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IWDM Study Library 
The Demon Killer

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
For a rain, because even in the description of a rock and the sea. The rain beats down, and it is all washed away. The Qur'an was revealed in stages over a period of about 23 years. It was revealed for the occasion. Whenever there was an occasion for that Divine Revelation to address a particular issue or to serve the needs of our Prophet, Peace and Blessings Be on Him, then Allah the Merciful, The Gracious sent down the Revelation to Prophet Muhammad. After a period of about 23 years, the Revelation to Prophet Muhammad and to all the Worlds was completed. The word, Muhsin, in the Qur'an conveys to us a picture of a descending that is constant, slow, daring, consistent, slow, continuous and continuous. But a graduation here in this verse from the Most High, we get two descriptions of the way that the Revelation came to Prophet Muhammad. One in stages with intervals between the Revelations and the other times indicating a slow, consistent, continuous flow of the Revelation.
We've seen thunderstorms build up, and suddenly a downpour a heavy downpour comes. And then sometimes a few seconds or minutes, it's all over. The sky is clear again. This term in Qur'an doesn't give us that picture. It does not give us that picture. It gives us the picture of mists, mostly light rain but coming softly down and consistent, consistent, enough to wet good. The wet brings good, and it's continuous so that it penetrates without disturbing the soil. The heavy rain beat down on the soil and pack the soil. It packs the soil, and most of the water stays on top of the ground and just runs off. But that slow, continuous, soft rain, it doesn't pack the soil. It leaves the finest pieces of soil in place, and the rain just soaks through the spaces and fill the interior. Praise be to Allah, who revealed the Qur'an, to Prophet Muhammad, Ibn Abdullah, as a Mercy for all the Worlds and as Guidance and Mercy to the Believers.
We observe, when we study the language in Qur'an, and its reference to the human being, our inward needs and outward needs, our inward sensitivity and our appetites, ambitions, narrations, aspirations. We understand in the light of what Allah has revealed that the human being is a sensitive creature, a sensitive creature. And this sensitivity accounts for his mode of behavior along with his appetites, ambitions or aspiration. Prophet Muhammad has said, Peace and Blessings be on Him, none of you can become Believers until first your inclinations incline to what I have come with. And he came with the Qur'an Revealed to him from on High, and he came with his obedience to what G-d gave him. He came with Qur'an and his Sunnah, his example. But in order for us to benefit from the Qur'an and from the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, Sa Allah Alahi Wa Salaam, we have to want in our hearts what is contained in the Qur'an and what is exemplified in the life of Prophet Muhammad. Peace and Blessings be on Him. We have to want in our hearts. The heart has to be inclined for that favorably.
When the heart is in the right place, then the interest is also in the right place. The inclinations are moving rightly or directly, rightly, drawn to the right things. The tendencies are moving toward the right thing. But when our heart is not there, then we have big trouble trying to get our attention there and trying to follow because the inclinations are going other places, the tendencies are drifting away, pulling away from where you should be. Allah has given us a good picture of our situation as spiritual and rational beings. For the spiritual being, his big problem is his interests, considering his interests, focusing his interests, keeping his interests whole, intact, uniform, consistent. If we have conflicting interests within ourselves, how can we be at peace? How can we bring other people to see something worthwhile if, in ourselves, we are disturbed, we are at war?
Our religion is a religion based on the principle of Oneness. Our religion is a religion that requires unity, consistency, agreement, wholeness. We can't be divided within ourselves. We can't have two minds. We have to have one mind, one vision, one objective, one aim, one purpose, one vision. We have to see Allah as One Allah and everything else as the consequence of His being. Nothing came here except by His will and permission. Nothing created itself. Everything owes its existence to Him. So, we have to believe in His unity, the oneness of Allah. "La Ilaha Il Allah Wa Ta Hu La Sharika Lahu, nothing but One G-d alone, nothing like unto Him. Then we have belief that this life, though it has a beginning stage and a latter stage, thought it has a reality that we see with our physical eyes, it has another reality that is true reality, that we can't see with our physical eyes. Not a different world, the same world.
How do we know? Because Allah says, "In the earth you die. From the earth you're taken. To the earth you return, you die and return. From the earth you're brought back." And the terms used for this reality and the higher reality to come tell us, those terms tell us that it is a continuation and not two separate things, distinctly separate from each other. "An Ula Wa Ahkira" An Ula means a beginning. And Ahkir means an ending. A beginning and an ending talks about one thing, not two things. You wouldn't say beginning and an ending for two things. For two things, it would be a first and a last, a first and a last of two things. But with the terms are used for both, first and last and beginning and ending to tell us that the first and the last belong to one continuous thing. The Ulema, the scholars in this religion, they tell us that the life in Al-Islam is a continuous life. And we experience in this life both heaven and hell in small dimensions. And we get the full reality in the latter stage.
And whoever doesn't come awake in this will be dead in the latter. Whoever is not alive in this will be dead in the latter. It's important also to note that this idea of Oneness in Islam is also a Oneness of matter. There's a Oneness of matter. I am different from the stone, from the wood or tree, a living thing, plant or animal. I am a human being. I'm different. But I have a sameness too with the rest of the Creation. There is a difference, and there is also a sameness. In the material world, there is the elements that my physical body is composed of. And the elements that my physical body is composed of came from the physical mass, the universal mass, universal mass of matter. So, there is a sameness, and there is a difference.
We don't believe that there is Creation at war with Creation. Creation is at peace with Creation. But it is human beings, it is the impulses in the creature that puts him at war. The natural tendency in creation is peace, not war. The Most High says in the Qur'an that the Heavens were in a state of violent commotion. And He directed himself to it and brought it into peace and order. This tells us that the Will of the Creator is affecting His creation. The laws that operate in Creation in the material world are responding to the Will of the Creator, because the matter and the nature did not exist without Allah. Therefore, it must respond to the Will of Allah. Throw anything in a chaotic state and leave it alone and watch, it comes to rest. That tells us that a natural tendency in creation is peace. We are called Muslims. Muslim means one who is inclined toward peace, peacefully inclined. In the Bible, called the peacemakers. The Muslim is one peacefully inclined, one who yields the will or yields the urge to the will of the Creator.
