10/02/1995
IWDM Study Library 
Masjid Muhammad Newark , NJ Pt.1

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin. Ar Rahma Nir Raheem Maliki Yaum Id Deen Iyaka Na'budu Wa Iyaka Nastaeen Ihdina Siratal Mustaqeem Siratal Ladheen An Amta Alahim Gharil Magdubi Alayim Wa Lad Daileen. Ameen.
Dear brother, sisters, students, da’ees, propagators, inviters to the truth, all of you. We are happy to see you here today and pray that Allah will guide us and give us the right understanding of what we'll be discussing for this first session with you here and the Masjid Muhammad in Newark. We want this to be beneficial for all of us and so what I think would work best is that I will discuss some things myself, concepts in religion and then occasionally we'd be reading Qur'an too and making some commentary, comments on Qur'an. I would just discuss some concepts and then give the other half of the time for discussion, questions and discussions. I thought for this occasion today to point to the Qur'an as the correction on previous books. Expressed in the Qur'an is that this revelation contains the previous books in their correct form. "Kuttabul kayima." Now we have Qur'an here, so if you would pass me a Qur’an, I will get this discussion started. Can someone get it for me right quick. That's right, that's right. So here, use this one here, use this one while I can keep talking and you can get it. So, this expression in the Qur'an, that the Qur'an, that the Qur'an contain books, Kutubun. It means books.
Books in their correct form. this is addressed to the People of the Book directly and to all people because the Prophet came to give the message of Islam to all people, but it is to the People of the Book directly as the Qur'an contains the books in their correct form. Would the Arabs have known anything about this? They weren't People of the Book, the Arabs were not People of the Book. So how could they know about this, see, about books being in their correct state or in their incorrect state. They were not People of the Book. They were not people who had received scripture. So that statement would mean nothing at all to them until they were taught. They would have to be taught first. Then that statement would mean something to them. But any Person of the Book or Christian who were in the reach of the Prophets voice or a Jew also in reach of the Prophet's voice, they would understand what he's talking about, you see. Those who were students of scripture, who were acquainted with the scripture, the Bible, the Old Testament with the Torah, the Gospel, the Injeel. If they were acquainted with those books when the Prophet spoke this or said this, they would understand, but the Arabs would not understand unless the Prophet had taught them or someone had taught them, they would understand. They are called in the Qur'an the Umeeyun people, Umeeyun. And Umeeyun means that they did not know scripture. They were not readers, they were not a people who were reading scripture, or scripture had been read to them. No, they had not received scripture as Allah says that in the Qur'an-That he's a Messenger to people, Prophet Muhammad came to a people who had not received scripture before.
That's the Arab people. The Arab people. That was his audience. That was the Prophet's big audience. We have to visualize that time when the Prophet was just coming among them, just speaking to them and just coming among them as the Messenger of G-d. You have to visualize that time with the information that is in the Qur'an for us. The information is that those people had not received any Messenger from G-d. They didn't know scripture, they hadn't received scripture. So, these statements would mean absolutely nothing to them unless they had been taught. That talk, that vein had to be explained to them by the Prophet or someone who knew scripture. Even the Prophet's companions, they didn't know scripture, they weren't familiar with scripture. All of it was new to them.
They weren't stupid people. I would say they were very intelligent people, very intelligent people and they weren't, I would say uneducated people by the standard, by the rules of that time. Abu Bakr was an educated person and Uthman was an educated person and many others were educated people. Ali was very young but he was very brilliant, very bright minded and the Qur'an began to be recited in his ears when he was very young, may G-d be pleased with the Companions of our Prophet, Peace and blessings be upon him. But even though they were intelligent, very intelligent, very intelligent, extremely intelligent, the Companions of the Prophet, they were not readers of scripture. They were not familiar with the Bible, with the Old Testament, with the Torah or the Gospel or Injeel. They were not familiar with these things. All this was new to them and it was new to the Prophet too himself. It was new to the Prophet. So, with that expression that the Qur'an contained corrected books, and not only that expression, many expressions in the Qur'an these expressions, expressions that the People of the Book would be familiar with, would have been familiar with and not the Arab, that the Prophet Muhammad was a member of that group of people, not them. They wouldn't understand it unless they were taught first by the Prophet and it had been explained to them. Then they would understand. So, the Prophet, he said in his last speech, Those who are present give it to those who are absent. Perchance some of them may understand better than you.
So that's an indication even this is the end, this is at the end of his mission. He had taught them, been among them and taught them Qur'an. They were reciting Qur'an there and still that statement was made. So that tells us that even at that time, the book, because of the nature of the book, the nature of revelation it addresses revelation. Revelation, addresses revelation. Because of the nature of the book, even his people at that time were not expected to be the ones who would be masters of the Qur'an and would to do everything for the world or do everything for the nations in terms of spreading it and preaching it and everything. The statement of the Prophet indicates that there may be people coming later who will do more with this Qur'an than you. Listen, listen, listen. G-d says in the Qur'an, Allah says in the Qur'an "Thalum" Say, ask the People of the Book, question the People of the Book regarding these things. If you have some doubt. Now the Arabs, they have no previous background, they have no background in the scriptures, so he's telling them you don't know how to judge these matters.
You don't know how to judge the value or the weight of this matter because you are not People of the Book. You have no experience with these scriptures. Your fathers are not teachers or the readers and teachers of scripture. So, if you doubt me, that's the Prophet speaking. G-d speaks to them for the Prophet. If you doubt the Prophet, ask the People of the Book, they will verify that these things are true. You'll find among them people with knowledge of these things and they will be a witness on My side that this is true in the scripture. And isn't that the natural way things happen? Some of us, we think we can handle the old teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and we'd be trying to impress the people with the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and we have to refer to somebody else because people in the audience they don't know, they can't say it's right or wrong half the time, right? They don't know, they don't have the experience. They can't say yes or no. So they say "You don't believe it, check with Brother James. That brother been around since it started."
So, we refer to somebody else so they'll have faith in what we are saying. Well, that's a witness, you got a witness." So, witnesses, the Prophets witnesses were those people who had received scripture before. They were his witnesses because G-d had sent him in the line of Prophets, in the line of Prophecy with the scripture, with the final scripture, with the final scripture that continues and addresses the scriptures that came before. It continues those scriptures and it addresses the scriptures that came before. This is the Qur'an. This is G-d's saying this. It's not me saying this. I'm telling you what Allah says in the Qur'an. You got it? Yes. 98, Chapter 98. Excuse me, these are my prescription glasses. I can get it all corrected right here by a brother who is in the business. My other ones, I miss them I don't have them, but these are really the best ones right here, prescription glasses. I'll begin at the beginning and I'll read this translation. I'll read this. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book. I hope you can hear me. I'll begin the verse again. Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, were not going to depart from their ways until there should come to them clear evidence.
A Messenger from Allah rehearsing scriptures kept pure and holy wherein are books right and straight. That's the verse. Third verse, "Wherein are books right and straight. "Feeha Kutubun Khayema"
This is where we begin our discussion today. Feeha Kutubun Khayema. Right. Feeha means in it or if you're talking about living people or persons, then it's in her, but we are talking, not talking about persons. The reference here is to scripture. So, it says "Beha." Now as I said, Kutubun Khayema, Kutubun is the plural of Kitab. Kitab is one book. Kuta, books.
