07/13/2002
IWDM Study Library
A Poor Community Needs a Strong Identity Detroit MI

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Praise be to Allah, Praise be to G-d, the Lord Cherisher of all the world. We witness that He is one who cares for all His creation and especially the best of the human creation. His servant, his messengers, His prophets, His messengers and those who follow as it’s given in our Holy Book in their excellent tradition that follows. I'm very happy to be present here in this occasion, occasion like this in the city of Detroit as my son-in-law was saying the city of our beginning.
This city will always have special meaning for us, special meaning for us and Chicago the second place established for our association called Temple number two in those days Chicago will always be special too. We used to go there and our spirit it’s still in with that time with that training, I would say convention with the spirit we call Saviours’ Day spirit is still with us and it will stay with us to give that city special attention and to give this city special attention Temple number one.
These Temples were named and numbered and I'm sure before the naming and numbering was formed in the mind. The last serious thought was given to it, Washington DC is temple number four. Temple number four Washington DC. Milwaukee Temple number three. Washington DC, temple number four and the numbers continue to go way up. We have temples way up with the numbers.
The first maybe 12 Temples that were named I have studied the cities and name and I know serious thought went into that not just something done at random. It's real deep serious thought that was put into it so that the work of those who did it reach the minds of special people in religion and gives a message to the mind of special people in religion so that they would recognize the builders of the lost found Nation of Islam in America. For their wisdom, recognize the builders for their wisdom.
I had to say that because my growth as a religious student would never have started if I hadn’t been put in those circumstances if I hadn't been the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who build the Nation of Islam following the plan of his teacher who was a foreigner, an outsider of America called W.D. Fard. Mr. W. F Muhammad, Mr.W. Fard Muhammad called by different name. Had it not been for him and their work and my circumstances as a son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the favorite son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad favorite to be named for the leader or his teacher, after the leader, his teacher Mr. W.D Fard.
My name was given to me before I was born. My mother was pregnant with me, his teacher had already given him a name so that when the baby is born give him this name. He said give him my name. His name was Wallace. D. Fard that another of his names. He was Wallace. D. Fard when it was given in brief W. D. Fard. He was also called W. Fard Muhammad and also Wali Fard. These several names that he used.
My connection with that, and you may be surprised I never bothered. It never bothered me as a child to give any thought to it at all. In fact, I wouldn't be thinking about how I was named or anything. They would have to remind me. They reminded me, "Do you know you were named this and named such and such thing." As a child nothing registered but as I grew older and saw problems. Saw that my father needed help and wanted help and had helpers too. I joined the helpers. With his encouragement I joined the helpers and then I began to think about those things. But before I do not. Now I see that it's a lot of thought put into the work of what we call the lost found Nation of Islam in America.
I would see somebody really searches the scriptures. Search for knowledge, wisdom for help to do what they wanted to do. I'm happy to see you here you Muslims, Believers of Detroit surrounding area here in the state of Michigan. Those who come from Chicago other places even more distant. I'm very happy to see you here. I'm very happy to be accommodated. It's so nice to be here and we thank Allah for the good work that you have done in support of W.D.M ministry and support of our representatives, Abdul Malik Mohammed.
Congratulations to all of you for the good work that you have done to make this occasion a good one for us. For all of us. Special greetings also to our friends and admirers from the Christian public. We welcome you and appreciate your being here with us on this day and on this occasion. We have a whole new reality that we're looking at in these times. When I was a young man, a young minister for my father in Chicago, a student minister when he authorized me to be responsible for a Temple in Philadelphia. Then I became a resident minister, as a minister of Philadelphia and in those days, circumstances were quite different for all of us.
Circumstances were different for us as African Americans because that was before things got better for us as a people and America there was still discrimination, segregation in the south. You say, discrimination was everywhere. You didn't have to go south to experience discrimination. There was plenty of it in Chicago, where I lived. It was plenty ugly discrimination in Chicago. Those circumstances are behind us for the most part now and also the awareness of Al-Islam is so great now.