We understand that this nature is also in Creation, is in matter and everything. Therefore, it is right when the learned Imams say that the sun is Muslim, the moon is Muslim, the earth is Muslim. We are not talking about a spooky nature and a material nature. We are talking about the nature to obey the Creator that is in material. And you are taken from material. It is in you. It is said in the Qur'an that He named you Muslim before and in this Revelation. And I heard interpretation of that say that Abraham is the one who named us Muslim. We shouldn't understand by that that Abraham was the beginning of Muslims, because the Qur'an clearly tells us that Prophets before Abraham were also Muslim. Adam was Muslim. Allah, The Most High, says in the Qur'an that there was no desire on Adam's part to disobey. His disobedience is called a slip. That tells us that Adam was not only a Muslim in the broad sense or the loose sense, but he was also a Muslim in his conscience.
So, Abraham is not the first Muslim. We have to understand, then, what it means in the sense that Abraham says that I am the first of those who submits. Wasn't Prophet Muhammad the first of those to follow the will of Allah in his time? Was there anyone around representing the faith before Prophet Muhammad? No. So whoever, whichever Prophet comes, when he comes, he's the first. If he wasn't the first, he wouldn't be the Prophet.
However, there's another meaning there. Abraham represents the rational conscience. And willing, conscious, willing submission requires conscience, rational conscience. Some people are good. They're Muslims in their makeup, because they're just emotionally given to righteousness, to goodness. But are they really the true Muslims, the best Muslims? No. They're good, but they are not the true Muslim, the best Muslim. Why? Because they don't have conscious awareness of what it takes to really follow the Way of Allah. So therefore, Abraham represents a conscious, rationally conscious Muslim who understood rationally what his obligation to Allah was. But those before him, they were Muslims too, Muslims of a lesser degree. And from Muhammad, he is the Prophet who established the way of Abraham on earth for the people. The way of Abraham, the upright. That tells us then that this religion requires also rational perception, rational grasp so that we will be rationally Muslims. That's the Promised land, isn't it? Yes, that's the Promised land, a happy landing.
Muslims must know their religion. In order to get the dignity that our religion holds for us, we must know our religion. It's not enough to just follow this religion blindly out of the goodness of our hearts. That's a beginning, but there is a higher and heavier obligation that Muslims not only follow out of the goodness of their heart but as Muslims come into rational awareness of their obligation. Muslims must be studious. Muslims must respect knowledge. Muslims must respect education. Muslims must respect the labor of the Scholar. Muslims must seek knowledge, not foolishness. Muslims must seek knowledge. Isn't it written that Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings be on Him, said, "Seek knowledge, though it be in the far country, China?" And he said, again, Peace and Blessings be on him, "Higher knowledge, higher education is the lost property of the Believer." Again, he said, "Education is an obligation on every male and female." So, without any question, this is a religion for the liberation of the human intellect, without any question. This is no religion for dummies, no religion for lazy-minded people. This is a religion for people who have intellectual appetites.
Where is the true dignity of the human being? Is it in his physical powers? No, because on that level or in that arena, there are other creatures that can beat him. Is it in their compassion, love? Someone will say, "Yes, the human being loves the greatest." I don't know. I don't know. I look at the way you treat your children, and I look at the way my dog, Brown Sugar at home, treat her child. I don't know. Man's attention is called to the animal to teach man, to teach man. Allah, The Most High calls our attention in the Qur'an to the horse that obeys his rider, how devoted he is to his rider. He can't manage his way through the battlefield. He depends on his rider to direct him through the battlefield. And Allah, with the Revelation, give us the picture of arrows being shot, arrows being shot, coifs of fire shooting about. And animals are naturally made to fear the fire, but that horse just goes straight into the smoke, right into the heat of the battle, obeying his master.
When things get smokey around here and get heated up, do you stay that devoted? You recall us in one of our most recent Khutbahs referring to the original Masjid or Mosque. That is the proper one, the only proper one. And the copy Mosque that's not built on what the original one was built on therefore is not fit to enter. What was the requirement for the proper Mosque? It is built on Taqwa. It is built on Taqwa. What is Taqwa? Taqwa is consciousness, conscious awareness of the Presence and Omnipotence of G-d. Omniscience of G-d, that He is always present, and He has power over everything and that I have to account before Him for everything I do. That kind of consciousness in us is Taqwa. When I am behaving when no one is looking at me, I am behaving as though everybody is watching me. I don't have any private moral standards and public moral standards, because I don't have any privacy when it comes to Allah.
That's Taqwa. That's Taqwa. The Mosque that's built on that is the first Mosque, and it is the only true Mosque. Any Mosque built on something else is false, and Muslims are told, "Don't even stand in it." You ain't going to be present in it. Don't go to it, don't be present there, whether it's the Mosque or the Church. If people attract to us to material things, or to the desires of our lower self, rather than the desire of our higher self, then that place is no safe place in worship, we shouldn't even go to it. Dear beloved people, now let us look at the idea that's presented in the following. The Most High says, "Man Muminina Rijalun Sadaqu Ma Hadaulah Alai. Wa Minhum Man Qadalah Nahaba Wa Minhum Man Yantana" Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Of them, some have completed their vow to the fullest. And some still wait, but they have never changed their determination in the least. Now, let us give a little thought to this.
Muminina Rijalun Sadaqu. Sadaqu means truthful. Sadaqu. They are truthful, they behave truthfully. They have remained truthful, faithful to what Allah held them to or called them to, the covenant. There are those who dispense with their moaning and groaning. And among them are those who wait patiently while observing. For they have never changed their determination in the least, with which Allah rewards the men of truth for their truth, and punish the hypocrites, if that be His will, or turn to them in Mercy, for Allah is All Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Let us understand this. Let us understand this in our own real situation. Why is the Qur'an left with us? Why do we have to learn it by heart? Why was it so important for every Believer to have the Qur'an, not on paper, but in his heart, in his memory? Because this Qur'an equips us to live in the world. And every Believer has the right to be equipped to live in the world. Prophet Muhammad wasn't a Messenger to the Ulema. Prophet Muhammad is a Messenger to all the people, not the Ulema. Prophet Muhammad is one from among the Ummiy. He is the Ummi Prophet. To the Ummiyi.
