDM:
I'm sure anytime we step outside of the natural roles that Allah has wanted us to be in, I'm sure there's some effect. I would just say that yeah, there's some effect maybe so you can recover from it, but I'm saying that I'm sure that it's affecting you adversely because life or reality is the way that Allah structured life, you understand that. That's reality. When you step outside, that's why He says Shaitan has no reality because Shaitan even stepped out of his reality because Allah said He created men and jinn to service, to be of worship to Him. So, when Iblis decided that he wanted to rebel against the Allah, he lost his reality.
So, when you lose your reality, then basically yes, something is affecting you adversely Because you have stepped outside of Allah's plan, which is what reality is. That's reality. Allah's plan is reality.
All right, so we have both of these qualities in us, and this is the point that's being made. We have both of the qualities and that's male and female qualities, and understand from this term remember, we had you say the Imam comes from the same womb as Umm. The Prophet was known as what kind of Prophet? Ummi Prophet, which means basically he was ruled by his what?
Speaker 3:
His mother.
IWDM:
His nature, mother nature. See mother nature is the mother that stays with us all our life. Right now, mother nature is the mother that never leaves you. Mother nature is the one that brings us into existence. Mother nature basically is under the rule of Allah of course, but mother nature is the one that brings us into existence, moves us forward, gives us instinct for learning and knowledge and for self-improvement and development. That's mother nature that's driving us forward. That's mother nature. Mother nature also is the one that corrects us when we mess up, right? Our conscience, once again, that's mother nature. Mother nature, it goes, it drives the person to a point. We're talking about the moral life, the moral conscience, the emotional life, the good human instincts, that's mother nature.
But mother has a particular point by which she is trying to move the intellect forward because she wants the intellect to reach a point of leadership. Now, when the intellect reaches a point of development, then the mother, basically, she no longer wants to lead. Now, the intellect is then supposed to look back and say, now what can I do to help my mother? After a while, it is the intellect that G-d wants to take the lead, but still having respect for mother nature, understanding that mother nature is poised to whoop your behind if you mess up, your own conscience, but now the rational activity must take place because what Allah wants in the world is what is called the ethical society.
The ethical society is a coming together of the rational with the moral life. Everything is not in black and white. You got to deal with circumstances, the practice of what is called ijtihad, that's the ethical practice. What is correct and right in different circumstances, in different situations. It's not clear, it's not clearcut. That takes rational activity. That produces what is called the ethical society. We talked about Ethiopia. Ethiopia, it comes from the word ethi means ethics, optic means vision. It means a society that had ethical vision. But that's what Allah wants for us, the ethical society that's a combination of rational activity working in harmony with the moral life. That's the male and the female factors coming together to produce one life, which is the ethical life. The child that is born from this is the ethical life.
All right, so the mother, the instinct... see, now Prophet Muhammad, he was the Ummi Prophet until Revelation came. After Revelation came, he wasn't called the Ummi Prophet. It was Revelation. What is that saying? It's saying that the mind, the intellect under the rule of mother nature, as long as it is under the rule of mother nature and respecting mother nature, its own good human nature is fine and healthy and it should be led by its mother. But once Revelation comes, then it must be led by Revelation. It's a different situation. But until Revelation comes, the human life is better served by a person following their own good hearts rather than to go off into their own thinking. The only thinking that is safe is thinking that is guided by Revelation. If the thinking is not guided by Revelation, it's dangerous. It's a renegade intellect.
All right, hope that's clear that we see that the male and the female, they work together. They're one part of the same light. Now, the human creation, the Imam went on to say, the human creation is created to accept responsibility for the material environment to use to benefit the life. Of course, we talk beginning with the family life. In the male role in history is the female role. In the male role of history is a female. How was that? Because the female's role is to support the male in his role. The female's role is to support the male in his role of leadership and seeking to fulfill the will of G-d on earth. Her role is as a supporter, not a contender. She doesn't have a different role other than the man's role, but her role comes as a supporter. So, her role is seen in his role and basically, there's only one role and the role in the life is to fulfill G-d's will on earth, and the man is supposed to have the leadership role as far as that's concerned.
