02/29/1976
IWDM Study Library 
Saviors Day

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
I greet you again. Peace be unto you. As-Salaam-Alaikum.
Thank you, Brother Minister for doing a beautiful job of presenting the Nation of Islam to our honorable audience. And thanks to the hardworking department in the Nation of Islam for putting together a wonderful slide presentation of the Nation of Islam. We also would like to thank Brother Angelo, who gives his life and his time now to teaching Islam to the many prisoners who are incarcerated in the surrounding prisons. We thank Brother Angelo, and I'm sure if The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was here, Peace be on him, he would certainly be very happy today to see that his work, his name, his aspirations are not put aside and ignored, and still being held high and worked for with all of the enthusiasm that we witnessed in the past years, and even with more enthusiasm.
Today, we are more enthused over the great work the Honorable Master W.F. Muhammad and the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad. We are more enthused today because Allah has blessed our eyes to come open, He has blessed our minds to expand, He has blessed us to see more than we saw yesterday, He has blessed us to understand more than we understood last year. All Praise is due to Allah. The great work of the Honorable Master W.D. Fard, and the great work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, will not die in America or the world because they will live as long as we live. And we have no intention of dying. All Praise is due to Allah.
I want to speak to you on self-government in the New World in hopes of giving you a better picture of the role that Master W.D. Fard Muhammad played, and his coming to Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Detroit significance, and organizing a small group there, and leaving a message with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to give to the world of Bilalian people. I hope that, in giving this talk on the self-government of the New World, that we will better understand the role, the work, the aspirations of the Master W.F. Muhammad, and will better understand the reason why it was necessary to make big, profound changes after the passing of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, May Peace be on him.
But before going into that subject, I would like to now give you a report. The first section of our report deals with changes in the organizational structure of the Nation of Islam in America. I will begin now.
The Nation of Islam was founded in the early 1930s with one type of movement in the community: A movement to spread the spiritual message of Islam to Black people of North America. The message of truth that Master Fard Muhammad brought to these shores was purposely carried from city to city by the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, May peace be upon him.
The 30-year period from that time up to the early 1960s saw the spiritual foundation of the Nation of Islam solidified, with great strength in the Bilalian or Black community of America. The success of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad's spiritual teachings resulted in the formation of a real Black economic force wherever Mosques of Islam were located. And as you know, these Mosques were first known by the name Temples, and later named Mosques under the leadership of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, and then returned to the name Temples just before the passing of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, and again renamed Mosques under the present leadership.
As the Nation of Islam began to fulfill its basic needs as a community more successfully, it began to follow the natural course of growth of all human communities. It began to look outside of its formative or initial structure for other areas of interest. The Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad wisely guided the growing community of Muslims in North America into areas of business, but not just into areas of business that were concerned with profit above all else, but areas of business that satisfied the natural desire and natural need of the religious community of Muslims. We put emphasis on religious communities, because we are a divine body. We are not just an ordinary group.
This community's pride to do something for self resulted in the establishment of businesses like bakeries, supermarkets, restaurants, clothing stores in the Muslim community, throughout the cities or ghettoes of America. These businesses were of vital importance because they attempted to satisfy the real physical needs in our communities. They satisfied the hunger within our people to begin to grow and develop as other societies of people grow and develop. They afforded jobs to many who would normally have been underemployed or completely out of a job, and they moved to stabilize the soul of the communities in which they were located by demonstrating good, clean practices to blighted areas.
As the business activity of the Lost Found Nation of Islam began to increase significantly, the original organizational structure became strained and inefficient. When our primary concern was only the spread of the spiritual message of Islam, all of the departments within the structure fit very efficiently under the heading of Mosque Department. There was the Minister's Department, which had the responsibility of being in charge of total administration of the Mosque. There was the Captain's Department, for the men and women whose primary responsibility was the general security in the Mosque or the property, and for the training of believers in principles of Islam and in the conduct of Muslims. There was the Secretary's department, which had responsibility of keeping all the records of Mosque business and activity.
Throughout the 1960s, the Mosque officials, who were usually very well-trained in the performance of Mosque duties, became more and more entangled with complex business matters for which most of them were poorly trained, if trained at all. We must remember that the majority of the officials, the general body of believers in the Nation of Islam, were drawn from the most disenfranchised, the most oppressed and the most neglected of the Black or Bilalian community. Only very few had an education beyond the High School level. The fact that the Nation of Islam expanded with such force and speed into the American arena of economics, in spite of a membership that was almost totally unqualified in the area of big business management, is a testimony to the great wisdom and strength and endurance of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad. He single-handedly transformed the Nation of Islam from a handful of unskilled and untrained so-called Negroes into a respected community of Nation-minded people from coast to coast in a matter of less than 40 years.
All during this period of growth, the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad himself was the man who carried the sole responsibility for everything in the Nation of Islam. He was the originator of all plans, the arbitrator of all disputes, and the shop foreman daily, on the job, every hour of the day, who had to supervise everybody and everything himself. Finally, in the early 1970s, the need for a business department at Chicago headquarters could no longer be ignored.
The Ministers, the Captains across the Nation found themselves in dire need for guidelines and instructions in business matters. Most of them were completely unprepared to handle such matters as taxes, insurance, accounting systems, and the usual, necessary Corporate paperwork. Also, during this period, the Nation of Islam and its general membership were coming under a great deal of intimidation and harassment from all corners, especially the various agencies of government. This harassment cost us many hard-earned, hard-struggled-for dollars. It continued to build in spite of the positive results that we were accomplishing in areas and among people whom everyone had failed.
Consequently, the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad felt that our small body of core believers should not be subject to pay taxes or to honor other government requests, when we were not respected as a legitimate religious body by the American government. Some of you will recall that the Court did finally recognize us as a legitimate religious body during the reign of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
So even though a business department was established in Chicago to help administrate the business affairs of the Nation of Islam, it was the business department that was not free to operate in our best business interests. The problems in the businesses and in the Nation of Islam as a whole became further complicated in the 1960s and the early 1970s because of the failing physical health of our leader, then the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. It became increasingly difficult for the one-man Nation to operate on a day-to-day basis with any kind of efficiency because of the inaccessibility of the leader, the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad.
