06/00/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Human Excellence Award 
San Francisco Ca

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
The Praise is for G-d, the Lord, Sustainer of the Worlds. We witness that He is One and nothing comes to Him except as a servant. And we witness that Muhammad is the seal of the Prophets, the one to whom the Qur'an was revealed. The whole sacred book of Muslims of 1 billion plus Muslims on this earth revealed to Muhammad of Arabia, native born child of Mecca, persecuted by his own people for no other reason than he said "Your G-d is One G-d." And he had to leave his city of his birth and go to Medina where there was an invitation from the citizens of that city to him to preach the religion that G-d had honored him to give to all people, to mankind. And we are the followers of that man, the followers of that man. And G-d says of him that he is a human flesh and blood person like yourselves. He didn't claim to be an angel. He claimed no divinity. And G-d loved him for His creation due to his character. And G-d sent him and made him a Mercy to all people.
And Muhammad the Prophet, as G-d says to us of him in the Qur'an, says to us in the Arabic language, that he is "Rahmata Al Amin", he is a mercy to all the worlds, mercy to all the worlds. If we are his followers, then we should be like him. We should be also a mercy to all the worlds. G-d says of the house that we look to for direction in prayer and also for hajj, pilgrimage, to perform the sacred rights of pilgrimage. G-d says of that house is a house built for all mankind, built for all mankind. And G-d does not address mankind as Arab or as a nation, particular nation, not as just mankind, as mankind. G-d says many times in the Qur'an, "Oh mankind," Ayu Al Nas. "Oh mankind. So, it's a message, a universal message. It's a message to all people. It's the message as Maulana Maududi of Pakistan, the late reformer, Islamic reformer of Pakistan said, It is an idea for the transformation of the whole world. And that's what religion comes for. Religion comes to transform life, transform the society. But if the society will come from purposeless of life or fragmented interest to purposeful life and the whole interest that G-d created the human being for. And that interest we know in Islam, and we know also from reading of the other great religions that that interest is that the human being benefit fully from the world, that G-d has created. Benefit fully.
And that's what our topic is today. Really. It's all about us benefiting fully, not being cheated out of the benefits that G-d intended for human beings or for mankind. Human measurement. How big can a human being become? You can't become a G-d. G-d made us human. Not G-d. Can't become an angel. You are a human, not angel. But the human measurement is so big that the leader of the angels became very jealous when G-d told the angels what He was creating man for. The leader of the angels became so jealous that he rebelled against G-d. G-d said to the angels, according to our Holy book, He said, "Surely I am making in the earth a Kalifah." Kalifah is translated different ways.
A trustee, a ruler which is given responsibility of rules, to keep the rule, to keep the order, to keep the authority, but as not as the authority himself, but as a trustee appointed by G-d to keep the trust. Kalifah. We know that in the history of Islam, we had Kalifs come after the passing away from this earth, Muhammad Prophet, who was the Messenger of G-d. And the first after him that the Muslim community looked to as their leaders was called Abu Bakr. And the four great Kalifahs you know, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. These were four great rulers after Muhammad Prophet. Now I do believe that as a student, a person who has studied very seriously what developed after the leadership of our Prophet, I believe that wasn't necessarily those individuals that made the mistake. But I think the thinking leaders, the thinkers, the scholars, made a mistake in the identifying individual persons as Kalifas. As Kalifas. Now I know this is disturbing to those in Islamic circles of learned teachers and Imams, scholars, et cetera, but I have said this to an audience of very honored, highly respected scholars.
So, I'm not saying this secretly, I said this to them in their own country, what I'm saying for you right now. I told them that I think we need to study the history and to see if maybe a mistake was made identifying individuals as Kalifa. When G-d says He's making in the earth a Kalifa, I am of the understanding that G-d was saying that every human being is a potential Khalifa, every human being is a potential Khalifa. And together we can have that rule that G-d entrusted to the Khalifa. Together, not separately, but it has to be together as a collective body we can be Khalifa. Not as a single person. The collective body must be the rule. Muhammad himself refused to accept to rule although he was the chosen Messenger of G-d. G-d had made him an authority in our lives. But he refused to accept to give orders and not have others use their own mind and thinking and contribute to a decision or choice in the matter.
