8/31/1997
IWDM Study Library
State of the Muslim Address at Meadowlands Secaucus NJ

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
[applause]
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed: Praise be to Allah, it's a wonderful day. Praise be to Allah. We praise G-d, the G-d of us all. The one Lord Creator who made everything and cares about all of His creatures, about all human beings. We witness that G-d is one and we witness that Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed, is the seal of the prophets, the last of the prophets, G-d's servant and His messenger. We also witness as our prophet required it, when persons were converting to Islam 1400 and some years ago. We also witness and believe that Jesus Christ is G-d's servant and His messenger.
We also believe of His mother, that His mother was a pure woman, and she conceived without a human mortal male, that G-d created her son out of her, a pure woman. A woman who was raised according to Islam, a woman who was raised up above all the women of the world. 
An address on the state of Muslims for this Islamic convention in Secaucus New Jersey would have to include a very serious interest in the spiritual state of all people, and that is why we are very comfortable sharing this platform with a very powerful and popular personality, a servant of G-d, a Christian, Dr. Robert H Schuller.
[applause]
Again, the same explains why we are so at home with our very honorable guest, the representative and members of the Focalore Movement.
[applause]
What is Islam? The prophet was asked that question, and his reply was "Islam is to believe in G-d." To witness that there is one G-d, and he said, "Islam is to pray to that G-d." He said, "Islam is to give in charity." He said, "Islam is to fast the month of Ramadan," the month in which the Quran was revealed to Muhammad 14 centuries and some years ago. He said that Islam is to visit the house. The house is the house built by Prophet Abraham, upon the prophet be peace, and his son who is also a prophet called Ishmael in the Bible, Ismail in Arabic language. Ibrahim, the Prophet Ibrahim and Ismail built that house.
It was a house built for the worship of G-d, the one G-d. A house built for all people. Allah says in our Holy Book that it is a house [Arabic language], built for all people, [Arabic language] The house was not built for blacks or for whites or for reds or browns, the house was built for humanity, for all people. The house wasn't built for Muslims as such, the house was built for all people. It is a sign, it is a house that serves the human life of all people. G-d says anyone, any person, any human being, the nas, the people at large will find in that house great benefit, and it is a place of security and peace.
This is our religion. Our religion doesn't say that this all started for a particular people, it started for all people. G-d says that the Quran that it is not the guidance for one people, it is [Arabic language], it is guidance for all the people. I'm only using these Arabic terms for those who speak Arabic and know Arabic in the audience, and we do have some. Usually, those who speak Arabic and know Arabic in my audience are those that are quick to misinterpret what I say that's why I use some Arabic also. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. I think it's a language barrier or something.
For all people. Here we turn toward in a direction in prayer, seeing in our view mentally or when we visit the area, physically, a simple little one cubicle building that used to house many idols, many G-ds of the pagans that they made an idol in form out of clay, wood or whatever, stone, but now it is clear and empty as Abraham cleared it, the house of false G-ds. Our prophet Muhammad cleared that house of all the false G-ds that the pagan Arabs had put into that house. So now, there is nothing on the inside, it's empty. It is an empty house, it's empty on the inside. Only air is in there. It's empty on the inside.
It is a small cubical place, a small cubical that they call the home. It's translated as the house, but actually ask any Arabic speaking person what does bayt means, he'll say home. al-bayt, the home. Home in English is touches us a little deeper than house. Anyone can have a house, but you have to make a home. You have to work hard at it too. For all people, it says said. Then G-d says in the Quran, I repeat, "This is guidance for all people." Our Holy Book is guidance for all people. The last chapter of our Holy Book, it's a prayer really for protection, for G-d's protection from the evil one, the Satan and his evil subjects that obey him.
It says, "Say I seek refuge, a place of safety with the Lord of all people." Rabin nas, with the Lord of all people. So here is our Holy Book beginning with these words "This is guidance for sure." For any who will respect G-d, who reverence G-d. For any who reverence G-d. It goes on to say, it gives other characteristics of this particular type of person, and I find those characteristics in good Christians and in good Jews too.
[applause]
In the sense of the Quran more than once, in the second chapter of the Quran, this is guidance and more than one. This is guidance for all people, [Arabic language]. I gave it all for those who speak Arabic or who read the Quran in Arabic. How can we have a state of the Muslim address without including in that address a very serious interests in the spiritual state or the spiritual condition of all people? Muslim-Christian relations began, as I see it, with Prophet Muhammad and his time of trial and suffering 14 centuries and almost 20 years ago.
That time saw Muslims receiving political asylum. Political asylum, a place of refuge, a place of safety from the Christian heads of the country we know today to be Ethiopia. Muhammad the Prophet, upon him be the prayers and the peace, sent a small group of followers as an envoy to seek refuge and protection from the murderous hands of the pagan Arabs of Mecca. When Allah missioned Muhammad the prophet to be His servant and His messenger a mercy to all the world, there were no people calling themselves Muslims on this earth. Remember that. I don't care what Minister Farrakhan tells you, remember that.
There were no people calling themselves Muslims on this earth. They didn't know that name. That began with the preaching of our Prophet Muhammad that people started to call themselves Muslims. Now, we have to take that name seriously because as Muslims, we are told that every human being is Muslim. The word means wanting peace and wanting to be at peace. We know that you can't have that peace until you find your peace with your G-d, with your maker, with your Lord, with your Creator, so that's what's the word is all about. The one who accepts the peace with his G-d, he automatically then is in a condition to work for peace with his fellow man.
