6/18/1982
IWDM Study Library
Jumuah Fort Lauderdale

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam WD Mohammed:
And whoever follows other than that path is not guided. Allah says in the Qur'an that the path that is straight is the path of the worship of the one and only G-d, the path of those who have only Allah, who created everything as their Lord, as their G-d and nothing else. The path that is straight is the path of sincerity and righteousness. And the path that is crooked is the path of Satan, the path of the devil.
We fall upon the crooked path when we give ourselves the unrighteousness, to the love of our own wild desires, our selfish desires, or to the worship of the devil himself. And Allah warns us in the Qur'an that we should not worship shaitan, we should not worship the devil. He took a commitment from the children of Adam that they should not worship shaitan, the devil. It would seem that in this modern time such worship would be a thing of the past, that it would be something that we remember or recall in Heathenism, Paganism, Idolatry, et cetera.
But I'm just a few weeks from my visit now on the west coast where I stayed for about nine months there in Oakland, California and there about 30 minutes drive from Oakland, California to San Francisco. In San Francisco there's a big church, costs a lot of money. And people come there supposed to be civilized and dignified people. Some of the members of that so-called Church or Temple are high up in society. And they're Priests or Reverend or whatever he's called, his name is Anton Levy and he calls the people to the worship of Satan. So in this modern time, we find people boldly and openly worshiping Satan, the devil in this modern society called the West or America. I also learned here recently that the President of one of the biggest manufacturers of detergents so and other products came out and openly testified, openly acknowledged that he was a worshiper of Satan and he said he'd give all the credit for his successes to Satan, to the devil.
We as Muslims should recall the days of Jahiliya, the days of the ignorant people of Mecca. And we should see that ignorance hasn't left this earth. Time has moved on, man has made motions, but in many ways, he has made no progress. He still as spiritually a slave as he was in those days. He's still as spiritually blind as he was in those days. He's still without moral foundation. He's still without social harmony in his country, in his city, even in his family. So let us not be fooled by the calendar of time to think that man has left his inferior state, has left his ignorance, has left his idolatry. He has not. In many instances, man has gotten worse. He has become worse than he was in the days of ignorance called Jahiliya.
Muslims should be happy, Muslims should rejoice. Muslims should feel very special in this day and time to know that we have a religion that appeals to the best that is in us, a religion that call us to act upon the best that is in us, a religion that reveals the best that is in us, and a religion that establish the best for us. It establishes us as Khalifa on earth as the creature made by G-d in the best of molds, the best of stature. G-d has not erected any creature and a better stature than the human being. The human being is erected in the best stature of all the creatures. And He calls us not only to a spiritual religion or to a religion that excites the passions of virtue, et cetera, but He has also called us to a rational religion. And we can stand up and proclaim this faith, identify ourselves as Muslims, and stand up and argue if we have to our faith, defend our faith against others on rational grounds, moral grounds, whatever. Because this religion is a complete religion. It has established the best for us.
It represents the fullness of G-d's blessings and mercy to man. We know that Prophets came before, they came to the people with revelation from Allah, but it was not complete. We know that most of the Prophets addressed their people. And most of the Prophets rested the burden of the mission or the burden of revelation on their people. But when Prophet Muhammad came, Peace and Blessings be on him, he gave us the message from G-d and he said that this message is a mercy for all the people, a mercy for all the worlds. It is a mercy for all the worlds. And we know that the Qur'an, in the Qur'an, Allah calls on the Muslim community to accept their responsibility to humanity at large. You are the best community, Khaira Ummatin. You are the best community raised up for who? Raised up for your black people?
No. Raised up for the Arabs? No. Lin Nas. For humanity at large. That's what Allah says to us in the Qur'an, that you are the best people, speaking of the Muslims who accept "La Ilaha IL Allah, Muhammadan Rasulullah." There is but one Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. Those who accept that, He says of them that they are the best community raised up for humanity at large. Not raised up for the Arabs, not raised up for the blacks, not raised up for the whites. We are raised up for humanity at large. And this is where Muslims have failed in the world. They have failed to honor their obligations to be an example to people all over the earth. And if they're to be an example to people of all over the earth, they're to call all nations. They are to question the behavior of all nations. If any nation oppresses man, if any nation corrupts man, then the Muslim nation is to raise up, to rise up and condemn that in the world. And if Muslim the nation does not do that, then it fails its responsibility whereas G-d has called the Muslim community to be a witness for all humanity.
So dear beloved Muslims, what we have here today in Fort Lauderdale is no small thing. This is a great, great work. Believe me, President Sadat never did anything this important, Peace be on his soul. May his soul rest in peace. He never did anything this important. Nassar before him, President Jamal Abdul Nassar before him never did anything this important. Kissinger never did anything this important. Alexander Haig, his office is not this important. President Reagan, his office is not this important. King Khalid who just passed, may Allah rest his soul in peace and enter him into paradise. His role, his work was not this important. And this is the truth. This is the plain truth. Those men I've just named, they weren't about calling humanity to the path of G-d. They were about establishing dignity for a nation, or dignity for a government, or defending a political view. This is about the path of Allah.
We are just as much concerned about a Chinese whos off the path as we are about a black man whose off the path. And we are black, but as Muslims, we can't be more concerned about a African whose off the path than we are about a Chinese whose off the path because Allah has not made us Africans and Chinese. Allah has made us Muslims. He's has called us to one humanity. Now we know it's foolish for a man to pass by hundreds of beds in the hospital of people who need his attention. He's a doctor you see, and he passed by hundreds of beds to get to a certain bed.