He invited his companions, his learned people that was in his company to think over the problem and think over the situation and give him their opinion. What do you have to say about this, Khalid Bin Walid? This is what he would say. And he would turn to one and turn to the other, asking their advice. And G-d was communicating to him directly. But he still respected the opinion of others. And he didn't want to make a decision by himself unless G-d had revealed that decision in the Qur'an. He wanted to have others join him at arriving at the conclusion of making the right decision. So, this tells me that Islam is by consulting, Islam is democratic, Islam is respect for the intelligence of other people. And that one person should never make all the decisions. Because that shows that he has no respect for the intelligence of other people. And it means we accept one of the Hadiths that says the control of G-d is on the collective body, which means that G-d is not governing the people through one person. But G-d wants government, government to be elected by through a collective body, not one individual.
And we know G-d said to us as Muslims, He said, "You are a community. You are a community." Community is a collective body. He didn't say you are individuals or you a priesthood. No. He said you are a community. Says you're a community. A community evolved, raised up, evolved for the good of all people. That you are most useful community in terms of how you can benefit others. You are the most useful and the most effective community evolved by G-d. The word of G-d evolved the Ummah of Islam. It evolved for the good of all people.
As I told you, the direction for us, the house called Qibla, is not an Arab Qibla. It's in an Arab land, but it's not an Arab Qibla. It's not an Arab sacred point of faith, designating direction for us in prayer and house for pilgrimage. It's a place that belongs to all people. G-d says, "Built for all mankind." "Bunee Al In Nas, It was built for all mankind, built for all mankind. It was built by the Prophet Abraham in the English Bible language. And Ibrahim in the Qur'anic language. Arabic or Qur'anic language. Ibrahim. And we know of that man in the Bible it says He made Abraham a father for all nations. And in our Holy book G-d says He made Abraham, Peace be upon the Prophet, said He made Abraham a father for all nations, a leader for all the nations. So, we know that the house is built for all people. And it's built by the one that G-d says He made a leader for all people.
So, we can't have any male nationalism or make our religion our own, nationalistic. No, we can't do that. And Muhammad the Prophet, Peace upon him, in his farewell address, he told the people there was no superiority of Arab over Non Arab. And there is no superiority of a Non Arab over a Arab. He ended this thing. There's no nationalistic purpose in Islam. The purpose is to bring human society to the condition and under the direction that G-d intended for every human being. That every human being should live within an environment or in circumstances that encourages them to grow up to the full measurement that G-d wants for the human being on this earth. And the full measurement is told in many ways. So as we continue I hope you will see the picture as clearly as I do, and feel as wonderfully as I do about it. As citizens in this country, our early meeting with Islam, perhaps it's not even documented, but we know in the city of Detroit, in the state of Ohio and different places, especially in Baltimore, Maryland, there were people who identified with the name Muslim and Islam and they called themselves Moorish Americans or people of the Moorish Science Temple.
And their leader was called the Prophet. The Prophet. And his name Drew Ali. But they gave him a title, Noble Drew, Ali. Noble Drew Ali. And African-Americans, black or African-Americans were attracted to what he was teaching. And he gained a following. And even today, after 60 years or more, he still has some followers. And some of the members of the Nation of Islam were actually Moorish Americans before they joined the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And we even have now, recently, very recently, we have a Moorish American brother who came and joined us. He's also from Ohio. From Ohio. He joined us, he's now with us following in the way of the Qur'an and our Prophet. But he was first introduced to the name Muslim and Islam by the Moorish Science Temple. Drew Ali, Noble Drew Ali. I think there's a reason why he's called Noble. I think there's a reason why he had that name Noble. You know in the time of the teaching of Noble Drew Ali, and his teaching, and also the teacher, my father in Detroit, Mr. Fard, WD Fard Muhammad.
