2001 March 13
Daily Life of a Muslim
Interview 

Imam WD Mohammed
You didn't catch it. Somebody said you missed the whole word.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
That's why I was telling Imam Nasir in the Arabic that we did, I took it straight from the Qur'an because I know it's been proofread from a whole lot of people and I pasted it like we do with the plan. I pasted everything because the last time I did some materials, we typed the Arabic in there. If you don't have a lot of proofreaders, we put a fata someplace, a kasra that's supposed to be something elses, damas gone or a ha. You put a ha there. And so I just said just work at getting English perfect. If I could read the English, I'd be satisfied.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Brother Imam, how many pages did you want in the book? Did you have a number in mind?
WD Mohammed:
You the boss. That's you all's project. You all know best how many pages. I would say no more pages than required. I don't believe in working for bulk. Or to impress somebody with something that this has 200 pages. I believe in just taking care of the job.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Okay. Yes sir. Okay. And was it the size that you wanted that you have in mind?
WD Mohammed:
I think the size that you all did before on Stony Island. The Teaching of WD Mohammed.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Okay. Yeah. That green book.
WD Mohammed:
You gave me one. I saw it. Yeah. It was very good size. Yeah, I think it should be left just like a standard paper size.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
You know Brother Imam I wanted to give you maybe an idea, an overview of what you want to achieve as a goal of the book. I had an idea in discussing with you when you said the everyday life....
That book will achieve achieve a lot that we seem not be able to achieve with this new organization structure or new organizational concept of organization for us. Which is one that puts the responsibility into the hands of local people and their Imam. So because of that, Imams tend to hide and keep to themselves what they're doing and how they're running their Masjid. And it's okay as long as you're doing the job well, but many of them are not doing the job well and they need a lot of help, but we won't know it. So they won't ask you for help. But this manual most likely is going to be accepted by all of them and they're going to benefit.
So the manual should try to take care of, address all the serious concerns for an Imam in the position of the responsibility for his congregation, the direction in Islam for his congregation. It should take care of all those problems, even his own training. It should address his own needs, his need to study, his need to keep up, his need to have at least basic knowledge and to be able to express it clearly. Good grammar, good grammar, good speech. So we have to have some standards, to use language that would communicate standards to them that they have to live up to, have to perform on certain levels. And beneath that is not acceptable. At least an acceptable standard for everybody. And they should be able to know, they should be able to lead prayers, quote from Qur'an and the life of the Prophet. They just can't quote from the Qur'an. They have quote from the life of the Prophet too in the Kutbah. The Kutbah is not complete if you're not quoting from the life of the Prophet. You have quote from the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet, and they have to do it with an appreciation for it. They have to feel good doing it. They have to feel good doing it. And that means, that's what I mean by doing it with an appreciation for it. They have to feel good doing it. And if they feel good doing it that means that a sense for the value of it Is there.
But if their sense for the value of it is not there, then they're not going to feel excited. They're not going to feel good about doing it. And the people going to feel that too when they conveying it. So you could read the whole Holy Qur'an to me, but if you read it with no sense of appreciation for it, you going put me sleep, maybe make me want to walk out and never come back and listen to you again. And you read the whole book of G-d.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
But they weren't attached to it.
WD Mohammed:
Right. So what I'm saying, they're not going to be good Imams unless they study and have a love for what they represent. And that should be drilled into them.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Yes sir.
WD Mohammed:
You can't be a good Imam without studying and without having a real love, true love for what you say you represent. And that's this religion and Prophet Muhammad, Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Also what we wanted to do, some of those areas that we have there, we wanted to maybe for some of the believers as well as ourselves to know why we do some of the things that we do. You have that sheet.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Which one?
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
The one that we gave you?
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Yes sir.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Like Imam Qasim brought the point up that his wife was saying how some of the sisters are uncomfortable when they're on their menses as it relates to handling the Qur'an and things of that nature.