When we were struggling to be upright as we would say in Al-Islam to be upright, Muslims weren't popular, Al-Islam was not popular in these United States. Now with the increased numbers of citizens that have recently come from their lands and established their citizenship in the United States of America. We have a popular Muslim public in America now. Cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and I'm sure Detroit for a long time.
You have a Press that is aware that it has a significant number of Muslims in its citizenry. That's true of Los Angeles and Chicago or some other cities. These Muslims who come here from other parts of the world. They come here some of them for different reasons. A majority come here, I believe, for the same reason the Christians came to this new discovered part of the world. They came here from conditions that were bad for them and the countries or lands that they came from Europe. They came here to have a better situation for themselves or to at least have the opportunity to work themselves into a better situation because this was a wilderness here.
It wasn't easy coming here, there were diseases that they had to meet here. They had to face diseases that they were not used to in their country and they had to face other hardships of discovering the land and mapping out areas for them to live in. Up in the wilderness found life that they want to have here. It wasn't easy but it was attracted because they were told and invited to come here and they would be given the freedom to practice their religion as they wish to.
They were invited to come to a land that offer protection for the freedom of religion. I am sure that many of the immigrants that come here, they come here believing that their rights to have their own religion and their own way of life is protected in this great country and great land we live in called the United States of America. That's true what we know as African Americans as well as anybody more so than anybody. The invitation can be but it doesn’t mean that you are going to have the opportunity. You have to struggle, and work and constantly struggle and work to make sure that you have a good situation in these United States of America because there's always somebody that want to get over on you or want to progress at your expense.
This is the way in the world really. There are some places that are worse than others. I do think we have good situation here where you can go and take people to court and you can have your rights heard and most likely respected in the courts of these United States.
Getting back to what brings them here: Opportunity to have your own life. This is what we want. We are indigenous Muslim that is, we don't have any way to connect back with Africa, where we came from. Most of us don't know what part of Africa you came from so it's hopeless for us we can't connect back. We just have to accept that yes, we are Africans or African Americans and we came from Africa but we can't start in Africa because we have been completely separated from that history and that lifeline. Our lifeline was completely severed with slavery. We have to understand now our life starts for us in every practical sense here in the United States of America.
We are more than just indigenous. We use that word, I'm not satisfied. We are native Americans, along with the Indians they were here physically before us but we didn't have any human presence until we got right here in this country. The past was obliterated, lost and we are wasting time trying to find it. We should want to know Africa to know the land, the motherland and want to stay in touch with them. And as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad advised us, we should have some meaningful ties with our people in Africa in economics or business will be a good one as Honorable Elijah Muhammad advised us and we have started. You looking at me right now. It’s Saturday I hope you all excuse me for not having on a shirt and a tie, nice jacket. I said its Saturday I normally dress like this around. I'm sorry I wouldn't have come out here like this if I didn't want to show you this shirt and pants that I’m wearing.

Made in our factory in Senegal.

I met with the Sister who heads the factory. I told her we need to put one or two small pockets here and put large pockets in front. Then we would have it complete. I discussed with her and one of the brothers that work at the factory in Senegal. And we think that we can retail what you're looking at somewhere between $25 and $30. It feels good. We want to continue now. We have to as American Muslims or Muslim Americans, we have to realize that it would be absolutely stupid on our part if we try to plan our life in America without recognizing the big numbers that we have in the United States now who have come from other lands and have become citizens of the United States. We have many other citizens of the United States now who are Muslims. They are from Pakistan, and India, they are from different parts of Africa. They are from different parts of the world, they are from Lebanon, they are from Middle East, they are from Europe and we all are here.
Really for the immigrant Muslims too, we can say that Detroit is number one. The people of Yemen, they were here before my father met this teacher, and they got something started for us here in this city. The Muslims from Yemen was already here. I was born on Yemen street. Street name for them. Yes, 3600? I wished my sister. Yes, she knows all the past. She's older than I am. She really recorded things mentally. Yes, I was born on Yemen street. That's where I was born. In Hamtramck MI. That's right in here, that's right here.