Because no real structure had been established for the smooth operation of the businesses, and because most of the businesses were not managed by qualified personnel, the problems began to grow and grow. With Los Angeles, California being the exception, when I came into the office of leadership several months ago, the organizational structure was one with a strong Mosque administration but with a small and weak business administration. We immediately moved to strengthen the business department with professional lawyers, managers and accountants. On the other side of the Mosque administration, we added another organizational component, which really indicates the future direction and concern that we have in human affairs.
Today, the organizational structure of the Nation of Islam is set up as a structural framework which will accommodate the movement of our society towards government concept. The office of the Chief Minister is the office of spiritual head or leader for the religious society. We have instituted the Office of Organizational President, now held by Dr. Abdul Salaam. The Organization President is the Convenor of the National Decision-Making board, which is also a recent creation. It's comprised of National and Regional officials who represent various segments of the general body of members. All members of the official staff are subject to election by the membership of the Nation of Islam once a year. The National Decision-Making board, by representing the sole membership, will serve as governing body for the general affairs of the Nation of Islam.
We have also separated the department of finance from the business department, and it now serves as a central body of monetary management. Professional personnel not only process the usual accounting payroll, but they are establishing fiscal policies and budgets for all departments, including one, five, and 10-year projections for the Nation of Islam. We have one-year projections, five-year projections, and 10-year projections for the Nation of Islam. And that is what a people have to do when they are serious about really organizing as a governmental body to do something in their community. You have to think ahead, look way ahead in the future. You cannot just plan for tomorrow, next week; you have to plan for next year, five years away, 10 years away, and we hope pretty soon we grow to think 40 years away, 100 years away.
In order to consolidate the filing of all tax information, insurance policies, deeds, titles, contracts and other important documents, we have established the department of vital papers at Chicago national office. The director of this department is the loving, brilliant brother, Kevin XX Jenkins, who also works as assistant to the Nation's business manager, Brother Asad El-Amin. Under the general heading of Mosque operations, we have the Minister's department. Our national staff is composed of my assistant, Minister Karim Abdelaziz, Special aide. As you know, he is a late addition to our staff, but one that promises much in the future. Dr. Na'im Akbar, the colorful and brilliant Minister that he is, loved by all of us, and more importantly understood by all of us, because he knows how to untangle complex and subtle terminology.
We have Minister Abdulhamid Farrakhan, a well-established Spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and also a very brilliant and colorful person. Our National Captain staff is headed by our Nation's Captain, Elijah Muhammad Jr. Hardworking man, a man who was born into that office, I would say like leaves grow on trees, or like moss grows on a tree; it's just a natural part of him. And he loves it, it's his nature, and he does a wonderful job for the Nation of Islam as Chief Captain. Our Nation's secretary, a new addition, Brother Darrell Abdulhaqq, has been recently appointed to the staff from Los Angeles, California. He was Regional Secretary in that area. A hardworking, dedicated man, who proved himself before he was appointed here to the position.
The Muslim Women's Development Class, formerly called the Muslim Girls' Training and General Civilization Class, is under the direction of Sister Consultant Amina Rasool. The Nation's Minister of is the former Supreme Captain, Raymond Sharif. Another very recent appointment to our official staff is Brother Clyde El-Amin, who will serve as the Assistant Minister of Education under me, over the Sister Clara Mohammed, elementary and secondary schools. As you know, these schools were formally called the Universities of Islam. Serving as consultant on our National education staff are Dr. Abdul Amin Shabazz, Dr. Fatih Mahadi and Sister Fahima Sultan.
The last and newest office under Mosque operations is the National Steering Committee Chairman, Dr. Michael Ramadan. Dr. Ramadan served as representative of all the Mosque committees that have been establishing Mosques across the country. The committees, made up of participants from the general membership, served as the official staff as a ready, helping hand before and a part of the general membership. These committees are: The Central Board for Culture Development, the Public Information Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, the Town Interests Committee, the Sick Committee, the Accident and Mishap Committee, the Creations Committee, and the Fairness Committee. The area of business operations is under the supervision of the Nation's business manager, Attorney [inaudible Clyde El-Amin, who also serves as our general counsel.
Our business staff in Chicago has increased in size to four or five times what it was a year ago. Besides overseeing our Chicago businesses, the staff is now formulating standardized accounting and operational procedures for all business within the Nation of Islam.
The third major department in our organizational structure is the newest department; that is the Department of Human Affairs. We have established this department to begin to activate in the community at large the programs that have been so successful within the community of the Nation of Islam. We are confident that our developments in education, moral development, human rehabilitation, alcohol and drug prevention and community awareness can be beneficial to this whole community. The Human Affairs Department will act as a liaison between the Nation of Islam and the communities within which we reside. Within the Human Affairs Department are the Human Development staff, headed by Dr. Na'im Akbar, and the Human Relations staff, headed by Brother Abdul Hakim.
Also in the Human Affairs Department, we have the Department of Community Services, which is supervised by Minister Nasir Ahmed. Within this department are the following staff: Public Relations, under Brother Majid Minam; Community Relations, under Brother Hassan Muhammad Shareef; Communications, under Brother Walid Muhammad; and Cultural Development, under Sister Leila Minam, formerly known as Sonya Kantim. We have appointed Brother Ahmed Rasul to serve as National Director of Community Relations.
All of the departments that we have just named under the three basic headings of Mosque operations, Business Operations and Human Affairs, constitute the central organizational structure of the Nation of Islam.
The second section of this report deals with business, and I will give you our business report. The greatest problem that existed one year ago was that no one knew the condition of the businesses, because no accounting systems were in effect to monitor National income and expenditures. The image of the Nation of Islam as a wealthy economic organization, with financial assets in the neighborhood of 75 to 80 million, was commonly represented to the public by the media. That is by the news media. This figure, like most of the so-called facts on the Nation of Islam, was more speculative than it was real. After instituting comprehensive tax auditing systems over the past 12 months, we find the economic health of the Nation of Islam is not what some projected it to be.