Say why you want to go to that bed? Well, I don't want the people to think I'm prejudice. See all these beds I'm passing; they are black people and I'm black. And if I attend these, they may think I'm prejudiced. I want them to know that I'm true, man. I'm not prejudiced. I don't attend my people first. That's ignorance. If it happened to be Chinese in my immediate environment, then I'm going to tend to the Chinese problem. But if it happened to be black folks like me in my immediate environment, I'm going to tend to those black folks problems because that's just good sense.
G-d said, Hey, you wasted a lot of time stepping over all these sick bodies to treat that one. Why did you do that? What was your reasoning? He said, well, I didn't want the people to think I was prejudice. Say, now they're going to think you a fool. This is the religion. This is the religion. Let us not get caught up into the sentiments, foolish sentiment of this society because if we do, we won't be able to walk a rational path. This society is always throwing some charged word into the atmosphere to excite our passions, to excite our sentiments, to excite our emotions, to make us become pathetic. To the point that we don't do the sensible thing but do the thing that satisfy a bunch of overly sentimental or overly emotional people, emotionalized people. We can't do this. This religion is a rational religion.
It is religion that calls the heart of man, and it establishes its rational principles on the nature that G-d created. It respects the heart of man, but at the same time demands that the heart of man become also intelligent. That man does not give into the impulses of his heart without having a light to walk by. Dear beloved Muslim, this is a great, great religion you are in. This is the greatest. Our book is the greatest book. Our Prophet is the most excellent of all human beings ever lived on this earth. And he represents the excellence that's in all of us. Prophet Muhammad doesn't represent something foreign to us. Allah instruct Prophet Muhammad to tell the people, He says say to them that you are a mortal like them. Bashirun Mithlakun. A mortal like you. Now look Bashirun. Look like that would've been enough if he had said, G-d said, tell the people Muhammad that you are a mortal human being. Look like that would've been enough. Just say to them, you are a Bashirun, that you are a mortal human being. But no, He says, Say to them that you are a mortal like them.
Why? Because there's a tendency in people to think good is foreign to their nature. And if a good man is established, they want to make him a saint. And next thing they want to do is push him out of the human family. He becomes an angel.
And if they're left alone in their foolishness, pretty soon he becomes a G-d. So, Allah instructed Prophet Muhammad to say to the people Muhammad, that I'm a mortal like you. Mithlakun, like you. No doubt then, no question. If he just had said a mortal, some foolish person would come up later say yes, Prophet Muhammad was a mortal but not like us. Say you a mortal all right, but not like us. He had another dimension to his mortal being. Don't they say Jesus was a mortal too? They say he was a mortal and divine, A mortal but different than us. So, Allah corrected through Prophet Muhammad. Say Muhammad that you are a mortal like them.
And then said, Allah tells us, Look, don't you get your mind all bogged up, bogged down into spooky stuff, into other world stuff. Said, look, there are worlds that you don't know about, I have created worlds that you know and that you know not, but don't be foolish and get yourself all tied up into things you don't know. Stick with the things that are close to you. Isn't that the instructions of G-d in the Qur'an? Yes, Allah said, if this earth had been populated with angels, I would've seen an angel as a Messenger. But since it's populated with human beings, I send a mortal like you. That makes sense. How can something that's not me be an example for me? Can't be. No way. Can the other world creature be an example for this world creature? No way. Hey, you don't like food. Your body is different. Your essence is different. Say, but look, don't give me no diet to follow. I'm afraid of your instructions.
But if you are mortal just like me, you a earth creature just like me. Allah created all of us the same. Then Allah bless you to be excellent, to be better. Then I have to follow and I can't say I can't follow that person because I can follow that person because we have the same nature. We have the same human mate. We are made the same, we have the same nature, we have the same human capacity, we have the same moral capacity, same intellectual capacity. We have the same creation. So, I can't choose myself then. So, Prophet Muhammad, he established excellent morals, the best of morals for us. Prophet Muhammad didn't let his interest in his family or in his race or in war or in anything spoil his morals. No, he kept his morals intact before all kinds of challenges from the household, from his own people, from those who would bribe him with material things.
He kept his morals intact. And Prophet Muhammad is a human being like us. So, if he did it, I can follow him. If he did it, I can follow him. But if the scripture had established him as a other world creature, then we would be doing the same thing as Muslims that the Jews and the Christians have done. The Jews raised their Prophets up to divinities, up to divine beings. And the Christians raise the Prophet Jesus, Peace be on him, up to divine being. And look what has happened to their society. They break every law that they say G-d sent them.
Their life is not an example of the life of the people they say they follow. Their life is an example of the people they are fighting against, not the people that are following. Wouldn't it be very sad if Jesus Christ could come back in this world, come to this place Fort Lauderdale and say, "Does this place belong to the Jahiliya? They'll say no. "Are these the people that worship the deities of the ancient times?" They'll say no, they don't worship those G-ds. "They look like the same people that worship Mohawk and those other creatures." No. "Well who are these people?" "These people are Christians. These people who live in Fort Lauderdale are Christians." "What are Christians?" "They follow you Christ Jesus. These are people that follow you. They're Christians. They follow you." "All of this violence, all of this corruption, all of this hatred of their fellow man, all of this racism in this town and corruption. You say these people follow me. Oh Lord, save me from these people." Jesus would have to then pray to Allah to save him from his so-called followers. So if we as Muslims, if we were left without the clear guidance that has been given to us in the Qur'an, don't you know we'd fall into the same trap. We would say, "Oh, Prophet Muhammad, sure he was that. We love Prophet Muhammad. He was an excellent being. No, he didn't lie. No, he didn't steal. No, he didn't commit to break the laws of G-d. He didn't fornicate; he didn't take intoxicants. No, he was perfect. No, he didn't break his word."