The main purpose of the Revelation that came to Prophet Muhammad is education. And the main place where that need is found is in the uneducated, therefore he is the Ummi Prophet to the Ummiyi. It doesn't mean that he's not also the Prophet to the learned people. Yes, he is. But the emphasis is on those who are ignorant. He is a Mercy to the denied, to the rejected, to the mentally oppressed. Here we have the same situation, and everything that's in this Qur'an is light for our situation. We have here this community, before and even now also. People will all say they are Believers, but they are not all the same.
Have the mark of truthfulness if they are really Believers. And whatever commitment they made; they hold to it. If they made a stand in this religion, they remain with that conviction. But if you don't have real faith, you may make a stand, as soon as a little smoke come in there, and things are not as clear as you think they should be, you begin to question, mumble, grumble, and start telling people, you're changing your mind, in hopes that they change their minds with you. But the mark of the true Believer is that the stand he took in the beginning, he keeps it, he holds to it. He holds to it. Now, look how they are distinguished. One of them used to moan and groan, and then we had our moaners and groaners, and still have some. The word, Nahaba, it describes moaning and groaning, complaining because it's hard.
But his moaning and groaning was stopped, he dispensed with his moaning and groaning. Yes. Enough of that. He dispensed with his moaning and groaning, and this translator gives it as, of them, some have completed their vow to the extreme. To the extreme. And he calls this to the extreme, he's going to remind you, he's not an Englishman, he's not that good with English. Shakespearean English doesn't mean that you are good with English. So, he says to the extreme. What does he mean, to the extreme? Should have been to the fullest, would be better to the fullest. He has accepted the Will of Allah totally. He's convinced, he gives himself completely to Allah, whatever you want Lord, and I'm going to follow your Prophet, I know this is him or I know this is he. Right? Yes.
So, he says that, and he stopped his complaining, and the other fella, the next day, he's complaining. He said, "Look, I don't want to hear it." I don't have time for it. He's going on about doing the Will of Allah, following Allah and His Messenger. Let's look now, goes onto the next one. Wa MInhum Man intala . If I say to you, Intala, it means, wait. Don't continue where you're going. It means stop. If you're going out of the place, I say, intela, it means, wait. You, see? But Intela also means pay attention. So here is a waiting and a paying attention. There are among them those who hold themselves in check, and they observe the Revelations coming to the Prophet, what the Prophet says. They observe his behavior, and they are holding themselves in check. They are refusing to let their questions; their limited knowledge and their doubts cause them to turn around and walk away. They remain in faith, they say, "I don't know yet. I am not throwing it away yet. I have a lot of questions, but I ain't going to let my questions interfere with me listening to this man, and observing him carefully, and giving him my complete attention."
Yes. So, there are degrees, aren't there? They are Believers, and they have the mark of truthfulness. Now you see yourselves now, right? And look what the Most High goes on to say. Speaking of the two divisions, the two distinctions among the Believers. One, he dispensed with moaning and groaning, or complaining under hardship. And the other one, maybe he does moan and groan sometimes, but he does it with control of himself, he does it with control of himself, and he keeps his attention on the Prophet. And he waits, he doesn't make any hasty judgements or hasty decisions. He's waiting, he's patient. He's waiting while being attentive. And they have never changed their determination in the least, they have never changed their stand. They came here with an intent. Why did they give their attention to the Prophet? They had a purpose. They had a reason. They had a desire. They wanted something. They wanted to know, well, what is the truth? That's what they wanted to know, they wanted to know, what is the truth?
And when the truth got made, and showed them the healing truth, they didn't say, "I'm through with this." They said, "Well, I came here for the truth, and now the truth has frightened the hell out of me, I'm going to stay right here until I get all the truth." But there are those, when the truth starts biting them, they say, "Oh, hell. This ain't no truth." Can't prove it. Can't prove it. Will not enter a rational argument, not with the righteous. But they'll just say it, and hope they find a weak one like them. They look for a weak one like them. They say, "Oh, this ain't no truth. I came here for the truth, this ain't no truth." Hoping they will slip the foundation out from under the feet of the faithful, who has no rational grasp of the truth, but only a heart inclined that way. And they want to take his heart away from the truth, knowing his eyes can't see too well for himself.
But they have never changed their determination in the least. Where with G-d, may He reward them in the truth, for their truth, and punish the hypocrite if that be His will. What is this telling us? There is hope for you hypocrites. Or turn to them in Mercy, for Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. "Inalaha Kana Al Furaha Raheem. Dear fellow Muslims, we have the best of all possible worlds. We should conduct ourselves in a way that reflects that, that we are aware of that. If we go about calling ourselves Muslims, and we go about droopy, sad every day, miserable looking every day, moaning and groaning every day. And the people look at you, and they say, "They say they have the best of all possible worlds, but I want no part of it."
Nobody wants to come into your moaning and groaning camp, into your doubts, weaknesses, silly, petty, complaints, lack of strength, lack of initiative, laziness. Nobody wants to come around people like that. They come here and they hear me, and they say, "Man, you all right." They said, "I'm sorry. I just can't join this." I've had them tell me that. They have come to me powerfully, and told me, "Brother Imam, you are all right. But I just can't join that Masjid" Why? Because they come in here and they see the people looking like they have never heard a single word of truth. Newcomer walks in the door, you turn around and look at him like you want to kick him out of the door. Disgust, dislike, hatred, hostility bubbling up in your face. Skin all tight. Muscles all knotted up. People say, "Hey, what's wrong with these people?" Well look, if any of you all in here that have asked that question, what's wrong with these people, I want to tell you, so you can continue to come back.