He has the responsibility for the environment because the will of G-d must be established in the outer environment. All right, so the role of the female is giving feminine support, feminine support to the male. And he mentioned it goes beyond flesh relationships to personal relationships. Then, he went on to talk about a relationship he had with this young girl from the time he was 16 and he said he loved her and thought this is it, this is my soul, body, mind and soul. This is all I need for me, this is it. But then what happened? He went away to prison, but even before he went away to prison, he said this girl, she went to New York and was talking to this other brother, and he was hurt. So, he said he went to his father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he said his father knew it was serious 'cause he never came to his father with nothing like this before. And he told the father what had happened and he asked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, "Would you go talk to her for me daddy?"
He loved this girl and his father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad went and talked to her. When he came back, he said, "Son, it's the only mission I've ever been on that I failed." It didn't work. Now, he's in prison. So, Imam, he's writing, they're corresponding. The Imam was in prison because he wouldn't go into the army. We know he did about 16 months or something like that. He wouldn't go into the army, so he's in prison. They corresponded with each other. And so, I guess, in prison they read your letters. So, the prison guy was reading the letter. He was reading the letters. This correspondence going on between Imam Mohammed and his sweetheart. And so, he came to the Imam one time and he said, "Man, looks like to me you got a heavy flesh relationship going." So, the Imam said at that time he wanted to hit him. He was offended, he wanted to... but then he said as things progressed, and the man had planted a seed in his mind that just didn't seem to want to do nothing but grow.
So, he said after a while, he began to see what the man was talking about and then he started thinking it back on the time that the woman had gone to New York and spoken to somebody behind his back, spoken to another man and all these kinds of things that he was doing, and he realized that, "Yeah, you are right." He said, "That's all we got going, is a flesh relationship. I'm in love with her because of her flesh, how she look." And he went on to say, we'll come back to that, but he went on to say that you shouldn't do things that are hurtful, especially do hurtful things to your wife. He said because women don't forget more so than men. They don't forget stuff, man. He said we might forget. He said they don't forget. They hold stuff, "Remember on that second date when you..." "What are you what? What are you talking about?" Yeah, yeah. They don't forget nothing. Talk about elephants, man.
He said don't do nothing to hurt them because they don't forget. Of course, he said they don't forget and they will bring it back, they will, especially when you get into them sparring, no holds barred, they'd be looking to hit you in your weak spot, find every weak spot you got to hit you. Man, oh, man, they cripple you. "Oh, baby." He said when you do that, because he said don't do things that are hurtful, don't hurt them because what you're doing, you're putting your relationship in serious risk 'cause that's right, they don't forget. They may not say, but it ain't going away then. It's still there, just waiting to be surfaced. Don't take much, scratch the surface a little, right?
But he said, the Imam said this when the man lives up to the role of Khalifa, he said you turn something on in that woman brother when she sees that you are going to take the responsibility, she then treats you like a wife. He said yeah, he said once you fulfill your role as Khalifa, right, he said when she knows that you have it in your spirit to be a provider, that's it. That's the main thing that when she knows that you got it in your spirit to be a provider, man, he said then she will appreciate that and she will treat you like a wife is supposed to. Then, he said, she'll start acting like a wife. He said prior to that, you may be married to her, she ain't going to be acting like a wife. That's pretty much what I got from it. She can be your wife and not be your wife. It's like we can be a husband and not be a husband. You can be a man and not be a man. Be a woman, not be a woman.
So as a provider, because he was mentioning that is something, I don't guess we understand it, but that is something so fundamentally important and essential to that female to be provided for, not just her but her babies. If you got that, that's first base. That's first base.
Speaker 3:
I was going to say, after a period of time with a woman, your wife, she can give you a look like, "Hey, you remember this is our home... Hey you remember..."
IWDM:
Right.
Speaker 3:
She will give you a look. You know you left yourself open, but I'm at your mercy.
IWDM:
Right. Right. That's right.
Speaker 3:
That's deadness.
IWDM:
Start thinking. Thakara, right, right. Right.