In it, meaning in the revelation, in the ayats, in the surahs, this revelation of Qur'an in the revelation, in the surah, in the ayats, in the surahs and the whole text, the whole text of the Qur'an. "In it is" now, if it was talking about the Qur'an as the book, the book itself, it wouldn't be "Fee ha" it would be "Fee he." Kitab is not feminine. It would be "Fee he." But it's not talking about the book as the book. It's talking about the book as containing all of these other books. Books, plural. And the chapters. The chapters and verses of Qur'an are feminine. The surahs are feminine. The ayats feminine. So, this is what is talking about. It means in the context of the scripture from Fatiha to Al Nas. In the full context of Qur'an, from Fatiha to Al Nas is where you find all of these books. Kutubun Khayema. From the very beginning of the Qur'an the Qur'an is correcting what was reported. Mistakes and what was reported. From the very beginning, the very first revelation, words of revelation to Muhammad setting straight the lies. "Iqra", Read in the name of your Lord who created you." And to the end of those first verses that came to the Prophet correcting the picture.
Now look at the word "Kayyema." Yes, look at the word as it is given here. It says, I want to use the English just as he has it here. Where in are books. Here Kayyema is given as right and straight. Right? Now, do we have any word close to that already? Yes. "Seeratal Mustaqeem." In Al Fatiha. And that path that is straight. Right and straight. Mustaqeem is also derived from the same roof that this word is derived from. Mustaqeem, Kayyema. But also to stand. Qama. Qama to stand up straight is also derived from the same root, you see. To stand up straight. And the Prophet Ibrahim, his place where he stood that we have to stand there too when we make a hajj and make our prayer there like he did is called Maqama Ibrahim Hanifa, the place, the standing place of Abraham, Peace be Upon the Prophet who was upright in his nature. Hanifa, upright, straight direct in his nature. Ibrahim Hanifa. So here we have all these terms derived from the same root. And also, we have for people Quam, my people. Quam Mi. People are called, my people. Quam Mi, my people. Derived from the same.
And then we have this religion that is called the religion of man in the nature, in his nature created by G-d. It is the religion of man in his nature, a man in the nature created by G-d, by Allah. So, we are free in our minds because we are thinkers, we are free thinkers. We are free in our minds to adopt behavior, to adopt behavior, to copy behavior, to copy imitate others and things and take on a behavior that is not the behavior that G-d created us with. But the behavior of G-d created us with, it is the upright. Hanifa. That's the Hanifa that G-d credit the Prophet with. He attributes to the Prophet Abraham, Ibraheem. Ibrahim Hanifa. That was his form. He was in that behavior, he was in that behavior that G-d intended. Now, so that behavior is what makes the place of Abraham so important to us because he was established in that behavior.
So, the place where he prayed is the place that is remembered, right? We have to remember that. On the pilgrimage, we go there and we do our circles around the Ka'ba, make the Tawaaf and then we go and we pray where Abraham prayed. To say we have reconciled our spirit with the pattern that G-d wanted for us and now we are ready to stand where Abraham stood. We are ready to stand in a position that Abraham stood, in the upright position. In the Hanifa form, in that Hanifa form. And we may go to the board er so we can write these terms and you can copy it. Quam is people, Quam means people from the same word. Now I started this little discussion we're making here today. This is a big discussion. This is going to be a short on time, but this is a big discussion, believe me. I started this discussion by bringing it to our attention that the Prophet was a member of a people that had not received scripture before so they could not readily appreciate expressions like in the Qur'an or in books in their correct form or right form, right and pure. They couldn't appreciate that. Now the term Quam, Quam means people.
And people now in Arabic, people in Arabic is derived word from the same root that standing erect comes from. See how Arabic is, Arabic was chosen. It's no accident that the Prophet had to be an Arab. There's no accident the Prophet had to be an Arab because the Arabic is the best language. The Arabic is the best language. It is the language that contained the purest history of the language of man in his right nature. Even though it was the language of the people who was farthest from that life. They were far from the life, but the language was still the purest of languages existing on earth at that time and even today, even more so today. It was the purest of the languages that carried the history, or held the history of the nature of man that G-d created. So here this term, people the same term also can be traced to the upright nature that G-d wants for us. Upright. Because Qama is coming from the same root, Qama, coming from the same root. Mustaqim, coming from the same root. Iqama tu Salat, coming from the same root. Now it's time to stand for prayer. Coming from the same root. Now let's go back to the Bible, to scriptures before.
Many places in the Bible it talks of the people of G-d as the standing people and the reference I have in mind now is the one that says my people are standing water, standing water. Standing water is an expression in the Bible. Standing water. Water can't stand still but it's easily disturbed. So, we can stand still but we're easy to disturb. So that description is so beautiful that poetic description of the human sensitive makeup. My people are standing water. Quam- Standing.
Another place in the Bible referred to the people as standing trees or trees standing by the water, right? Trees standing by water, standing tree. And trees seem to want to stand up erect, right? Oh yes. Most of them have straight postures. Standing trees. People are standing trees. Standing trees. Tree is well-balanced. Well-balanced. It balances itself by branching off, branching off. It balances itself like a man holds his arms out to get better balance. The tight rope walker. He holds his hands out like that to get better balance on the tight rope as he walks the tight rope. Helps him to balance. And the tree stretches out like that with his branches and his arms and it balances his weight so that weight is equally distributed all around so that the perpendicular is not strange. Yeah, the vertical is not strange. So this is how G-d made man in his symmetry. He made us in our symmetry like the tree in its symmetry, upright, upright, small bottom to stand on small area to stand on a good reach outward but it's balanced. The left arm is the length of the right arm. If not the difference is so small it doesn't affect the balance, but it wouldn't be balanced if the left arm is half the length of the right.
It would make the balance a little difficult. What is the big issue here? The big issue is this. That the best that man can be is what G-d created. Man shouldn't be looking for something outside of himself. Man should be trying to discover what's inside. That's the big issue. That man is not to imitate animals, they're inferior to him. Man is not to imitate plants and things. They're inferior to him. In their excellence, there just a reference to something G-d made in him. G-d designed in him. Just a reference to something G-d made in him. So, G-d made everything outside as a language too. Made us as G-d said in Qur'an, made us and everything outside of us as a language. As a language. Each thing is a concept and a concept is a language, part of a language and a concept has a message, right? Yes, a concept has a complete message. Every concept has a complete message. If it's nothing but a grain of sand, has a complete message in one grain of sand. Yes it is because scientifically tell me what a grain of sand is and you going to give me a complete message, right? Let's talk science. Tell me what a grain of sand is and use scientific expressions. You're going to give me a complete message on a grain of sand.
That's what I'm saying. Everything that exists is a complete message itself. Yes. And that's the language that G-d wrote when He wrote creation, when He created things He was writing. He created the whole universe as a script. Isn't that what He said? Yes. G-d says that not me. Don't look at me like that. He says there will come a time and He is going to take all this creation and He's going take it back and how you think He's going to take it back? Take it back and roll it up as a scroll. Cause that's what it is. It is the writing of G-d.
Alhamdulillahi.
The message of G-d to us, to man to the minds of the intellect, to the conscious of man.