They are trying to hold onto demons, and I'm the demon killer. Don't let the way they look on the operation table obsess you. When the operation is over, you going to see the natural person. We have to be patient with each other and have to be willing to carry the responsibility of the Muslim life alone. That's right. Every Muslim has to be willing to carry the responsibility of the Muslim life alone. If I come in the Masjid and nobody looks like a Muslim, that shouldn't shake my faith one bit. If anything, it should make my faith stronger. Say, "Look how Allah have blessed me." Yes. That should make you stronger. Some of us have to go back home to our family. And we find the same looks in the family that we find in here on this floor, but we can't let that upset us.
In the house too, we say the same thing, "Look how Allah has blessed me." Now don't think I'm complaining, I'm speaking in the name of your troubles. But my home is all right, it ain't the best, but it's pretty good. Pretty good. You won't find no hypocrite in my house. You won't find no traitor to this religion in my house, no indeed. And you won't find no traitor to this leadership in my house or in here. Praise be Allah. Dear beloved Muslims, ordinarily we would have been finished 30 minutes ago, but school is out, and the season to relax is here, so I believe we have more time. Let us remember the distinctive marks of the Believer, the marks of distinction for the Believer, and let us not forget the mark of distinction for the house of worship. That's very important.
We don't want to be hypocrites. We can be hypocrites without knowing we're being hypocrites. That's why the language of the Qur'an is given like that, to open our eyes to the delusions of the hypocrite, so we can see and not be deluded. Should never have to tell a Muslim not to go back to yesterday. Not the Muslims here. Should never have to tell one of you Muslims here not to go back to yesterday, not to go back to 1974. No. Shouldn't ever have to tell you anything like that. And then I feel ashamed of myself, even bringing it up. But they're hungry people who can't make a living without mental, moral slaves. They need mental and moral slaves to make a living. And some of them are clean, very subtle, slick, smoother than a rattle snake. And they know just how to weave in and out of your feelings without you detecting what came in. Turn your heart around.
So, we got to be dragon fighters. The Imams would have an easy job if we didn't have to be dragon fighters. And it wouldn't take so long, we could have it off the floor in about 15 minutes, but we have to help you to survive the dragon who's constantly looking for the weak, looking for the blind, looking for someone who has trouble, looking for someone who had a misfortune, someone who had a reason to moan to groan. And they want to break your stand, they want to bring you back from your commitment. So, we have to battle them. Dear beloved Muslims, I thank Allah for blessing me to be a person of truth. I'd never think of changing. That thought has never came into my mind ever. Allah is my witness. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, my mother, they raised me in what they taught. And it appeared to me to be something that was requiring truthfulness, decency, right mindedness. And as a child, I grew up with that, and I followed it, and I never, never changed at all.
You may say, "Well, you are not with that now, you are with this." I am with this because I saw that that was not what I accepted. I didn't accept lies. I didn't accept wrong doings. I accepted righteousness, I accepted truthfulness. And when my young mind and heart grew up to see that wasn't it, I left that to stick with what I accepted. I haven't changed. Not once in my life have I changed. I got friends in Chicago who are Muslims and non-Muslims. I wish you could just go about, trace my past, and ask those people about me. They'll tell you, "When he was in The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's organization, he didn't smoke, he didn't drink, he didn't do criminal things." And they'll tell you, "When he left The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's organization, he still didn't smoke, he didn't drink, he didn't do criminal things."
I didn't leave The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's organization, and then start drinking, start whoring, and start smoking reefers, and doing mad things. No. I left his Temple and got better, I was cleaner and holier outside than I was in. That's a fact. Why? Because I accepted the clean food. If it were found dirty, I said, "I don't want no more of that." I done ate what you taught me to eat, Daddy. Momma say, "Oh, son. I'm worried about you." I said, "Don't worry, Momma. I'm all right. I just don't want to eat the wrong food. I'm trying to live the life you showed me. You didn't tell me to be wrong, you told me to be right." There are those among the slippery, slimy snakes who claim to be true Muslims. Sunni Muslims, Orthodox, Hanafi, Shafi Hanabali. "Brother, the Imam. Be careful of the Imam brother. After all, he still has a lot of his father in him brother".
"They say they have changed, but if they have changed why he still keep certain things, why he mention that man, why he mention that man's name brother". And this spook, he can't speak but one language. He never been out of the country. He's not foreign, he just sounds this way. "Brother, brother he still refers to that man, Elijah, who thought that G-d was some man, and thought that white people are devils. How can you believe that they see what is remembered. It's really ...
He wants somebody to support his dhikr bead business. And the people with me are not people that buy dhikr beads. And he wants to sell miswaks. Tree limb toothbrushes, frayed at the end. And he wants sell oils, and incense, and the material that somebody is sending him from overseas somewhere. So, he's looking for a Muslim market to commercialize on. And my community is just not that market.
So, he thinks in his little dumb heart that if he can unseat me this community will become a market for him and his trinkets. Now, isn't that a hypocrite. Running around calling themselves Muslims and want nothing but a stupid market to sell foolishness to. I don't mean Islamic literature is foolishness, but it's foolishness for me to go around buying dhikr beads, and miswak toothbrushes, and oils, and dashikis, and sandals, and Turkish bloomers.
I think that's silly. Walking around here in the United States, looking like you came out of 1001 Nights. Yeah. Sinbad the Sailor or somebody. And they come in here and they are spooky. They come in here to hypnotize the people in here. Walk in all dressed down in his Hollywood, Sinbad the Sailor garb.
And he creeps in like he's an other world creature, and like he's on a secret mission.
"Masha Allah, Masha Allah". Say, can you speak in English. Should we get an interpreter. You speak Arabic? Brother instructor of Arabic, can you talk to this brother?
He can't even talk to anybody. He can't talk to Arabs. He can't talk to an English-speaking person. But he's the only one right. He is the Sunni.