Speaker 3:
It'll have you thinking all day.
IWDM:
Right, right, right. Alhamdulillah.
Speaker 3:
That look like, hey, think about what was just said.
IWDM:
And what you said is so important because the Imam said a long time ago, and he gave a wonderful example of the Prophet, he said a truly powerful and wise person is one that has the power to do a thing, but they don't do it. He said like Prophet Muhammad had the power to sack Mecca when he came back there with 10,000 strong, he had the power, but he decided to forgive, but they knew he had the power. So just cause you got the power, don't mean you have to use it.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah. You have a situation where she's making more than him or attitude with it, I don't need you because I'm my own provider?
IWDM:
That's a segue into my next statement. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Right, you right, right there brother, you right there. Now, the Imam man went on to say but she cannot, the woman she cannot, listen to this, she cannot change the essential nature despite whatever success she makes. He said even though... and he gave Oprah as an example. He said Oprah's in big trouble 'cause Oprah ain't going to find a man that don't need her money, but her nature is commanding basically that she have someone that she be dependent upon. Who does she need with that kind of money and what man is she going to find that don't need her money?
Then he went on to talk about an example. He said a woman like that you go into her house and she'll be talking "Yes, this is a painting that we have here and I got this painting at such and such a place and it is a wonderful painting and it costs such and such. And right there, that tiger rug it's composed of 10 different tigers and you see that little nigga over there? I picked him up in Chicago." He's an ornament. Yeah, 10 or 20, we got it in India, India, but this nigga over here, I picked him up in Chicago. He become an ornament. Stedman, he ain't ain't no more than an ornament. So, she can give him 2-3 million for your birthday and now he said that's tragic, a woman like that, but her nature, you understand what I'm saying, but deep in her nature, she can't change that nature.
Once again, we got to go back to the realities of Allah. Allah designed her that she... but the point is this, it's not so much in provision in terms of material provision either. Here's the point. Islam advises the male to marry someone that you can support, first of all. Don't marry no woman that's out of your league, man. That's why the Prophet said if you can't maintain her at a level that she's accustomed to or better, she's out of your league and she's going to be unhappy, she's out of your league. But not just that, Prophet Muhammad said marry people of like situations. He also said marry people from your own locale. I try to discourage as much as I can many times these relationships between Africans and African-Americans. I tell you they have, I tell you I don't know about that culture shock, they overlook it and then they get married. I'm telling you, time and time again, you don't understand how you've been formed. You've been formed in different wombs and you can't just reverse that just because you're Muslim.
Yeah, Prophet Muhammad, he said, but listen, he said, here's the issue in terms of the benefit. Said Prophet Muhammad, he brought, he said Prophet Muhammad, remember the Lady Khadija, right? The Prophet Muhammad married the lady Khadija, and after he received his Prophetic mission, he no longer continued to work in her employ. In fact, he was freed from having to work at all, right? She was a powerful businesswoman. She kept on working and she supported her husband, right? Yeah. Now, you say what are you talking? Yeah, Prophet Muhammad's wife supported him. Now, what you got to say about that? Yeah, but think about this. Although she was supporting Prophet Muhammad financially, she saw herself as the favored one. You married to who? Your husband is who?
And Imam Mohammed said he brought that home to his own personal situation. He said his wife, and he talked about his wife, and he said the home that she lives in, that's her home. He said I pay the mortgage on it, but it's her home. And so, he said, but regardless of that, it's her home and all of that, he said but she is the favored one because when she's around, other women, they say, you are married to who? Who is your husband? So, she is the one that's feeling favored. Yeah. The point is, the woman must feel as though she is the one that is greater blessed. That's the point. You got to bring something to the table brother to make her feel like she is the one that is receiving the greater benefit out of this relationship. So even if she's making more money than you, you better find some way to compensate for that. Yeah.
Oh boy. That's wonderful, isn't it? Dignity, or must have the dignity rather, of saying that he is the maintainer. In order for a man to have his dignity, he must be able to say I am the maintainer of my wife and my family. He went on to say in reference to, he says, sex has been reduced to just physical pleasure as a purpose. The world has influenced how we think about our mates, our companions, everything.