We have to recognize the great numbers, American citizens that we have now, who are Muslims who came from abroad. We as Muslims should not plan our future in America without at least having communication lines, connecting us with them so that at certain times we meet with their planners what we call Shura, conservative body of knowledgeable experienced people. We meet with them and discuss the future of not just one of us, but all of us in America. This is what we working for, this is what we hope we get. You'll never be happy until we have that where Muslims in America will be working to have better conditions for our children to come many, many generations in the future. We have to think that way and we have to make it that way, and we will Inshallah.
Now, with us situated their, now let me continue this address. You know when you don't have a presence, you don't feel so good in your heart, or in your soul. You need a presence. When you have a nice home on your block, in the neighborhood you see that home, that home does you good inside. That's an achievement for you and that's a sign of your presence in that neighborhood. If you live in a neighborhood, you have no home on your own, or what you have looks so bad, it brings your spirit down rather than lifts it up then you don't feel so good in that neighborhood or in that block.
The whole of the United States is like our neighborhood, and if you don't have any presence on the landscape of this great nation that makes you feel good inside, we can talk about all the advances and progress we have, but it's not going to change that bad feeling inside. People come to the new land, they come here to drive their stake into the ground and build something with their own hands that they can leave to their children that they value and that their children value, and that will inspire their children to come to work for even more and better.
First thing we need to know is this, for psychological support and advantage even. No matter how much you dislike your life in a country, as long as you're going to be living in that country, and you're not going to leave that country, if that's your situation, then you have to come up with a psychology that will support your industry. You cannot be industrious and build on something that you don't have faith in. You can't invest in the United States in better homes, better neighborhoods, factories, et cetera, if you don't have faith in your own life that you'll be protected there. You have to have faith.
Now, if situations are so bad that you can't have that kind of faith. You have to have the power of psychology working with you. You have to realize that I'm not going anywhere. These are my circumstances and I have to live with them until I can change them or make it have it better. This is not whitties land. This is my land. That's the psychology you need. You need a psychology to support your industry. Truthfully, it is your land. When you look at what you have, and that's nothing maybe, and white man got everything. In a real sense it's not your land.

But at least, politically speaking, it's your land. Industrially speaking, maybe it's not your land. Politically speaking, it's your land. Begin from that premise and use a psychology to support you being industrious. You can't work for a wife if you think is a misery in you, in your life. How can you work for a wife going out trying to get her a better home and everything, planning for her future and her children future and you think she ain't nothing but a misery in your life.

It takes the industry out of you. Hey, you get what I’m feeling.

He feels what I feel. Yes, Al-Islam prepares us to be successful in all circumstances. Let me give it to you. You say this is whites' land, Allah says, the earth belongs to -God.
He knows even further He says, the earth is a mosque. The whole earth is a mosque, a place of worship. That's to tell the Muslim that don't mean that you now go say, "Hey, it's a church here. The earth is a mosque." Don't be stupid.

It's to tell you that the whole earth belongs to G-d and He made the whole earth for His worshipers that you don't need a certain area to pray in. Pray anywhere you want. The whole earth, G-d made it for His worshipers. You make your prayer and your mosque anywhere on this planet. G-d has authorized you to do that, but other circumstances limit your actions. Because the Christians can say the same G-d you said, who says the whole earth is a mosque.
I say He says the whole earth is a church. I believe He made the whole world for the Christian worshipers too. It's made for His worshipers and you have to respect the rights of others to worship the same G-d, and can’t take that area by praying there, but find your area of your own, and thanks be to G-d that in the United States, we all have the freedom to establish our houses of worship and build our future. Let's be positive for the sake of having something going for us in a way of psychology so that we'll be able to work and work with enthusiasm.