We have to be aware of the snakes. All snakes. There's no light. No human light in it. He's looking for sailors, from the rich, from the powerful, or some crumbs from their table. Yeah. He just a lackey. Go behind the powerful people, licking up their trail. "I wish I was you. I wish I was you."
They say, "You got a good leader down there."
He can't even hear. "I wish I was you". Pitiful. We got the sickest people on this earth to contend with. Pitiful. Shame that a man has to be burdened with people like you. It ain't right. It's cruel.
Then we got those that are not trained overseas. They're trained right here in the United States. And he comes in with sunglasses on ... Or not sunglasses, face is shaded. Anyway. Face all shaded. Looking like some vampire just sucked his blood out of it. Look like he should be laying in a coffin, with silk around his dead face. It's dead looking.
Comes in, and he pretends like he's with us. He smiles. And it looks just like the exposed teeth of a coffin. A corpse, I meant, in a coffin. Look like exposed teeth of a corpse, stretched out in a coffin.
His job ran out a long time ago. No more use for him.
"What do you think about Muslims?"
"I never paid very much attention to them. I always thought they ought to be watched."
"Okay, George. Maybe we have got a job for you. Just go there and attend those meetings and see if you can close to the Imam Warith Mohammed. He seems like a nice guy. Just let us know what he's doing. We don't want him to grow. We want to contain him. Because after all, those Arabs they got money now. There's a lot of influences in the world now, and they might take advantage of that handsome fella down there. Just want you to watch him. Perhaps contain that movement, so it won't be exploited by outsiders."
See, they always got the lie to tell you that the smoothest, the one that can go in the best. Now, a few years ago it wasn't that lie. It was another lie. But the best lie to reach into your heart now is to tell you that we have to be watched because of possible Arab connections.
And you see what that religion produces..... And tigers, and lions, and wolves, and everything, we have to be aware. We have to be aware of that. Now, maybe who knows? What the hell? Wallace might be a lion. He might be a sheep. Who knows? But hell, he might be a wild bear, too. We don't know what the hell he is. By G-d, you was just the fella we had been looking for, and we'd like to give more black people jobs anyway. We're looking for a soft point. Okay. Go down there and keep up with them. Let us know what's happening.
And you think you've got some special job, and there's about 20 others given the same job, in the same Masjid. Not a different Masjid. In the same Masjid. And you think you a 007, 007. You think you really got some dignified position. You ain't nothing but another monkey, that they ran out of job seekers, and they just said, "Go there and watch Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. Tell us what he's talking about. If you can get in position for him to elect you into office, do that, because we'd like to have our people around him."
Yeah, so you think you got something. We have to be aware of these things. Muslims, this is no lighthearted matter. This is a serious matter. This religion is no cheap thing. It's very, very respected in the world by leaders of nations, all over the planet Earth. Oh yes. And if they're wrong, the thing they fear most in their presence is this religion.
But if they're good in heart, and really mean right, they respect it, and they will leave it alone, if they can't support it. We have many people in government who respect this religion, and they know what we represent, but they respect it so much, they won't do devilish things to undermine, or sabotage, or retard our progress. No. Deceitfully, they won't do that, because they're good people.
But then you have a minority of wicked devils in government, who know how to play on your simple mind, and get you to be a traitor to a cause that's meant for you more than it's meant for anybody else on this earth. Why? Because you the one in the worst shape.
So, it means more to you than anybody else on this earth. And you let sneaky, tricky devils cheat you out of your dignity. Dear beloved Muslims, we have to be strong. Be strong. Know that Allah has charged us to be Muslims, to keep our trust, keep the faith, keep our commitment as Muslims to be Muslims, and to live a Muslim life privately and openly. To carry the burden of this responsibility with dignity, with pride. You'll never catch me walking around singing the blues. No, indeed. I'm happy. I'm blessed.
I feel that I'm rewarded above the average creature, with this faith, with this religion. I don't go around moping, crying, looking up all stale and unhappy. No. I love this religion. I appreciate this religion. And I'm willing to live this religion alone. I don't have to have any company with me. I'm willing to live this religion alone. And that's the responsibility of every Muslim. You have to be willing to live this religion alone.
Isn't Prophet Muhammad our example? Didn't he have to live this religion alone? And finally in time, Allah blessed him with people who declared too the faith right along with him. But for a long time, he had to live in truth alone.
We're in an un-Islamic world, an un-Islamic society. Everything out there, outside of these walls, favors un-Islamic thoughts and un-Islamic behavior. Stealing carefree minds, materialistic minds, lustful minds. That's what you meet when you go outside of these walls. Now, you can find a person of the Christian faith, or some other faith, who will treasure, hold precious, the principles of virtues, and will not be given to materialism, or lust, or any of these things I mention. But that person has to be searched out. That's not going to be felt or seen when we walk out in the world.
In fact, you don't have to walk out in the world, just turn the TV on, and right away the enemy starts beating on your life, trying to stamp you out. That's why I just, I go by them so fast, you couldn't even tell what I'm hitting. I got a thing that can go by the stations real fast. I say brrrrr,,,,,, like that.
And when I see something that look like it's serious, and educational, I'll find that spot. I have to find, because I pass it so fast. Right there is where I want, and that's where I hold it. Until it gets foolish. If it gets foolish, I say poof. The whole thing goes out. That's right. That's right.
TV is too valuable as a medium for us to really go out here and demonstrate against and try to destroy TV. It's too valuable as a medium. But we have to learn that the whole world is a test. Excuse me.
The whole world is misfits. We have to get the strength, the moral strength, to be responsible for ourselves. No matter what environment we're in. That's right. And this religion appeals to the intellect, so there's no excuse. The slowest one of us mentally can be equipped by this religion to deal with the evil forces of this world. In fact, you won't be slow long if you accept to be educated in this Mosque. You won't be slow long.
You'll find your brains will be leaving you. You'll have to run up and catch up to your brains. Yeah. You'll be too slow for the enlightenment that you will be having.