While we firstly seek peace with G-d, automatically we accept that a Muslim is one who wants peace with other human beings. He wants peace with all of creation that G-d made. He doesn't want to be an enemy of G-d's works, handiworks it's called in the Bible, I think. He doesn't want to be an enemy of G-d's handiworks. He wants to be His friend, he wants to be at peace with G-d's handiworks. The whole creation, everything in the heavens and everything on earth. This is a Muslim. This is what Muslim means. Now, if Muslim is the identity that is inherent, or in everybody, us and everybody, then we can understand why G-d doesn't address us all the time Muslim, but He address us all the time believers.
How many times have you read the Quran, any part of it where G-d says, "Oh Muslims"? Very, very rare, but G-d says, "Oh believers." Along with the Quran, the message of the Quran, He wants us to know that he has believers in heaven who are Christians, who are Jews, and who are others, they're in heaven, and He showed it to our prophet. he showed our prophet the heavens and our prophet said he saw Christians and Jews in the heavens.
[applause]
Peace and the blessings be on him. Praise be to Allah. He sends a group of followers to get help from Christians. This is the beginning of our knowledge of how Muslims should have good, friendly, brotherly ties with Christians. Here is a persecuted following very small, the prophet only had a very small number of believers with him at that time, seeking, in fact, they were sent by him. He sent them to Ethiopia, called at that time the land of the Habashe. He sent them to Ethiopia to get protection from the pagans. Pagan Arabs or Arab pagans, I don't know how to put that. I think I should say pagan Arabs. I want to soften it because they're still Arabs and some of them want to be pagan.
I'll soften it. Pagan Arabs.
Yes, and what happened? Let us continue. They were seeking protection from the murderous hands of the pagan Arabs of Mecca, the native town where our prophet was born. They shared with the Christian heads of the state the Quranic readings on the person of Christ Jesus, upon him be peace, and on the person of the virgin mother, Mary, upon her be peace. What they read from the Quran convinced this Christian heads of state of their innocence, whereupon he granted them political asylum. A safe place out of the reach of their pagan enemies. I choose to build upon this earliest record as a first lesson for Muslims and dialogue and in peace-building with Christians.
We must build upon that first lesson. We must not go to the Christians telling them what we have as our differences. We must go to them as that envoy went to them, stressing what we have in common. What we have that's the same.
[applause]
Islam 2000 is the title of a book authored by Murad Hofmann. Murad is a Muslim name. Murad Hofmann and published by Amana Publications in Beltsville, Maryland. I'm sure many of you, as all of our leaders, I'm sure you know about Amana Publications in Maryland. A big facility there that's doing a great job of printing, making possible the publication of many good books on Islam and on the image of Muslims to correct the false idea that we have in the air about Muslims as terrorists and as bad people.
Chapter six of his book has the title, How to Avoid Catastrophe and Serve Islam.
Now I quote this book from that chapter, "We should be appreciative of any effort and serve Islam. We should be appreciative of any effort to stem the new type of national or cultural chauvinism." Now here's an author that represents many others, imams, scholars, lecturers in Islam, writers in Islam who believe that the great problem for us as Muslims when it comes to really knowing our own identity correctly is the confusion that comes into our religion from our habits, from our cultural traditions, from our nationalism, et cetera. The same is the problem for our relationship with non-Muslims.
They see not so much of our religion all the time. They see our customs that are really in conflict with our religion. They see our racial dress, they see our cultural dress, they see our nationalism, and they take that to the Islam because we think now it’s Islam, we have gotten off track, we have lost ourselves, we think as Islam too. So we show them something that we have fabricated, that we have put over ourselves like a shroud covering the real person beneath the shroud. We show that to the world and we say that's Islam and it's not. Allahu Akbar. 
These all goes on to say, the pope and high clergy of the protestant churches now make a point of addressing the Muslim community every year at the end of Ramadan with frequent messages, and the Muslims frequently reciprocate with invitations to the Christians to visit Muslim mosques. This is new day. In Washington DC recently, during the Ramadan, the first lady, Ms. Hillary Clinton visited with our Muslim during the time of Ramadan. She was their guest in Washington DC. The president of these United States for the last several years before Clinton presidency never failed to give greetings to the Muslims of the world on our special holiday and on the occasion of our fast.
[applause]
This is a new day. Our community is honored to receive the Luminosa Award presented by Sarah Sylvie and mister, I would like to say brother, Julian [Sarabutainia] I hope I'm happily pronouncing this. We have had two of their representative with us, Gary and Cigma. What's his name? Gary and--
Speaker: Cigma.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, Cigma. We've had them with us since the opening day of the convention. They have been with us, so they're interested to know us better. They want to be among us so they will know us better and we are interested to be among you to know you better.
[applause]
I want now just, - you know we are African American and I admit, we're not the professional class and we didn't come from homes with college graduates overseeing the house, watching the language so we don't say "You is" and make other bad mistakes in grammar. We didn't have that. We had to go to school and first unlearn before we could even get the first good mark. We had to go to school and unlearn. That's characteristic of still the majority of the people in our association, that's characteristic of them. They came from backgrounds like that. Poorly educated, poor in the head, and poor in the pocket. That's our background.