Yes. So Feha Kutubun Qaima. And Qaim, people, Qaim and people being pictured in scripture as standing tree and as standing water and as stone, right? Stone. That's bad, that's a negative. Stone, right? Cause stone has no life, it doesn't need any balance. Its balance is fixed by its form. This form already fixes its balance. A stone, right? So, there's no effort to balance, there's no effort or no responsibility or no burden on that thing to balance itself. Its form is fixed already rigid, it can't be changed. That's stone. Some of us like that in our makeup aren't we? We are so convinced and so dogmatic, so opinionated that nothing changes us, nothing wavers us, nothing influences us. We are just like a stone. So, a person like that can't say they have balance. They have no balance.
Alhamdulillahi.
That one that has balance has a job of balances. So that person is stone, he doesn't care about his balance. He's fixed in his opinions, he's fixed in his mind so nothing can change him. So, G-d says he's like a stone, dead to influence. Beha Kutabun Khaira. In itare their books in their right form. Pure and correct. Praise be to Allah. Now if we look at the scriptures now as scriptures that had lost their purity, lost their correctness and that's that is what we have to accept, because G-d says it and history says it. Actually the Bible says it. We read the Bible. The Bible is telling us about G-d, sending Prophets behind Prophets, or Messengers after Messengers, to correct what the people have you see? To give them further understanding and to correct, to rebuke them many times for deviating themselves, for deviating from what G-d had given them, you see. This is scripture of the Bible.
So, it's not just the Qur'an that points to the scriptures, this problem that scriptures were existing but they had the errors in them and were not pure as they were when G-d gave them. The Bible itself addresses that. In the Bible. that is addressed also. In order to have a way to approach the study of scripture now. If we want to study scripture, you can just study, you can study anything and that's okay. Anything comes to your mind, you can study it in scripture. I said that's okay. But if we want to make a scholarly study of scripture, if we want to make a informed, educated, or scholarly study of scripture, we should try to find a focus first for our study. And the history of scripture tells us what that focus should be. The history of scripture is the history of man in darkness trying to find the light. Alright? That's the history of scripture. The history of scripture is the history of man in darkness trying to find the light. Let's look at the states of darkness or the sources of darkness for a man in that state of darkness that he was in. The source of darkness was first himself, himself. And secondly, the world, the material world.
The earth and all the things outside. And thirdly, the explanation for it all, the explanation for it all. What explains my being here? What explains the world being here? So that leads to the third. G-d, right? Creator or the explanation behind all of this. We could say G-d is the explanation behind all the realities, right? Yes. For the religious people, G-d is the explanation for all the reality. G-d is the explanation. G-d explains it all. For those who don't believe in a G-d, they seek to have matter or creation or they would say matter, explain it all, right? They seek to have matter explain it all like the leaders of Communism did. Karl Marx and his disciples or his associates, they sought to explain the existence of the world or matter upon the nature and laws of matter itself. The nature, laws and history of matter itself. I should include history of matter. So, they.... let me change my position here, get hurt without hurting one another.
A little relief now. So, they tried to explain the existence of the world upon the nature, laws and history of the world are matter itself. So, for them, material is the explanation. Material is the reality, and material is the explanation. But for religious people who believe in this, in G-d, their faith, people of faith, G-d is the explanation for the existence of all things. And therefore we have in the language of the Arabs who teaches, Arab teachers "This world could not faith as this by itself. Something had to make it happen." This is the ancient belief of the people of faith or the spiritual man. The spiritual man right? Now there's much to be said there, but let me watch the time. I don't want to go over an hour, please somebody let me know when I'm approaching an hour.
Now the concepts, now we are saying that in order to approach this study of scripture, we should first get the focus that has been provided for us by the inspired people, by the scholars who followed them, by the inspired people, the Prophets and Messengers of G-d and the followers, and the followers, their followers who followed them, the followers, the learned people who followed the Prophets or the Messengers of G-d. And they have given us this picture of reality that the reality is G-d number one, G-d is the reality. G-d is the first reality first cause. Cause means explanation. When you are trying to reason to find what happened, to make all this that happened, then the cause, they call it the first cause in philosophy, in Islamic philosophy. The first cause is G-d. G-d is the first cause. So, G-d as the first cause by reason of the kind of thinking that we have to arrive at a first cause, then G-d is the explanation, correct? G-d is the explanation. That's why we want the first cause. We want to have what explains everything that happened after, or everything that happened in the great theory or in the great history of the existence of this world. You, see? So, G-d is the first cause. G-d is the explanation.
This is the rational approach. The rational approach. There's also a spiritual approach. The spiritual approach which is powerful to all of the classical ways or avenues or ways or lines of reasoning in religious knowledge or science, religious science are correct and powerful in terms of the gratification that your mind gets when you see it. The way that logic is given. Oh, it's so powerfully wonderful. But the one that is the most convincing in an argument before the world is the one that we on right now. It is the rational approach. As a rational approach, it looks at what we have first. It accepts what we have first. Okay, I'm a man, I'm flesh and blood, I'm this and that. It looks at what's here, what our mind readily admits, and it looks at the world. This is a stone, this is solid, this is liquid, this is gas. Okay, we see that.
We accept that. Where did it come from? Well, let's study it. Let's study it. That's right. So, you start a scientific study, right? So, if this flesh of mine, it really it bleeds like a dog's flesh, it has skin like a dog's flesh, it has hair like a dog's flesh and the hair on my body seems to have the same real purpose as the hair on the dog's body. But the dog got more for some reason. So pretty soon you come to a conclusion that flesh is just flesh. But what makes this particular flesh, this particular person, this particular life in this flesh, so different from the life in that flesh. Well the brain is different in the anatomy, the brain is larger and proportion to the size that might have some answer, right? So, we begin to reason, and all of this rational progress that we make finally brings us to rational conclusions. That the human being is flesh like a dog, but a much higher created flesh than a dog. Even in his flesh, he's a much higher creation than a dog, even in his flesh. So, a human being, a human being, if we could say transportation, a means of transportation. A human being is like the finest piece of transportation we can imagine, you see. And beneath him, all the others, beneath him, beneath him, you see, until you have nothing but a wheel rolling by itself. Just a wheel, like we used to get the wheel and roll the tire with a stick.
I guess that's the lowest you can get in transportation, nothing but one wheel rolling by itself. So, the human being is the most evolved, the best, the highest, the most evolved in his form. Then if the human being is the most evolved in his form, the highest in terms of what he is in his physical design, in his physical makeup, his physical desire, if he is the highest, then every time we find that form alive, we should have great respect for it no matter what the condition of the person is in that form, right? Wow. Yes, you find a brand new Rolls Royce, you gonna have respect for it. You don't say nobody at the wheel, right? And you might see the car and recognize the person at the wheel ain't nothing but a low down good for nothing person. Yucky, yucky. But you still going to have respect for that Rolls Royce. "Man look at that no good crazy dude and that Rolls." Well, that's how we should appreciate the human form that G-d made. We should appreciate the human form that G-d made and that person commanding it or the person that controls should never, no matter what condition that person is in, it should never cause us to disrespect, the creation of G-d, that marvelous creation of G-d.