"He wasn't racist. No, he wasn't racist." "Well, why are you that way?" "Well, he was a different creature. G-d made him special." But we can't say that because Allah says plainly in Qur'an, he is a mortal like you. And He established him on the most excellent plane of authority for all of us. Said that He has seen him in the most excellent form of human character, the greatest, the most excellent human character. And He has made him a model and an example for all the Muslims saying in him, you'll find a most excellent model.
We have to follow Muhammad and we have to be proud to follow Muhammad. Don't let this world prejudice you against Prophet Muhammad. Theyre going to try. They're going to say, "Oh you all, oh, I thought you all were different Muslims. Say you follow the Arab. Wasn't Muhammad an Arab, Muhammad the Arab?" Say, "Well that all you know about him that he was an Arab? We know much more about him. He was a Muslim and he was a universal Prophet. He is the universal Prophet and the last. And he's an example of the excellence that G-d wants in all men. He represents the fullest development of that excellence G-d has put into humanity. If that's all you know about him, that he's an Arab, then let me tell you more."
Let me tell you something else. He wasn't white and he wasn't black, not skin wise, he's in between. He wasn't white and he wasn't black. That's a fact. If his mother is from the Ishmael line, then his mother is from the black line. Prophet Muhammad is from Ishmael and his mother; the mother of Ishmael was from Africa and is known by Jews and Arabs to be a black woman. So if he came from that line and also the white line, the white side, then he wasn't white and he wasn't black. He was something in between. By the Caucasian definition that they established for the niggers. No joke. Prophet Muhammad is not a white man.
A white man by that classification is a pure-blooded Caucasian. Prophet Muhammad was not a Caucasian. Prophet Muhammad was an Arab. And you go among the Arabs today, even after they have mixed a lot with Europeans, you go among them today and you see they are colorful people just like you. Many of them look as dark as me and darker. So, they're not really white, they're in the middle. They're not black and they're not white. And that's wonderful that Allah chose a man to call the black away from prejudices, away from racial prejudices. And to call the white away from racial prejudices. And he was not of either of those extremes. He was not the extreme white man and he was not the extreme black. That's wonderful. Yes. In his last sermon, Prophet Muhammad said to the people, there is no, and he called their attention to the fact that these were concerns that were heaviest on his heart in his last speech, his Pharaoh speech. And he said that there is no superiority of a black over white and no superiority of a white over a black.
So dear beloved people, we have to understand that this religion does not recognize color consciousness. This is not a color religion. If it is a color religion, it is a color religion in the sense that we color ourselves after the attributes of G-d. Our color is the color of G-d. Now, G-d doesn't have our color. G-d doesn't have black African color. G-d is not African color. He is not white man color. The color of G-d is in the righteousness of G-d, it's in His purity, in those attributes that He has put in us in small degrees during the process of creation. He has put into us mercy. He has put into us a desire for knowledge. He has put into us a desire for peace and order. He has put into us many desires. And if we think on these attributes that we ourselves require in our civilized activity, we'll see that those are the attributes that G-d has shared with us. He has given us something of that. Is that right? Yes. So, Allah says in the Qur'an. That's what we are supposed to say to the people of the world. Our color is the color of G-d.
Yes, our color is the color of G-d. And say, who is best at coloring than G-d? Who is best at giving color than G-d? Isn't it wonderful? And so, we don't see colors in the skin. We see color in the attitudes, in the morals, in the character of the person, in the principles he lived by. And isn't that what color us a criminal? The principles we live by and it colors us a decent person. The principle we live by. You know they have the same terminology in language, grammar. I took college English and they told me there that you can color a piece of material and you don't need the crayons, you just twist the words. You take it out of context.
You fill it with a lot of charge words that create emotions that cause the reader to not see the truth. You blind the reader with charged words so the reader doesn't see the truth in your message. So you colored it. Now you might have gotten it from another source in good shape. It wasn't colored. But you colored it after you received it. And in coloring it, you presented it out of context or you presented it in a charged form that blinds the reader to the reality that was there before you messed with it. They call that coloring the script or coloring the language in grammar. Is that right? College grammar. Alright, so dear beloved people, we should be aware of these things and be happy as Muslims and thank Allah that He has blessed us with the truth, with the complete religion, with that that gives us dignity and a sense of security. That's what people need. Life calls for that. Life requires a sense of security. And if you give me half-truth and I'm a truth seeker, I don't feel secured with that. I can't live it with faith, with complete faith. I can't defend it with complete faith. That's why most of the people that claim religion, they don't like to get in any arguments because they know they're living on half-truths and they just don't have the courage or the spirit to defend that. But look at Qasim and look at Imam Rasheed. These men, they're ready to go to war. Why? Because they have realized a sense of security in what they believe in. Because their religion hasn't short changed them. So dear beloved people, this is the real freedom. The real freedom wasn't when they took the chain off us or when they said you can now leave Georgia and travel by yourself. That wasn't the real freedom. The real freedom is when your heart knows that it has found the truth. And when your brain bear witness, I agree. Yes. And then a man feels secure. You can lock me up now. Guard put the chains back on. They arent going to stay there long. I'll handle it myself. Once my heart is freed and my mind is freed and they have been reconciled under truth, buddy, you can lock me up physically. I'll handle that. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it.
It won't take long. I can handle situations like that. No way they can enslave Muslims. Impossible. Because Muslims, if they're true Muslims, if they're learned Muslims, their mind and their hearts are liberated and have been reconciled under the truth. There ain't no enslaving no Muslims. Dear beloved Muslims, our job then is to liberate. We should be looking for people who are in the condition that we were in before. And we should be bringing them the message of the Qur'an. We should be telling them about Prophet Muhammad. We should be telling them exactly as I told you, that President Reagan's office is not as important as what we are doing. Don't be afraid to tell 'em. President Reagan is telling us that we are not as important as what he's doing. And Mr. Haig, he's telling the Palestinians that your rights are not as important as what we are doing. So, we should be bold with the truth as they are bold with deceits, and tell the world that what these heroes of yours are doing is not as important as what we are doing. Because we are about giving man that liberating message that G-d wrote for him, putting man on his own feet, giving man a sense of dignity and self-respect, sense of purpose and destiny in this world.