During the last 10 years of Elijah Muhammad's leadership among us, he did some wonderful things. He did a lot of wonderful things all along the road, but most people wouldn't understand that, we understand. During the last years of his life, he did some really truly wonderful things. He demonstrated to us that he himself sincerely loved a man that he pointed to on stage, a platform during our annual convention. He pointed to him and he said, "This is a white man."
He made it clear, but he expressed brotherhood with that man, fraternal bonds with that man, and he expressed love for that man. Then he said, - he turned to America, the (unclear) of America and he said, "If White people can respect you and treat you nice, you do the same." That's what he said.
[applause]
Now, whatever person it is that wants to pick up the path and says he's following my father, our leader until I became leader, I want to see him follow my father, not by going back to 1930, and 1940, and 1950, and 1960, I want to see him pick up where my father left off in 1973 and in 1974.
[applause]
Now I would like to share with you our appreciation for the higher caliber of people that's now joining our ranks. We have many of them, I can't name them all. We have a person recently appointed to North Carolina, the senate, the State of Carolina. He's the state senator. He's a senator, pardon me, I'm sorry. Representing the 41st senatorial district of the State of Carolina. He served two years in North Carolina in the House of Representatives, and in November of '96, he was elected senator for the State of North Carolina. His name is Larry Shaw.
[applause]
We have a councilman who's been very successful politically in one of our big cities of the United States. I don't want to share everything with you at this point. He told me at this convention that he's pretty sure that he's going to run for mayor. I know him personally, he wouldn't run if he didn't think he could win.
[applause]
We have Muslim magistrates in Wisconsin. We have many Muslims now represented in the United States government and representing us in high places in the United States government, many. You preachers, you're indebted to me. You couldn't make the money before I came leader. You're chaplins now, paid by the government. You couldn't do that before I became leader. When are you going to send me some money?
[laughter]
[applause]
I wouldn't mention any of these people. They could be candidates for the president of the United States and members of our association, but if they didn't have good character and hadn't proven to be believers in G-d and followers of our Prophet Muhammad, I wouldn't mention their names. Larry Shaw is a genuine believer, so is the other that I referred to. Now, why is this religion attracting these people of this higher caliber? It's not us. We couldn't do it with no education. We have become more literate ourselves. We have become better educated. The leaders in our association now are better educated.
We have a Harvard graduate in our council right here, Imam Plemon, who runs a very fine school, a preschool, an elementary school, high school and will have a two year college very soon.
[applause]
What is attracting them? I'm proud of the state of Illinois for many reasons, but mostly because Illinois was one of the first states and one of the leading states in working hard for literacy to raise the level of literacy in the State of Illinois and in the country, and I would think around the world. There's a march pretty soon. In fact, it will be October the 4th, there will be a walk for literacy in Chicago. I believe our mayor, Richard Daley is going to lead that walk. I intend to join that walk and I'm inviting the Muslims of Chicago to be with me. Let's join that walk for literacy.
[applause]
Literacy refers directly to what? The ability to read and understand what you're reading. The ability to pick up a piece of literature or a piece of writing print and read it and understand what you're reading. That's literacy. We speak of get an education. G-d knew best how to help us get an education. The first words of revelation to our prophet was not Sodom and Gomorrah is going to be burned. No, the first words to our prophet were read, R-E-A-D, read in the name of your Lord who created you. That's the first words of revelation to our prophet.
You want to really understand what Islam is in the world, it is a worldwide movement, a worldwide ideology, and a worldwide faith. It's purpose as a universal faith and as a universal mission, its purpose is to bring about maximum, to maximize the good life of every human being. How are we going to realize the maximum growth of goodness and excellence for the human life that G-d created without respecting knowledge, without trying to educate ourselves, without promoting high levels of learning, higher levels of literacy? The very first words to our prophet was, "Read," and he replied, "I’m not one who reads."
The tradition goes that he was again pressed by the angel, and the words from G-d came, "Read," the second time. He replied the second time, "I am not one who reads." So he was pressed for the third time and the words from G-d came and he was able to read. Muhammad was reading ever since. Reading what? The sacred scripture, the universal message, the Quran. That's what he was reading. G-d taught him how to read the message of G-d so that he could give it and the scribes could write it down for all people for all times. That's what occurred. Read, I repeat. There is a wisdom there that we are to learn.
There is a message to be received and a wisdom to be learned that people become educated by reading. Now it's not just by reading scripts, it's not just by reading handwriting, it's by reading the handwriting of the Creator, Whose handwriting is in the stars, Whose handwriting is in the word, in the planet. I'm coming from the Bible. You recognize where I'm coming from. His handwriting is everywhere. Everything that He has created is a script, and that's why the wise of the world, especially, - I'm speaking of the western world, they refer to the whole world of material as being uni verse. One verse, meaning it came from one G-d, one G-d. That's what it means. It came from one G-d.
[applause]
The whole of this came from one G-d. All of us can't read on that level, but inspired men inspired by G-d, they were able to read on that level. They were able to read the delicate script of creation itself, and finally, man moved from philosophy and from all the other attempts to know reality, the material reality. Move to become scientific. Now we have scientists reading the creation and telling us in the different disciplines of the sciences what they read out of creation. That's all they're doing. That’s all their world of science is, is the reading and interpretation of the messages in G-d's creation.