Now, then the burden falls on our heart. Then the burden falls on the heart now. Here is this marvelous form that this person has been given, but is not aware of it. The person obviously is not aware of it, so we have to teach him, right? The duty of the civilized is to teach the uncivilized.
So, when a man starts to study himself, when he starts to exercise, introspection, introspection to see what is in here, he wants to turn the light on inside. What is in here? When he starts that he starts to be enlightened, he starts to be enlightened and the more he learns about himself, the more he learns about his relationship with the world outside of himself. If I am this, then I'm not supposed to be just crawling along here like the dog or a monkey or ape or something. If I'm this, I'm supposed to be different. I'm supposed to have a higher respect for this creation. I'm supposed to make use of it. I'm supposed to see what can be done to further this movement that I have discovered.
And this movement is a movement from the inferior to the better, from the worst to the better, from the inferior to the better, from the low to the high, from the weak to the strong, from the poor to the rich. Not rich in money, poor in quality, to the rich in quality, poor in means to the rich in means. You see, so this is what happens when man starts to discover himself in the darkness of his own existence. He starts to discover himself with the help of G-d. He can't do it without G-d. G-d know you're sincere and innocent. You don't have to be thanking G-d, but G-d's seeing you as the Prophet said- "Know if you are not seeing G-d, you are not seeing G-d, you're not seeing G-d, but know that G-d is seeing you, G-d has seen you." So, G-d is seeing you and G-d knows you and you are sincere and you are trying to find the truth. So, G-d is going to help you just as though you are seeing G-d. G-d is going to help you. So, everybody got help. That's what I'm trying to say. Don't think a man had to call on G-d before he got help. A man didn't call G-d. Man called on himself. "Wallace, you got to do something about this. G-d heard him. G-d heard him and G-d started to help.
Because Wallace was G-d's creation. And G-d's creation obligates G-d. That's what G-d says. I don't hardly say anything anymore for myself. You can trace everything I say back to the scripture or back to the Prophet. If not, I tell you I'll make it understood. This is me. I'm talking boldly man. You see, you hear spirit in that voice. I'm convinced that I'm coming from the word of G-d. Coming from the truth that G-d has established. Yes. In it are the books written. Now so much for the concept of man. I say so much for the concept of man because we just touched upon it right? Now, let's look at the material word itself. Once man discovers himself, then he understands the world outside. The world outside does not explain in first, the world outside does not shine light on the world inside. It's the world inside that makes possible light outside first. But then it comes back the other way. It comes back the other way. See, you make wudu like this then like this, right? Right here then right here. That's to clean the hair but also for the wise, there's a message there that the conscience came to my face, came to my eyes, came to the front, meaning to the front. Meaning came before me. The conscience came before me.
From the nature, from the nature. And then we take it back from the conscience into the nature. In the conscience, the conscience worked with it and understands it and then applies logic to the nature. Isn't that how it works? Isn't that how man progresses? He studies the nature. The nature gives him the message, gives him the understanding, gives him knowledge first. Nature gives him the knowledge. He doesn't have it. The nature gives him the knowledge first. Then with his rational mind that G-d created, that great tool, he studies what the nature has given him and then he puts it into a logic and he applies that logic to his nature and improves his whole establishment. Himself. He improves himself, he improves upon himself. He improves his environment, everything. Because of that. So that's how it goes, you see?
So, I said first it doesn't come from the outside. The light comes from in here. As man begin to practice or exercise introspection, he discovers himself and his self is more complex than anything outside. Himself or his self is more I would say potent, potent, powerful, powerful rich for revealing things than anything he can find outside. Is that not correct? Yes, yes. So, he tries to turn the light on inward in himself first, and by turning it on, he begins to marvel over what he sees. Then in time, his mind is so enriched that he begins now to see that what he's looking at outside has a relationship to what's inside. He begins to see a comparison that actually this external world is a big macro copy of me or I am a small microcopy of it. You see, that's what he starts to see.
He starts to see his physiology in the whole physiology of the world. And he starts to see his spirituality in the spiritual pictures that he perceived when he looked at the world and the clouds with noise, noise with thunder and darkness and making darkness, preventing the light of the sun from coming, suggest to us something that is similar to our emotions when our emotions become cloudy, right? When our emotions become so cloudy we can't see the light of reasoning anymore. Reasoning is just flooded out. Reasoning is blocked out by disturbed emotions. So, we start to see that our own world is really a minuscule or micro world, a cosm of the big cosm, the macrocosm, the big world. And we could go on and on. The anger, how anger can come up in us and just destroy everything that we have diligently established for our own personality.
And we regret it saying, well look how anger has just disintegrated, disintegrated the personality of my person that I have so much pride in. Oh, I hope I never get angry like that again and get into anger to that extent that it just consumes my image that I care about, right? Anger. So, you start to see anger and uncontrolled fire. Like the wildfire we see in the California woods. Get out of control and just burning up all the beautiful things that people work so diligently, they worked so hard to accomplish or achieve. So, you can readily relate to this, correct, even if you just here the first time and the first time you've heard Imam Mohammed make a discussion, you can readily relate to what I'm saying and appreciate what I'm saying. So, this, the philosophers have talked about for thousands of years, not for a few minutes like we are doing here and they have compiled so much information and knowledge in these particular subjects, you see?
Yes. So, man began to know the world outside. I would say he began to have a real way to successfully study and gain knowledge of the world outside after he comes to a high appreciation of the world inside. Now does history give us any evidence? Yes sir. Find communities, people, groups that have no rational knowledge of what they are in their creation and you'll find those who have no rational knowledge of what the world is in its makeup. Is that not true? And study their history of their sciences and knowledge, and their history will take you back from the material things that they have studied to the human being itself that they studied. That their first inquiries that resulted in them having a body of knowledge, a body of rational knowledge or rational body of knowledge was self inquiry into the nature of self. They studied self and as a result they came to have a higher appreciation of the world outside and that's what brought them to have the patience to search the world outside with the tool of reasoning. To search the world outside with the rational tools to learn what is this world, what is its nature.
What is it here for? What is its value to man? Because once he's established that he is the highest created form, we know the angels, he imagined that they are unseen beings and he thought them to be higher than him. But in the world that he has to deal with every day, he is the highest right? He is the highest, not the angel. He is the highest or the angel is not seen in this world, not working in this world. Working in this world, but not having a role that man can readily to see and affecting things for man that man can see and readily understand. So that's an unknown world. We may say the angel world is an unknown world, but in the known world there's man and man is the highest form. So, man began to then relate knowledge to himself, refer knowledge back to himself. Okay, here is wood, the tree produces wood. The tree is wood. What is it here for? What use it has for me and a human community.
That's what started the knowledge, right? That's how the knowledge grows. What use does it have for me in a human community? Well, we can burn it when it's cold and make heat and help us heat and we can use it to build a structure. It will house us. So, man began to utilize the outside world, the external world. And that's really what you call the stage. That's the stage for the dynamics of the world, isn't it? That's set the stage for the dynamics of the world, for the growth industry and everything that has come about. That sets the stage. It's man with a curiosity to know how can this benefit my tribe, my community, my nation or whatever. He starts utilizing these things so that these things serve his nation or serve his people or serve his community or serve his tribe. He started utilizing these thing and the result is the great advanced world of material, material and sciences that we have. That's the result of all that. Yes. Allahu Akbar. Yes. Now G-d, how did he come to know G-d? He comes to believe in a G-d when he looked into himself and saw a marvelous creation that he is, he knew he didn't do it. So, he started to believing in G-d, right? He started believing that there's a one that's mightier than I am, wiser than I'm that designed me and put me here for purpose. He started to believe that. And as his knowledge increased, his knowledge of himself and his knowledge of the external world increased as he became more learned, more informed as a creature in the material world and of the material world.