And that's more important than what they're doing. Praise be to Allah. Praise me to Allah. Now look how important these walls are now. About five or six families got together. Five or six families built a Masjid from the ground up in Fort Lauderdale, in Sin Town USA? Where crackers are still around and hate you from the bottom of the hearts simply because you are not their color. How can poor black, miserable, oppressed, restrained members of that oppressed people get up, get together and say they going to build some cement wall, put iron into it, steel into it and fine paint on it and structure it in an excellent shape, make it resemble some of the finest Mosques overseas. What? These people in this neighborhood doing that? What's on their mind? Dignity, that's what is on their mind. Human dignity, obedience to G-d, a love for what G-d has done for them. White man wrote us off, say you no human being, you're subhuman. Best we can do is give you three fifths of a man. You are that missing link between us and the ape. That's the best we can do for you black boys.
Then Allah comes with the Qur'an and the message of truth, and He brings us into such great revelation of what we are and of what our potential is, what our possibilities are that we look back on the white man and shake our head and almost shed a tear for him. And look, G-d made him the same way He made me. He has the same capacity for this excellence that I have. And look how his works have reduced them to nothing but a dung hill. Nothing but a stink on the planet. That's what a racist is. A racist is a dunghill, a fresh dunghill, a stink on the planet. Praise be to Allah. When you come into this knowledge of this religion that this religion has for us, when you come into this knowledge, you don't get involved in no simple petty emotional wars. I have to deal with those people all the time. I get on a plane, they hate to look at me, they hate to serve me. I meet nice ones too. But you ain't going to fly too many times before you meet that crazy one thats still crazy. Yeah, I was on the plane with a group of what they call them, the Gray Club or something, the old folks, old white folks.
And the students, they weren't too young, but they weren't old either. They were like 30 maybe up to about 40, 42 at the most. But most of the people in the plane with me were old, old women and men. They were going to Hawaii for their health or something I don't know. And the students were really up the wall because these people were bugging them to death. Old people can really bug you sometimes. You bring the water and they say, where's the napkin? You bring the ginger ale and they say, once I saw you serve, maybe it wasn't this airline, maybe it was another, but they brought the ginger ale with a cherry. Can't you get me a cherry?
And after you have wrestled and been hassled a lot, one like that can make you explode and you take the ginger ale or whatever it is and pour it on top of the head. So, thanks be to Allah I was aware of my environment, I was aware of my circumstances, and that's a key to success in life. Always be aware of your immediate environment, your immediate circumstances, because if you're not, you'll come to a wrong conclusion. So, these stewardesses, they were treating me bad. I said, you prejudiced skunk you. I didn't say to her, in my mind. You prejudiced skunk you. If you knew what I thought of you, you wouldn't be acting like this because you mean nothing to me. Absolutely nothing. That's what I was saying in my own mind. Don't think that this one of them black boys that want a white woman, you the last woman I want on this earth. That's what I wanted to tell her. But I couldn't do that. I'd be ignorant you see. So I just sit there smoldering. So, after a while it came to my mind. I'm kind of registering the environment you see. It came to my mind; these stewardesses are upset because of these old. So then I kind of relaxed. I kind of relaxed, and as soon as I relaxed, the stewardess changed her attitude toward me. Just my tension, just my tension. The tenseness in me, the tension in me was reflecting outwardly and the stewardess would be treating me bad too. But when I caught the environment, situation, environmental situation and registered it and came to my conclusion, then I relaxed. I said, no, all these stewardesses are not prejudice against black folks.
They're just up the tree. These old folks got 'em up the tree. So that stewardess she came and she spoke nice, and I really knew then that I was correct in my thinking. So I spoke nice to her. I returned a nice expression to her. So, she said, I wish I could have a vacation. She came to me then and cried on my shoulder. She said, "I wish I could have a vacation. I wish I could get my vacation right now, these old...." And she talked about her people worse than I would have. To me. And I then had to be an Imam for her too. I said, well, don't think that you're the only one that has to put up with situations like this. I say, we have old people in our family. There are old people in our community. I said occasionally we're going to have to do this. She walked away. I hope she's a better person now. I don't know.
Brothers and sisters, the point is this. I wouldn't be able to deal with a situation with that kind of intelligence if it wasn't for this Qur'an, if it wasn't for this religion. This religion puts us above the Baptist, above the Catholic, above the Methodist. I don't care what he is. No building in this city is more precious than this building right here. That's right. What is a building but the functions that are carried on in it. So when you pass by this building, you can't cross your heart, but you should lower your head and praise Allah. Yes, we pray Allah blessings be upon His Prophet and the peace and that He grant him the promise that He would make this religion prevail over all religions.
That He would establish Prophet Muhammad as the last Messenger to all the people, to all the world. That's our prayer. And I believe that we are closer to that now than we ever been in the history of humanity, in spite of what we see in the Middle East. The trouble that the presence of a militaristic machine presents there. In spite of that, in spite of the fact that Muslims are divided in the world. In spite of all that, I believe that we are closer to that today than ever before. All of those political clashes, nationalistic kinds of clashes and confrontations are nothing but attempts on the part of the devil machine to keep as many people as possible away from the truth of this Qur'an. They know that man now is more rational than he's ever been since this earth was created.