[applause]
Yes, I'm trying to save time. I'm skipping over some of this. We have a deadline to preach. I recently received a letter from the director, the third director, Jim Kinney of the World Parliament of Religions. I am associated with several world organizations that have formed or were formed to promote harmony, religious tolerance, peace and a sense of obligation to all people or to all suffering people. I'm personally serving as a member of the international peace building organizations, the Council of Mosques based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
I consider myself, although I don't have a (unclear), but I know the founder, the president, and I consider myself also a supporter of Muslim World Congress based in Pakistan, the council for Parliament of World Religions that I just referred to, or just this mentioned, The World Conference of Religion and Peace, WCRP, a very impressive and huge effort to make conditions or have conditions better for all people on this earth. These organizations are not organizations represented by any one religion, they bring the religions together. I've only shared that with you to have you aware of my most important interactions on the global scene.
The council for our Parliament of World Religions cherishes the belief, and I'm quoting their own document, "Cherishes the belief that inter-religious encounter and understanding must play a critical role as our world make the transition to the 21st Century." Quoting their publication, the council for Parliament of World Religions. "We believe that our efforts will make a genuine contribution to healing, the misunderstanding that has fueled the division, competition, mutual condemnation, and chronic violence which has shaped world history. It is our hope that by sharing our many traditions in the spirit of appreciation we may realize the goals we hold in common."
In a statement from the World Peace Council, we read on international, inter-religious initiative expressed in their publication. "The initiative is to encourage discussion and critique of a groundbreaking document towards global ethic society. To establish cooperative working relationships with international, inter-religious organizations now engaged in the effort to promote understanding of the ethical common ground of the world religions." I used to think that the Bible was a book that I shouldn't be interested in. My father used it a lot, but he didn't obligate me to follow his pattern.
He told me, he says, "Son, I think you're going to be a teacher of the Quran." That's what he told me, so he didn't encourage me to read the Bible and follow his pattern of preaching, so I read the Quran as I got older. I became a young man over 18 and so, I started reading the Quran very seriously to find direction, to find guidance and direction for us, for myself and for us as a helper to my father, not to go against him, to help him. Anyway, finally, now I'm rejected by my father following his guidance. He's the one who told me to not accept everything that's on the surface. He's the one that told me to question the teachings that he gave us.
He said because the real meaning and the real understanding is not on the surface, you've got to dig deep. He's the one that told me that, and I dig deep, and deep,, and deep, and I found more and more problems, so I end up giving it up. I told him, "I can't believe in this idea of G-d anymore" after he questioned me about it. I didn't go to him with it, he came to me. Someone complained against me, so when he called me to answer, I said, "No, daddy, I can't believe that that man is G-d that you call WD Fard or Fard Muhammad. I can't believe he's G-d." He said, "You know what that means, don't you, son?" I said, "Yes, sir." Sure I knew what it meant. You're excommunicated.
The language for us in temple of Islam was you're going to be put out, and that's exactly what he did, he put me out. That meant you can't stay in the house with your parents, you can't even visit your momma. It was banishment like the Old Testament. It was banishment. You couldn't visit your momma, you couldn't see your brother. If your own blood brother and sister was caught talking to you in public or anywhere, they would be in trouble and they might be kicked out too. During that time, I was very alone, so I said, "Where's is all this stuff come from that we got?" I said some of it is called lessons like Catholic Catechisms, a reading like Catholic Catechisms.
Some of it is called actual fact. I said, "What is this? I'm going to have to find out." On my own, I wanted to find out. I said, "Some of this looked like, to me, mythology." So I said I better look at science and try and...
[00:45:40] [END OF AUDIO]
...in the teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammad that was given to him by Mr. Fard. I came up with it and I said, okay, that's what I'm going to keep and I'm throwing away all the corruption. I'm going to keep the light, throw away the darkness. I'm going to keep the healthy things and throw away the sickness or the sick thing. That's what I did. Now I did the same thing. That's what made me want to do the same thing with the Bible. I said, now I don't like this book but look how many millions and millions of people believe in this book, and look how wonderful those people are.
I know they are. I met many wonderful people, Christians. I said this book has to have purity in it. I said, well, I'm not going to skip about in the book. I don't know how to find it. I said I'm going to start from Genesis and go to Revelation. That's what I did. I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation as an outcast, a rejected member of the Nation of Islam or Temple of Islam in America. I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and I said I'm not going to take time and try to interpret anything. I said that will take me too long to read through the whole Bible.
I said I want to read through the whole Bible so I refuse that. Temptation is strong to stop it, "Ponder on this. Stop and think about this." I just read it through. After I read through the first time, I said now I'm going and read it again from Genesis to Revelation, and I'm going to take notes. I'm going to ponder on it, I'm going to try to look into it and I'm going to try to get more out of it, and I did that. Result is that I have gained a sacred respect for the Bible that I rejected and thought it was a whole lot of stuff that no sense could be made of. Now I understand it, I respect the purity of it, and I understand even my religion better now. Prophet Muhammad says, "Ask the people we call the [unintelligible 00:02:23] Say, "Ask the people of the book."