With that progress, he also gained more knowledge of his G-d, gained more knowledge of his G-d. The knowledge that he gained of his G-d can be put maybe in two descriptions, two main descriptions. He gained knowledge of his G-d as a Creator, a Producer, a Maker of things. And he gained knowledge of his G-d as a communication to him and communication to man. Something is communicating these things to me. So, G-d is the Communicator, the Revealer, and G-d is the Maker, the Designer, the maker of all these things. Two attributes first, right? Two great attributes. Now study scripture and tell me is there any other attribute of G-d more important than G-d as the Creator and G-d as the Revealer. When G-d came to Muhammad, he told Muhammad that He was the Creator. He didn't say to Muhammad, I am Allah, not when He first came to Muhammad. Isn't that something? Think about it. Oh, I love it, I love it. Yes, I do. Yes. So he didn't say to Prophet Muhammad I am Allah just like it says in the scripture that G-d found Moses out there wandering around, stumbling over his feet and looking for G-d, looking for the unknown.. Where were we? Moses, yes, thank you. Moses is said to have been called by G-d and Moses had no knowledge either Moses was an unlearned person in the scripture and all that. So, he had no knowledge, he didn't have anything in his education to explain what is happening. What is this experience I'm having here? So, he asked G-d, he said, "Well who am I to tell them that sent me? G-d was telling him, I'm going to send you to the people, send you to your people. "Well, who am I to tell them who sent me?
And the answer is, "I am that I am." In other words, I can't tell you yet. I can't tell you yet you're too ignorant. I just met you. Or you just meeting me. So I am that I am. Well Moses, he was a practical man. He might've been ignorant in scripture, but he was a practical man. He had to go back and deal with rational thinkers, physical thinkers, Pharoah and his scientists. Hey, they dealt with physics and chemistry and currency and stuff like that. Say, "I got to go talk to these hardcore practitioners and G-d just telling me to say I am that I am. But it says something about the people he had to go talk to then didn't it?
Now we know the Jews, some of them had scripture, but they too had lost the light. They were ignorant. They had gone under darkness again. They had become very ignorant in the knowledge of scripture. So, he had to go back and say, I am that I am. But look, when he goes back, it doesn't show Moses having an argument with his people, right? Not right away. He's having an argument with Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the one. "Who is this G-d that you say I am that I am? Now this is very, very confusing and very troublemaking too really. But it says that G-d told me to say that I am that I am. In other words, I have nothing to say to you about who I am right? Just like you tell your child, right? Your child be asking you questions and his mind ain't big enough to get the answer yet.
Well, why did that happen? Why did that happen? And the explanation is too complicated for his mind, the way you explain. So, after you tell him in the way that you think he can accept it, but it's not enough for him because he's a bright youngster. He's bright, he's too bright for his own intelligence right now. So, you get upset now cause he's worrying you. He's keeping you from the things that you got to do. So, you say, "Don't ask me that anymore. It's what I said it was." And that ain't enough. Not for that bright minded boy. But he ain't ready. He doesn't have an understanding, doesn't have experience for you to give him that answer. So, you get fed up with it and you say "It is what I said it was. I can't tell you anymore. I can't tell you anymore than I already told you."
But with Muhammad Prophet Muhammad, G-d introduced Himself first to Prophet Muhammad as the Creator. Told him to read. In the name of your Lord. Raab, your Lord who created. Here now comes the clear description of the Lord. The Lord now. "Who is my Lord? My Lord is the one who created. That's the first thing G-d told Muhammad, Highly glorified is G-d. Peace be upon our Prophet. First thing he told him that your Lord is the one who created man. Not just you, created man, first man. Created the human being. Your Lord is the one who created him. And not only the one who created him, but the one who also educated him, taught him, taught him what he was not before knowing. That's right. Yes. And He was not stingy with the knowledge. He was Most generous with the knowledge. That's your Lord Muhammad. Isn't that wonderful? That's your Lord Creator. So that's how G-d was introduced, that's how Allah, G-d introduced Himself to Muhammad the Prophet from the very first encounter, very first encounter, very first meeting. That's how He introduced it. Now, at the same time, what was happening? G-d was to Muhammad the Creator, Lord Creator, Lord Creator. And at the same time, something was happening, G-d was communicating to him. So, the first awareness he had clear awareness he had of G-d was as G-d the Communicator and as G-d the Creator.
That's what's most important. That's what's most important. Now we know the word that touched the Arabs later. The attribute, I should say attribute. The attribute or the name of G-d that touched the Arabs more than any other of His attributes, according to the revelation of Qur'an. Was Ar Rahman. Yes, Ar Rahman because it is reported that the Arabs were so affected by that attribute of G-d Ar Rahman, that they had started to call that name more than Allah, more than they were using Allah, Rahman. And it was brought to the attention of the Prophet. And the revelation came and the revelation explained, it says Call on G-d by Ar Rahman or by any other name, but to G-d belonged the most beautiful name. Beautiful. Yes. So, they weren't stopped. They weren't told to stop. It said call on Him by Ar Rahman, or by any of His names, for to G-d belongs all of the most excellent, beautiful names, most beautiful names, right? Yes. That was it.
Yes. So, it was left to the nature of man, wasn't it? It was left to the nature of man, leave it to the nature of man. So, if I belong to a school of thought and in my school of thought, an attribute of G-d, Al Alim, has been the attribute that we have devoted ourselves to. And it has enriched the wise men, the teachers in this school and the history of this school of thought. That they have concentrated on that name. And it has revealed so much to them. And if they say, referring to Allah Subhan Ala and then they say Subhana Alim, we are not to say that they're wrong. They're not saying Subhana Alah, they're saying Subhana Alim. There's nothing wrong with that. It was made acceptable by the revelation. And if others are being used, Ar Rahman, Ar Rahman, you say well, they just saying Ar Rahman now. We have nothing to say about it.
So, it's left to human nature, to the excellence of human nature. Some of us will be attracted to one beautiful name of G-d and we'll get a lot out of it. It will enrich our minds and enrich our souls so much. And for us, that will be the one that we will be repeating most on our lips. You, see? And if all of us do this, the world of man will be so enriched. Yeah. Isn't it just like man exploration of the earth? One is attracted to minerals. And he just comes up to so many fine precious stones and et cetera. So much knowledge of the minerals. Another one is attracted to the weather. He enriches us so much. So that's the way it is. For me, the attribute the Creator has attracted me, has entertained me more than any other attribute of G-d. G-d as the Creator. And why? Because creation was the biggest burden on me as a member of the Lost Found Nation of Islam and the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And a Minister, a person trying to learn to teach that the biggest burden on me was creation itself.