In fact, the Nation of Islam, like the majority of businesses and organizations in the American economy today, is in debt. The Nation of Islam is in debt because of cashflow problems. We are very thankful that we have been able to determine our problem as quickly as we have and that we have been able to institute programs that are gradually enabling us to recover from a financial illness that has been festering unnoticed for 10 years. I would say for as long as 15 years.
We have meditated as far back as 1967, in which the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, and his top officials were requesting loans of up to $2 million to help finance community improvements on the Southside of Chicago. Loans of that amount are considered very small in comparison with the size of loan packages that are usually approved to other religious organizations with no questions asked. In fact the Nation of Islam was refused loans by some of the same financial institutions that held in their vaults the hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited from donations to the poor Muslims across the country. So-called money finders were paid in advance for loans that never materialized. And you should know, you'd be surprised to know the percentage, the high percentage that some of those money finders charged the Nation of Islam. When willing lenders were found, sometimes obstacles would always come up before the loan could be finalized. Collateral requirements would be increased at the last minute. Our insurance companies would not give the necessary bonds. Because of the hardship, the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad didn't give up. You know hardship only made him push a little harder. He relentlessly put forward his plan, determined to do something for self.
Building construction projects and land acquisitions were continued on a pay-as-you-go basis instead of the usual financial methods. This caused a tremendous strain on the charity donations that came into Chicago from Muslims around the country. Donations from hardworking core followers were fed into business shells, empty business shells to keep them supplied and standing, so that we would have at least a show of business progress.
Now why would the Honorable Minister Elijah Muhammad do this? Because he was told by Master Fard Muhammad to get your people to come to life, and get them at any cost. He wasn't out to make a million dollars. He was out to draw people to truth. And he knew you wouldn't be attracted to truth, if we offered you nothing but truth. You had to be offered something that was pressing on your heart and your mind more than the need to make your heart and mind truthful. So, Muslims had to pay approximately $4.3 million for this building complex right here. The market estimate value for this particular property right here in 1971 was only 1.4 million. But the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam had to pay 4.3 million.
We don't have to tell you that we've been persecuted. You know it. Every question on the finance reports, you may say "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn't have to buy this". He had to get something, not going to let the high price keep him from progress. The reflection on the finance report for that same period shows that the farms alone were running yearly deficits in excess of one half million dollars. Now I know this is surprising to many of you. It really shook me. It didn't hit me totally unaware, because I had done a little investigating. And I did see where there was volumes of foreign products coming from those huge farms. So, this caused me to suspect that something was wrong. Instead of producing millions, they took millions, a half million every year. The businesses during the same time had a yearly deficit of close to 2 million, not including longterm loan and mortgage obligations, which totaled over 9.5 million, 9 and a half million dollars. The payroll for business employees and Mosque employees in Chicago alone totaled over $41,000 each week.
A business report dated May 1974 stated that the monthly deficit in the businesses had increased to 43,000 per month and that, if the business income levels were to remain steady or to increase, that for the first time in many years, the businesses would reflect a small net profit. Consider that this statement was made as recent as 1974. Longterm debt commitments were still outstanding for the acquisition of the Muhammad Mosque Number 2 Complex. And I believe you all know how we managed to get this building. A Muslim country was brotherly enough and kindly enough to lend the Nation of Islam, the Honorable Minister Elijah Muhammad $3 million. It was not a gift, now. That money had to be paid, and we're still paying it.
Debts were also outstanding on farms, on apartment buildings, on guaranteed banks and other properties. This was the financial condition that we encountered upon coming into the office 12 months ago. This past year has been a period of organization, of amortization and fact finding. We now know where our problems exist, and we have developed sound and realistic solutions for those problems. Now we are following, and adhering to these plans. And it's predicted, projected to last for 18 months. But what is that? What is that as a sacrifice for us to make to keep what we have? If we have to go on a security plan for 18 months, again I ask, brothers and sisters, what is that as a sacrifice, if it will enable us to keep what we have? If we continue to follow the same habits that we have been in for many years, I'm telling you. When he went down, the things that continued, the curtain was soon to come down on all of us.
You may ask, how does this reflect on the great work of Honorable Minister Elijah Muhammad? I'll tell you something that perhaps only myself knows, and that is this. The Honorable Minister Elijah Muhammad planned the problems that we now face. You might ask, "How did he plan this"? He knew that the goings on, that there was a lot of money around here, cash on hand, and all bills paid up, that these newly resurrected poverty niggers would take those big sums of money and go off on a vacation and when they came back off the vacation, there would be nothing. But he tied us to something, brothers and sisters. He forced us to work by leaving us not a big ready made thing but leaving us a small set up. Now here is what I have started you with. Here is what I have given you. Can't you see it? I've shown you what you can have, but you have to work hard to keep it, because I've left you in debt, debt, debt, debt.
I thank him for his wisdom. We have streamlined our payroll where necessary, and we have developed a program for increasing the involvement of the membership at large in the businesses. During the year 1975, the Nation of Islam Center in Chicago employed some 700 people and paid close to $4,400,000 in wages. Our total current debt including longterm commitments is approximately $900,000, which is a decrease of some 1,100,000. So I think that's progress, even though the needs are immediate. Our longterm debt is now reduced to about 4,600,000 from the 9.5 million deficit in 1973. The systematic separation of business activities from the Mosque structure will enable the Mosque administration to function more efficiently, and it will allow the general membership to become more involved in the businesses. We are convinced that much of the street image of the Nation of Islam was brought about naturally because of the Ministers being burdened with the responsibility to feed money into poorly managed business operations. The Ministers and other officials had no one to depend upon for financial assistance but the believers.
The majority of the abuses in the Ministers department, the financial department and the secretary department were due to the desperation to keep money coming into Chicago. And that is our duty. If we don't keep headquarters standing, what will we have? Nothing. We now have given instructions that all Ministers are to remove themselves from business operations or either remove themselves from the ministry. With the exception of a few Mosque-related businesses such as the Bilalian News News Printing Press, most of the businesses now owned by the Nation of Islam will be turned over into the hands of management teams selected from the general body. This will be accomplished, we hope, in the very near future. People work better when they're close to what they're working with.