See when you are as far behind as Black People are in America, you need to work with enthusiasm. And let those that already got it made let him work just ordinarily but you work with enthusiasm because you are so far behind. The quality of our citizenship improves as we begin to achieve more for our life. That achievement is political. We have a lot of political achievements for us but that achievement also in the way of industry and that's where we're behind. We are not owning the sources of material. We are not owning land not even as much as we did 50 years ago. We lost a lot of land that black people have especially in the south.
We are not owners anymore of land. We have to become also owners of structures that we put up on the land. It's a shame when you go to anybody at the community or neighborhood, and you don't see their presence in the things that are constructed on the land. You don't see their presence. Every people want to construct something but with their own hands so that where they live you see their constructions.
The Chinese come here and you see what they do, Buddhist come here you see what they do. Where they live look like China or something. We ain’t that exotic. But we should have structures that we identify when other people come in they should be aware or should know that where African-Americans are leaving, they have investments. They have constructions. They are not living in the things built by others only but they're building themselves structures for their life and their future.
I have to admit, I'm speaking in the spirit of my father, Elijah Muhammad, and all of us who follow him, we follow him because that's the spirit we want, that's the spirit we love. We are not lazy people. Those who loved and followed my father you've never been lazy people. You're always people that want to see things happen and would make us feel that we are accomplishing something. Something to feel good about. Well, let’s not forget that and we have to work even harder for it in the future.
When you have achieved this your citizenship it rises in quality. Long time ago in this country, well not too long ago, the right to vote was equated with ownership of property. Those who didn't own any property had no right to vote. All has been changed and we are happy that it has been changed and no that wasn't right, everybody should be allowed to vote it shouldn’t be equated with property.
Let me tell you something, liberty, freedom, equality, opportunity et cetera, these things will be legislated, they have been legislated but there will always be grades for people. There will be some high-grade people, some low-grade people, some middle grade people. There will always be grades for people. Al-Islam recognizes that, while it also recognizes equality, a common equality that we also share but that equality is not the equality of education. There always will be going to be those who will excel over others in c knowledge or in school or in education.
It's not the equality of wealth, there will always be those who would have more wealth to be able to amass more wealth. Now think about what some of us expect. Some of us are so naive, so unconscious that we think we should be equal in everything. We won’t be satisfied with America until we have as much money as the next guy no matter who he is. “You got more money than me.” That will never happen. That’s stupid
There will never be the equality of people in wealth but how does Al-Islam deal with this. Al-Islam deals with this by obligating same way all respected scriptures deal with it. Not just Al-Islam. That the superior has an obligation to help the inferior and those that G-d has blessed with much have an obligation to be charitable. As religious people, we shouldn’t look firstly into the government to put laws in place so the poor would have an opportunity to get good education. Or the poor will have the opportunity to live in decent neighborhoods and have decent houses et cetera.
We should look first to the law of G-d.
None of us had anything when we were born unless we got it from parents who had got it before us. We come here with nothing and the first man that got something, he got it from G-d's creation. He didn't make a thing not even himself. So actually, all wealth belongs to G-d. And in Al-Islam we see it as trust that G-d has trusted the human being by giving him free will, opportunity to engage the material world and amass wealth eventually. G-d has trusted him with free will. G-d has trusted him with access to this great vast creation.
G-d has trusted him. He is not going to keep it, he is going to die and he can write a will but he can't really know which sure that money is going to who he willed it to. He can't be sure, he never be probably sure. It's in G-d's hands, so we should first obligate the superior to care for the inferior and to realize that in the wealth of the wealthy is a share to help those who are in bad circumstances or who don't have opportunity.
In Al-Islam there is a claim, a certain percentage of the earnings of the wealthy the poor have a claim on it. But they can't give it just by claiming it they have to qualify for it. You know that? Even the poor have to qualify for a charity. If you're poor but you got muscles, you're lazy, you don't want to work, you're not supposed to get charity because you have imposed poverty upon yourself. It's your fault. That won't be charity, that will be mercy, somebody just having mercy on you. G-d doesn’t write any law that obligate me to give you my money and you're just as healthy and strong as I am. You're just as capable as I am of earning a living. No, you have no right to a penny in my pocket buddy.