Those pagans, they don't know anything about scripture, they hadn't received scripture before. I'm talking to a scholar here my friend too. They hadn't received scripture before. This is Quran. So they didn't know anything about scripture. They were totally idol worshipers. G-d revealed to Muhammad to tell them, "If you don't understand this or if you’re in doubt, you don't trust Muhammad that he has received scripture from G-d, go ask the people who did receive scripture from G-d." You don't know how to judge. You never received any scripture from G-d, how can you judge? Go ask those who know. [chuckles]
[applause]
I guess in a way I was a African-American pagan before I became a real Muslim. I must have been a African-American pagan and without anybody telling me that, I just felt an urge to go and ask those who receive scripture, but I didn't ask a person, a flesh and blood person, I went to their book. I pick up the Bible and I said there must be innocence here, there must be purity here, I'm going to read it without prejudice and G-d bless me to read it without prejudice.
You have a friend and a brother in this man. I will defend Christianity with my life. If enemies of Christianity come against Christianity, I will follow Muhammad the Prophet and I will ask my people to help to defend Christianity with our life and with our children's life.
[applause]
There's an organization which is titled World Religions Initiative and is headed by Bishop Swing, S-W-I-N-G, and it developed really out of the United Nations, it developed. The effort developed out of United Nations and Bishop Swing was selected to head up the effort to bring different faiths, different religious leaders together representing the various faiths in America to work for the same purpose or work for the same cause that WCRP is working for, the World Council of Religions, the Parliament of World Religions and the World Peace Council, all of these organizations, the Muslim World Congress, all these organizations working for the same cause.
I want you to know, it's important to me that you know that your little brother [chuckles] I don't have a college degree. I have high school education, formal education and a few hours credit in English because I wanted to be able to read and speak better and understand literature better, so I took a few hours. One day I hope at 80, if G-d bless me with the life, I'm going to work to get a PhD. [chuckles]
[applause]
But I don't have that. This little son of Elijah Muhammad is now an associate and a member of most of these organizations that are working for peace and better conditions in the world for all people. I'm a member. I'm a trustee.
[applause]
I sit at the table with them. I participate in the discussion. I'm invited to contribute to the decisions that they make. We're trying to get a shura. The Christians have already made me part of a shura and it's working. I hope you'll make some more progress with your shura. All right, you have to. These organizations are working to have us participate in discussion on top leadership level, the highest leadership in the faith communities and also from the grass root levels, myself, I represent the grass roots.
They want all levels of genuine, sincere leadership to come together to make this world a better world, to recognize the extraordinaire opportunity afforded by the Millennial Movement, the year 2000. there’s an effort by government and by the faith communities to work for better human conditions on this earth and to see great progress realized by the year 2000. Concerns that we're discussing are how to increase respect for one another, a desire to know more about one another as members of different religions, how to promote more tolerance, religious tolerance, to get rid of a lot of the unfounded prejudices.
How to contribute to conflict resolution, how to help promote a better education of the world in the religions in service to mankind, in service to women, in service to children, in service to the poor, to relieve hunger, to bring relief from hunger, to preserve the ecological order of our world, to care about our environment, plants, animals, et cetera, to promote ethics and social justice. To work for spiritual renewal where people will have their souls back in their hands and upright before G-d again.
Our government is assisting the effort and is actually going out front to encourage this effort all within the legal boundaries established by the US constitution for interaction of government with the faith community. Our United States State Department, and I'm saying United States State Department because this is going to go overseas and they’ll be wondering which state department, you know.
If I say State Department, it's enough for you but overseas there won't be enough. Our United States State Department recently formed a 20-person committee representing the various religions of faith of the faith community in the United States to enhance government efforts and to assist the faith community's effort of promoting religious tolerance, peace building, conflict resolution, et cetera.
The poor must be represented. That's my strong belief. We will never change the situation, the circumstances for the poor until the poor have leaders who will go and seek. Muhammad went to the mountain, didn't he? Muhammad was not formally educated but Muhammad went to the mountain. There's a saying in America in the west, "If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad will go to the mountain."
We know they might need something else but I'm giving you my own interpretation of that. Muhammad, peace be upon him, he appealed to the establish order, he appealed to those who had responsibilities in their hands. He appealed to them and he told them what he was all about, hoping that they would appreciate what G-d had missioned him on this earth to do. That's what he did.
We should follow Mohammad, we should want to go and seek friendship and an opportunity to work with the establishment, the established leaders, the established leaders in government, the established leaders in politics, the established leaders in education, the established leaders in religion. We should seek time with them because after all the weather up there affects us down here, and if we don't have an opportunity to get up there and be a part of the making of weather, we’re always going to have the weather we don’t want.
Now, they are not only accepting that we come up there, they are saying, "We have learned that you want to come up. Welcome, carry on. Come on up brother Mohammed." That's what they are saying to me, "Come on up brother Mohammed, brother W Deed Mohammed. Come on up." I said to myself, how can we change these circumstances and make a road in this America for ourselves so we can get to our destiny as citizens and as Muslims? How can we do that without working with good, sincere people in the leadership in this establishment? I said we can't do it.
So I made up my mind, I'm going to work hard to reach those people way up there in the sky and G-d bless me to reach them. I reached them and they said, "Welcome at the table in the sky." [laughs]
[applause]
Because of that now, we are attracting more people with more resources, people who have more resources. Last evening, the convention was awarding brother Larry Shaw, Senator Larry Shaw of North Carolina and others. When they presented him this award, the plaque, they told him there's $2,000 that goes along with this plaque. He turned around and said, "Give that to the Ministry of W Deen Mohammed."