Then he started talking to the young people, young teenagers that were present, and the young people. He said, "Why do we have to depend on illegal drugs to have the level of living that we want?"
And if you think about it, he said, "The world has made our youth like that." He said, "TV says if you're poor, you're not to be respected." This is the standard. He said, "TV, movies, records have raised our standards high, then the world denies us the employment opportunities to gain those things. So, what happens? We become miserable."
And I thought about that and I said, "Yeah." I said, "Man, Dallas depressed America." What was that other movie that came right behind that?
Speaker 6:
Dynasty.
IWDM:
Dynasty. Yeah, people got depressed see that standard of living. Yeah, they're depressed. Yeah, that depresses people, but it also says that people get these things by any means you have to employ. But get these things. That's what it's all about.
It produced the greed, the appetite for greed that is necessary, which helps the economy and everything else. Like when, it's Wall Street, he says, "Greed is good," right? It promotes productivity in people in order to have these things because that's the standard that people, everybody feels you've got to live on.
But for our young people many times he said, "Especially the young people, the youth, the employment opportunities are not there, though their appetite is raging." So, they do whatever they got to do.
He told the young people, "Don't use the gang for masculine power expression." He said to the gang banger, "You are not to feel bad about your situation until you first understand your situation." He said, "They don't even understand their situation."
They don't. They're caught up in something they don't even understand. They don't even understand what's going on with them.
He said, "Your nature," in talking to the gang banger again, he's telling him, he said, "Your nature demands that you have power as an expression of your male power."
The male having to express his power, Imam said that's part of man's nature. You've got to have an outlet and an expression for his power. For these young people, they find it in a gang, it becomes an outlet. That's legitimate. That's not an illegitimate power expression. That's a legitimate expression of power.
He said, "We are destroying ourselves for the world that misled us, and by doing so we take ourselves out of the race." He said, "Work in the system", talking to the young people. "Work in the system, not out of the system. Put minds together to make money lawfully."
And if you looked in the Muslim Journal, you see that article. And this brother named Dennis Muhammad got these gangs working together, the best gangs, work gangs. That's the best gang in the world, the work gang.
And he said "This concept of New Africa", New Africa really focuses on our financial development as a community. "New Africa represents the new hope for the descendants of Africa in America. It's an expressive model of our manhood and productivity."
That's what New Africa should represent, an expressive model of our manhood and productivity, the ability to be financially, materially productive. He said, "Sex," going back to sex. He said, "Sex itself excites us when we're young." Really.
And he said, "And it causes strong attachments. It reproduces a human person as a purpose." And when the baby, he said the man starts out, he might start out with the female and all, he's just driven by the sex urge and see the woman, "Uh yah, uh yah, women," hit her upside her head, "Hey, come here.
So, man start out in the cave. Primitive. That's all. You know? But he says, "When the baby is produced, man, when that child is produced, now you start to see a cultivation, a change in the sensitivities."
He said "Once the child comes into the dynamic", he said, "The man, then, is," or, and really the parents, he said, "Is less now a sex driven creature and more now a social driven creature."
See, the child is what ignites the social life, the social urge, the social development, that child in the family. This society, he mentioned, that it says sex is sinful. As a result of that, people is a guilt-ridden culture. Guilty from the start.
And he talked about a lot of women when it comes to sex and they have sex, they gotta say, "Turn off the light, honey. Turn off the light."
See, they want to be in the dark, they don't even want to see what they're doing. They got to feel guilty about it. You know?
He said, "That's a subconscious thing and you ain't doing nothing wrong, but yet you feel like you're doing something wrong." And he said the husband...
Yeah.
Speaker 7:
Some people don't want anybody don't see certain offensive marks, etc.
IWDM:
Right. Yeah, we figure we get to that, too.
Speaker 7:
Oh.
IWDM:
He covered it all. But he said, the point is some brothers say might ask their wife to wear a negligee, a see through gown, a see through gown. And he said, sister might say "Astarfigullah brother."