In the time of these teachers, the early thirties, the late twenties and early thirties, there was a lot of poverty and misery in this country for all people. And African-Americans or blacks suffered more than anybody else, as most of us still do. And to have someone respect them and say that they're equal to everybody else was a good thing. Pleasant news for their ears. And to have them be told that they're noble, that they're really descendants of Kings and Queens, royalty, et cetera. And that's what they were told. That's what Drew Ali told his followers, that they'd actually descended from Kings and Queens. That they were noble, they were children of nobility, high statured, and it appealed to them. And WD Fard told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his followers something very similar. That you are the best, you are the best of people, et cetera. And this appealed to us, especially those who were not invited into the circles of their affluent, affluent and educated. This appealed to the great majority of us because we were cut off isolated, discriminated against, unwanted, socially rejected, told to stay in our places and that we were inferior to whites. So naturally, this teaching of respect, I mean these words, the message of respect, respecting what we are, was welcomed by us. We listened to them, we wanted to hear more.
And we have stayed with leaders like that until today. Many of you in this audience right now, we are here because you heard the call of my father, Elijah Muhammad, and you came to him. You liked what he was saying. What he was saying was pleasant in your ears. There's this problem of the Satan, the Shaitan, the devil, the enemy of mankind, the one who became very jealous when G-d said, "I'm going to make a mortal human and going to authorize him as a ruler in the earth." Even the angels didn't feel comfortable with what G-d was saying according to our picture of the world at that time, human beings had no authority and no establishment. The angels were in control of everything. And the angels said to G-d, "What would you create other than this that will cause confusion, trouble, and the shedding of blood? And G-d's reply to them was, "I know what you know not." And G-d says, "Wait until I have inspired him of My own spirit, or of Myself. So this tells us that if we studied this language as a student of scripture, scriptural language, what G-d said in reply to the angels, hearing that human beings given authority on earth would cause a lot of disorder and bloodshed, was that the human being as you see him now, yes, he will cause trouble, he will shed the blood, but I know what you know not. I have created him to be My servant and he's going to serve you when I have imparted or passed on to him, My will for him, My will and purpose for his life. Which is said in the word, when I have inspired in him something of My own spirit, of My own self. That's what G-d said. Now understand that revelation comes to support previous revelations. And if there is confusion as to how to understand what was revealed before, revelation also comes to clarify, to make it clear. Now the Gnostic order of Christians after the passing away of Jesus Christ, Peace be upon him, they sought the divine essence in themselves and they wanted to get rid of the gross body, the flesh, the mortal body and take on immortality. They wanted to be like angels. They wanted to pursue the divine, they thought in them, until they were divine, illuminated in all light and no gross matter. And that should be the order or the rule for the earth.
In pursuing that they left the masses of people unattended because the masses of people didn't understand how to reach that and had no nature to even want to even reach that. Most of us are human and we want to be human. We're satisfied being human. We don't want to abandon our whole life and its nature. But some saintly people meaning well, don't think they were bad people. They were good people. But misdirected. Meaning well, well-meaning people, they hate the evils of the world. They hate murder, they hate rape. They hate lying and stealing and cheating and profanity. They hate these things so much that these things cause them to look at human beings and say, this is not what I'm created to be. I reject this flesh. I reject this body like the animal, this flesh like an animal, and I'm going to pursue something else than me. And they think they discovered divinity, a divine in themselves and which there, there's G-d in all of us. We know that. G-d is in all of us, but it doesn't mean that we are G-d because G-d is in all of us.
G-d is in all of us. Like He's in everything. He's everywhere in everything and everywhere. And He's more in the human being than anything else, He's closer to the human being than He is anything else because He's given us a limited free will and freedom and has given us such great responsibility for us to learn on this earth that we need Him more than anything else. The things that He created without free will, they don't need Him that much because they're under His laws. They're under the laws of nature that G-d created for them, that He's not worried about those things. He's worried about the creatures if He's worried at all. But I mean He's concerned. We know G-d is not worried. He's concerned for those creatures or that creation that He gave freedom of choice to that they may make the wrong decisions and bring themselves into bad situations and more trouble, more and more trouble and make the world more of a world of trouble than a world of peace.
So, G-d is near to us. G-d says, to Muhammad, He is closer to you than your own jugular vein. And you know the jugular vein takes blood to the brain, the connection for the brain, jugular vein. And if you cut that you're dead, blood is cut off from the brain and you are dead, you're finished. And He says He's closer to us than the jugular vein. So, He's closer to us than our own life source that feeds our brains, that keeps us conscious. He's closer than that to us. We know that G-d says that He's given everything something of His spirit, everything, not just man. He said he's given everything something of His spirit. And we should understand that to mean that and everything that G-d has created or caused to come about, there is G-d's plan enshrined upon it and in it. There is G-d's will written in it and upon it and it cannot go but so far astray without having been forced to come back to the will of G-d or to the purpose of G-d.