WD Mohammed:
The individual should behave according to their best sensitivities and knowledge. So if I don't feel that I should do it, I shouldn't do it. If I feel unclean then I shouldn't touch it. That doesn't mean you tell another sister "Hey, don't do it." No. Each individual has to make that decision for themselves. And anyone who feels uncomfortable with their condition, their cleanliness or uncleanliness, they should obey their best thoughts and sensitivities. And that's the teaching of Islam. If something wavers in your mind and you can't make a decision, something is troubling, you can't do that, then you should abstain. That's the teaching of Prophet Muhammed.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Now, Brother Imam. When in the morning when we're first rising. Years earlier, you made some comments what the adhan is and why in the morning you're making two rakats, and then we make the two rakats silent and then we saying the prayer out loud. This is fajr. Then you said in the noon prayer, those are all said silent and so forth. And what we wanted to do was to take comments like those and add them into the daily life of the Muslims so that the believers would have some idea of why you do these things. And we just wanted to know if you wanted to add commentary to those things. Like you're saying, the believers have more incentive, even more. I know I'm supposed to do this, this is the Sunnah of the Prophet, but why is it so important?
WD Mohammed:
Yeah. The light that serves our physical eyes, this light, these lights in the sun. The light that serve our physical eyes, vision, these are lights that were created for the human body and the human mind. It's created for the human being in his body with his human mind. Rational, with his rational human mind. So the Bible distinguishes between the divine light and the light of the world. So we can only see so much in the light that serves the physical vision. We see much more when we internalize, bring our attention inside ourselves and begin to try to understand what we saw outside of ourselves with our physical eyes. We see much more. Yeah. So this light is really inferior to the light, the guidance of G-d and it's inferior even to man's own intelligence.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Yes sir.
WD Mohammed:
Cause he has to use his intelligence to better understand what he sees, what the light shows him. So what it's saying is the light of this world is inferior to divine guidance or divine light. That's what it's saying. So most of the prayers that's said after the sunrise they'll say silently except the Eid prayer.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
That's right.
WD Mohammed:
Why does the Eid prayer represent an exception? The Eid prayer represents an exception because at that time you're supposed to be renewed and reborn. It's a renewal. The Eid is symbolic of a rebirth or renewal. And renewal means the sins and the faults of the person have gone away. Have gone away. So this is a pure person. They're supposed to be celebrating with two individuals on the Eid. It's not true, we know that. But it's true for some. It's true for some. So this is a time of renewal and innocence and everybody is supposed to be in that spirit and mind. So we are not supposed to be having this Eid with nonbelievers.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Now how does that relate to Jumu'ah? The Jumu'ah said out loud in the day.
WD Mohammed:
Yeah, the Friday prayer said out loud too. For the same reason. Yeah, for the same reason. Friday prayer is exactly what the Eid is even more so. But Muhammad the Prophet said "No one has died or has been resurrected except on that day." So on that day the believers are all in their best condition. Right. So it's not a physical day. It's not a literal day. But it's a condition that that Friday represents.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Brother Imam, I'd really like to put that in the book. I mean that kind of concept. You understand what I'm saying? I think that along with those quotes you saw, that's the kind of thing that I think and I think Imam Qasim was saying we would like to see in the book to kind of help people to see a little more why you should do it. Like you were saying, how Imams need to be excited.
WD Mohammed:
It's a sign more than anything else. It's a sign that when G-d blesses us with rebirth, with renewal of life or rebirth, we'll be able to speak and express ourselves according to the guidance of G-d and have no fear that what we saying is not going to be received correctly or understood in the right way. You see? It's going to be a time of openness, a time of trust, complete trust. So it's really a sign, it's a sign of the afterlife. That's what the Eid is and also the Jumu'ah. It's a sign of the afterlife that one day we are going to be before G-d and we'll have no sins bothering us and we'll have no ignorance in the way of our communication and we'll be able to speak clearly and be heard clearly and speak clearly. We'll be able to speak clearly and be heard clearly.