"Brother, you are a bad Muslim. Man, what's wrong with you, Brother? I'm going to tell on you. I'm going to report you to the Imam, man."
He said, "Some sisters, Man, they will wear, they'd rather wear their husband's coat on top of their long dress." They just don't want to expose themself. This kind of thing.
And he talked about, and the brother, and he talked about, he talking about the brother, it meaning a lot to the brother. And then the brother, he said, "Need be, being brother might make a move to leave the house."
He said, "But if she start crying and snotting it, brother might say "hold up." And then say, well maybe you might change your mind. Look like you might be reconsidering wearing that nightgown now."
Speaker 1:
Laughter.
IWDM:
So, basically he said in terms of the society has produced that in the women that they're many times ashamed of the act itself, really inhibited and ashamed of the act. He said, "But the point was," the Imam mentioned, "The point is this," and this is something very important, especially for the brothers.
He said, "The most important part of that woman, her anatomy, and our relationship with her," he said, "The most important part of the woman in our relationship with her is her face."
He said her character, her real life is seen through her face. He said, "If you have to turn to another part of her body in order to be satisfied with her, that ain't the woman for you."
He said, that's where the soul, that's where the soul is seen at. That's where the character, that's where it's seen at right in the face. He said, "If you ain't satisfied with her face, that ain't the woman for you. If you got to look at her breast or something else in order for that, that ain't the woman for you."
Because he said what the soul is looking for. You ain't looking for another, you looking for another person. You're going to live with another person. You want that person. That flesh ain't going to satisfy you. It's that person that's going to be the lasting part of the relationship.
Speaker 1:
Indeed.
IWDM:
Right. And that brought new insight when the Prophet told that man, "Have you seen her? Go look at her, go take a look at her." He wasn't just talking about physically because the Imam went on to talk about it. He said, before you get married, he told brothers, he said, test that.
He said, test the brother. He said, "Put her to the test." He said a little subtle way. He said, "Sometimes you out eating and whatnot. Just put something down there to see how you both partake of it, to see how she shares. If she shares, even."
That's right. If she shares, check her out. These are things, you know, what you, you got to test her. Little things that you can do to really test the person because you are looking for this character.
He said basically what happens, he said, you get you a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He said one wife, he married and woke up the next day. Good G-d, almighty, who is this? Say who are you?
Huh?
Speaker 5:
Laughter.
IWDM:
Yeah. Once again, he was talking to the brothers. He said this, once again, but yeah, but he was talking to the brothers. Once again, that's when he told the sisters, understand sisters, I just wanted to remind you. I'm talking to the brothers.
But he said, "Y'all can stay," because he didn't want to, want it just to be a brother's only session. You had to tell the sisters to leave. And then, so, all right.
He said, "Her face should make you happy. If her face don't make you happy, you got the wrong one." He said, "Her face should make you happy. Her face should be something that pulls you to her. Get acquainted with the person that's inside. That's, get acquainted with that person."
And he also said, "However you start out with a woman, you must keep it up." That's the problem, he said. "You start out in this society, you start out by giving flowers and candy, and flattery and all of that." You understand?
Then after a while he said, "So, basically that's the big issue." But all of that we know starting out like that in this society you're conditioned to do that kind of thing. That's part of weaving the web in order to capture the person and all of that.
But he said, if we just look at it, that's part of the gaming pattern, right? Yeah. It's part of the game. Everybody understands that. But I like your game though. Yeah, I like your game, right? I know you gaming me, but I like your game.
Yeah. But he said to bear that in mind in terms of being all lavish and whatnot and knowing you can't keep that up throughout the entirety of the relationship. But that's what people come to expect and that's what brings about many times a sadness because people expect that to be maintained throughout the entirety of the relationship. And that's not realistic as far as that's concerned.
So, he mentioned that, but whatever you do, that's something you got to maintain that. But one thing that we can, regardless if not the material, one thing that I'm thinking that you can is basically in terms of speaking well of that person, saying things that compliment that person, saying things that support that person's life and not attacking our wives or doing anything to hurt their self-esteem.
