09/25/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Profile Encourage Faith and Vision Tuskegee University @ Chappie James Center

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Peace to you, As Salaam Alaikum. We thank G-d and Praise Him. We say Alhamduillah, the Lord, Sustainer of the Worlds. Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin- the Thanks and Praise is for G-d, the Lord, Sustainer of the World. We witness that nothing deserves to be worshiped except Him. We worship but One G-d. We associate no deity, nothing, to be worshiped as G-d except G-d. The Creator of everything, as we have it in our Holy Book, "Al Kalaq Al Kuleshay", the Creator of everything.
And yet, this Creator says of Himself that He is Ahsan Al Kalayqeen, that He is the Best of Creators. That is, G-d wants man to know that G-d have created him also to create things, to be a creator. But he's to remember that G-d is the Creator of everything, including what man creates.
Praise be to Allah.
And we have been known as a people and criticized, really, stigmatized as a people that produce nothing but babies. Well, that has changed. We know there are few of us that are satisfied still producing nothing but babies. But I think majority of us want to produce much more than babies. We want to produce a future for those babies. And that means accepting responsibility for our circumstances, for the conditions in our life. in our home life firstly, but also in our neighborhood and in our city and in our country. And this is the big responsibility that G-d gave to every human being, knowing that every human being couldn't carry that big responsibility. But G-d knew that He created enough in the human being for leaders to rise up and represent the many. And the leaders will guide the people to a life of production and provide jobs and opportunities to grow to all the people.
This is what the best of our political leaders want for society, the best of our Presidents of these United States wanted for this society, and this is what the best believers in the faith communities of Jews, Christians, and Muslims want for the society. That no one be dealt with unjustly. And G-d says, to the Muslims, He says to us, "Be a people standing for justice as witnesses for G-d." So, we have to accept this responsibility. And G-d says of us, "Antum Kayroon Ummatun Wal Ja Innas"- "That you are the best of communities evolved for the good of all people". And Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and the Peace be upon him, he said, "The best of you are the ones who benefit the whole of humanity." The best of you are the ones who benefit the whole of humanity.
Now, if I'm a big man, it's because I have accepted a big responsibility. And if you accept a big responsibility and you're small, I guarantee you're going to get bigger. You'll get bigger by accepting bigger responsibility. I told my poor community when I first became their leader... They called me Chief back then. And I felt like a Chief, too. With a lot of bucks, a lot of bucks. I don't mean dollar bucks. I mean male Indians, soldiers, bucks. That was doing more bucking than anything else. But they called me Chief, Chief Minister, Supreme Minister, Chief Minister. Then, they started calling me Chief Imam, Chief Imam, that's what they called me. But I think they dropped the Chief now. And I'm more comfortable now as your leader since they've dropped all that Chief stuff because I know it didn't help the Indians at all.
Responsibility. G-d created us for responsibility. Created all of us for responsibility. And He doesn't want to burden us. He doesn't want to see us miserable, under heavy burden. G-d says He does not want difficulty for us. He wants ease for us. But there are certain requirements that we have to accept. We are required to do certain things and it's not going to be easy. But He promised us if we accept to do those things that's required of us that's going to be difficult at times, and sometimes very, very difficult, extremely difficult... He promised us that if we accept that challenge and accept that responsibility, He promises us a life of ease. And we know that we relatively have a life of ease now in these United States. If you don't believe it, just travel to other countries and see how they're faring. We have it relatively easy as citizens of these United States. And it has come the hard way.
Those before us have paid a big price. Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and all the people, white and black and all, that supported them. And the nationalist movements. Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington... I would say that the business movement, Booker T. Washington, the movement for business and education, Booker T. Washington, Dubois, was an educator, but also political leader, a political theorist, philosopher in his own rights. All of them paid a price. And many of their followers had to lose their life, had to shed their blood. Many of their supporters lost life and shed blood. It wasn't easy.
It hasn't been easy being an African American mother. Even in the north, my mother didn't have it easy when I was a boy in Chicago. But look now, her son. Her son makes so much money he takes care of three or four families. Pays their bills every month. They don't have to worry about it. Those are not my wives sisters. No, I said three or four families. I didn't say three or four wives.
I thank G-d. I thank G-d for blessing me, but it wasn't easy. My mother paid a big price. My father paid a big price. My sisters and brothers, and especially the senior citizens of the Nation of Islam that supported my father and family and my mother and us, the children, paid a big price. Yes, paid a big price. Many of them are gone. They're not here anymore. And some of them have died because they just worked too hard, worked themselves to death.
One of them was the secretary of the temple. And I used to see him in the streets as a boy about 11 or 12 years old. I saw him pulling what they called a pushcart. But his was so big, he couldn't push it. They called it a pushcart. It was too big to push it and he wasn't the only one. They made them big like a ton and a half truck. And they had to pull them. And he would load it up with the old scrap metal and whatever he could sell at the junkyard. And he would pull it with his belt, a big, wide belt, like two and a half inch wide belt below his shoulders.
And sometimes, he'd be at an angle. He would be at an angle. He'd be leaning over at an angle of about 45 degrees, pulling it. His body would be jutting out like that in front and he'd pull it. That's how heavy it was. He did that so he would be able to donate money to the Temple of Islam, so that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad would have financial support. His family would not have to be hungry for food and shelter and out of doors. He did that for those reasons. Big sacrifice.