$2,000 in one wop. I took our account to a bank in Rialto, California, I was living in California for about three years, so I moved the office temporary there and I took our money there and I open an account. When the teller start looking at those checks, 100, 200, 300, 50, 500, she said to me, I work for a salary, “Who is giving you money like this? $500, $300 in one wop?" I said, "I changed my mind. I don't want to open an account here."
[laughter]
I got all my checks- our checks, I got all the business checks in my hand and I walked out, but I like for it to come in wops. Larry Shaw, we thank Allah for you that you are a member of this association and we have to work to dignify ourselves more. Prophet Muhammad said that one of the main purposes G-d sent him was to promote better character in people. To promote better character in people. So you want to have more, you have to improve your character.
The Prophet said the Muslim is one who have good manners and loves good manners in people. Let's promote good manners. Don't leave your manners baggage at home and go out in the street without it, come to the temple, into the mosque without it. Carry your good manners everywhere you go. Have it when you're facing your Muslim brother. Have it in your relationship with your Muslim brother. Have your baggage of the best manner with you when you're interacting with Christians and Jews or even atheists. You don't put down your good manners for any situation.
Keep your good manners with you at all times, and I guarantee you if you do that, G-d is going to be with you and love you. G-d loves good character. G-d loves good manners. This is the teaching of Islam. G-d loves good character, G-d loves good manners and he will love you for it and He will improve your circumstances. G-d will improve your circumstances. I can say to you now that the poor is no longer without a representative on the mountain or at the table in the sky.
There was an article that recently appeared in September issue this year, 1997 in Harper's Magazine and I want to share this with you, because the poor sometime, I think we don't even understand our own problems or we can't identify our own problems.
We need help to identify our own problem. This article said many things but I'm trying to cut the time because the time is really very short. We have to conclude in few minutes. Point to the problems of the poor, says that there are numerous causes, I’m quoting now, numerous causes, hunger, isolation, illness, bad landlords, bad police, self abuse, neighbors, drugs, criminals, racism, all these things are to be seen in the problem. All these things make up quote, “a surround of force”. “A surround of force”. The writer doesn't say this but I'm saying this to further explain.
This surround of force of drugs, alcoholism, violence, criminal behavior, racism, et cetera, this surround of force contains your best moments, your best life, your best energies, your best intentions, are all (unclear) out, [unintelligible 00:19:59], shot out of existence by all of these problems that we can't seem to understand. We will look at a white man and blame all those problems on a white man and we'll start a movement, all our problems is racism, all of our problems is the white people who will never accept us, don't love us, don't want us, and will never accept us as their equals, or as equal citizens.
We'll start a movement and convince many African Americans to believe in them and follow them. We have to be more rational, more sensible, more truthful, more innocent to find our way out of our bad circumstances. This writer goes on to say, that he sees the problem as political, he says and I quote political, it’s political, but he says political in that-- He says, "It's not political in the sense of voting in an election, but political in the way Thucydides used the word." Then he explains this, political to mean activity with other people at every level.
So, we're the striving poor, I would like to think of those who are in our association and African Americans who wanted to be separate, not because they wouldn't want to be together with whites and others, if circumstances were different, but who wanted to be separate because of circumstances. During the time of plantation Jim Crow life, two laws in this country, segregation in the United States. So we were forced, we didn't have any Dubois as our leader to follow. We didn't have a learned, educated person who believed that the process will work, the system will work, we just have to have patience and keep working for more freedom, more opportunity, we didn't have such person leading us.
We had a person who suffered as we suffered, who was denied as we were denied, who was culturally denied and uneducated and poor in the pocket as we were, leading us. So that person didn't see any opportunity down the road, didn't have anything to stand upon to believe that there was any justice or any equality coming down the road. That person said, "I believe in Fard, I believe in Mr. Fard, lets separate from the white man. Let's not have any more faith in a future with the white man, let us have our separate state, let us have our separate nation."
Out of that following, came what we have today. Now, we believe in the future. Now we believe we can have a good future in America, but we've gained a lot from that experience. We gained a lot from that experience. We don't want people doing everything for us, we don't want to just have rich blacks among us, we don't want to just have wealthy African Americans, we want to have a community in our hands, that's our responsibility, that's our responsibility. We want to have our neighborhood that's our responsibility.
[applause]
If it's blighted, we want to remove the blight from it. About 15 years ago, almost ago, I came up with a concept to put a lot of us to work, who didn't have work. I said, "The government doesn't have to pay us, our dignity wants this." We started a group called the Blight Arrest, like a cop arrests a criminal. Blight Arrest Group, it was a Blight Arrest Group in Chicago and it spread around, some of them are still active. Blight Arrest Group. I said, "Our soul will pay us if we poor without a job, go out and get the trash away from the sidewalk, clean the street,” don't let that trash be out there blowing all around the stores, let us--
The store man asks, "What are you doing?" Say, "I'm picking the trash off that is in front of your store." Says, "Why are you doing that?" "My dignity calls for that, this is our neighborhood, this is our neighborhood, our neighborhood, our dignity asked us to clean the trash from your store, we had to come [unintelligible 00:25:23] to the store."