Dear beloved people, this is a decision for life. That's what Muslims have to understand. I think they condition us over the generations to be fickle-minded. I do believe that. I believe that this system made an effort, a deliberate effort to make the mass mind of this ignorant society in America to be fickle-minded. No matter how serious a thing is, they put you in the mind that it doesn't have to be for always. Let me try this out, see how it is for a day.
You don't approach serious things that way. "I want to see how that Moslem religion is. I want to try it out for a couple of weeks." No, you don't do that. You know what you want for yourself. You first envision what you want for yourself. And then you say, "What is the appeal of that religion? Does that satisfy what I want for me in myself?"
If it does, go there and make a commitment to stay there until death do us part. And you never change, unless you find that religion lied to you, that didn't represent what you thought it was. That it's not as genuine, it's not as pure as you thought it was. It's not fit for you. Then leave it and go to something better.
That's the way to be. But don't let an enemy of this religion tell you what this religion is. You're stupid. What a Muslim look like going to a non-Muslim to let that Muslim tell him what his religion is. Non-Muslims start to tell you about your religion say, "Wait a minute." Say, "Are you a Muslim?" Say, "No." Say, "Why don't you go teach ... What are you? Well, go teach your own people your religion."
They got Jews in the colleges, Christians in the college, teaching this religion to people. They ought to teach their own religions. Their own people need their own religion.
Christians don't even have a good grasp of their Christianity. What you look like teaching our religion. Teach your own religion. It's a shame. But they want that, so you'll get the religion from a corrupt source, from an enemy source, from a source that wants to undermine, wants to pervert the religious movement of Al-Islam.
I'm not saying all of them are like that, but the great majority of them are. They pretend like they're fascinated with the Islamic world. And are nothing but shouting snakes. Have the mark of truthfulness, if they are really believers.
You'll listen to anybody. If they're not black, you think they're an authority. Automatically, they become an authority, because they're not black.
"You follow the religion of the Arabs, Islam?"
"Yeah."
"I know about that religion. They believe such and such, and such and such, and they believe in the year 817 such and such happened."
And you will give them your attention, and listen to them, and put all in your mind, and not even question it. And come back here and say, "Imam ain't right. I met a man said so and so, and so and so, and so and so." And you don't know his credentials. You don't anything about him. But he just wasn't black.
But in your plantation mind that you inherited from your ancestors, he was G-d speaking to you. Or one of the angels from on high. Yes.
You have to wake up. Be strong. This is no cheap work we're doing. We're working to bring life that Allah intend for us. So, you can have it. So, all of us can have it. Because without it we don't have life. We certainly don't have our lives. No indeed. So we pray to Allah, that he open up our hearts, purify our intentions, keep us in the straight path, increase our understanding, increase our enthusiasm for the saints, to become more studious, granting us so we will give more time to the reading of the Qur'an, to the study of the history of Al-Islam, to the study of this religion as it has been represented in America since February of 1975.
So that we will become an educated community, knowledgeable community. Oh Allah, protect us against those evil forces that we are unable to detect. Do not allow our hearts to deviate after you've shown us the right way. Ameen.
Allahu Akbar.
Bismillah Alhamduillah Raabil Al Amin. Wa Ashadu An La Ilaha Il Allah. Ana Muhammadan Rasullah. Dear beloved Muslims, we pray the blessings of Allah upon Prophet Muhammad, the example to us for all time. We pray Peace on his family, his descendants, his companions, on the righteous, all of them, Ameen.
Dear beloved Muslims, Prophet Muhammad received the title, or earned the title, Al-Amin. He earned this title, even before he received the mission of Prophethood. Al-Amin, in English, is the trustworthy one. The trustworthy one.
Prophet Muhammad in the Qur'an is given to us also as an example, an example of proper and excellent conduct. The term used for this excellence and Prophet Muhammad "Uswatun Hasana," is translated, excellent conduct, mighty conduct, mighty or most excellent plane of virtuousness.
In many ways, it can be translated. Allah Most High says in Quran. "Kalaka Fasawa, Kalaka Fasawa. Kalaka Fasawa"-He created then gave due proportion. Due proportion. "Kalaka", He created. "Fasawa" Then gave due proportion. This word Uswa is related to, or derived from the word Sawaa or Seewa, which means perfectly, justly, balanced and proportioned.
Prophet Muhammad, however, is not for us a governor. A governor. Each Muslim must be his own governor. This is the dignity that Allah wants for His creatures. The dignity of governing self. So, we know Allah, He controls everything. But Allah has entrusted us with a limited free will, the ability to make personal choices, decide on them, carry them out, live up to them.
Therefore, we are entitled to that dignity and a Muslim must be his own governor. Over and over again Allah says in the Qur'an that Prophet Muhammad is not a Wakeel for you. He is not a governor for you.
So, we know that this word Wakeel is the word that is translated also as trust. In its form, Tawakeel Allah, means trust Allah. Trust Allah. Prophet Muhammad is the trustworthy one. Should we trust Prophet Muhammad? Yes.
How is this kind of relationship explained then? I'm to trust Prophet Muhammad, He is Al Amin, but I'm not to have him as my governor. He is not the Wakeel for me. How is that connected? I'm to trust his example. I am to trust his truth that he spoke, that is revealed by Allah. I am to respect, also, his example, and trust his example, right?
Yes. I trust his example. But trust him with that kind of trust? No, he is not the Wakeel. Prophet Muhammad was told to tell the people, "I am not a Wakeel for you. I am not one to manage your affairs for you. I am not one to govern you. You govern yourself."
But he is the Amin. He is Al-Amin. He is the example of the right conduct. And we trust his Prophethood. We trust his Sunnah. We trust his conduct. What is the difference? Prophet Muhammad was truthful in all interactions, in all situations, in all circumstances, truthful and upright. Prophet Muhammad set an example in his conduct. He set the example for us. I know what was revealed in the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad. We have his own record of how he lived it. If someone says, "Brother, look, can you sell these lottery tickets for me?" I don't ask Prophet Muhammad to come here and speak for me. "Prophet Muhammad, will you speak to this brother for me? Will you answer that for me?" No, you got the knowledge. You govern yourself. You speak for yourself. On the basis of your knowledge now, you tell that man whether you can sell lottery tickets or not.