Why did that man make that big sacrifice? Because he was working for something bigger than himself, something bigger than his family, something bigger than even The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's family. He was working for a whole community we call the Temple of Islam or The Nation of Islam. He was working for that. That's how he got the energy. And that's how he could endure. That's how he could survive and accept the misery, accept the discomfort, for the hope or for the end result that we would be free from these unnecessary problems we were having in our life because of our ignorance, because of our neglect of our own selves, and our responsibility to self, but also because of the white mans cruelties to the black man. During the early years of this century, up to the middle, up well off to two thirds of this century, up to two thirds of this century, we were suffering in the bad conditions that the white man was imposing upon us.
The white society, the white establishment, was imposing upon us. And then, as you know, in the 1960s, things start to break. Opportunities started to open up for us, but only with the whites blood, sweat, and tears. And in the 1970s, equal opportunity came. Early 1970s, we have equal opportunity now. And our people, as a people, are still needing to have an awareness of the state of their own race or the state of their own people. When we had leaders fighting for justice in this country, they kept this country and therefore also kept us informed of the state of the African American people.
Now, you have to go over to the NAACP, go to the Urban League, and ask them, "What is the state of African American community in America? What is the state of our people in America?" And they could give it to you. They'll give it to you. And they'll tell you that there's still a lot of work to be done. Still a lot of work to be done.
But recently, to show you we are making progress, recently the head of the NAACP called for the NAACP to be not an organization just for blacks, African Americans, but to be an organization for all minorities who need their assistance. And that tells you that there has been progress for African Americans, though we still have a need for these organizations, NAACP and Urban League and others. And we still have a need for organizations, militant organizations or organizations that concentrate on our men, males, our youth, our males, young males, to see that everything is done possible, to give them something productive to do, like Minister Farrakhan and The Nation of Islam under him. We still need leaders to make us conscious and to make us aware of our own responsibility to ourselves, to our families, to our community, to our neighborhood.
And I'm happy and very pleased. I feel a special blessing to be invited again to this city, Tuskegee, Alabama, to say to the people of this city, especially to your leaders, like Johnny Ford who was the keynote speaker last night, to say to your leaders and to you that we have a lot in common. We who represent the Muslim American Society, who identify with my leadership, we have come from a past that gave us a new life.
Most of us who joined The Nation of Islam, we believed in G-d. We believed in being righteous. We believed in being good people. But we were not happy with our situation as citizens or as people in this country. So, we heard the message of the Nation of Islam inviting us to become separate from this world, society, from the white man's world. We accepted that. And we believed that the new religion that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Temple of Islam was offering us was the right religion. And we believed that we would realize the promise of The Nation of Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's promise to us, that if we would unite and become Muslims in The Nation of Islam, that G-d would be with us and one day we would be free from all of these problems and we would have a life with dignity and a life of dignity and a life of comforts. This is what he promised us. He promised us that.
And he emphasized education. He put emphasis on getting a good education. And he, as you know, built private schools, opened private schools in many of the cities. We still have those private schools, many of them have more even now. And when you look at what Booker T. Washington was all about and look at what The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was essentially all about, you see two people doing a similar work. Booker T. Washington didn't just want us to have education for the sake of having education and being accepted in an educated society or the society of the educated. He didn't just want us to have vocations, jobs as builders, brick layers, beauty shop owners, or whatever. That wasn't the end for him. All of that was for the dignity of the people.
He wanted that the African American people would one day have a normal existence as a people in a civilized society where they wouldn't be ashamed of their station and their representation beside other civilized communities. That's what he wanted. And that's what all of our leaders wanted. All of our leaders just wanted to see us freely in our own life and in our own identity and comfortable with our citizenship and comfortable with our future. That's what they all wanted, the betterment of the race simply put. The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. So, improvement for the people. That's what they all wanted.
And it's compatible not only with that tradition that we know in The Nation of Islam under The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, but it's also true for the religion of Islam, this universal religion, the religion of nations. Not one nation, the religion of nations. The religion of over a billion people on the face of this earth. Black, brown, yellow, and white folks are Muslims. And all of them have nations. And they have their Islamic nations that are white, black, brown, red.
So, it is a religion of humanity. It is a religion of the Children of Adam, all of them. And now, we have ourselves, we are included in that big following, that universal following, that we call the Muslims of the world or the Moslems of the world as some say. They pronounce it as a friendship, Moslems of the world, the Muslims of the world. We are members there. And is it asking us to do something else? We lose sight of the real beauty and the real meaning for the religion.
The real beauty and the real meaning of the religion is not just doing prayers and dhikrs. Some of you all have followed so-called traditional, ritualistic Muslim influences. And you haven't accepted them in their full life. You accepted them only in their ritualistic life. So, you follow them in their rituals, and you think Islam is nothing but doing dhikrs on the beads, brushing your teeth with a stick that's made soft on the end, and wearing garbs for the desert.