The decrease in circulation, the Nation of Islam distributed close to 34 million copies of the Bilalian News throughout the year to every corner of America and in the Caribbean. The number of people who visited our Mosque for the first time during the year of 1975 was up 54% over 1974. The number who accepted to register as members of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam was up 27% over the previous year. The total attendance at Muhammad's Mosques throughout the country was up 47% over 1974 and exceeded 2, 800,000. A new Mosque and school complex was acquired in Oakland, California at a cost of $290,000. Bermuda, the hardworking Muslims have purchased a beautiful $211,000 estate which contains facilities for a Mosque, schools, offices and dormitories. New school facilities have also been purchased in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a cost of $90,000.
We have just recently begun the final work on opening a large restaurant on the island of Trinidad. So why you want a nice restaurant on the island of Trinidad? Because it's profitable, feasible and beautiful. We would like to express our gratitude to the government of Trinidad, which has shown us much kindness and which has extended a great deal of encouragement to see that the Muslims there are offered an opportunity to help develop the overall community of Trinidad. In Chicago we have recently added two parcels of Real Estate to our holdings, which will be used for the benefit of the general community. The former Elementary School Complex, and it stands right behind us here, has been acquired for development as a Vocational school for children and adults.
Adjoining that property in the 73rd block of South Ridgeland is the former Ridgeland Club, which has been acquired and renamed as an outstanding Pioneer, who has passed away, the Ephraim Bahar Community Center. This center will accommodate some classes of the Sister Clara Muhammad Elementary and Secondary School and will also be open for a wide range of educational and cultural affairs. There are auditorium, gymnasium and gymnasium facilities in addition to a large kitchen and juice bar. We can't have an alcohol bar, but we will take that beautiful bar they had over there for alcohol and make it a health juice bar. We will also feature at the Ephraim Bahar Community Center family entertainment. And that's badly needed. I know some of you mothers understand the need for such. You can't take your children to see a decent movie. Everything is either too violent and vulgar, or it's too crazy and violent. So, should we let things remain as they are? No, we should Remake the World.
Within the next few weeks, our contractors will begin working on preparing two now vacant lots that we have purchased as community playlots for the children of our community. One lot is located at 93rd Street and Stony Island, and the other lot is located at 39th Street and Indiana Avenue. You may say that's the city's job to do those things, but if the city won't give our children grass to look at, grass to walk on or trees to look at, sandbox to play in, if we have the money, why don't we do it and embarrass the city? These play lots will be well planned for the enjoyment and safety of our children. Not just Muslim children, any child. We hope to work with various community organizations to see that these play lots and others that will soon be developed over the best supervision possible. If somebody, some child be molested or raped on our play lots, a lot of people who had the responsibility of seeing that that wouldn't happen will be molested by some FOI.
See, I'm going to be popular for two things- Being a do-gooder and being the most outrageous nigger in America. Because believe me, I'm not joking. We'll whip them and then go to court and pay the price. Also within the next few weeks, the former Salaam Restaurant, now the Salaam Arts and Cultural Center will be open to provide good, wholesome activities for the entire family. We've had some outstanding Bilalian stars there, as you know. And we closed down to really set up, so we can go into full force. We will feature art exhibits then, live entertainment, theatrical productions and a wide range of other activities that will be open to the whole community. The Sister Clara Muhammad Elementary and Secondary School, formerly Muhammad's University of Islam has operated in many cities across the country over a period of many years. These schools have been known for high quality special education, and they offer the students a unique environment of cleanliness and higher morale, pardon me, of cleanliness and higher moral standards.
We are not yet satisfied with our schools, and we are working even harder now to produce a school that will truly be a model of educational environment for the entire world. Because of the increased cost of operating educational institutions, we are regretfully having to decrease our student enrollment in most areas. This decrease in student enrollment, however, does not deter us from our goal of establishing the model school. We want to move from the belief and impressing and showing to a belief in establishing something real. And to do that, you have to decrease with reality. You just can't bring children in, crowd them in places and say you have a great school here. You have 1,000 students, or you have 2,000 students. You have to make sure that every child's needs is attended to as you bring them in, and that's what we're going to do. The total cost of operating Sister Clara Muhammad Schools in Chicago was close to $730,000 in 1975.
In spite of the fact that the Nation of Islam was billed in excess of $480,000 in state and local taxes, for that same period of time in Chicago, we received not one penny in outside financial assistance from the government or from any other organization. We have assembled a staff of highly trained educators here in Chicago that are busily preparing curriculum and text books that can be used not only by the Nation of Islam but by any institution that desires to use it. You can expect to see many new publications coming from us in the coming years. All subjects that range from the teaching of Islam, Sociology, Anthropology, and text books of all kinds. We have here now for display some of our books that we have just printed, which will be used in the school here. And we also offered to the public school system for them to evaluate. This book is called The Teachings of W Deen Mohammed Book 1, Secondary and Adult Level. This book is The Teachings of W Deen Mohammed Book 1, Elementary Level.
We have here a number of booklets that'll also be available very soon. A Sound Investment and Other Islamic Stories by Layla Manya. That's formerly Sonia Sanchez.
The Man and the Woman in Islam by W. Deen Mohammed. All Praise to Allah.
Book of Muslim Names by W. Deen Mohammed.
The Community of Self by the able Doctor, Na'im Akbar.
Islam and the Reverse of Women as Participants in Civilization. This book is by Layla Manya.
And here we have another book by Sister Layla Manya, Primary Studies in Islam, Book #1.
And this is only the beginning.
We have more on the board that I could sit up here and call out to you for the next couple of hours. And that's the way we move ahead in the future and get things done. We can't plan to just do enough; we have to plan to do it all.
Now, we have completed the change in organizational structure, and we have completed the mock report. And also, the business report. We hope that, by giving these reports, that you now feel more at ease. When you as members of the Nation of Islam are in the dark as to what is exactly going on in the Nation of Islam, it makes the body flooded, stale. But when you know what is happening, you come to life. Why? Because you are a special people. You don't mind doing a job. You don't mind being called to do a job. You don't mind being told that there is work to do. All you want to know is: What is the work? You see?