But now it's wisdom too. It's a sign and it's also wisdom. And the wisdom of it is this. When you are in a situation where your enemies can hear you along with your friends, it's best you talk only to your friends, don't talk to your enemies, because they all in the same light of the world right with you. So don't talk to your enemy like you talk to your friend.
Your friend should be able to follow you and trust you. Right. They don't know what you reciting from the Qur'an do they? They have to trust you. So it means the community should trust their leaders to lead them and don't expect their leaders to expose everything to the world. The world may hurt you. The world may give you a lot of stuff that you don't have a defense against. to strategy prophecy.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
I remember years ago you told me something. You said "Don't throw pearls to swine." Find people who are keen in the spirit and share it only with them.
WD Mohammed:
Right. I remember that. That's the way I am.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Something happened during the Jumu'ah. I was reciting a verse that I reciter all the time. But I lost it and nobody could help me. I went back again and came back, couldn't get it. I went back in and came back and I got it. So he told me afterwards, he said that was a sign that we got a long way to go. He And I went back and start over, went back again and on the third time and I got it, I could finish it.
WD Mohammed:
I have been in that same situation. That's right. But I've had it worse. They were telling me something wrong. If I had followed that, I'd have said it wrong. I've would have quoted the scripture the wrong way. I would have been incorrect. There's something else that helps us right here in this area where we're talking right now, this area we are addressing right now. Jesus Christ, Peace be upon him. He's the only Prophet to my knowledge or the only human being that served G-d in the special mission to my knowledge that spoke in the cradle. Said he spoke while he was in the cradle, he spoke. Now if anybody was to know that he did that, it should have been his mother. Right? Peace be upon her. But when they asked her about him, she couldn't do anything but point to him. So while he was speaking she must couldn't hear.
Why? Because he spoke inside, he spoke inside or as the Bible say in parables. And she wasn't trained in that language. So whatever he was saying in the cradle, she couldn't understand. So really that's the meaning of him speaking in the cradle isn't it? That he spoke in parables. You understand what I am saying?
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Yes sir. I hear what you said earlier too is that when you among your enemies, you have to speak in a way that those are sensitive what you're saying can understand while your enemy is shut out of the message you are trying to convey.
WD Mohammed:
Yes. Because event in the time of Chirst Jesus, his enemies anticipated his time of delivery and sought to kill him like they did to Moses. So the enemies of the darkness, I think that's the way it's put by him. The darkness was trying to take him, destroy his life even before his life manifest. He spoke in parables. And we know from history that the religious community used secrecy as a third language to protect them from the savage people, from the barbarian, savage people that didn't understand religion, they weren't enlightened and they had no appreciation for those things. They couldn't appreciate the higher knowledge and higher realites. So they would destroy what they didn't understand.
So it was given to the world in a way that sought to deliberately deceive the enemies. Send them in the other direction. Say "Oh these people, they harmless. That stuff they talking about nothing but enchantment." That's what it said enchantment. You don't believe that ridiculous stuff. But if they had been able to see the wisdom in it like the ones who were giving it, they would come with the noose or with the guns or the swords or something. They would kill them before they able to get started. So the wisdom is, the wisdom in it is to protect it until they protect the child. Until the child can be protected.
Protect the child until the child can be delivered. Protect the word until the word can be delivered.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
I see it in the work that you've been doing all these years, the language that you use it's really protecting the community.
WD Mohammed:
One of the students, essential students who's studying the revealed word. He can't really communicate it with his own light on. So he's actually dumb or mute until G-d turns the light on for him. Right?
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
That's right. Absolutely right.
WD Mohammed:
That's another sign that we speak it in silence in the light that our mind understands. We speak it silently to say we recognize that we couldn't speak with this light on, we couldn't speak until G-d turned His light on for us. So it's silent. And it's to say another thing. That the human being speaks with its feelings, human being speaks with its soul before it speaks with it's rational mind.