Man now has been exposed to more rational sense, more rational teaching than he has been exposed to since there was this earth. The learned media, the instructive media, all of these things have brought education to the common man. The common man of America, the common man of Asia, the common man of Africa, common man all over the world now is being addressed as a thinking person, as a thinking being. And this is the first time to our knowledge in the history of man, there have been a little isolated thing happening. Do you know that this Western government, this Western form of government, do you know that they were in power for centuries for more than a thousand years? And do you know that during all of those centuries, they kept education from the common man? This is history. It is just what, about a hundred years ago, that they made education available to the common people. Just about a hundred years ago. This is what you have to understand. So the literacy now that we talk about in other countries, we have to understand that just a hundred years ago, that same high rate of illiteracy was in Europe and in America. It was just a selected few that had education. The masses were denied education.
We live in a time I repeat, where a man now has an opportunity to be educated. All the other divisive and crippling kinds of things are in the atmosphere, but you do have the opportunity if you want to, you have the opportunity to educate yourself. Most of the homes have televisions in them, and most of the television have fine educational programs on them if you have the moral strength yourself to select the better things and turn off the worst, the bad thing, right? So, man today is more fortunate in terms of the possibilities for his intellect. He's more fortunate today than he's been perhaps since the world was created.
I'm talking about man at large. So dear beloved people, we should understand then that this world has to pull the wool over people's eyes. It has to emotionalize people. When I was in the industry, welding industry, we would sometimes magnetize materials. And you put it on a electromagnet, you shoot the juice to it and it comes out magnetize. And you can take the magnet out of it the same way. You put it on there, you shoot the juice to it and it's not magnetized anymore. There's the form of magnetizing and a form that demagnetize, take the magnetism out. Well, this world is the same way. It charges us with emotions. It charges us with sentiment, it charges us with feelings for and feelings against. And that's how they're managing to hold us in a state of inferiority, in a state of non-production. They're able to do that with that kind of manipulation of our emotional nature.
But if we can just get free of that, if we can just say to the world, I can't expose my heart to you. You don't know how to treat it. I can't expose my delicate mind and especially the delicate minds of my children to you. You don't respect it. So, we live in the mold of Al Islam, and we will not allow the influences of the world to take us out of the mold of Al Islam. Then brother and sister, we can listen and we can pick up the knowledge off the television, off the radio, from the magazine, from the newspaper. We can benefit from the wide distribution of the intelligent instructions in this world today. A time when it's more popular, more prevalent than any other time, we can benefit from this special time. Look at the opportunity here for us, great opportunity for us. Don't you that this is the best time in the history of man to my knowledge. You may say when they created Adam, that was a better time. Oh, Adam didn't know what was ahead.
You might say, oh, you know when Moses did, that was a better time. Okay, okay. All right. You just studied a little bit more what Moses was confronted with. You might say, Oh, Prophet Muhammad's time. It was a better time. No, no, no. I believe this time is a worst time. And it also was a better time. It is the worst time because we don't have Prophet Muhammad here. Therefore, it's the worst time for us. But it's a better time because we are exposed more to the kinds of things that we need to utilize, incorporate into our lives for a strong and healthy and progressive life. We exposed more to those kinds of things today than people were exposed yesterday, even in the times of Prophet Muhammad.
So much available to us. Dear beloved people, as long as they can set one race against another race, one religion against another religion, one religious faction against another religious faction in the same religion like they have in Ireland, like they have an England, pardon the Irish and the English people. One religion against another, like to have in the Middle East, the Muslim or the Arab against the Jews. And disguise that thing and make you think that the problem is race. That the problem is religion. As long as they can do that, we all are going to be cut off from the grave potential that G-d want us to reach. But if we can see all of these things as just what they call it, diversionary tactics, I believe that's what they call it, a tactic to take your mind off the real concern. As long as we can see it as that we are safe.
So don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged by what's going on in the Middle East. Don't be discouraged by what's going on in the world. All of these bush fires, all of these wars. Don't be discouraged by disunity that's among Muslims. Be encouraged by the fact that in a part of the world that has been really sin capital for the whole globe and among the people who have been written off, written even out of humanity. Among the lowest people and in the lowest country morally speaking, now is the voice of Al Islam coming from the lowest people out of the greatest sin hole. That should encourage you. And they're saying, we are not looking for any deities. We are not looking for any idols to worship. We make no images. We worship only the Lord who created all of us. One Lord created for us all.
And we are not looking for any skin to get into. We don't want to be Frenchmen. We want to be what we are. We want to be what Allah has made us. I look at myself and I say, this is negro. This is a black man. This is a Bilalian, and this is not a Chinese. I know that. This is not a Hispanic, I know that. You're not a white man. I know that. Well, I'm kind of confused because this has been awfully mixed up. Sometime I don't even want to say this is an African because it's awfully mixed up, but I do know that it's situated with the rest of you. So, whatever I call this, I have to get your approval for it because we in the same racial ethnic situation. So, I say, oh no, it's not negro. What is it, not black. No, that's divisive. That's divisive. That's the white man's scheme. It's not black. So, what is it Brother Imam? It's Bilalian. Is it really Bilalian Brother Imam? Yes, it's Bilalian. The one thing I know is it belongs to your situation.
I know that it belongs to your situation. Now, you call it by whatever name you want. It belongs to your situation. Say, do you want to come out of that and be a Frenchman? No. Do you want to come out of that and be an Arab? No. Would you like to be a Pakistan? No. Say isn't there somebody you want to be since you all confused in this body you got? No. And what has made you comfortable with this body you in? This Qur'an. For the first time, the black people of America can be comfortable with their own identities that Allah created for them. Because the lies are removed. The truth is put out there straight and clear. Oh yeah. So dear beloved Muslim, let us rejoice and I repeat, we should really give great value to what has been done here in this construction.