So, I don't think that we should ever fear to present to the membership of the Nation of Islam the correct picture of the Nation of Islam. The correct state of things should always be given to the members of the Nation of Islam. It will not hurt us; it will make us stronger. Lying is what hurt us. Hiding the facts-that hurt us. We are all in it together. So, we all must share the burden together. And I'm sure that each and every one of you want to share the burden.
Now, brothers and sisters, for about 15 or 20 minutes, I want to talk to you on the self-government of the Nation of Islam in the New World. Self-government in the New World. And as I talk to you on this subject, I'll be trying to bring, before your eyes, the picture of Master Fard Muhammad, what he was all about, what he came here for, what he was reaching for, the kind of man he was. Now, I know that some of you, the language I'm using now is not satisfactory. You would like for me to say the kind of G-d he was. But we are trying to get away from symbolic language. We're trying to get away from a lot of spiritual spookism, so that we can deal with reality as it is.
The Honorable Master Fard Muhammad, who has been called by many names... Professor Fard Muhammad, Prophet Fard Muhammad, W.F., Wali Fard Muhammad, Wallace D. Fard Muhammad... he's called by many names; and that should tell us something about this great personality. Obviously, he was not known by the people that he was introducing himself to. And we have said in The Lost Found Nation of Islam that really only one knew him, and that was the one that he taught and prepared to do the job of resurrecting the Black community: the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as you know, has also talked very vaguely about Master Fard Muhammad as a person. He said that he was a savior, said that he was G-d, he said that he was G-d in the person of Master Fard. He said many things. And he also said that, he told me that, "I have to go away, Elijah Muhammad, and you will have to do the job." This didn't please the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, because he had become very much attached to Master Fard Muhammad, as the other followers were in the early days of the founding of the Nation of Islam. He said he told him, "I want to be with you." So, he said Master Fard said, "You will be with me. But to do the job; you don't need me anymore."
Now, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad telling us that Master Fard said to him, "You don't need me anymore." Would Almighty G-d say to any creature, "You don't need me anymore?" We always need Almighty G-d. But Master Fard said to Honorable Elijah Muhammad, "You don't need me anymore." He also said to believers right here in Chicago, "Accept Elijah. Follow Elijah. You don't need me anymore."
Now, I want to tell you something that I hope you understand. Master Fard Muhammad was a shrewd planner. He was a very, very shrewd planner. He had observed the situation here in America, the conditions here that kept us down, and he had also studied the methods used by others to get us up. And he had seen that those methods were failures, they had not done the job.
He himself was a Muslim, Master Fard Muhammad was a Muslim. He believed in the scripture called the Holy Qur'an; the Holy Bible of Muslims, the Holy Qur'an. Master Fard let us know that by having his picture taken with the Qur'an in his hand. The only picture that we have of him is a picture of him holding in his hand, in a very pious, sincere and reverent manner, the book called the Holy Qur'an. Now, if G-d cherished the Holy Qur'an, that should also beget something to our minds. You see? So he was still talking to us, but he had to say it in such a way to get us to come where he wanted us to come without us discovering his true plan. Because if we had discovered his plan, we would've walked away before we arrived at the object, at the goal that he wanted to bring us to.
Now, let me continue here. He saw that the Church was a failure in the Black community. In the early 1930s, the church community, that is the Black church community was mostly a community of dead so-called Negroes. I know we don't like to hear these things, especially those who are still in the Church. But believe me, we were a church, for the most part, of nothing but dead people. Most of the church people were hating their own identity and didn't even know it. Hated their Black skin, hated any connection, any association with Africa. Hated their nappy hair. Hated their so-called Negro features. This was the condition that Honorable Master Fard Muhammad found here when he came in the early '30s.
He observed the so-called Orthodox Muslim, how they had come here and tried to reach us but had failed. They came here and invited us to Islam. They said, come to Islam, come to Allah, come to the Holy Qur'an; this is a better religion. We didn't listen to them. They only got a very few of us to listen to them, a number that is so insignificant as you don't have to mention it.
So Master Fard, he discovered the problem, the real problem, and then designed a skillful plan to bring home the prize. What did he do? He said that his... you know what Master Fard said. I know Master Fard. I can talk to him anytime I get ready, and not in a spooky way; I go to the telephone and dial his number and talk to Master Fard anytime I get ready.
No, he's not dead; he's physically alive, and in pretty good shape, too! He gets around pretty good.
He devised a plan. He said, now, the problem is these people are already too serious, already too wrapped up in the Bible, in scripture. So, to get them, you can't come at them with Holy scripture. Whatever you come at them with is not going to be any stronger than what they already have. That's if you come to them with spiritual hope. Who was more spiritual in America or the world than the Bilalian community in America? Our churches were more filled with spirit than anybody else's, Brothers and Sisters! So, no one could come to us telling us we need spirit. Anyone who came had less spirit than we had, we wouldn't pay any attention to it. So, Master Fard discovered that what these people need is not spirit! They don't need a spiritual approach, that what they ask for in this dead community is material. These people are totally ignorant to material work.
So, he began to study scripture, and he designed his plan step by step, and he designed after the plan of Almighty G-d. Now, I don't have a lot of time. I told you I'm going to do this in 15 to 20 minutes, and I mean to keep to my word. So, if you don't understand it today, come back again and we'll talk to you some more. But let me go to the Bible quickly and try to show you quickly what I'm talking about.
Now, you know people have come to us with G-d and religion, and they have approached us with the spirit. They have come talking to us about spiritual things, about holiness, righteousness, divinity, G-d and the saints. Master Fard discovered that that's not the way Almighty G-d did it. And when you study the Holy Qur'an, and the Bible, you will see that's not the way G-d did it. The Bible says that G-d made His man out of the physical earth. The first thing He made was a physical man. And then the next thing G-d did was give that physical man a physical world and a physical mate. Is that right? Then after He gave a physical body and a physical world, then G-d told him that there's two kinds of knowledge in the world. One knowledge is pure, divine; that's for me. And there's another kind of knowledge that's mixed up with falsehood- Don't eat of the tree of corrupt knowledge. Is that right?