Because here is my father, the Messenger of G-d. That's what he believed at that time. Here's my father, the Messenger of Allah, the Messenger of G-d. And I know him. He's a flesh of blood man like all other men, but he's different and he makes different claims. Now the burden on me is his creation. Your creation doesn't measure up to your claims.
Audience:
Yes.
IWDM:
How am I understand this? How am I to resolve this conflict in my mind?
Your creation is not measuring up to your claim. And then the Christianity, because don't think Christianity didn't affect the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's children. It did. In a Christian world. I'm constantly bombarded with their message. Here is a white man purported to be G-d. Son of G-d and G-d, he's in my world too. He's in the world with my thoughts. And his creation is also a big burden on me. They say he's that, but his creation doesn't measure up to the claim. Then I'm told that this world came about from the Christian people, that it came about like Shazam. So, the world itself was a burden on my mind. As creation. A big burden on my mind. And I've told in the Nation of Islam that the black man did all this. That he was before the star. I'm not making jokes. See how serious this was. He was existing before the stars. And don't think the Nation of Islam is the only one told stories like that. You study the myth of the world. They got stories just as ridiculous and some more ridiculous.
So, I'm being told that the man, black man, first thing he did was put the star in existence. And then he put the moon in existence. And well the earth. And then the moon. And he finally had the universe all made. But he did that himself. We're told how he made the moon. We're not told how he made the stars. We're told how he made the moon. Then the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, after about 40 years of that, he tried to give us explanations, how he made the stars. Said he was in total triple darkness and just on his own energy, he spined himself into existence and also the world from it.
That's what he said, right? Yeah. Okay. That's a mythology, that's a myth. That's a mythology, and it's a good one. Believe me, I've studied them. That's a good one. You have to know how to place it. You have to know how to place it, where to read it. In terms of man as a rational thinker, as a producer, a rational producer, utilizing matter outside of himself. That's exactly what happened. He began moving off his own energy first and from his own energy, he was able to spin out the industrial world from himself, from his own mental energy, from his own skills, et cetera. He was able to produce the world outside of himself. See? So don't laugh at things too fast. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was reading from other things. He didn't invent this. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was studying other things. And that's ow he read it to us. He was studying the other ideas of the beginning of the world. And that's what he came up with. And he wasn't on his own. He had helpers. He had men helping him that he would talk to, that he would have discussions with and they would help him formulate his words to us.
Yeah. Alright, so much for that. Now we went off in the darkness, how did we get there? We have to come back to the light. Yes, the attributes of G-d. So, the attributes that attracted me most was the attribute of the Creator, the attribute the Creator, Al Kaliq, the Creator. And I'm not comparing myself to Muhammad, never would I do that. My spirit is against that. But it so happened that that's the attribute that G-d gave Muhammad. And when you study his environment in terms of enlightenment, his environment and our environment were very much the same.
The Arabs of his day, and along with a group of the Jews. There was a very popular group of Jews, believed just like they did, but only had education. They had education. So, their language wasn't stupid. Their life wasn't as pitiful. Wasn't that ridiculous. But they had the idea too that matter was eternal, infinite. That matter was never created. That matter is itself infinite and eternal, material itself. That was the idea that they had. And the Arabs had a less sophisticated, less impressive idea of the material world. But their idea was very much the same. That if you can't prove it by matter, by something material, it doesn't exist. That was their idea. If it ain't material, it doesn't exist. If it can't be traced back through matter or to the material physical, it has no existence. It has no value, it has no worth. as That was their belief. The Sadducees believe the same as the Jews. The Sadducees believed the same, just more sophisticated, I would say. A more elaborate theory or something than what the stupid Arabs had. Now this is not coming from me when I say the stupid Arabs, this is coming from the language. The Jahaliyaa. That's what Jahaliyaa means. Stupid. Jahaliyaa means stupid, stupid people.
And they were stupid. They didn't believe in any real G-d. They prided themselves as being practical, rational, rational and practical. But made prayers to little figures that they made with their hands, little toys. You can call them toys, right? Little toys. A little model of this monster, a little model of that animal, little toy. And they were praying to them and thought that they had the power to answer their prayers. Now you see what happens to man if he ignore his spiritual side. His spiritual side becomes so ignorant that when you look at his business life and then his spirituality-Wow. How in the world can you believe these things, do these things you are doing with the education that you appear to have in business?
What a stupid people, right? And believe me, that's the way I saw common church religion. I saw it as stupid religion. I can't help it. That's the way I saw it. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn't have to worry about me being attracted to Christianity. He didn't have to worry about me being attracted to it. To me it was just totally ridiculous that anybody believed those things. It was. Totally ridiculous to me. Especially a black man. A black man see all his misery in the world and then call this white image his G-d. To me it made no sense. It was terribly ridiculous to me as a child. Now I see it differently. I understand these things. I understand. But the first thing, "How in the world did we come to believe that?" And I finally got the answer. At first we were jiving. You can jive so long it becomes reality. When the white man first gave us the church and Christianity, we would jiving. We weren't for real. We were trying to fool him so he would think that we were going to be like him and he didn't have to worry about us anymore. We were under him and his religion. We were jiving. We weren't real for real. But we stayed in so long, it got good to us.
And some of us discovered some logic with our own intelligence when we studied that Bible. And those who learned, learnt for themselves what the gospel was, they branched off from the white church and started their own. That's the history of the African-American church, right? Or the black church. But believe me, those that first said that I believe, they were jiving. Alright, so now we've gone over an hour. I told you to let me know when the hour was up. And the main thing we wanted to dwell on is just that expression. Correct books in their correct form. Or books correct and right, straight. Correct and straight or right and straight. Now, there's nothing in the language and the term itself that gives us that word or that term straight. Straight. Except by reasoning. Because in order to stand up correctly, you have to stand up straight. So that's the reason, to stand up correctly, is to stand up straight. So that's where we get the meaning straight. But look, books that are like that straight. Books that are straight suggest to us that the books were not straight before. They were crooked. Right? Crooked. Crooked scripture. And that's true. That's right. Exactly what it's saying. That scriptures were crooked before.
And the revelation came to Muhammad to make the crooked straight. To straighten it out. Ain't that the prediction in the scripture? That the crooked ways shall be made straight. That's by history. Yes. Crooked ways shall be made straight. Yes. Ancient Egyptian mythology, the Pharaoh, he has two things. One is the flail, the whip, and the other one is the crook. Is that what they call it. The crook.
Audience:
The crook.
IWDM:
Yeah, the crook. That's what they call it. The crook. It's like that with a cane on it. Like a cane almost. Like that. It turns up and they call it the crook. Crook. That's the name. That's its name. Crook. And it is a little curve at the end and the rest is straight. Straight with a curve at the end. Right. And they called it a crook. And it shows what the Pharaoh relied upon to control his sensory. He relied upon the flail and the crook.
I can't apply physical pressure, whip them and get obedient. I know how to deceive their minds. I know how to deceive them minds. And now you get ready for discussions, be getting yourself together, your thoughts together. We going to go right into the discussion after I make this final comment. When Moses was sent to Pharaoh, he was told to use his staff. Right? And the magicians of Pharaoh that he had to compete with, they also had staffs, right? And the challenge was that whose staff would defeat the other. So, they threw their staff and he threw his and his staff became a serpent and swallowed up all their staffs. And the language of the Qur'an said that it swallowed up all of the falsehoods that the magicians had cast.