The builder, I think his name is Brother Naim and the carpenter Muhammad. Brother Muhammad. Your Imam Brother Rashid, the five or six families or more that got together and sacrificed their money, the Muslims who followed them out of the little place they were in and went to the park to save rent. All of you, you are giants. That's right. So just hold on. I looked at one sister when we came in and Brother Imam, he said, "We want to come through here." And the sister said, "Oh, well let us get out of the way." I wanted to tell her, no, you don't have to get out of the way. This is your day. I can wait for you to move. I ain't the big shot here. You the big shot. This is your accomplishment today. This day is your day. You are the big shot. That's right. Oh yes. And really, if a Muslim understands his religion, there's no self-importance in this religion. I don't care who I am. I can't come here showing off brass or pushing people around. No. I have to respect every human being on my level. That's right. If you get in front of me first, I'm not to say, Hey, get out of my way. I'm supposed to do the intelligent thing, wait for you to get out of my way
Because I may be the Imam, but Allah might have given you the same muscles, maybe a stronger punch than mine or a quicker reflex than mine and you can put me in my place. So where Allah has given us advantages in some areas, He has also equalized us. So we should respect that equality. Prophet Muhammad did it, the great Ansar, the great companions of Muhammad, they did it. They were seen sharing their animals with their companion, who was nothing but a servant. Come into the city, the servant riding the camel, the ruler walking on the ground. And the people say, what is this? They went to the wrong man. They went to the man on the camel. "Oh, welcome to the city." And they had to be told by the fellow on top of the camel, "No, that's him down there." They said, "What is this?" He said "Well, it was my turn to ride."
This is our religion. This is our religion. So let us rejoice. Let us rejoice and remember that these people have had centuries to pile up lies, to execute a war of lying, filthy the propaganda against this religion. So don't go to them, don't go to their sources. It's getting better now. You can find books that are fair toward Muslims than they used to be maybe 20 years or more ago, but still don't trust those outside sources. You have a community; you have an organized community life. Whatever you find on the outside, bring it to your Imam, bring it to Brother Rashid. Say Brother Rashid, "Is that okay?" I don't care If a man approaches you on the street looking like he came out of a Meccan spaceship, golden silk, white silk and gold and light shining all from his head and everything. Feet shining so bright, you can't look at 'em. And he come to you and say something to you about your religion. If it doesn't sound like what Brother Rashid, what we've been saying, you tell him, say "Bright creature, thank you very much. I'll take this to my Imam and check it out." That's right. "Oh, that's strange that the Imam would tell us something like that." Look the devil, according to scripture, the devil is quite deceitful and he has great magic. The devil has great magic. The devil can put himself into a form that will deceive you and make you think that he is the angel of light. Knowing this. I ain't going to trust nobody. Look, I didn't talk like this because no Arab shook my hand and greeted me and taught me. I didn't become this person because an Arab led me to the way or anybody outside of my own immediate circumstances. That's right. G-d has led me to the excellence of this religion. I can't give any man credit for that. Can't give anybody credit for that.
Only Allah. It is because of Allah that I've become the person I am now. Now do you think I'm going to risk all of this to those people out there in the world? No indeed. What I'm saying to you? You have leadership. And believe me, for the first time you have leadership. I know we don't like to hear this kind of talk, but look, the Ahmadiyyas try to establish themselves in the black community of America. Go among the Ahmadiyyas now and see do you see what we have here. There were people with along the same time called Moorish Americans. They were claiming to be Muslims. They tried to establish themselves here. Go among them and see what you find. We have others who came behind them, so-called Sunni. Now, Sunnis were here even when the Ahmadiyyas were here. And Sunnis wasn't taking care of any business at all for this religion. And the Ahmadiyyas were at least trying to do something with what they had. But now that we have embraced the right way, and now that Muslims now respect us all over the world, the so-called Sunnis are very active in America. The MSA and other organizations are very active in America now trying to propagate among the blacks and Hispanics.
But look dear people. They did not bring this community of Muslims to recognition. If they didn't bring this community of Muslims to recognition, then what we look like going to them for anything? Did they take up the issue that were pressing on us? They did not. They should have thought of us being right Muslims before. Don't wait until Allah make us right Muslims. And then you come say, now you're right Muslims. I want to take you by the hand and I want to lead you to the Sharia, I want to lead you to the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. Say, "Look man, I think I'm doing pretty good on the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. I went overseas and people recognized me there. Leaders, religious leaders, government leaders, they recognize me that I'm on the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. And I ain't never had you teaching me before. So, I don't think I need you to lead me to the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. You should have led me when I needed you."
You should have led me when the world was saying those people are a cult and we were thinking we were Muslims. We were thinking we were Muslims, we were sincere religious people. I know I was and I know many other brothers and sisters were. I know the majority under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that I met were very serious religious people, especially before 65, before that turbulent period. I know they were good, serious people. Alright. During the forties, during the fifties, I know we were mostly, most of us were good, serious religious people. So how come they didn't take us by the hand then? How come they didn't have the courage then to come to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and tell the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say, "Look, Mr. Muhammad, you are wrong. Look Mr. Muhammad, we want to help you." No, but once we get straight now, they want to help us.
And I said, come on, help. We love you. Welcome my brother. And I look around and that man is digging the foundation from under my feet. I said, hey, I feel myself wobbling. Hey, what's going on here? And then my Sunni brother digging the foundation from under my feet. I had to move. Hey, fill up that hole there, what happened? We welcome them and then they start trying to undermine the leadership. For what? What you want to undermine his leadership for? "Oh, he doesn't teach Sharia, he doesn't recognize the great Imams. Hanbali, Shafi, et cetera, et cetera. But look at his history. A lot of things wasn't said by the Imam. But in time he has come to say more and more. So why don't you have the patience to wait on him to bring the people to where they should be? No, but they want to be the leader.