You think that's the religion. And putting some incense in the house, burning incense, and some oils, some musk on your skin, and that's the religion for you. And saying " As Salaam Alaikum Rahmatullahi Ahki. Alhamduillahi Ahki" "Masha Allah. Insha Allah". Got about ten sentences and that's the religion. That's not the religion. I'm not saying this to make jokes. That's humor. And I welcome you to enjoy yourself, but me... I have no joke in me. I'm very serious. Yes, no intent to make a joke. Very serious. This is real and this is serious. So, this is not Islam. Islam is a full life for human beings. "Deen Al Fitr Al La Nasa Alayha"
The religion in its original state... The religion or the pattern upon which He fashioned or established all people. This is a universal concept. Universal concept. It's no in the sky away from reality concept. It's a universal concept. G-d does not reject natural life of the human being. How can He reject it when He created it?
So, G-d says that the best of your natural life, He gave you. And the religion that He gives you is only a compliment for the life that He already created. It's a compliment. It's not to be in conflict with your natural life. So, you love to smile? That's Islamic. You love to appreciate beauty in your environment? That's Islamic. You love to express your talents and share them with others so that others enjoy or are entertained and enjoy what you offer? That's Islamic.
Some people met the Prophet when he was coming into a small area, and they knew he was coming. So, it was tradition for them to meet the important guests with a tambourine, beat the tambourine, and with some chanting songs. The Muslims of Arabia, they hadn't known such entertainment or such culture. Their culture was different. And they didn't think that this would be nice, to welcome the Prophet with such entertainment. So, they told the Prophet that these people are such and such people.
He said every people have their culture. He said leave them be. He refused to let them stop those people from beating the tambourines and chanting. Now, you'll find some of us... I know the subject. Don't think I don't. You'll find some of us, we will go to the extreme to use such support to support us performing, singing, and dancing out of the spirit of Islam and out of the respect for Islam.
The best of Christians, they don't conform to the culture, the popular culture, of this society. And the best of Muslims, we don't like it. Our spirit is strained. Our spirit is hurt when we see a Muslim performing with no respect for the spirit of Islam and no respect for the teachings of Islam.
It hurts us, pains us. Muhammad the Prophet said, "Whoever behaves, whoever takes on a behavior of people who are not Muslims are not one of us". So, understand that. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad worked all those years to take us out of the mold of the popular culture of this world. Now, are we going to become Muslims with all Muslims of the world and go back and adopt that foolishness? Hollering, screaming, shaking yourself, not caring about rules of decency for religious people? No, we can't do that.
This is a big task we have. And it is the responsibility of the leaders of Islam to remind us when we are verging from the life of Islam. Islam calls us to a life, the life of Islam. It has its own identity. It's not the life of the Jews. It's not the life of the Christians. And certainly, it's not the life of the ungodly, unconscious people who do anything and everything with their bodies.
No, you're better off going back to the church. You'll have a better time in court with G-d going back to the church and being a decent Christian and behaving according to Christian principles and spirit than you will calling yourself a Muslim. But now, you don't know the difference between Muslim behavior and street behavior. You don't know the difference between Muslim behavior and popular culture behavior. This is no good. And this will never get us where we want to go. And the Mosque is a center for the people, Muslims. But it's a center for all the people. Understand this, Brother Imam. Please. Understand this.
Your Mosque is not only to serve Muslims. Your Mosque is to serve all mankind. G-d says of the Ka'aba that we turn to directing ourselves in prayer and for hajj, for Pilgrimage. That central focus for Muslims all over this earth built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, or Ismail in Arabic. G-d says of that house, "Aya Al Bait Bunye Al InNas". It is the first of the houses built for all mankind. Not for Black, not for white, not for Muslims, or Christians. "Bunye Al InNas". Built for all mankind. Built for all people.
Now, we know Christians don't go there. Christians don't turn that way to pray. We know that. We know that's our orientation, but our orientation has to respect the life of all people. It cannot offend the life of anybody. No race, no religion, no. It must be respectful of all people in all persuasions.
And we find that the Christians and the Jews, they embrace the Muslims, especially nowadays. They did it in Spain when the Moors were there ruling. Christians and Jews worked side by side with Muslims to better the society for all the people of Spain. That time is coming again, is here again. Christians and Jews and others meeting together in Saudi Arabia, in Rome, in different parts of the world. In China. In all places of the world we are meeting Muslim leaders with other religious leaders to see how can we better understand each other so we can better respect each other in order for us to work together and support each other for the advancement of all people, for the advancement of the good life for all people. This is what's happening right now in the world.
A good time. A better time than even Islamic Spain. It's a better time than that. It's the best time for religions that man have ever witnessed on the face of this earth. So, we in the Mosque, we have to be aware of this. We have to be aware of Islam as a religion bigger than your shoes and your pants brother. And your coat and your kufi. Islam is a religion that G-d gave us to accommodate all the needs in human life. All the needs in human life. Islam is the religion of the individual. It's the religion of the family. It's the religion of the community. It's the religion of the earth. That's what Islam is.
And Islam has its own idea for promoting human society, advancing human society. Its idea is not Christian. Its idea is not Jewish. Its idea is strictly Islamic. So, you leaders, you Imams, you teachers of Islam, you educators, you have to know Islamic identity. And you have to know the mission of Islam on this earth. And you have to know firstly that it most certainly respects mankind first, and then it calls the Muslim.