But G-d didn't even give him that kind of instruction until He had already made him physical and given him an opportunity to live with other people. Now, all of you can't understand this when you read in Genesis, but G-d made the man and made for him a mate, but He made a society when he did that. If you follow this story, the later chapters of Genesis, you will see that G-d didn't make just one Adam. That when He made male and female, and named them, not him and her, Adam. Do you understand? So, G-d made a society of physical people, and introduced them to a physical world, and let their minds come aware of a physical environment and grow in a physical environment then. What do you think the physical world is here for? Nothing? All right, let's go to something else!
Your own birth into the world is not a spiritual first birth. What baby come from the womb a spirit? The first body that comes out of the womb, of the mother, is a flat body. And the first thing this baby wants, he doesn't say, "Give me Allah!" He cries for some milk! Do you understand?
See, Master Fard, he discovered the secret. He discovered this high knowledge that's in the scripture, but people had overlooked it. When you find the people completely dead, you don't come to them with the spirit. A society that is alive socially and economically, you come to them teaching them the spirit, the heavens. But a society that has not yet been formed in the earth, you can't teach them the heavens, you have to teach them the earth first! And that was the wisdom, the key that Master Fard Muhammad discovered. So, he said, the way to get these people, Elijah, is to hold out to them the bait that represents to them the things that they need and want right now. Then tell them, Elijah, that if they follow you, to me, they will get good homes, they will get money and friendships in all walk of life. He said, tell them, Elijah, that the streets of the Holy Land back there where their ancestors came from is paved with solid gold. Now, that makes you want to go there!
He didn't say it over a spirit, preying on invisible hearts, and walking around in golden slippers that don't really exist, except in a spiritual form. He said, tell them there's real solid gold over there, the roads are paved with it. These hungry people who couldn't eat anything but neck bone, pig feet, pig ears; I'm talking about what you would find in the average home in 1930. You eating pork chops now. Some of them got so classy and civilized, you eating lamb chops. Well, that's good.
But brothers and sisters, back in those days, you would find neck, hoof, ears, tails and snout. And the stores, the butcher shops in our communities, that's what they had on display. How many out there came from my time? I'm 42 years old. Raise your hand. Don't you remember those butcher shops? They were loaded with that cheap stuff, weren't they? And that's what our people ate.
All right, look, now most of them were renting, and the places they were renting were really unfit to live in. So that state of a well-to-do society was the right state to attract the people. Money, love, friendships. Why did he include friendships? Because Black people in America, Bilalian people, were friendless. We knew we didn't have any friends. We couldn't even trust each other as friends. Friends so long as a white man didn't get at you. You'd have a white man come at you, and you ain't got no more friends. You remember those days, Brothers and Sisters?
The police didn't have to come. Let the insurance man come. Let them hear some arguing or threats. Oh, when you came out your door, they act like they didn't even know you anymore, scared to speak to you, thinking they might be arrested. I'm telling you what I know. I experienced these things myself in the '40s.
So, Master Fard also offered friendship because he knew that the only friend that we identified with was the friend Jesus. And we identified with that friend because our suffering resembled his suffering. So Master Fard began to take our mind off that Jesus because he realized that until we see our own suffering, we will never be able to really be serious about doing something to remove that suffering. So he began to tell us about our own suffering. The Church had made the mistake of telling us about the suffering of the Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, and under Pharaoh. They had made the mistake of telling us about what happened over yonder, across Jordan, instead of bringing our minds and eyes home to see what's happening right here in America.
The Church had made that mistake, and then Muslims, so called Muslims came here from abroad and made the same mistake. They didn't want to deal with the real issue, the real problem. They didn't want to tell you, "Look Black people. Your biggest problem is that you have a devil on your back. They're riding you down in the ground, and you will never be successful until you realize that white America is no good for you".
They were afraid to talk to us like that. I had Orthodox Muslims tell me, they said, look, we felt that, we wanted to say it. But how long we would've stayed in this country if we had said it? They come here on a visa, they get permission to come here. And if they don't behave, they are sent right back. They might be locked up. Well, there was one who sneaked in and used a name that made it hard for them to identify him. Called himself Wallace F-A-R-D. If you pronounce F-A-R-D, you call it Fard, right? Wallace Fard. Well, they didn't know who this man is, Wallace Fard, and he didn't have any turban. You've never seen a picture of him with a turban on his head. He dressed like an ordinary American, right? All right, so he was wise; he knew how to hide his identity, and do his job, and sneak on out. You see? Master Fard Muhammad.
Now, Master Fard Muhammad, for almost three years, worked in Detroit and Chicago. What was his objective? What did he want for us? He wanted us to be free when the New World come. He knew. This man was wise. He had vision and foresight. He knew that the present America that he was in at that time was a dying America, that the hand of G-d was against him, and that it was only so long before it would be killed or it would die outright. So he didn't want to see the Bilalian community of America, that is the so-called Negroes of America, come to life in that New World under somebody else's leadership. Now, believe me, if it wasn't for him, we would have come to life under somebody else's leadership. Oh, we would've come to life, Everything was moving us in this direction. The many so-called African nations that have come into independence, that reality alone would have affected our minds over here and forced us to get together and come into some kind of idea of self-government or leadership in the society.
If Master Fard had never brought Islam, the natural development would have eventually brought us together. I mean brought us together as a family; I don't mean integrated us. Integration is something that you do after you have integrated with yourself. So the first move toward self, we call that separation. But how in the world can you integrate before you put yourself together?
All right, so if that hadn't happened, we still would have come together as a family, and we would have had a voice as a family. But that voice would have been under somebody else's voice. We would've either come under Socialist voice, or we would've come under the Capitalist voice. We would've come under one or the other. No matter what we picked up, we would have been serving under somebody else.
Why? Because anything other than what Master Fard Muhammad brought wasn't designed to bring about the total birth of a total person. It was designed to only take care of part of your human needs.