Why? I want to know why. I don't like to hold you long like this, but I think we need it. I think we need it. Look my question is why? Why? Okay. I thought and thought and thought for now seven years or more. Why? Say is it political? Do they want a political hold through us? I think I'm doing the political job pretty good too. Can they do it better? I don't think so. Alright, so I wonder why. I thought it over and thought over it and I pushed out the evidence because I didn't want to accept it. And now I've come to accept the evidence. I can't help it. It's for money. It's only for money.
It's only for money. They want to impress the Saudis. They want to impress the Pakistanis. They want to impress their people back home that they are now the link between us and overseas. So, they will get power and recognition from overseas. And they'll get money from overseas to help us over here. The money will come through their hands to help us over here. Some of them are so petty, they want to undermine my leadership just to sell you books. That's all. They just want to sell books. Books and prayer rugs and dhikr beads and et cetera. They want a big prayer rug, dhikr beads Islamic literature business. And they say, "Oh, how many followers he got? They say he got, some people say he got a quarter million. Well, a quarter million if we just make a quarter, a quarter on each person, look how much money that is."
See, they counting dollars. Now, don't think that these few hypocrites, few notorious criminals among the Muslims represent the Muslim world. The don't. Majority of the Muslims are not like that. But these people, they come to hell to get a little peace. Yeah, this is hell. Believe me, you might say he sound like his father. Well, does my father sound like Jesus too? The Bible says it. The signs that I see in this world tell me this is hell. Okay, America Western society is hell, baby. This is hell. And why would some person come over here to hell from heaven? Why would somebody leave Medina or Mecca, a Muslim society to come here?
Unless he's coming for education. If he's coming for education, he's coming for education. But if he comes here and takes out a passport, gets an American US passport, or he comes here and set him up a business to do business in America, then he's setting up basically in hell, right? Yes. Alright. So, if he set up basically in hell, his purpose should be to reform hell, right? If he's a good citizen, person from overseas, then his purpose should be to reform hell. Okay, are these people working on hell? Or are they working on your heart? They ain't working on hell. You don't catch them out in the public like we are, calling the American people to good behavior. No, they're not doing that. They're not interested in the American people. They let the American people go, but they're after us.
Let me tell you something, this is serious cause it's going to get worse and worse. The more we grow, the more market these people going to see for the thing that they would like to sell, for the business, material opportunities that they might have. You see? So, the more we grow, the more serious this problem is going to become. So, I want to make it very plain to you, dear beloved brothers and sisters. These people are very, very, very envious. See, when you can't get your thing over, then hatred, envy, jealousy, envy starts to work. See? And they've been trying to, they thought by now they would've gotten some, a lot of, they thought bright boys out of this membership to follow them. And they thought through their bright boys, they would appeal to the rest of you. And they thought by now they would've made me almost insignificant. And they haven't been able to do that. So now rage come up, envy and jealousy. If I had the letter, I could read you a letter that one of these so-called immigrant Muslims wrote me. And you'll see that he's a total hypocrite. He doesn't follow Prophet Muhammad. He's a liar in the religion, but he's putting himself off as a decent good Muslim.
And I'm sure he's gotten to some of our ignorant people. And Qasim says, don't worry about 'em Brothr Imam. They get those, pretty soon they going to slow down the job that they trying to do and run out of the United States. Some of our people will change their minds. This ain't no easy job. It's no easy job trying to handle our situation. Some of our people will sure change their mind. They say, look, I wish I hadn't have made friends with this. So dear beloved people, this is very serious. Very serious. If you belong to a community, respect that community. If you say you got an Imam, you got a leader. Respect that leader, respect that Imam.
And if you think some other person is more qualified than your Imam, then have the good decency about yourself to go and tell your Imam that you are a nice person and you all have a nice thing going here. But I think that man out there is more qualified to teach me this religion. And I'm with him. I may come here occasionally, but I'm with him. Don't be a deceiver. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't be a plant to undermine the works of your brothers and sisters. No, be honest. Be honest. Say, look, I think that man know more than you. He's from Mecca, he's from Saudi Arabia, he's from Senegal wherever he's from. See, I think he knows more than you about this religion. He's more qualified than you to teach me the religion. But I do like what you all are doing. And occasionally you will see me coming here. I think the average Imam will welcome that person. I do believe that. I do believe the average Imam in our community will welcome that person. Say, well look we don't have no problem with that. Say you are a truthful person. You are welcome to come here whenever you like. But how can any of us respect a deceiver?
How can any of us feel warm toward a hypocrite? None of us can do that. And believe me, I know the situation. You are nothing but liars and hypocrites. It's not because those people can teach you more. It's because we won't justify your weaknesses.
We won't support your weaknesses. You want more than one wife. You want to hide your identity and talk like you are an Arab "Asalaam Alaikum brother." You want to run from your identity as a race, as a people you see? So, you don't like us because we catch you acting like that we say "Hey, where you come from, buddy? What's on your mind? You getting other than yourself. Come back home to your good senses." See, we going to put you on the spot. So you can go over there and you can wear a tam, you can be a Frenchman, you can be a Spanish, you can be a Cuban, you can be anything over there and you can buy dhikr beads, you can buy sandals and things you see. So, we know your problem. So, you got that problem carry it out there, get on out there with it. But don't stay here and be a hypocrite or don't go over there and join somebody or some old weak person want to sell some books or something. They could join him and then come among our people and say, "Brother, did the Imam teach you the Shariah yet?