Muhammad, the Prophet, was he practicing Islam in the first 40 years of his life? He didn't know Islam. G-d had not called him, but he was practicing the excellence of human nature. He was in the excellence of human nature and he was living the excellence of human nature. He wasn't identifying with any religion when G-d called him. But G-d called him and made him the last Prophet, the seal of the Prophets. And G-d called him. In the Qur'an, G-d says of him, "He is a Mercy to All the Worlds." Now, are you his follower Brother Imam? Are you his follower?
If you're his follower, then you'd better know who you're following. You're following a man that G-d said is the Mercy to all the Worlds. Do you have Mercy for all the Worlds? To follow him, you must have Mercy in your heart for all the Worlds. And Mercy in your heart for all the Worlds means that you have it in your heart to want to see all the Worlds benefit justly, fairly, equally.
This is no small religion. This religion cannot be made a fad. You can become a fad with the name Muslim, but the religion will live to see you dead and your fad gone. It will never be a fad. It's permanent. It's permanent, not seasonal.
If you accept the truth of Islam and you're a leader, and you expressed this truth to your congregation, I guarantee you with my presence and with my life that you will not stay 10 and 15 and 20 and 50 and 200 in number. I guarantee you in a few years you'll be a thousand in number.
Because you'll be reaching and then touching the life of human beings. And there are many human beings out here waiting for a true hand to touch them.
Yes, they're waiting for that.
So, we must first understand the role of the Mosque in the time of Prophet Muhammad by understanding him. What was his leadership? What was his role? He was a man serving humanity. And he challenged his own people. He didn't preach national glory. No. He challenged his own people, the Arabs. And he didn't have more faith in Arabs than he had in humanity.
The last sermon, when he spoke at the last big gathering at the pilgrimage site, what did he say to the people? He said, "You who are present," he was speaking mostly to Arabs, "Convey this message to those who are absent, per chance they will understand it better than you." That's what he told them. So, his hopes for the future of Islam did not rest in the hands of Arabs. So, he told them to carry it on to others per chance the others may understand it better than you. And if they understand it better than you, then there will be a better future for Islam because of them joining it, also.
And even though he was in a sea of Arabs, members of his own race or his own people, racially speaking, or traveling speaking, he had with him, in his immediate circle of leaders, the white-skinned Muslim, the black skinned Muslim, the brown-skinned Muslim. His organized group of leaders working with him directly was a reflection of the colors of the people we call the race of mankind, the race of mankind, the human race.
So, I have tried registering that more and more over the last 20 years. I've tried to bring into my immediate circle persons of color. And I have white. I have black. And I have brown. And I have red. Working directly with me for the future of Islam and the future of Muslims in America and the world. Praise be to Allah.
The role of the Mosque in the time of Muhammad the Prophet was a Community Center. And emphasis was on learning how to read, literacy, so that after literacy could come scholars, knowledge, higher education and scholars. If you can't read, you can't be educated. So, he put emphasis first on literacy, learning to read. He obligated every follower of his to write down what he would give them. And then, teach it to another person who could not read. So, he made, really, teachers of all of his followers. He said, "If you only can remember one line, then teach that one line to another person."
And in the Qur'an, he's mentioned as a liberator. In our Holy Book called the Qur'an, G-d says of him that he is the unlettered, meaning he was not formally educated. He received no formal education from anybody. He was not belonging to any Rabbanical school of any order that would educate him. No, he was not formerly educated by anybody he belonged to. No, he had no teachers and belonged to no schools.
And G-d says of him that he is the unlettered Messenger Prophet, mentioned in the Torah and in the Injeel. Mentioned in the Torah and the Injeel. So, Brother Imam, how many of you all are conscious that G-d said to us through Muhammad that our Prophet is mentioned in the Books that Moses people received and in the Book that the Christians received? How many of you all are conscious of that?
I don't think you are. I listen to most of you. Most of you're not even conscious of that. You think Prophet Muhammad is a Prophet separate from all other Prophets, when the point is clearly made to us in our Holy Book that this is no new religion. This is the religion of the Prophets before. That's what we're taught. And we are told that we are to believe in those Prophets, all of them.
And we are told that not only we are to believe in Jesus Christ as a Prophet, we are told that we are to believe in him as Christ, also. How many of you are aware of that? If you are, you don't show it in your language. We are to believe in Jesus Christ as a Prophet. And believe me, the Bible says he's the Prophet. The Bible says he's the Prophet. And we are to believe in him, also, as a Christ. The Bible you know says he's a Christ. We believe in him as a Christ.
Even further than that because Christ only means the anointed. And David was anointed by them putting special oil on his head and wiping his head with the oil. So, he's more than just that. He's also the child, man, of the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception. Do Muslims believe in Immaculate Conception? Yes. But how do we explain that?
I would say great signs.
How do we explain it in Islam? In Christianity, we know how to explain it. I don't need to go over that. In Islam, we say G-d is the Creator and has the power to create whatever He will. And Jesus' creation, Peace be upon him, is as a creation of Adam. The first man, Adam. That's what we are told to say. Oh, but I want to know more. You got your mind on sex too much, brother. You will never learn the religion if you're just going to be sexy through and through.
Get your mind off of sex. This is not about that thing that you do. This is not that small, brother. This is a big thing. This is a big, big conception. Yes. Say believe that G-d has the power to create whatever He will. And as He created the first life, He can create the second and repeat it. Says that as He created a man from the dead earth, He can certainly create a man from a living woman.