G-d says then to Him, you must return. You can go away. Certainly, you can deviate, you can leave the purpose of G-d, the purpose that G-d assigned to you, to us, but eventually you'll have to return because His will overpowers everything. Eventually His will brings everything to conform to what He wants for His creatures and His creation. So, the angels became jealous and the gnostic people order in Christianity they sought, an existence that was an existence for angels, not the human beings. So, the revelation came and said, "If G-d had populated this earth with angels, then He would've sent you an angel as a Messenger. " No, He has populated this earth with human beings and He sent you a human being as a Messenger. That's the logic. That's the logic. And also, we know that Islam wants us to have a complete life. It's not only in Christianity. There are some religions, the orientation that they give you, the training they give you is to train you to separate yourself from your flesh, the matter, the body that wants what the animal wants. Food, water, drink, sex, these things to separate you from that so that you can develop your immortal side, your spiritual side. And they think that's the real life. Perhaps it is. But for us on earth, it can't fulfill what our souls want, what we want in our hearts and souls, unless it respects also the material side, the flesh side, the need for us to have a life and have children and to enjoy life and to enjoy children, to enjoy family life and to enjoy the things that G-d has created for us in this material existence.
Hence, G-d says, "Seek with the means that He has given you the latter destiny or the end. But don't forget or neglect, your share of this world, your share of this world." The Scholars of Islam, they say this is the focus right here for us to see the balance for Islam, the balance for Muslim life. G-d neither wants us to go to spiritual extremes, that we neglect family and community, nor go to the material extreme, that we neglect the future which is greater than this existence here, though the future is greater. G-d says, "Oh yes, the future is greater, greater in quantity and greater in quality." The future that G-d wants for us, the destiny beyond this existence we have now. And it's greater in quality and greater in quality. But nevertheless, G-d says, "Don't forget your responsibility in this world." Your share means your responsibility, your share and responsibility for these things.
And this is the great dignity of human person. The great dignity of the human person is to have responsibility, a share in the responsibility for the life and future of society. If we or any minority people or any people accept to abandon that responsibility or to let other people have it, not to even pay attention to it and let other people have it. "Oh, you carry the load, you be responsible for the life of our society. You would be responsible for governing of our society" In time, you are going to become the inferior, the subjects and the slaves of those who pick up that responsibility. There's a tendency in people to sell themselves just to have food, bread, water, drink, sleep, sex, without the worry of having to provide for the wife, the children, the home, etc. And we have it in the scripture, different ones. One was a poor man in the Bible. He was satisfied just to sit around the table of the rich and wait for the rich to knock off some crumbs from the table. And that's what he caught. He'd eat that. I guess they were so rich until the crumbs were enough to keep him fat.
So, he was happy with that existence. And we have the story of Hagar, of Hagar. Nobody went and captured Hagar. Hagar went to Sarah. She wanted to be a servant. And Sarah hired her as a servant. And she became a servant lady. Muhammad the Prophet, the teacher of Islam, he wants us to measure up to the measurement, the great value and worth that Allah assigned to each human person. He wants that for us. So, Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be on him, he said to the rich, "You have an obligation to share your wealth with the poor." And he said to the poor, and I read this in an article, in the book, in a book, pardon me, in a passage in a book by one of our learned teachers who happened not to be a black man, of another race. But he's a Muslim, follower of the same Prophet that we all are followers of who say we're Muslim. And he said that the Prophet told the poor that you have an obligation to take yourself from being a burden for another. He taught them self reliance. He taught them self respect that made them not satisfied with being given handouts and charities and being helped all the time by the rich or by those who have. So, in Islam we get rid of this separation, this two faced society, have and have nots by informing all the members of society that they all have been created for the same dignity, for the same nobility, for the high, same high station in the order of things that G-d have made. We have to tell them all that. Tell them all that. And then there is equality. There's not equality when you have some people believing that they were created by G-d to be the servants and slaves of others or they were created by G-d but short changed. G-d gave others a little more than he gave them. So, they are at a disadvantage because of their own creation. This is what we were made to think as slaves on the plantations of the South. We were made to think that G-d had made us inferior, that we couldn't help it, that we were just inferior to white, that G-d did that.