He said sex is something that's sacred, is holy. He said, "Sex is not something by which you got to be hiding in your own quarters, your own private quarters."
He said principle, "Whatever you do that is opposite of unlawful, there is blessings in it." That's the principle. Anything that you do, whereas the opposite of it is unlawful there's blessings in it.
Like the man, "I have lawful sex, I get blessed?" Yeah, because if you did the unlawful thing, you'd be punished. So, anything that we do that it has the opposite, he said basically, he said, when you wake up in the morning and you brushing your teeth, caring for yourself, grooming yourself, bathing, he said, there is blessings in that by you taking care of you and appreciating this body, this which Allah has given you.
And he said, Muslims shouldn't be those who are not taking care of their teeth, letting their breath stink, not grooming themselves. He said, that's not good. That's not honoring this precious slave that Allah has given us to be our slave, which is called our body.
So, he said there's blessings in it. He said the Muslims who brushing his teeth and taking care of himself and grooming himself, that's the Muslims are getting blessing as opposed to the one who's neglecting his hygiene.
And the Prophet, because he said, and the blessing, Imam, he has a way of taking something and making it, bring it right home and make it have a rational connection. When the Prophet said, the blessing, said there's blessings for a man for lawful sex? Then the Imam said, "The blessing of lawful sex is that there's no guilt in it." That's the blessing.
He got to look nothing out there. That's the blessing. There's no guilt in lawful sex.
He said, "Men and women should work to please each other," and that men and women should respect each other's sensitivities, respect each other's sensitivities. He said divorce is acceptable. It is hated, but it's acceptable. He said, he personally said, he said, "I would get divorced a thousand times rather than living here."
Okay? And then, but he said, time is getting better for marriage. He said marriage was going through a rough times in the seventies, eighties, up until 1995, he said, began to change.
He said, the worst times for marriage in our history's time is over. He said, better times are coming. He said, but what you have to be mindful of, even now though, he said, "The culture itself does not support marriage." This culture does not support marriage.
Why is that? He said, because it's designed to break all bonds of loyalty. It's designed to break all family bonds. Why? He said, because the culture is almost totally under the control of the commercial world.
He said, "They kill each other because of their color, man."
I said, yeah, and now we kill each other. Right? Over what? Colors right? Young people kill each other. Colors. You wearing the wrong color, they kill you.
If you were a Crip, right, and you get caught in the Blood neighborhood and you ain't got no red, you're dead. Right? Colors. We heard a lot of people getting killed off of colors.
So, he said, Imam said this, he said it was G-d himself that created the family bonds. And he said, "Our success, if we are successful with our family bonds, our success will represent their extermination, that is the scheme of the commercial world."
If we are successful in terms of maintaining our family bonds, that will automatically make them failures and defeat their scheme. That's it.
Takbir.
Speaker 1:
Allahu Akbar.
IWDM:
Pardon me?
Speaker 1:
When will that tape drop?
IWDM:
In Detroit? Yeah. Yeah, it always does. Just look for January 11th. Martin, look for the tape, Imam speaking in Detroit, January 11th. You can get the...
Speaker 1:
Am I going to have to do that?
IWDM:
No, wait a second.
Speaker 8:
I said probably be about four tapes.
IWDM:
Yeah. Well, for the brothers session, that was afterwards. See, I just gave the brothers session. He taught a lecture. He taught about an hour and a half lecture, two hour lecture before that.
But this was the section that he taught on the brothers that I thought would help us and be related to our family life. Yes, sir. Alhamduillah.
Okay. Any-
Speaker 1:
He said there was some things he liked about Americans.
Speaker 1:
He said because the other things, he said the people here no matter who, they speak their mind. And usually they say what they're feeling.
Speaker 1:
He said, but on the other hand, he said, the way society, the system, it promotes the law of the jungle. Everybody, each man for himself.
IWDM:
Mm-hmm. Alhamduillah. Okay, so let's have someone call the Adhan and we can have salat. Okay.
Speaker 6:
Allahu Akbar.