This is G-d. You're supposed to believe in the power of G-d to create whatever He wills. And G-d, again, says... To make it very simple for us, He says, "If I want a son, I can get a son from those that I've already created."
Thank you.
And He created Adam. Didn't He create Adam? Was that not the first man He created, Adam? And He said, "If I want a son, I can get a son from those I've already created." And I read the Gospel, the New Testament, one of the Books of the New Testament, that's giving us the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Peace be Upon him.
And the genealogy of Jesus Christ is traced from his mother back to Adam He says who was created by G-d. Need I say more? I think I should. Not for the sake of you people in the audience, but for the sake of our Imams that are fixated.
In Christianity and in Christian theology, Jesus Christ, Peace be Upon him, is also called the second Adam. The second Adam. That's why the Bible of New Testament has to trace his genealogy back to the first Adam. Was Adam a man? Adam was a man, wasn't he? That explains why Jesus Christ is called both the son of man and the son of G-d. When Jesus Christ wanted his followers to know him better he said "Who do you say I am? Who do you say I, the son of man, am?" He didn't say, "I'm not the son of a man." But he let it be known that to keep you Imams from going astray or from missing me while you are fixated, he said to his Imams, he said, "Who do you say I, the son of man, am?"
And one of those Imams said, "You are the son of the living G-d." And he let it be.
You all keep being numb in the head and hearing me and saying something I didn't say. I'm going to open me up a church. I'll do a better job in church if you Imams don't straighten up.
It is time to be in accord with the Qur'an, in accord with our Holy Book all the way, not part of the way. And be in accord with the life example of a Muslim in Muhammad the Prophet, the model man and the model Muslim. All the way. You can't make a little small business of Islam. The Muslim world won't like that.
And we won't like that. We don't like that.
When we know Muhammad the Prophet and know his religion, then we are situated to be appreciated by other people. You see how other people appreciate your Imam? Christians and Jews and Buddhists? I meet Buddhist people and they've heard of me. When they meet me, they're smiling and they're showing affection. That's love.
You know why they love me so much?
... And then he looked at me because they had brought a tape I made. I had a radio interview. They brought the tape to get me busted again. But the tape did not affect him, it affected them. He liked the tape. He said, "And son..." Looking at me, he said, "And son, go and you preach that gospel." He called it gospel. You know, with no serious weight to it, but that's how he talks. Preach that gospel means to preach that truth. He didn't mean preach, that my message would be a gospel, something fit for a Holy Book or something like that, he didn't mean that. He only meant go and preach that truth that I'm hearing from you.
He said, "And go and preach that gospel." That's his exact words to his Supreme Captain, to his Assistant Minister in Chicago and to about 20 other staff people that was in that room when he spoke these words to me. He said, "And preach that gospel." So, what was he telling them? My son is not obligated to preach what I taught anymore. He's free to preach what he has in his mind and heart now. And that's exactly what I did.
That's exactly what I did.
And who made me the kind of man I am? Who made me fit for The Qur'an and fit to follow Muhammad the Prophet? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He did. He told me... He said... As he told all the other Ministers and all you who followed him. He said, "Don't take what is on the surface." He said, "But look deep into it," "Study deep", he said.
He told me to use my own intelligence. He freed me to use my own intelligence. He freed me to question even what he gave me. When he said, "Don't take what's on the surface, but look deep into it," he freed me to question even what he gave me. And in questioning what he gave me, it made me fit to follow Muhammad the Prophet.
Yes. He'd already given me a sense of obedience to G-d. I just didn't conceive G-d correctly, but he gave me a sense of obedience to G-d. And he also gave me a sense of responsibility to self and humankind. He made me industrious. He taught me to be industrious. He made me truthful. He taught me to be truthful. He told me there was a penalty for lying. He told me as he told you. "To say my word is my bond. And my bond is my life. And I'll give my life before I let my word fail."
So, he prepared me to accept the Qur'an and follow it and follow the Prophet of the Qur'an, Muhammad, Prayers and Peace be Upon him. So, one day, he was questioning me. And he was a Master of human psychology. He knew I was having a hard time out there. Wallace D. Mohammed. No job record anywhere. Born in The Nation of Islam. So, he knew I was having a hell of a time.
So, he took two suitcases, two of those little suitcases, you know that he used to carry. Some of you remember he used to carry one. And he opened them up. And it's full of money. I guess like the Mafia leader would do.
Well, he wasn't saying, "I got enough to hire somebody to kill you." He was saying, "Here's a lot of help son if you want to straighten up and fly right"
So, he opened up those two big cases and he told me... He said, "Son, I heard that you don't believe in our faith." And I'm the son of a master of human psychology. Right? So, the son of the master of human psychology said, "Daddy, I can more easily accept you as my Savior." And he tried to pretend that I didn't strike him. But I knew I had struck him.
So, he said, "Well, son. You know what this means." I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "It means you can't call your mother; you can't write her." Now, he didn't say "us." Me. He knew how to be a master of human psychology. He didn't say, "Son, you know can't call your father. You can't write your father." No, he said, "Son, you know you can't call your mother. You can't write your mother. And you're not to associate with any of the members of The Nation of Islam." That's it. And you are dismissed. Or he could execute his law now, but I walked out knowing that I had struck him.