I'm not going to hold you much longer. Let me talk to you a little bit. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we were a different people in this world. We weren't like other... We weren't like other people. You can go to poor people in so-called Africa and you can teach them civilization if they don't have it. You can teach them the science and industry if they don't have it. You can teach them religion if they don't have it. But you don't have to teach them everything because they haven't lost everything.
You can go to the islands of the Pacific. You can go to South America, go to Cuba, where the Cuban Revolution took place, and you can deal with the people and you can teach them in such a way to fill them up and bring them in to accept government, all of that pride and dignity without going about a thorough restoration of the human form.
But over here it was different with us. Cubans, they identify with Cubans. Cubans take pride in being Cuban. Cubans are connected with a Cuban history. We didn't take pride in being Black. We weren't connected with a Black history. You see the difference? Go to Africa, Africans take pride in being African. They're connected with the African tradition, African history. They have some basic knowledge already that they can survive in.
We didn't have nothing at all to survive in but the false picture of ourselves in a world that was given to us by people who were intent upon keeping us slaves and empty-headed for all of our lives.
Now how do you bring that man back to existence? Can you teach him economics and bring him back to existence? No, the man is not even alive as a human being. You had to teach him what it is to be human. You had to teach him that human being is a natural creation.
Do know we were walking around here and in reality, we were nothing but a race of spooks? They called us spooks as a slang, but we were spooks, Brothers and Sisters. We weren't real. We thought this life was nothing but a duty to image, a duty to parrot what we hear from the White man's mouth. We tried to walk White, talk White, look White, think White. We had nothing of our own. Now how in the world can you bring about a restoration of the man in that empty vessel? Just teaching him economics. Teaching him records of the Bolshevik Revolution. We couldn't hear that kind of talk. If we did, it wouldn't do nothing but distort our senses and make us more crazy.
Look how many revolutionaries we've seen walking around here with their tails tucked sideways. And couldn't hold their own nowhere. Fit for nothing but a mental institution. But they can recite to you what Marx said, what Lenin said, what Engels said. But they can't gave you one set direction towards getting yourself in a better life here in America.
So we have known the tam wearer, the revolutionary. They've been nothing but dummies. Because they had to first put... They had to first put back into the empty vessel, the light that belongs to the vessel. And what this world was doing to us is putting in the empty vessel foreign light. Foreign light couldn't grow in a vessel that was poor and dead. They wanted to make us Frenchmen, they wanted to make us German. They wanted to make us White Americans. They wanted to make us anything but ourselves. So, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad say know yourself, Brother. Know yourself, Sister. And be yourself.
And be yourself. For the first time, thanks to Master Wallace Fard Muhammad, for the first time, Black people in America began to act naturally. And we were singled out in the community as foreign and crazy people. Because those who were pointing at us were unnatural, they saw us as unnatural.
What's wrong with those old crazy Muslims, they used to call us. Don't take my hat. You see those old Black-headed Muslims. Do you remember, Brothers and Sisters in the '30s and in the '40s, when if any one of us put a hot straightening comb in our hair, we were put out of the Temple? If any one of us were caught with some conk, some processing, or some drip black, we were put out of the Temple. Do you remember those days? Master Fard knew that. He forced us to be ourselves and leave the hair like it is. He said wash it, attend to it, comb and brush it, but don't try to make it look like Caucasian hair.
All Praises due to Allah. Now, Brothers and Sisters, his Masterful plan was to do first things first and keep last things out of sight until he can first get the people established, in his first aim. So, his first aim was to get you firmly grounded in reality as you are capable of knowing reality. And the community of poor, robbed, deprived, rejected, so-called Negros were not capable of knowing a spiritual reality since they were not yet alive in a social or physical reality. So, he had to first establish us in a physical reality. Doing it as Almighty G-d did it according to the Qur'an and the Bible, even the Bible Genesis. That He formed us physically and then put desire in us. And that's exactly what happened.
When he brought our attention to our physical needs and showed us that we were obligated to do something about fulfilling those physical needs, the desire in us for physical pleasure, for physical wealth increased and increased. We used to be satisfied with little to nothing, but the more Master Fard's teachings went into our ears, the more our appetite for physical things expanded.
Pretty soon, we weren't satisfied to have a little apartment and a few shabby pieces of furniture in the house. We wanted our own house. We wanted good furniture. Pretty soon, we wanted our own automobile. Before, we had no incentive. There was no desire in us for these things. Our desire was just to be accepted by Caucasian people. That's all this world had stacked in our minds. To just to want to be accepted by Caucasians.
We didn't want big homes, big farms, big businesses, automobiles. A few of us wanted those things. But even those few that wanted them, the majority in that few only wanted those things as a joke. So, the acquisition of those things was just a temporary acquisition. They would get them and pretty soon, they'd say "Man, what happened to your old car?" The man just wanted to show it one time. He done stopped working those five jobs and the man repossessed it. Is that right?
So, we were an artificial society, Brothers and Sisters. And it took this real teaching to make us real. Now, he said, "Listen, Elijah Muhammad, you do this. Can you get them to come into the Temple at any costs? If you have to, if they do anything, just get them into the Temple. And once you get them into the temple, they will gradually come into the knowledge of themselves and their own." He said, "And when they wake up, they will really be able to value and appreciate Islam." He said, "Don't worry about teaching them so much about Islam right now. He say "Teach them to know self and do for self and separate from that damn old relationship they have with the Caucasian people".
That's what he did and he was successful. So, then he told him to think. And all that Elijah Muhammad say... Do you know how he put it? "Do you know the art of thinking?" I've seen him ask this question and he leaned back in his chair at the dinner table and he just looked like that. He knew something that we didn't know.
He said "Do you know the art of thinking?" He said, "Brother, when you think you hold a pole. And on that pole is a string. Then at the end of the string is a hook. See now, the fish don't want the hook." He said "Brother, the fish want what's on the hook." Said, "You don't get next to the fish." Said, "You put a lot of distance between you and the fish. But you hope to bring the fish to yourself. But you can't do it right away, so you put a great distance between you and the fish.