So, isn't that crookedness? That was deceit, falsehood. Deceit. So, their staff really were their deceits. Their deceits. Their crookedness was really their staffs. And Moses staff too was crookedness. But G-d gave him the knowledge of what was in his staff and he was a straight man. So, a straight man used a stronger crooked logic against weaker crooked logic. He cast his crooked logic against that crooked logic. And his crooked logic was bigger and more powerful than theirs because G-d had given him more knowledge of it than they had. So, he cast his deceit, they cast their deceit, he cast his deceit. His deceit swallowed up on all their deceit because his deceit was universal deceit. That deceit was Egyptian deceit. So, he had the whole lie, they had part. So, when he cast the whole lie, the whole lie swallowed up there piece of a lie. Now did Moses walk with that staff After G-d told him what it was? He only walked with that staff until asked him, G-d said, "What is that in your hand? And G-d revealed to Moses what it was. And it never said again that Moses walked with that particular staff. Does it? He only used that one in contest, in argument.
And that's the way it is, right? Yeah. So, when we argue with those who are still in the darkness that Allah blessed us to come out of, don't we pick up that darkness and don't we hurl at them the same darkness they hurled at us? But our knowledge of it is so superior to theirs that actually if any rational person is listening to us and them, they will give the victory to us. He defeated him in the argument. We using the full knowledge of the lie, they got partial knowledge, Piecemeal knowledge. And the difference between the two is told in the language. Moses was a common sense man and they were magicians. So, their faith is in magic. They tried to impress the onlookers with marvels, with excitement. Excitement, not with reasoning. Moses, he stood upon what is rational, what is practical. So, when he threw his argument against theirs, with rational to back it up, it consumed theirs. It ate them up. It ate them up. So, we still throwing rods aren't we? G-d told him to cast down your rod. That's beneath you, don't hold that thing up, cast it down. When he cast it down from himself and he saw what it was, he was frightened. He had never had any knowledge before of what that crook was.
G-d told him don't be afraid. Said take it. Yeah, take it with your hand. He took it by the hand and he picked it up. And from then on he was ready to do battle with the people who advanced darkness. Okay. So now is there anyone who have something of interest that you would like to say to make a contribution to our discussion today or a question. We'd like to begin to have some exchange. Yes.
Audience:
How would you evaluate the concept that being espoused by some of us that says we have no control addiction. I'm really not comfortable with that. Being a creation of Allah and not being in control of something outside of me.
IWDM:
Yes. That is true. Man in his own makeup is not superior to the world in his makeup. Until he has been enlightened. Until he's enlightened with revelation. When he is enlightened by G-d, then he's superior to it. He's superior to it then. But man is not only matter or material and rational, man is also emotional and spiritual. And a man very superior in his intelligence, in his rational mind, if he has not also brought up his spirituality, he is not in balance. He's out of balance and he's subject to turnover controls to his emotional side or his spiritual side. And if his spiritual side hasn't been educated too, then he is in no shape to deal with the forces of the world. Man is not just matter and reasoning man is also emotions and spirituality. That's why G-d says, "And the soul and its proportion, he is blessed who spends on his soul and he is lost who neglects it". No matter how much rational sense he has, no matter how much science from the physical world he has, he'll fall down to the lowest of the lowest. I hope that satisfies you.
IWDM:
Yes sir.
Imam Mustapha El-Amin:
First to support what you were saying about the staff as being, I guess wrong, something wrong. The word for staff in Arabic is asal. And it actually means transgressor, or to exceed.
IWDM:
That's right. That's correct.
Imam Mustapha El-Amin:
Just to support what you said on that.
IWDM:
Asal.
Imam Mustapha El-Amin:
Right.
IWDM:
That's right. It means transgressor.
Imam Mustapha El-Amin:
The other question was, you mentioned stone or rock and reading Surah fajr, he used the word Hajara for intelligent, I swear by the intelligent man. Hajara. But the word Hajara also means from reading the Qur'an a stone. And when it says Moses struck the rock with his staff, it used the same word as intelligent, Hajara. And I was just trying to get some understanding on what would the relationship be.
IWDM:
That a stone can mean a stone, but also can refer to intelligence.
Yes, that's true. That's true. A stone is good and bad. Everything has its Sharr and its Khaira. Sharr and its Khaira, its harm and its benefit. It's good benefit. So, a stone can be good or bad man is supposed to have in his makeup stones. Teeth are stones, right? But when stone gets out of proportion in man where we don't see flesh, we see stone, then he's Shaytan. So stone is also a term meaning firm conviction. Firm conviction. Rational. firm rational conviction. It's of the materials of the physical. So, it means firm, solid conviction in the material knowledge or in the material sciences. That's a stone. But look how some stones are made. They're made by the interaction of the material with the liquid and the air. Right? Then they become precious stones. Sometimes diamonds too.
Speaker 1 (01:40:58):
Five.
Farooq Saleem:
Last year I was reciting the Holy Qur'an to a little baby girl, who couldn't even walk or talk. And as I sat reciting the Holy Qur'an to this little baby girl, I agree when you say we are a special people. Alhamduillah. When I saw this little baby girl, she couldn't even walk or talk. But she gave me a smile. And when she gave me a smile, she looked me in my eyes. And then she stuck her hand out in front of me, she put three fingers down like this. And she did her thumb like this. But man, when she raised her finger to the sky....
IWDM:
Praise be to Allah.
Farooq Saleem:
When I seen this, I cried because I realized that I could not communicate with that little baby myself or neither you or no one. I said, here I'm reciting the words of Allah to a little baby girl who couldn't even walk and talk. She bore witness in front of me. Allah tells us to study His signs and I do. And it says that when a person take the Shahada, those who witnessed this, your past sins are forgiven. But here's the little baby girl who Allah blessed me with, who had committed no sin, took her Shahada in front of me. And my wife said to me, she says "Sweetheart", I said, "Yes, sugar", "You not the man you used to be."
IWDM:
Allahu Akbar.
Farooq Salem:
Said, yes. I said yes. I told her, I said, you thought I was joking when I told you that I was reciting Qur'an to this little baby girl and that this little baby girl took her Shahada in front of me. And that by she not committing no sins Allah made me new all over again. Brother Imam, all this happened last year and all this happened in one week, late at night. And another little baby seen me and just waved her hand. Alhamduilahi. I said to myself, man, I stopped and I cried again and I said, oh Allah, what did these little babies see in me that my Muslim brothers and sisters don't see?
And I told a few brothers about this and they said I should tell the Muslims. I said when I am ready, I will. But I thought about it and I thought about it and I said, this is beautiful . You kept saying we were special people. I said, I, we are definitely special people. And also I was at Dunkin Donuts and this old man said to me "Young man", I said, yes. He said, man, I'll tell you something. I said sure. I been out here watching you all your life. He said, I told my wife did let take your groceries home for you when he was nine years old? I said, yes. He said, I told my wife, you see that young man over there? He said, she said yes. He said, I told my wife that when I'm not with you, let that young man take your groceries home. He told me, he said, I told my wife he'll protect you. All these beautiful signs that Allah blessed me with, I figured it's time for me to share with the community because you kept saying we are special people. And then I read in the Qur'an when Allah talks about Mariam and Isa.