And I said to myself, "I'm not going to obey this law." I said, "I won't write mama. I'm not going to call her, not going to write her. I said to myself, "But I'm going to write you." So whenever I saw the opportunity, especially on Saviors Day, on Saviors Day, I say "Uh oh, here come Saviors Day. He's getting ready for it." I was write him saying, "Dear daddy, I just want you to know that I know that you're getting ready to observe Saviors Day, your Saviors Day I 'd say." I said, "And I wish you success and I hope that you have very successful meeting and get very good results and have a big, big turnout." That's what I was telling him. And he just couldn't stand it for too long. He said, This what my brother told me. "Have you all seen Wallace?"
So, one of my brothers told him and said, "Yes, daddy." He said, "I saw him on the street. He is looking pretty bad." Now, you know brother helping brother, right? Now, I wasn't looking that bad. "He's looking pretty bad." "You get in touch with your brother and tell him come on back home." Came back. He didn't ask me, "Son, you have to confess the belief in our Savior." "No, accepted me back just as without asking me any questions. I was accepted back.
One day... Listen, I'm skipping over some of this because we don't have that much time. One day... This is important for you to know. The leaders of this time, you should also know the man that's responsible for you having these people here with you. He said to me one day... Sitting at the table with his staff again on a Sunday after temple meeting. He said, "Son, here's sister Shirley here. She's a good looking sister and a good secretary and she doesn't have a husband. She's single."
Now, he knew I was married and my wife's name was Shirley. Now, he introduced another Shirley to me at the table. So I just kind of dropped my eyes like that. And he looked at me and he said... My eyes raised up to see him. He said, "Well son, I didn't think you would want that." Then he spoke... He did that just to say this to his staff. He said, "I wish I was the man my son is." That's exactly what he said. And you who know me know I don't lie.
He said, "I wish I was the man my son is." That made him the biggest man I ever seen or heard of, except Muhammad the Prophet that I came to know later in his full role and image. Yes. But the men that I have known before, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad became bigger than them. What man, I don't even know if I could do that, would tell his staff that has to support him that my son that has differed with me and this little old man that have nothing to his credit, this little Wallace D. Muhammad, he has nothing to his credit, he didn't build a Nation. He said to them, "I wish I was a man my son is."
He said that to say to them, "I repent my actions that you are aware of and I'm proud of my son who's turning down Shirley Hamin." That was her name, Shirley Hamin. That that made him a big man. Isn't that a big man? That's a big man, brother. And let me tell you, he had to be a big man with a big spirit, a big soul, and a strong spirit to do what he did and to stick faithfully to the teachings and plans of his teacher, Mr. WD Fard. He had to be a big man. No small man could do what he did. A big man, a very big man, a very big man, a giant of a man.
And I agree with those who are saying... Even Non-Muslims are saying this. That he's perhaps the greatest leader that the African people in America have given birth to.
Yes, they're saying that now. Some of them are saying that. So, I have to agree with them. A great giant of a man. And believe me, your job for the community is your job for G-d.
Yes.
G-d says, "Your sacrifices don't reach me. You make blood sacrifice. You sacrifice wealth. You sacrifice your children." G-d says, "Your sacrifices don't reach me. Only your consciousness reaches me." Called taqwa. He says, "Only your taqwa reaches me." And G-d says... Of taqwa He says, Righteousness is taqwa." And then, G-d tells us what righteousness is.
G-d says, "Righteousness is not rituals, turning your faces to the East or to the West, but righteousness is to believe in G-d and in the Angels and in the Revealed Books," and et cetera, goes on to say what righteousness is. And righteousness doesn't stop there just with believing in G-d, in those things that G-d has established for us to believe in. But righteousness translates into action. He says, "And righteousness is to spend of your money out of love for Him."
So, you are supposed to be motivated by a love for G-d, the love of G-d. You are supposed to be motivated by the love of G-d to share your wealth since, as G-d says... G-d addressed the rich man. He says, "Be you kind to others as G-d has been kind to you." So out of the love for G-d, the rich man with his wealth he realizes how Merciful G-d has been to him, G-d has been kind to him to create him with his talents, his productive talents and whatever and his energies and everything, and then make available to him, helpers, men and women to help him, a market where they can sell his product. Open field for his expression of all of his creative talent.
So, he is supposed to, for the love G-d, then share that with those who are not so fortunate. He says, "And spend of your wealth on the needy." Out of love of G-d, spend on needy. On the homeless, on the widow, on the orphans. And all of that is given under... I can recite it by heart. The long passage of the Qur'an in the Chapter Al-Baqara. The passage is titled Righteousness. And it goes on to say that righteousness is not to turn your faces to ritualistic, turn your faces East and West. But righteousness is something real and sincere, to have sincere belief, beginning with the belief in G-d. And then, to translate that belief into your actions by helping others that are less fortunate than you so that you serve the will of G-d.
That's what you'll be doing. Because G-d created the many people like He created the many lands. All these lands are not equally productive. Some of these lands are not productive at all, but G-d wants to test the people to see if the people of the fertile land and the productive land will be as kind to their brothers and sisters in humanity as G-d was to them. So, G-d has to leave opportunity for us to earn blessings and earn rewards and to test us so that we serve others as G-d has served us. This is a test that G-d has created for us. We can't escape it.