[applause]
I told them, "If you can paint, you can't find a job painting, you see a house on the block that's an eyesore, and it needs painting, go tell the neighbor that, "I'm a Muslim and I want to paint this house." "How much are you going to charge me?" "Nothing if you don't have it. Nothing. My dignity asked me to go to work and right now the state department has no work for me, I can't find work but my dignity says I need work, my manhood says I need work, so I want to work until I can get paid for it so that my soul will feel good."
Yes, so I preached this philosophy, I preach this philosophy to our brothers who were militants members of the Nation of Islam, the F.O.I, the Fruit of Islam, I preached it to them and they were happy to join. They impressed the city so much, they got the fire department chief to come down and talk to us. They attracted them. The police chief had to come and talk to us, businesses started talking to us, they liked us, believe me, they have our history brother and that's why Imam is sitting at the table in the sky.
[laughter]
[applause]
We're going to be responsible for the business life in our own neighborhood. We have a limited liability company that enables us to form a company and have shares, $2,000 shares and design a method, a plan for bringing the poorest brother who's industrious, who had the character of what I called our group, The Striving Industrious Poor. I love to refer to us as the Striving Industrious Poor. That is to say, if you're lazy, you're in the wrong company. The Striving Industrious Poor. We're the striving Industrious poor.
We want to be responsible for the business rise in our neighborhood. This CPC effort, enabling us to-- If you don't have $2,000 for one share, we have a plan, if you trust each other to have eight of you contribute $250, eight. I believe 8 times 250 is 2000, isn't it?
I believe it is. I don't have the figures before me but I think that's the fi—Okay. I was pretty good in math, I couldn't read that well but they told me when I sat the GED test, that I was pretty good in math, I scored in the upper percentile for the whole United States.
[laughter]
Warith Deen Mohammed: Yes, I've got the proof at home. We're fixing it so eight, poor brothers can get together and all you had to come up with is $250 and trust one of you, sisters, brothers, mixed, we don't care, there's no sex problem here, do it like you want, come on together with the $2,000 for the one share and have someone represent you. One person must represent you, that's all. You had to trust one person to represent you. They will put the money into the investment in their name and you will have the benefit together.
Eight persons will share the benefit of whatever that one share brings whenever we buy a product and sell a product and realize a profit. We're working hard to make sure we always realize a profit and I believe G-d has helped us to come up with this concept. G-d has helped us to come up with this concept, this answer for our poverty and our absence of business sense. This program is also going to be a program to better educate us so that we'll have a better business sense. 
Some things that I don't like to say because there are certain people among us, - but I have to say this, you know what makes the rich, rich? The market. You know what this is right here? This is a market. Look at the numbers behind you. Turn around, look, look back. That's a market, all of you have needs, all of you are buying things, you have to. If we decide that we're going to try to supply our market with as much as we possibly can, and we agree that we're going to buy supplies from our supplier, CPC and others, there are other efforts too, we're not going to-- we welcome competition. If somebody want to start another effort, and call it something else, that's okay, that's good with me, where we have CPC effort.
If you will discipline your own self and say, "Well, why should I buy this gasoline when CPC is selling the same thing? It’s competitive, it doesn't cost any more, it's just as good, et cetera, so why shouldn’t you get it from them?" You should want to see your community become your supplier.
[applause]
If that happens, your community will become the rich man. Yes. Your community will become the rich man or the rich woman. I think it sounds better if I say your community will become the rich woman. I like that a little better.
[applause]
Yes, your community will become the rich woman, so trust me and I'm not Eddie Murphy.
[laughter]
Trust me.
[silence]
In order to have G-d love us and help us have the circumstances we want for our good life, we are going to have to open up our hearts. What does G-d say to Muhammad? He said, "I expanded your breast. I have expanded your breast." He was already having a big human heart, a big breast opened, but G-d said he expanded for him his breast, He enlarged it even more. He enlarged it to take on more because at first the prophet was weeping over the condition of human beings, he was weeping over the condition of his people, Arabs on the peninsula of Arabia.
He was weeping over the condition of those people, but G-d eventually informed him and enlarged his breast, his chest, his heart, to receive the whole of the suffering people on this earth. That's what we have to do. We can't be Muslims and not care about others. We can't be Muslims and not register what is happening to them that is hurting their life and denying them a good future. Pakistan, a great nation, Pakistan, but it's having serious problems now. We must have Pakistan in our hearts, we must have the Pakistani people in our hearts. I visited South America, the Catholic squatters of a place called Chiapas, Mexico up in the hills.
There I found the natives of that area that we call Indians, they don't like to be called Indians. They like to be called natives, not Indians. We found them and discussed their situation with them and let them know that our hearts were with humanity and that they are a part of humanity and that we want to see them have peace and want the government of Mexico to look at their situation more seriously and help them have some kind of social justice and dignity as human beings. We did that, we were among them, so we can't be here and not have the natives of Chiapas in our hearts. We can't be in the United States and not have the natives we call native Americans here in our hearts.
We can't be really true Muslims with understanding and know that they're white people in the Appalachians or white people in the neighborhood who are suffering. Don't you know some white people don't have education, some white people don't have money, some white people are victims of drugs, some white people are victims of poverty, drugs and ignorance and alcoholism and prostitution, et cetera? We can’t be Muslims if we don't have them in our hearts.