So there's a lot involved there. That's what I'm saying. But essentially two observations. One is that the word in the world of the unG-dly is endangered. Especially before it establishes itself in the rational mind of the good people. So it has been protected by G-d. G-d inspired the people to speak their hearts and not to say things that the enemy would use against them, excite the enemy to be afraid of them or what they might do, what they might be able to do and kill 'em before they could even establish their life. That's one. And the other one is that actually we did not have the power to communicate the guidance with our minds light on. We had to wait until G-d inspired us and gave us divine light and guidance. Then we were able to communicate to each other, into the ears of each other. And another sign is that Prophet Jesus, Peace, be upon him, spoke in parables and came to serve the will of G-d but through signs, himself being the main sign. Whereas Prophet Muhammad came to make it clear to express it for the rational mind. Now, the guidance is clear now in the Qur'an and the teacher is clear, he's a rational teacher, very clear. But everybody's not able to get it on that level, right? The majority of the people, you still have to speak to them mostly in parables. Is that not the truth?
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
That's the truth.
WD Mohammed:
So the Prophet Jesus, Peace be upon him he represents something that's eternal in us. It ain't going to change, though a message comes that brings light and clarity and rational pereception. The nature of people is not going to change. So Jesus has to continue to live with us even at the time of Muhammed right?
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Prophet Muhammed said "And Jesus and I will be together."
So Jesus has to continue to live with us. Even in the time of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon both of them. The Bible says this very plainly. He said, "I'm going away but nevertheless I'm with you." Gone and at the same time still with you. And he said, I in you, he never said that but I'm gone now, I ain't in you anymore. So still he dwells with the people. So he's gone. Which means the same nature that I represent is in you and I'm addressing that nature and I'm going to be gone. But that nature's still in you. When light comes, when the light comes on for the people. It's highly symbolic when it comes to Jesus, what he is and what we are in our Christ nature. Because we have Christ nature too.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Every day in the life of the Muslim, if I wake up in the morning, how should I see my everyday life after I wake up? How should I see that day? What should be my intent for that day?
WD Mohammed:
In one short expression to be on your best behavior in the presence of G-d, you should live as Muhammad said, as though you are seeing G-d all the time. Or if you are not seeing Him, know for sure He's seeing you.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
In going through these steps, what do I do when I get up, first thing? What's the first thing you do when you get up?
WD Mohammed:
First thing you do is remember G-d. And if we could teach people how they should remember G-d, we should tell them as soon as you are conscious of G-d, say Allahu Akbar. And the support for that is the people are sleeping when the Adhan for Fajr time is called. And the first thing said is Allahu Akbar. That should wake them up. Allahu Akbar should wake them up. So if that's the first thing to be put on your mind. That means the first thing you should be thinking about G-d is greater.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
You said something to me before, but I still have to say this. Some people have that manual, the one we did and they call us all the time. They say "Oooh this is nice." It's just like you said you can't get to them, some of them physically, but if they have that book and they read it, it helps them.
WD Mohammed:
Oh yeah.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Because I mean whether they're Imams or not, they have all given positive comments. And it's mainly because of your tafsir, you know the explanation. And I had said this before, the Imam said, well they got the Qur'an, they should be excited by it. So I say it with a grain or salt.
WD Mohammed:
Brothers kept telling me after they decided that they could go their own ways, they kept telling me, "We really thank you Brother Imam. Thank you for giving us the Qur'an and the Sunnah and Prophet Muhammad." And I didn't say anything but in my own mind I was saying, You fool, you had that before I came along. And all those Arabs over there dumb as donkeys and real asses in the public of the Islamic world, dumb as they can be. But their Arabic speakers. They read it in Arabic. They read the Qur'an, they don't get anything out of it. Well they get something out of it but not enough to give them enough light to walk in that darkness that their leaders have them in.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Or to change the world.