So, never think all your people are going to be productive. You're always going to have some people not productive. You're always going to have something that the strong have to care for. And that's Al-Islam. Allahu Akbar.
No, I didn't say it for you to say it, but good that you said it. I said it to make a statement. G-d is bigger. And the bigger serves the small. That's not just to say to us, "G-d is bigger." All of us know G-d is bigger. Even the primitive man who have a primitive concept of G-d, he knows G-d is bigger than he is. It's not just to tell us that. It's to establish a behavior a behavior in you for the smaller.
Now, G-d is bigger. He provides for the smaller, you. His creation is smaller, small, nothing almost. Now, you big. Are you going to be like G-d? And will you also serve those smaller than you? The bigger is responsible for the smallest. The strongest responsible for the weakest. You are bigger in strength. The rich are responsible for the poor. You bigger in your money. That's how we are to read that statement and apply it to our life. Allahu Akbar obligates me, if I'm bigger than someone else, to care for them as G-d has cared for me.
You see the closeness now of Islam and Christianity? And that's why G-d says in the Qur'an, "You'll find the dearest people to you to be those who say they're Christian, Nassara,the old name for Christians. Yes.
So, the time of our Prophet getting away from The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I think I said enough about that. I pray for him and my mother all the time. Yes, I do. I pray for their soul. I believe in the eternal life and I pray for their soul. And I think I'm more an African than I am an American. I do. The more I live, the more I realize I'm an African, an African. I am an African. I am. That doesn't mean I'm not a citizen of the United States. I'm personally a citizen of the United States. That's a government. That's different. But people in continent, I'm an African.
Praise be to Allah. Yes. So, the community of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him, was the community center. That center was made of schools. That center was made a welfare station. That center was made a City Hall. A place for the council. Yes, sister, you would've met right there in the Prophets Mosque if you were one of the political leaders of his time, you would've met right there in the Mosque of Medina, the Mosque of Enlightenment, of the light. in the city of Enlightenment. Medina al Nauwa. You would've met there and you would've been given a space there and time there to discuss the political issues. And you have been meeting with leaders like yourself to improve the political life of the Muslim society.
That place was everything. He made it a center for all of these... So really, a Mosque is not just a place to pray. And Sadja is not just putting yourself physically down on the floor. Brother Imam, Sadja is not just putting your forehead and face down on the floor. How do we know that?
G-d said to the Angels who were not open to His invitation to them to accept that He create a man on earth and give that man responsibility for himself and his descendants and his environment. They thought that that wouldn't work because the human being had a nature to agree and disagree, to obey and disobey. So, they were not believing in human beings and G-d was. That's another thing we have to know.
G-d is a Believer. And a Believer doesn't mean believing like we believe only. Believing means a trusting one. Because if I believe in you, that means I trust you. So, G-d was not a believer in that sense that we usually take the word believe, but G-d is a trusting One. And He's called Al Mu'min, that's one of His names. The Believing One or the Trusting One. Al Mu'min. The Imams know this.
So, if He's called a Trusting One, why is He called that? Because He trusted man to obey Him and arrive at the destination G-d created him for . He trusted man to do that. Gave him freedom. Freedom of mind, freedom of will, freedom of choice. He trusted us. The angels didn't understand, they didn't have the knowledge G-d had, so they were frightened by this. And in our Holy Book, they say this will cause bloodshed.
They feared killing and violence and et cetera. And G-d says, "Wait until I have inspired him of My own Spirit." So, G-d acknowledged then, that, "Yes, the man I'm going to create with free will, freedom of choice, yes, he's going to shed blood. He's going to do these things, but he's going to also earn My Grace, My Mercy and My Grace. And I'm going to inspire him of My own Spirit. And when My own Spirit has become his spirit. My own Will has become his will."
Then, you... What He told him to do? He says, "Make Sadja to him." So, we make Sadja only to G-d. We know that. But the Angels were told to make Sadja to man when he's following the will of G-d. When he's in the spirit that G-d wants for him and following the Will of G-d, G-d told the Angel to make Sadja to him. Now, do you think they make the same Sadja that you make? You think they put their foreheads on the ground like we do? No. What does it mean?
It means surrender completely to My plan for man and serve him with no hesitation. That's what it means. "Fall you down all together," that's what G-d says. That mean without hesitation. "Fall you down all together in Sadja accepting My Will." So, this Sadja is more than just us putting our forehead to the ground and nose to the ground, palms down and everything on our knees in the Masjid. The Masjid is called Masjid after the word Sadja. The word Mosque come from Sadja. Means to make Sadja on the ground. So, the Mosque is a place for Sadja. But we are not to just make Sadja with our bodies. We are to make Sadja with everything in our power and in our control.
Just like we surrender ourselves completely to G-d by putting ourselves in the baby position, when he yet doesn't have the sense to pull his head up off the floor, on his hands and knees, trying to get a chance to pull his head up off the floor. Surrender as little babies on our hands and knees. We are supposed to surrender our whole life that way. You surrender your money that way. You surrender your intelligence that way. Surrender your education that way. Surrender your professional skills that way. Give everything completely. Surrender as a baby. Surrender everything up to G-d.