Even the poor have to qualify for help, for charity. But I said in a religious society especially Islamic society and Christian society. Well, we know charity is the number one principle in Christian society. We shouldn't look to government to force the rich man to give up part of his money to help others. We should first look for the hearts of the rich and have faith in man that man is created by G-d and G-d said that the man that has should share with those who do not have. We should believe in that. We should believe in G-d. We should believe in the goodness, the charity of man. We should appeal to the rich to help us before we appeal to the government. I wish we could do that more. I do. I wish we would do that more.
Let me tell you, there's a scholar. I won't be holding you much longer here. There's a scholar that I became acquainted with because of him visiting my father in the time when my father it was doing the last years, the late years, of my father's life. He's a scholar. His name is Ibrahim Ezzeddin. His native country is Egypt. He is popular in the Emirates, the Gulf states, the Emirates. When my father passed, he said some wonderful things to me that I recall. What I want to share with you now is what he gave to the Focolare magazine called the Living City. They interviewed him. They were interviewing him on religious tolerance, dialogue, et cetera. Inter-faith dialogue to discuss how we can get to better know each other, better respect each other, and better cooperate in a good future for all of us on this planet earth.
Dr. Ezzeddin was asked the question about this religious intolerance. This man is a well-known scholar in Egypt, known in all over the Muslim world I’m sure. The scholars know him. The scholars know him, Dr. Ibrahim Ezzeddin. He said, "Christianity, Judaism, and Al-Islam would have never been at each other had not it been conspired. It was instigated." Some wicked elements in our world have planned out our problems for us. They have planned these problems. They have planned to have Muslims against Christians, Christians against Muslims, Jews against Muslims, Muslims against Jews, Christians against Jews, et cetera. This had been planned. I'm convinced the man is correct. I'm convinced the man is correct because I've seen the signs of it. I don't want today to tell you where I’ve seen all the signs. 
But I've seen those signs. I've seen them in very important books that we have in our possession. I've seen those signs and I'm convinced he's correct. We have to overcome all of that. The more we know about it, the better we can work to overcome it. When you don't know a reality exists, you're stumbling into it and being knocked down by it, being held up by it.
As you're looking you want to see what happened, what caused this? You’re missing the answer. Once you know, you can steer better. You can steer yourself better. We need to steer our whole plan for our life in America. We need to steer it forward, steer it into the future. We need to have best situation possible for us to do that. Thank G-d for insightful men. Students of history, learned men in religion and in Scripture and in Philosophy, etc. Like Dr. Ezzeddin Ibrahim. We thank Allah for such persons.
Quality of citizenship, to improve our quality of citizenship will be also to strengthen our sense of identity. That means it will make you feel better and stronger when you look in the mirror and see a black man of America, an African-American. You look at yourself and you feel better looking at yourself. When your citizenship has been upgraded not by laws passed but by your achievements, your citizenship has been upgraded by your opening a factory in Senegal and bring your goods directly to your retail stores that you build in your neighborhood. You are like Wal-Mart now. Walmart got their factories abroad where labor is cheap. They bring their goods directly from their factories to Walmart, to K-Mart, to JC Penny, et cetera. One thing good about this country is that if you got the courage and respect decency, you can become a big fish. When you're a big fish, you're not eaten up so fast. Let’s plan that and work hard for it. Let’s plan it and work hard for it.
In my conclusion, what this presentation says is that all the laws in the world passed to make us equal cannot make us equal. The only thing that can help us be equal is we got to have the same courage and the same willingness to sacrifice that the big guy got. You've got to dream big. You've got to think big. You've got to want big. If you got a small appetite, you will stay small. G-d has created the whole world for all of His human beings. Let your appetite be that big. Thank you. Peace. As-Salaam-Alaikum.