And even the church had some ignorant leaders in it. And though they weren't too popular, there was enough to reach enough of them saying this to reach us. Say, "Oh, they're cursed. They're the Children of Ham. He was cursed." And when our preachers read the Bible about the story of Ham, they read three of his sons saw him and his nakedness while he was drunk. And then one of them looked at him and laughed. Laughed at his father's nakedness and drunkenness and another looked at him and turned his head. He couldn't stand it, turned his head. And the third looked at his father and he went and got a cloth and covered his father's body. Now they made us to think that the one who got the cloth and covered his father's body is the white race. And the one who turned his head and couldn't stand it is the yellow race.
And the one who laughed is Africa, the black race. They made them think that. And then the Bible says that G-d didn't curse Ham directly, but he cursed Ham in his children, that his children should be hewers of wood and toters of water. That means cheap labor, cheap service for their brothers, for the rest of the brothers. So that means for the whites and the yellows, the Asians and for Europe, Africa is to be cheap servant labor. Cut wood, cut wood for them and bring water, tote water for them. So, this was put on us. Now I understand that we weren't educated in the world. We had no knowledge of the geography of this world. We were taken from our geography and had no connection even to know what it was. We couldn't even tell you the states of Africa. We couldn't even tell you the countries of Africa. We couldn't tell you the languages of Africa. We had been separated from that so long in denied contact with Africa and African history and culture, and we had no idea whatsoever except what they would give us. And they gave us Tarzan and a Continent full of black baboons.
Yes. So that was the picture we were left with. And now, to tell our preachers, most of them too, worldly, naive, dumb, uneducated. Let's face the truth, that's the way to get home. You want to give home to your true self. Face the truth. Most of the preachers, dumb, uneducated, worldly naive. So, when they read this, they either accepted it or they became angry and filled with bitterness and so negative that they couldn't help their people. So, this is a bad state we were left in. If the Civil Rights movement came to help us, churches joining the Civil rights movement, the churches are always trying to help us. And the Nation of Islam came to help us. The Drew Alis, Moorish Americans, everybody trying to help us. And now here we are, 1999, almost about to go into year 2000. And we still have black slaves in America. Black slaves. Still need to accept responsibility for their life, still need to accept responsibility for their future. Still thinking like the poor man who hung around the rich man's table, that the rich man has an obligation to give you some food when you're hungry.
And I ain't got nowhere to stay. You have to tolerate me here. That's your playbook. Sweaty, funky, drunk, lazy, dumb, crazy. Waiting for something to fall off the table. Some of us still in that condition, still in that condition today, just thinking "Yeah, they owe us something." I think one of the candidates for the President said, yeah, you are right. They did owe us something, but your day has come and gone. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know one thing. If I'm going to follow my dignity, if I want to respect my own values as a human person, whether I have been cheated or not by other people, doesn't matter as much as me, as I myself accept the responsibility for my own condition and doing something about it and not waiting on somebody to pay up.
Well, if I do something about my condition and improve the state of my mind and improve the conditions, the circumstances in my life, the material conditions of my life, maybe I'll get in a dignified position and posture to really have you listen to me. But if I'm going to claim that you owe me something and I'm not doing anything to change my own condition, I'm still an idle, idle nothing, asking for somebody to do something for me. I can't get your attention. You're intelligent, and you are going to excuse your responsibility by just pointing to my neglect. You say, are they worth it? They won't tell us that. They tell each other that when they go get to the table to discuss our demands on them, they tell each other. Say, well look at their behavior. Are they worth it? Are they worth us giving more provisions to them?
Are they worth us having more protection for them? Legislating more protection for them? Legislating preferential treatment for them. Are they worth it? What have they done with the freedom they have? What have they done with the opportunity that they already have? Are they doing anything with it? So why should we give more of the tax people money to them to aid them and feed them and clothe them and dress them and care for them when they're not doing anything with the great measure of freedom and the great opportunities that they have already. So, we have to accept that responsibility ourself. And what the religion is trying to tell us is that G-d is in you and your full man is in you and your full man that G-d made for you brother is much bigger than this little boy that you choose to be.