Now what was he telling us? That the ideal society, we can't catch this fish to come into this ideal society. He has been mentally, spiritually, and morally killed. He won't be able to see the bounty that is his heavenly order. But if we hold out the heavenly things that he know in his life, attract him with the bait of meat that satisfies only the stomach. Money and food and good homes, good clothes. Put that bait on the hook Elijah, and reel it into yourself. And then you'll be able to put that fish in the waters of a new world.
But it's going to take time. So now we are examining the works of the Honorable Master Fard Muhammad and the works of the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad to see the terminology in the real substance, in the real tense. We now see that what is said here in words also has another meaning. So, when he says that there is a Mothership existing 40 miles above, we haven't seen the Mothership come and we're already relieved.
Now, what was the Mothership? He said the Mothership would come and take us out of the clutches of the beast. When we see the beast, the beast has loosened up his grip and jumped back and bowed his beast head to Master Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. So now we wonder what use was the ship? What purpose was the ship? And if it comes now, what claw is it going to take us out of? We're not in any claw now. If anything, we're clawing at other people. So, we now look at these things, examine them, and we get a message out of them that is tied in with the Bible scripture and even with the Holy Qur'an.
We know now that original man didn't mean original flesh man, but it meant the original form that man takes. Now, what is the original form that man takes? Man is first a physical person, before he becomes a moral person and a spiritual person.
When The Honorable Master Fard Muhammad found us, we were the original man. The Caucasian, he was not the first man. The first man was a man of the earth that knew nothing of moral value, knew nothing of spiritual value. He was just an earthly man. Is that right? That was Adam, a man formed of the earth. And then G-d breathed into him His spirit, is that right?
All right. So, the first man that forms in the earth, as we know, if you go to primitive society and examine society, you find that human beings come up first like Adam. Desiring physical food because of the sense that that could be. Is that right? And as they grow and progress on, then they grow up to civilized rungs in the ladder of society, to desire moral and spiritual excellence. Is that right?
So, Master Fard called us the original man. But he called us that and separated it to make us think that we were the best man. And in a sense, we were. We were more natural. We were more human in our feelings. Our conscience was more human than the conscience of White America at that time. Do you understand?
So we were, in that sense, also the original man. But what he was referring to is this. That man, his steps are stages. And his first stage is flesh. And that he discovered us to be nothing but a fleshless community. We were already begging for food, sex, and some good entertainment. Is that right? I'm telling you, this was a thing of our people. Okay. So, he saw that we were a people that were just flesh. So, the original man is the flesh man. Then that man, progressed. He evolved from the flesh man to the morally conscious man. And then after he become morally conscious, he rises up still to another stage of development, which is spiritually conscious man. A man spiritually conscious, is that right? This is the natural steps of development.
So, he called us the original man. And many of us, we're surprised, but I'm telling you, I did it myself. I'm the original man. The hell, he's a graft, he's Caucasian. He's not original, I'm first. But first things are not always superior. Now when you look at the growth of nature, we find that first things are always inferior, and they grow to be superior. Is that right?
Go to the beginning of life in any family or any species and you'll see that the first stage or the first form is inferior, it's weak. And its goal is to reach the strength of its superior form. So, it wasn't no great pat on the back, Brothers and Sisters, for us to be called the original man. Not when we're looking at the broad understanding.
But in this bad and unnatural world of Caucasian people, it was a pat on the back because we had dropped in the first form. If we were animals, he wouldn't have treated us any worse. If we was nothing but flesh in this human form, he wouldn't have been as cruel as he was to our fore parents and to many of us who are still living here today. Do you understand? I hope you understand what I'm saying.
This so called Negro, would find more peace and safety among animals than they found among White people in America. Apparently, they did. The animals didn't threaten us as much as the Caucasian people threatened us. So, they had dropped the load, the original man. They had become something that Master Fard didn't even expect to associate with, real man. He said they're not real, they're artificial, they are grafted. So-called man was not real man.
He called them the Yakub Grafted Devil. Skunks of the planet Earth. And I would say that he's really right there beside them. A skunk is a thing that looks pretty and its colors are beautiful, black and white, that great contrast, black and white. And that was the mentality of the American people. They only saw things in black and white. You're either Black or you're White, there's no in between.
And they were a people, when you got them cornered, they couldn't behave as a decent, civilized animal. They wouldn't even show caring like most animals. They just hike their tail and let out a odor that no other animal could stand. That's that skunk. So, I would say he rightly described the side of America that he saw in existence when he came here.
I want to conclude this now by saying to you that the work of Master Fard Muhammad was the work of change. Revolution. Revolution, a struggle that is designed after all the pain is not the object of the anger. It's a means for reaching the object of the aim. If you design a plan, a revolution to bring the people out of one condition into another, then you can't continue always putting emphasis on revolution. Emphasis has to be one day taken off of revolution and put on objectives, or aim, is that right?
Now Master Fard Muhammad, he had a desire to bring about changes. Changes that will bring us into a new world, a new life, a new mind. Except for the change cannot be today looked at as part of our world structure. Those are steps toward the structure. The emphasis now should be taken off of pain and revolution and be put on building and construction. Do you understand?
All right. If we want to save our people who are in the hands of another people, and those people are false, we know we can't just go and ask for them, we have to take them. The first thing we have to do is design a plan to get our people. Isn't that right? Once we've got our people, we can't continue to preach to them the philosophy of attack and capture. We have to preach to them the philosophy of construction. Because if we take down one world, we're going to have to build another world for them to live in. Isn't that right?
All right, so Master Fard taught us a plan, a philosophy, of reaching a goal, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad began gradually to take the emphasis off of, I would say, battle strategy and put it on building. Is that right? Now today, we can't afford to be hung up with yesterday. Talking yesterday's language.
It's like arriving at the cargo after we have planned and struggled to ride here for 40-something years. And then when we get here, we do nothing but talk about the trip. See, that's foolish, Brothers and Sisters. All right? So let us not talk about the 42 years trip. And for some of us, it was a real trip. Let's talk about right now. We've arrived here, the trip was successful. Because someone planted a seed, or it was designed from a seed. Now let us get to Elijah and build his new world, and I'll tell you, we won't be ruled by any other self-government in the New World. As Salaam Alaikum.