It goes for every other situation that conflicts with our way of life, that conflict with the example established by Prophet Muhammad. We question it in that light, and we don't ask the Imam to come down and talk for us, say, "Brother Hassan, will you ask the Imam to come down here and talk to my boss? My boss says I have to do such and such." The Imam is not no nurse maid for you, brother. Don't you know your religion? If you know it, then you're responsible to carry it out. We have to govern ourselves. We have to be responsible for our own behavior. That's what it means. You burden a community down when you come to the leader for every little thing. That leader will never be able to give that community his best with people of that community constantly coming to him with every little thing.
"But Brother Imam, I want to go into a business with a partner. We're going to be operating the business together. He sells pork. I've got a good chance to get a job. You know I haven't had a job in four years. I've got a good chance to get a job. It's a good paying job, Brother Imam, but the man also wants me to deliver some reefers. Occasionally, Brother Imam, not every day." You're looking for somebody to take your sin on him. Thinking that in the judgment, you'll say, "He told me that. I thought he knew what he was talking about. He said that. He gave me that advice. If I had known that I wouldn't have listened to him." You shouldn't be that way.
"Brother Imam, I got a wife. She eats pork. She gets drunk in front of the children. When I try to make my prayers, she disturbs me, Brother Imam. I think I should divorce her, but I don't want to do the wrong thing." That's too much burden. You burden your Imam. That's too much burden you're putting on your Imam. You should know what to do. You in that situation, not the Imam. You know more about it than the Imam. You know the woman. You know everything. Plus, you've got the religion and the example of the Prophet. Be strong enough to make your own decision. And live with your own decision. Come out of that.
Sister Wright, she said, "I got to have a breast amputated and a hysterectomy. My husband knows this and knows the trouble I'm in now. And he's just acting cold and evil. What should I do, Brother Imam?" Please, I'm not the Wakeel. Don't you have some thoughts about that yourself? You in it. Let's get strong enough to make our own decisions. We hear the same truth, the same religion. We read the same Qur'an. Let's get the moral strength to make our own decisions. It's different if you say, "We're going to divorce and, Brother Imam, we don't have relatives that we can go to. And the two of us would like to have you sit with us and discuss it before we divorce." That's different.
"But he spit on me last night. Yeah, he spit on me last night. He never did that before. He spit in my face, Brother Imam, so I got even with him, Brother Imam. What should I do? Should I continue to live with him after that?" You know him better than I do. We're cutting down the time to talk with people about their problems. One day in the week only, and that day will be announced, what day that'll be. Any other time, no couch. The community have to grow up. We have a good community, great possibilities. We have an opportunity to grow and become a community that will give new face, new image, to the poor, to the culturally deprived, to the poor minority, to the rejected. Yes, have a chance not only to gain a new life and a new sense of worth and dignity for myself, but, in this collective effort, there's a chance to change the whole ugly face of my people in the world.
If that's not enough for you to live for and stick with and work hard for, what will win you over as a royal member? What will you give yourself to? If that's not attractive for you, what is? A religion with a proven record. It came to Arabia, to people that was nothing but hungry, stiff-necked, proud, gangland, niggers. That's what their history tells us. You read the history of them before Al-Islam and they resemble, in their life and in their behavior, the uneducated, culturally misguided Negros. Not supporting each other, unless you belong to my little private clan." Little gangland cliques, same thing we got in our big cities now. This religion came to them and got rid that narrow-mindedness, destroyed the gang mentality, and dignified them as a highly civilized, highly cultured, educated, learned society, a match for none in that day.
None, pardon me, was a match for it in that day. Yes. We're talking about a proven record. Now let's look at what happened to the blacks that religion came to. History again tells us that the blacks in Africa were mostly uncivilized, existing in little roaming clans. Yes? The few pockets of learning and civilization that once was on that continent had all but been erased. And Al-Islam came there and created a new birth, a fresh thirst in hunger for high moral standards, for a high-level order of society, for higher education, for science, for dignified rule and government, democratic nations. And the glory that we read on the pages point to Al-Islam when we read about Africa's past. The inferiority points to something else.
We have the words of people existing in that day, educated Christian. He wrote that Christianity came to his land and Christianity spoke down to the black man of Africa. He said, "Islam came to our land, and Islam respected our dignity, and because of Islam, there is dignity in Africa." This is what an educated Christian said of Al-Islam coming to Africa. Yes. Some of you perhaps took Black Studies. Among you, I believe I can find some right now who will bear witness with me that they try to present that course to you to play down the importance of Al-Islam. In fact, many of you have taken a whole course in Black Studies and never learned that everything you read about of excellence had a connection with Al-Islam.
You read about the great civilization of the Mali Kingdom, of this kingdom and that kingdom, but they didn't tell you that those people were Muslims. Shouldn't you have something against a lying system like that, that won't even tell you the truth of your ancestors, that their dignity was connected with Al-Islam? Why? Why dont they want to tell you? If Al-Islam is such a weak and petty religion, if it's a heathen religion, if it's a religion that's not fit for civilized people, why have they made such an effort to keep that knowledge from you when you took Black Studies? They must've feared that there was something in that, that would open your eyes, and that would give you even a greater sense of dignity, and they didn't want you to know it.
They didn't want you to have the chance to leave Babylon, to leave oppressive Egypt. They didn't want you to have a chance to get out of the lion's den. They knew that if you're attracted to Al-Islam, Al-Islam is a door of freedom. That's what it is. Look, nothing has contained us in this country in our narrow minds like Christianity. That's true. I'm sorry, but we just have to say the truth. Nothing has restricted, nothing has held us back like Christianity has. It has promoted good sentiments, it has promoted charity, but it hasn't promoted good sense, and it hasn't promoted respect for self. So what is all that goodness with silly minds and no respect for self, thinking that the white race is better or closer to G-d, thinking that they've got some kind of supernatural, mysterious superiority over us? Don't you know the average one of us think like that?