Has he given you the books of Imam Malik? You don't have that brother? What's the Imam doing for you? He's doing nothing for you all." This is bigger than you think it is. And those small petty people arent going to harm this. They going to harm themselves. And we in this effort here is not because I fear any threat to this community from outside. I fear no threat to this community from the outside. This attention that I have given to this problem is only for the sake of the innocent, dumb person that might be led astray. That's all it's for. But Brother Imam Rashid, I know you and you know me. This place can empty out and you won't be reduced at all. It'll fill up again. It'll get bigger. Yes. But thanks be to Allah you got some good people here, strong people here. And with these good few strong people you have here Inshallah, Allah will eventually bring this community to be Muslim. Not this Masjid I mean this whole surrounding, white people and all of 'em will come to Shahada, La Ilah Il Alah, Muhammadan Rasulullah. InShallah that will come. Oh yes, it can come. This is the beginning. To have faith, have patience and work hard, persevere. That's what Allah ask of us.
So, we pray Allah bless us with sound heart, purity of intention. That He bring us to respect His gifts in our life, respect the goodness that is done by us no matter what source it comes from, that He bring us in close unity and love for each other as a Muslim community. That He bring our hearts to love Prophet Muhammad more than we love our own selves and our families. And bring our hearts to love each other, to care for each other, that we be defenders of each other. Prophet Muhammad has said that the Muslim is the mirror of his brother. And Prophet Muhammad has said that the Muslim is the one who keeps his brother safe from his tongue and from his hand.
So, we have been encouraged by our Prophet to be one community, protecting the concerns and interests of each other and obeying Allah. That is that when we have to, we pull our own brother and sister back from wrong. Because Prophet Muhammad has told us in his instruction that we are also to help our brother and sister, even though they be in the wrong. And it was asked, how do we help? He said by pulling them from the wrong. So, oh Allah make us the community of people respecting this religion as Prophet Muhammad established it, Ameen.
Praise be to Allah, the Guardian Evolver, the Cherisher and Sustainer of all the worlds. Peace and blessings upon His Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed as guidance and mercy. We pray Peace be upon him and upon his family and his descendants, and upon the righteous, all of them. Upon us here in America and throughout the world. Dear beloved Muslims in concluding today, I want to bring your attention to the growth of this community.
As the leader of this community, I feel that the community today is stronger than it has been in the eight years that I've been leading this community. I find that there's a better quality of people in the leadership and also in the membership. I find that many who used to be weak and I think kind of confused as to what their life should be. I think they have come home, many of them have come home. So, I see a great improvement. The Council of Imams, they're doing a much better job today than they did last year or year before. And the Council is constantly and steadily improving. We have five people on the Council now. Some of them you know yourself, you have experience working with them. Qasim Ahmed and also Imam Ibrahim Pasha is also here today. Ibraheem Pasha is the Convener of the Council. His term began June 1st. So, we have, I think a solid community.
A solid community. It can be better, but it is a solid community. Our leadership is solid and our membership is solid. So, we are in a position now, I think, to really get involved in productive work. You can't get involved in productive work if you are not organized, if you are not together. If you get in productive work disorganized, not respecting each other, not respecting the directions of the community, then your efforts just fizzle out. Your efforts go to destructive ends rather than to constructive ends. I think we have a leadership now in this community and a membership that can support productive work. So, we are trying to encourage more business growth among the individuals who have entered into business. We are encouraging members who, especially persons who know each other, who are acquainted with each other, who can vouch for each other. To get together, who have the same kinds of business concerns, to get together and do business, get together and make business.
And we are encouraging the whole membership to support every business effort in our community. And there is only one way to make it on this earth. We're not in heaven, we're on earth. There's only one way to make it on this earth, and that is to establish yourself materially. You can establish yourself morally, but if you stop there, you will not be anything but just a slave. Something to be ignored in this world. Because these people laugh at your morals when you are not trying to get some material substance. And that's not our religion. Allah says, "Seek with the means that I have given you the promised life. But don't forget your share of this Dunya." Now you ask any Imam, ask even the one that came off the Mecca spaceship with the shiny light shoes and the glitter and the sparkling hair and everything. You ask even him what Dunya means. He would say, it means this earth. You say what? This world. He says, this world. What do you mean? He says, it means this ground, this world brother. That's what Dunya is. Okay?
He says, Seek the hereafter, the promised life. Ask any Arab what that means. He'll say that means don't forget. Say what else it means. It means don't neglect. Nasibaka. Say what that means. He say that means your share. Minal Dunya. That means of this world. That's plain, that's plain. Requires no interpretation. That's not the allegorical part of it. That's the plain talk. Plain, well established. Plain, solid. Okay, so Allah has told me, not Karl Marx, not President Reagan or any of the Founding Fathers, Allah told me to seek the spiritual development. But don't forget my share of this world. Therefore, the Muslim community cannot stop at good morals and not get involved in business. We must have good morals, and that's the foundation for good Muslim business. We going to require that Muslims practice Muslim ethics in everything they do, whether it's business, politics, government, whatever it is, practice Muslim ethics. We are going to hold the people to that. We are not trying to be any Muslim. We are trying to be the Muslim. And we want a Muslim community, we want Muslim housing. We want to establish a Muslim housing community where we can have homes and Muslims live together and we can spread out and have a town. And we have our government official over that town. That's America, that's American life. That's American democracy.
The Mormons have their town. Other people have their town. The Chinese come here and they put their writing up on the street pole. I can't even read it. I'm English. I've been living here before they came here and I can't even read the street sign anymore. They done changed the street sign and put Chinese on the street sign. I can't even see what street it is. What street is it? It's in Chinese. That's America. That's America. That's American democracy. And we want our full share of it. Praise to Allah. We're going to build a great society. In fact, we want to build the best society because a true Muslim society is a society that can't be beat. So we pray for Allah's mercy and for His guidance, we pray that He grant us success in everything that we do of good. We pray that He choose only good for us. We pray that He cause us to walk in the straight path of Prophet Muhammad, follow his Sunnah and live the religion as it was demonstrated by him and his upright companions. Ameen.
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