[applause]
I read recently in the Tribune an article called For Immigrants Difficult Choices by Teresa Fuentes, Tribune staff writer, and she presented a family and they had it on the very first page of the Tribune, this family, because of the changes now for the welfare system, food stamps, they're weeping wondering how will they-- They're poor, they don't have enough money, how will they eat now, food stamps are cut off suddenly? In less than a month they're going to be without those food stamps, without that grocery.
We just can't think of African Americans who are going to be cut off and how they are going to get along, we have to think of how Rosa Alvarez, that poor family of Mexicans, how they are going to get along. This is how you have to be a real Muslim, a true Muslim, a real believer. You have to open up your heart to people who share the same essential life that G-d gave you, human life. Human life is one life. If you don't care the thing about the human life in me, G-d will sooner or later cause you to not to care anything about the human life in yourself. That will be your punishment.
G-d will bring it upon you sooner or later. If you don't care about the human life in me, sooner or later He's going cause you to not care about the human life in yourself.
[applause]
I'm opposed to Saddam of Iraq, I'm opposed to his political ideology that he got from a non-Muslim. I'm opposed to all of that, but I know in Iraq are many sincere innocent believer Muslims and their children are now suffering because our government has an embargo against them. Our government has a plan to force them to get rid of Saddam. Our government has an embargo against Iran still in place. I would love to go back home and hear that it's been lifted, but I don't think so. The children of Iraq are suffering, thousands of them suffering, horrible, horrible conditions.
Their oil money has been taken away from them, they have to defend their country, they have to defend it, they have to pay for this, they have to pay reconstructions, but they don’t have, they can’t afford to give their citizens their wages that they used to get, their workers, their wages that they used to get. So many of them are living in poverty, and their children are starving, their children are dying, need medical attention, need food, need a decent meal.
So we must have the Iraqis in our hearts, we must have the Iranians in our hearts, we must have the people of Bosnia in our hearts, we must have the people of Somalia in our hearts, we must have suffering humanity in our hearts. We have to do what Allah requires all Muslims to do, expand your breast, let more room, push those ribs out. It's too constricted, open up your heart so more people concerns can come into your heart.
[applause]
The Palestinians, I visited them and I was there with them eating and sleeping with them for several days. They live in a virtual prison. Don't believe what you hear in the news. The Palestinians, their life is like a life in one big prison. Some of them have to get a pass, a card, to cross the street. They look across the street, they're looking into an area that the Israeli government says they can't go in that area. It's another form of apartheid on the Palestinian people.
[applause]
I was there, I saw it for myself. A very menacing show of force, of power and force. Everywhere we went, it was intimidating the way the Israeli soldiers were there with live weapons, arms, guns, machine guns, automatic weapons. They're looking at us and staring at us, letting us know that if you do one little thing out of line, you'll be killed instantly.
That's the terror. That's the terror that I have to live with as a visitor, as a citizen of the United States. I know you know about it, brother Baker. As a citizen of the United States, I'm there, and I'm being searched and stripped, and all of my underclothes is being looked at like this. They have sophisticated equipment that would know if I had a pinpoint of any metal or anything in my drawers, they would have known it with their sensitive equipment, but that's just to humiliate you.
That's to tell you, "I don't care if you are a citizen of the United States, it means nothing to us, we're going to show you what we think about your US citizenship." Take your underclothes, [unintelligible 00:42:03], go through all your papers, every little paper, every little tissue, look at what's up. I knew it was purposely. I knew it wasn't necessary, so I asked G-d to help me contain myself. I asked Allah to help me contain myself. I was very calm. I was like Abraham in the furnace and no flame was touching me.
[applause]
Peace be upon the prophet. Yes, so I know the situation there. I've been there. I saw it. I saw areas where they won't let the plumbing be corrected. They won't let the plumbing be fixed. The sewage is rolling down the street, all in the walk. You can't walk without stepping in the sewage.
Because they won't allow them to have it [unintelligible 00:42:58]. They said the Palestinians are not a lazy people. They have a long history as a very industrious people. They are builders. They are craftsmen. They are masons. Builders, great builders. Iron workers. They are industrious people, and they have a fantastic ability to run a good market. [laughs] Oh, they are fantastic. They're fantastic business people. They say, "All we have to have is our freedom, our land back, and our freedom." They say, "We don't need Israel to do these things for us. We can fix the plumbing. We can bring the water into our housing. We can clean up this mess. We can build these buildings up,” but they have us here in check.
The commoners they say it's like a camp, prison camp. I said to myself as I was flying back on the plane, I was looking back on what I saw, what I've seen, and I said, “Lord, it's worse than a prison camp.” It's just one big prison. Just one big prison cell. Their mosque is in jail. Hear what I'm saying to you? Their mosque is in jail.

Their schools are in jail. Their families are in jail, one big jail they call the Palestinian Quarters or the Palestinian Territory. I believe our government is sincere. I believe a great number of persons in our government are very sincere and they want to see this thing change, but this government is made to run according to the will of its citizens.
As long as they think Muslims and other Americans don't care, ain't no pressure on them to do anything about it. So more of us has to become more politically aware in the international focus, international circle. We have to become more politically aware and support efforts like the effort by our dear brother, William Baker, who risked his life. Risked his life to go into Kashmir and see what the problem is, to see the evidence. Risked his life.
[00:45:35] [END OF AUDIO]