The average one of us think like that, and it's because we haven't had an opportunity to get outside of the oppressive influences of white, Western ideologies. Al-Islam is a fresh, new ideology, and it gives us a chance to compare and weigh ideologies together and see which one is better for me. They don't want you to have that choice. Al-Islam is a fresh, new ideology upon the western hemisphere, and they do not want you to have that choice, so they do everything they can to misrepresent that religion, to falsify its important in your life or in the history of your ancestors. I hear how they praise Roots. That man couldn't even sell that book until he played down the Islamic significance and presented Al-Islam in the framework of superstition, primitive religion.
He didn't present it as it is. He presented it in connection with superstition and primitive religion. That's the only way he could sell that book. That book sold well because he presented it that way. If he had told the truth about the dignity of this religion, the dignity of Muslims in Africa's past under that religion, he never would've gotten the exposure on TV. Do you think that Jacubite would give that exposure to Roots on TV if it was in any way helping your mind? No. It was to set you at odds, it was not to help your minds. It was to carry you back to primitive thinking, primitive impulses, and to kind of smooth sore spots. They want you to see a quick movement of your history. "See how you suffered back there?" From a corrupt thought, from an enemy thought, from a thought that wants to undermine, wants to pervert. But look how nice you look. See your clothes. See your clothes are getting better. See your food is getting better. See your freedom is getting better. See how better off you are now?" It's like taking a man, from the bottom position in a poorly developed Christian country and putting him in the bottom position in a highly developed Christian country. In the highly developed Christian country, sure he's eating better now, he has more clothes now, but the mind hasn't changed. He still sees himself at the bottom.
They want to give us a quick picture of our history. "See how you've advanced?" If I have advanced, then let me think for myself. Let me choose the religion I want. Don't tell me what religion I'm supposed to have, like I'm some child. That's what they do, and you accept it. The average one of our people, they accept it. They don't stand up to the man when the man is telling them Christianity over Al-Islam, and they know that everything he's saying is not true. But just because it's against Al-Islam they say, "Oh, I can't stand up for that religion. I can't stand up for that false religion." So, they go along with it. "I never saw much in it myself," and he hasn't saw anything yet. You didn't see at all. You're blind.
Dear beloved people, in concluding the khutba this afternoon, I want to bring something home to you, something that we have to accept, have to be men and women enough to respect and wear with a sense of dignity. And that's the fact that our religion is not a spiritual way of life. This religion does not call us to a spiritual way of life. It asks us to accept One G-d, who, in His attributes, suggests nothing to us but righteousness, purity, perfection. That, in itself, if we accept that and ourselves in worship that role model, that, in itself, with the knowledge of His attributes, of His office in his attributes, with your knowledge of that, dear people, that, in itself, disciplines our spirit.
That gives us the spiritual discipline we need. The rest of the life is what? Our relationship with self in the world. And that's the religion. That's the religion. Our religion is a religion that invites us to come into social excellence. Prophet Muhammad was the leader of the Ummah. Ummah means community. Muslims belong to their ummah, community. The life of the Muslim is not spiritual. The life of the Muslim is community life. His discipline is spiritual. In it's space, in its origin. His discipline is spiritual, but that discipline then gives him the freedom to patent his whole community life by the principles of Oneness, devotion to One Allah. Is that hard? No. Dear beloved people, we're not communists. The communists are not socialists. They are liars. They are materialists. They are materialists of a different type.
The capitalist is a materialist of one type; the communist is a materialist of another type. The Muslim is the only true socialist. Social means feeling, responding to people, human beings, like yourselves. That's what social means. Social means given to respond to each other here in a human setting, in a family setting. That's social, isn't it? Tell me what is social about the communists' philosophy. It's not socialist. That thing is just mechanicalized, mechanized human life. Their argument is to mechanize human life on the principles of materialism. How can that be social? How can that be socialism? That's not social. It is not socialism. The Muslim is the only socialist, and we should know that, as Muslims, we should spread that from here, take it to your Muslim brothers and sisters all over this country.
Tell them that Imam Warith Deen said that Communist's a liar, he's not socialist, that the only true socialist is the Prophet Muhammad and those who follow him. And I'm ready to debate it, thank you very much. Let us work hard for the human life that Allah intended for us, fearing nothing but Him. Let the fear as well discipline you and your relationships. Yes. With your family, with your wife, with your husband, with your boss on the job, with the police, with the Governor, with the mayor, with the teacher, the professor. I don't care who it is, let the fear of Allah, with knowledge of what the Qur'an and His light and example in Prophet Muhammad asks of you, let that decide.
Let the fear of Allah decide how you conduct yourself in your other relationships. This is a Muslim. That's the true Muslim. The Muslim is one that fears nothing but Allah. Yes, fears only Allah. He's not afraid of what the world will think about him. He doesn't compromise with the world when it comes to his Islamic principles, his Islamic responsibility. He doesn't compromise with the world. You can't compromise with this world and expect to receive Allah's help. You'll be at the mercy of this world if you sell off your religion to please this world. No. You bargain off this world to please your religious commitments. That's what you should do, say, "Look, I got a big chunk of this world, I'm willing to sell it for my righteousness. I'm willing to sell it for more Islamic freedom."
Yes, this should be your mind, instead of walking around saying, "I got a religion that I'm willing to sell for a little more of this world." We'll never have strength and dignity in this world until we get the strength not to compromise our religion. Praise be to Allah. Let us be Muslims, Muslims in deeds. Let us not be hypocrites, jivers. Too much opportunity for us to sit around here and act like it's just recess time for preschool. That's how we think. We're going to get it together? We have to. Ancestors and future children are depending on us. That's right, yes. What is the hope of the ancestors if we fail? Where is it? It's gone. What is the hope of the children that's coming if we fail? It's gone. And Allah obligates us. Allahu Akbar.