WD Mohammed:
So they live on, they live on the strength that Allah is G-d. That's what the masses in the Islamic world live on. They live on the strength that Allah is G-d. There's one G-d for everybody. And He's a good G-d, just G-d. I can trust my G-d. That's what they live on the strength of. And they live on the strength that Muhammad was a beautiful and good man, the best of human beings. So that's what they live on. But they don't have nothing to throw at their false leaders. They need more than just a belief in the goodness of G-d and the goodness of man to throw something at their leaders who are wrong. They need more than just that. Oh, that'd be a good start. But the leaders too smart. They can fix that. "We want a good leader." And the leader say, "Well I'm a good leader. I've done this and I've done that.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
In those countries, the women over there speak up against what the leaders in government been doing to them. They haven't been treated like they shoulda been treated.
Speaker 1:
I'm sure they haven't. I know when I was there, both women and the men weren't treated with respect.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Yeah. When we visited you and I and the house we went to, they were scared to have us in the meeting.
WD Mohammed:
The youngsters met me and actually one of 'em told me, "They're not going to let you speak." That's what he told me. A Kuwaiti youngster told me that said, "They're not going to let you speak." And he was right. They didn't. He was right. They didn't let me speak and brought me in there like they wanted me to come in there and speak. But they wanted me to come in there and be seen with them and say Asalaam Alaikum to them. To greet them but not to speak. So they're not trusting their people as they should. All Muslims are supposed to be believers. And the same word that says, I'm a believer says I should be trusted. If I'm Muslim I should be trusted. Come from the word trust. Safety, security, is the essence of the word. That's the essence of the word. Safety and security. It's safe and it's secure. That's the essence of the word. Then if you are safe and protected and secure by me, if you are safety and security for me, I can trust you. I'm safe and I'm secure with you so I can trust you. So that's, that's how the meaning trust comes in. See. So trust is the direct meaning for Mu'min. Not belief, that's not the direct meaning for Mu'min. The direct meaning for Mu'min is safety and security. Prophet Muhammad said, "Your brother is safe from your tongue and your hand." Right? Yeah. "And don't say you believe, say you have submitted yet faith have not yet entered into your heart."
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Brother Imam we'll give this to you. This is the general outline that me and Imam Qasim put together if you just wanted to make some comments on it. We have drawn from the Qur'an and from the Hadith. But you may want to give some supportive comments like what you're doing now. I just wanted to show you to
WD Mohammed:
Now I did go over some of this you sent, I did go over it.
Imam Nasir Ahmed:
Okay. Alright.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
This is just the way I wanted to show how we could put the book together. Because you made the statement about how a Muslim lives from the time we wake up to the time we retire. And that's one of the things you mentioned to me when we talked. How is the Muslim when he wakes up to the time he goes to sleep, what is his day like?
WD Mohammed:
Yeah.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Because you say, I want the new Muslim to be able to see what our life is like.
WD Mohammed:
Exactly. And then they'll be attracted to it.
Imam Qasim Ahmed:
Yes sir. So I was just putting it in a scenario like this, different things that happen from the time I wake up. Then I greet my wife, go to the toilet. A lot of these books, they got everything., You have breakfast and then you see your children off to school. Then you got to go to the workplace in a non Muslim environment. So how do I live in a non Muslim environment too? There was a question I wanted to ask you. You made a statement in one of your talks. You said "You cannot really know Islam until you live in an environment of Islam. And you haven't been there yet, we haven't been there yet."
WD Mohammed:
You have to live it. And to live it, you have to be like the astronaut who goes outside of this atmosphere. He has to take atmosphere with him to live in an atmosphere less environment. So this world is just like an atmosphere less environment in its unG-dly constitution. So you live in it and you don't have your own atmosphere. But these words and this conscious reminding yourself and following the guidance of Qur'an the and the Sunnah of the Prophet, the way of the Prophet, it gives you that atmosphere for your life. I see something here that should be added before and after eating. The best to be said before eating is Bismillah. And the best to be said after eating is Alhamduillah. It says the last of the du'a is Praise be to G-d, the Lord of all the Worlds. You find in Islamic countries when they finish the meal, somebody says Alhamduillah Rabbil Al Amin.
It's up to us to create an Islamic environment in our own home. You can't impose a life on the public that it doesn't accept. It accepts Christianity.