That's the place. That's the Mosque. That's the Mosque. So, your education program should be completely obedient to G-d. Your curriculum for your school should be completely obedient to G-d. And everything else that you are doing and your life as a community should be completely obedient to G-d. Your restaurants must be halal . Your life must be halal. Means meeting requirements to be called Islamic.
All right? So, this is the role of the Masjid. But remember as I told you in the beginning, and I'm closing out now. Remember that G-d says of the first house and Muhammad the Prophet estalishedit. It says that the Mosqe fit to pray in is that Mosque established upon taqwa. From the very first day, when it was first built, it was built and established upon taqwa. Established from the first day on taqwa. And that taqwa is what? Some of us forget taqwa too.
A fear of G-d.
But it's not fear because we know in Arabic Kaun is fear. And there's another word. There's about several words for fear, but taqwa is not fear. They translated it fear. And they also translated piety. And they translated it regardfulness. So, what is it really? It's consciousness, but it's consciousness upon Islamic knowledge. Consciousness in Islam upon Islamic knowledge.
Now, people are conscious everywhere. And the consciousness that has been given to you really determines your behavior. Christian consciousness is Christian consciousness. So, don't frown at them when you see them eating chitllings. That's in your consciousness, not in theirs. So, if you don't like the chittlings, just stay away from the house. Don't go there hurting people.
I'm going to tell you something about the Father of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He told me, he said, "Son..." He called me son, too. He didn't call me grandson. He always called me son. He said, "Son, I used to love those chittlings so much. You know your father's something if he can stop me from eating chittlings." He said, "I used to love those chittlings so much." He said, "I thought I could get one long enough to start chewing on it Macon and go all the way to Atlanta." Chewing on that chittling. That's how he loved chittlings. You know?
But I was raised in a different environment. I can't stand them. I can't stand the looks of them. I can't stand the smell of them, but I sure wouldn't go to my Christian relative's house on a Sunday knowing they had chittlings because I'm going to hurt their feelings. I'm going to hurt their feelings by telling them, "I can't. I'm sorry, I got to leave." Because I can't stand the smell. I would say, "I'm sorry, I have to leave." So, I wouldn't go over there on a Sunday. I said, "Come on Monday. Or a day when they not eating chiltlins."
That's in their consciousness, not my consciousness. In their consciousness, it's okay to eat chittlings. Oh, you smoking? You smoking and you a Muslim? Don't offend people like that. Just be thankful that you are not smoking. You smoking and you a Muslim? That's not in his conscience. Ain't nothing in this Qur'an say, "And do not smoke." The Prophet never said, "Do not smoke." But there's a logic there that says do not smoke. But who is so special in his study of Islam, the Qur'anic logic, and the Prophets teachings? Who is so studious that he's going to know that? Only a very few.
So, we, as the few who understand that logic, it's our obligation to teach the Muslim community at large the logic for condemning the smoking of cigarettes or consuming any type of tobacco because it is harmful. It contributes to cancer. It causes cancer. It's got so many harms. It hurts the environment. And therefore, hurts the health of the people. It contributes to the shortness of breath and the clogging of the... And even breathing it from someone else is harmful. So, we who know the logic, we shoud give them the logic. And what is the logic? Prophet Muhammad said, it came from him. The logic came from the Prophet. He said, "If something has more harm in it than benefit to the people, it is to be condemned."
Though he didn't say, "Don't smoke," and Allah didn't say, G-d didn't say to us, "Don't smoke," we use the logic that Muhammad gave us. If the harm in it outweighs the benefit in this, it's rejected. It's forbidden. So, I can stand and tell you that smoking is unlawful, smoking is haram in Islam. But you can't condemn people who don't know that or who don't know the logic. You have to educate them first.
Then, after they have been properly educated, then you can condemn them. Then, you can say, "Brother, you know that's against Islamic teachings and behavior. Why are you doing this? Why are you insulting us? Why are you boldly smoking in our presence?" Then, you can really get on him. And I wouldn'y mind if some of you brothers whip him with your nightstick or something.
It'd be different. He'd be knowledgeable. Consciousness is very important in Islam. Consciousness. And G-d says... Goodness, goodness. Goodness. You know, all religious people that I have become acquainted in my life who are really religious... I'm not talking about the new breed. It's a new breed of people. They believe if you are religious you're supposed to be good and you're supposed to be a doer of good. You supposed be ashamed of doing something bad. And G-d says that goodness, doing good is closest to taqwa. Closest to taqwa.
It means if taqwa, which is consciousness, or righteousness, is right here, then there's nothing next to it but goodness. And why is that told to us? To tell us that people who are very conscious of doing good deeds, that they are close, closest to the righteous. And the righteousness is more than just doing good deeds. The righteousness is believing in G-d and believing in what He has established for us to believe in.
So, what I've said here today in Tuskegee, Alabama, I hope that the leaders can work with each other and work with me to make our Mosque more representative of this religion so that the people will know us in our true image and our true identity and will not be afraid of us and will not think we are narrow and cutting them out. And they'll be embracing us as human beings, as people in humanity, knowing that we are here to be a Mercy to all people and to have charity and help for all. Thank you. Peace. As Salaam Alaikum.