And He told Mariam not to speak to any man for three days. And also, the fact that Prophet Isa spoke from the cradle and the people were amazed. So, Brother Imam just keep giving us that Hikma, that wisdom and may Allah bless you for all that you do to enlighten us.
Brother Daniel:
Brother Imam, can you touch on the translation where it speaks about the one that is bleary or blue eyed?
IWDM:
No, they shouldn't.
IWDM:
The word you're saying?
Brother Daniel:
Sand.
IWDM:
Sand. Okay. Okay. I wouldn't understand. Now what about sand again?
Brother Daniel:
The main mineral in sand is carbon. And the brother after fajr this morning was saying that animals don't go to Jennah because Allah turns them into sand.
IWDM:
Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't know about that, but I do share that concern with you for how Zurkar is translated. It means bluish. Bluish, it means bluish. But we don't take things literally. Everything is not meant to be taken literally, whether it's in scripture or in the newspaper. You don't take everything literally. You have to understand words, how they're being used. You have to know the uses of the terms and understand how the speaker, the writer, intended for that word to be interpreted or to be understood. So, blue can mean many things. I'm blue doesn't mean I'm the color or my color is blue. It means I'm sad in English. So, it's the same for the other language. These terms have different meanings. And really in Arabic blue also refers to your spiritual side. Just like it does in English. Blue means sad, downhearted. And in Arabic it's the same. I don't want to bore you all. This is my cup of tea. Okay? So, I'll be enjoying it and I don't want to be boring you.
Audience:
But we love it Brother Imam
IWDM:
I want to say some more on this. In the genesis, the man was created, right? But then it says that he was alone. He was alone. Where was he? In the heavens. According to Islamic sciences, according to Christian sciences, according to Jewish sciences, he was in the heavens. Said that he was alone and he hadn't been formed in the earth, right? G-d created him, but he hadn't been formed in the earth. Then G-d put him in the earth. He still was alone. He had no mate. So, though he was in the world, he was yet not yet mated to the world. His rational mind had not been turned on to the world. You, see? So, he was still in the blue though he was down on the earth, the black. He was still in his own mind. He was still in the blue and G-d wanted to form for him a mate. G-d wanted to connect him with the external world, his rational mind with the external world. So, the blue is the person that's now seeking power and control and dominance in the material world. But actually that's not the basis. That's not his basis. His basis is not the material world. He uses the material world. He exploits the material world. His basis is spiritual.
I don't want to say too much, this is all I should say. His basis is spiritual. But he utilizes and exploits the material world. He thinks himself to be a G-d in the blue, up in the blue. And that really his presence down here is just to manage this material world. But he goes back up in the blue when it's all over, he goes back up in the blue. That's the real guilty blue. That's the real guilty blue. And he's going all over the world doing his thing. And amongst the Aztecs down here. The white man came from Spain and he came with the deceit. And the native made an image of him with very blue eyes. Wasn't that he had blue eyes, but blue for the natives in their religious language, in their spiritual language and sciences, blue meant the sky. They meant that he was a sky god.
And where did they tell us we get all our satisfaction? Up in the blue. Up in the blue. So, he uses the blue, he masters the blue, he uses the blue, and actually he think he is the G-d up in the blue or the G-d of the blue. And he think that this material world is for exploits only. For exploits only to feed and support his world. That's the real guilty blue eyed. The blue eyed. His focus is the blue, his vision is the blue. And the higher spiritual sciences is what enabled him to control the material people. He had higher spiritual sciences, much higher than the average people. So, he manages the people, he controls them, he keeps the people in a mental slavery. That's the real blue. Now they'll tell you it means glaucoma sometimes. It means glaucoma. Well, I guess you could say a person like that got glaucoma. I want to take one more.
Audience:
So, I wanted to focus back on the material world. What is the balance for the materialistic man or the materialistic world?
IWDM:
What is the balance?
Audience:
What is the balance for the materialistic man?
IWDM:
Man.
Audience:
Materialistic man. What is the balance for a man that has went to those extremes in material. Being over materialistic or his materialistic presence or what Allah has given him.
IWDM:
Right. Thank you. I got it. What does is balance for a materialistic man? I'm going to come back with that. You had hand your hand up down here.
Abdul Hameed:
You mentioned angels in your talk. I think it was mentioned along with man discovering himself.
IWDM:
Yes, that's right.
Abdul Hameed:
Could you elaborate a little bit on that?
IWDM:
It comes up in the article?
Abdul Hameed:
About the angels.
IWDM:
Yes. Right.
Abdul Hameed:
Can you elaborated about the angels?
IWDM:
I'm going to get back to you too.
Abdul Hameed:
Ok thank you.
IWDM:
Yes ma'am.
Muslim Sister:
My family and I was reading Qur'an one morning. This came to me as an inspiration. And when He said, you can marry the believing women of the book and if they're believing women, then by the same token, Allah said, do not marry the Idolators. Do not marry those who believe that Jesus is the son of G-d. So, is it true that when Allah says that the men can marry the believing women of the book means that there's only one G-d, that the women too can marry the believing men of the book who has not put any partners with Allah?
IWDM:
All right, and it was a trouble making question long before you asked. if I may, let me go back to the first question that I was asked. How does a materialistic person find the balance? What is the balance? Where is the balance? What is the balance for a materialistic person? Well, the balance is in truth. That's all. The balance is within truth. A materialistic person can find the balance. If he only questions his own material position, if he questions his own material thinking, his position that he takes, if he questions it and be truthful and questions to the end, he will find the truth. We can find the truth. Anything in G-d's world can guide us to the truth.
The material nature can guide us to the truth. The spiritual nature could guide us to the truth. Everything in G-d's creation can guide us to the truth. But we have to be truthful with ourselves and with what we are doing. We have to be truthful. If a materialistic person is truthful and he really search his material logic and be honest, he will arrive at the truth. G-d will bless him to arrive at the truth. And he will find the balance. You'll know that he is to be a composite creature, a complete creature, a whole creature, and not just a one armed creature or one facet creature. He's a many faceted creature. Yes. So much for that. Now our brother asked about the angels, the identity of angels. Now let me go to the beginning of the revelation in the Qur'an where the Qur'an is just coming to man the month of Ramadan. This is in the Surah, The Night. It says, it's called Night of Power. It says, "And therein descends the angels and the Spirit, and the Spirit. Obeying every order of G-d. And before I address the angels, I want to address the spirit. Because the two are given in this picture of the beginning of revelation, revelation coming to Muhammad in the night, in the month of Ramadan.
Of the Spirit, G-d says, we know little. So, G-d is telling us that we haven't been created to know everything about the Spirit or our own spirituality.
We have been created to live in this earth, to live as social beings, but we also have been created with a nature that requires that we have a relief and a life beyond all this. But the real test and the real life, the life for our experiences and our accomplishments is this life in the earth, in a community, in a social community. That's the real life. So, G-d doesn't want us to become so interested in this dimension of our life that has a role here, but is not the life by description, that it takes us away from the real involvement we should have and make us other world creatures. So, I would caution all of us not to become so interested in these things that can never be completely comprehended by man in this world realm, that it occupies too much and take our time from this real world for the real world involvement G-d created man for.



