mm/dd/yyyy
IWDM Study Library
Principles to Establish 
African Americans in Society

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W Deen Mohammed: If you can see intelligently what is proper and most excellent for human life and carry it out even when your own heart is hurt by it. You think a mother enjoys whipping her children? No. A normal mother does not enjoy whipping her children, but she whips them. If she would let her heart tell her what to do, she wouldn't whip her child. Or maybe I'm a little wrong there. The heart does tell her what to do, but the heart it speaks to two situations. The heart speaks to the hurt and the heart speaks to the justice, and the mother she has to be a wise enough judge to ignore what the heart is saying about the hurt until she carries out justice.
Now if she carries justice beyond justice where the punishment becomes cruelty, then she has to listen to the heart speaking to her on the hurt. Now that's an illustration, but The pure guidance is in the Quran. I just gave you an example from human experience that says very clearly to any of our silly minds, no matter how stupid we are, that administering punishment requires firmness. Firmness on the part of that administrator of that punishment. You have to be firm. Don't obey yourself, obey justice. Don't obey yourself, obey Allah. Don't obey yourself, obey Muhammad. Obey the Sunnah of the prophet because if you obey yourself, you're too weak.
You're too weak to administer justice. You're going to get in a situation where you care too much about the person that should be punished and if you obey yourself, you're going to do an injustice, and you will come into a situation where you are prejudiced against the person and have hateful feelings toward that person. You'll then go beyond the limits of the law and you will punish that person too much. You have to not obey self, obey the law of justice, and obey the spirit of the law. For with every order of punishment, to administer punishment in this Quran, G-d seasoned it. We're the reminder of His mercy, His justice of good self, et cetera.
What are we saying? Most of us can't administer justice. Most of us cannot administer justice even in our home. We ruin our children, either by spoiling them and letting them go too far or by being too hard, too cruel. What is the answer? Learn the rules and regulations given to us in the Quran and learn the spirit of the Quran, the spirit of the law in the Quran, and learn the life of Prophet Muhammad and how he administered the justice of the Quran, then you'll become a good father, a good mother, a good big brother, a good sister, a good aunt, et cetera, but until then, if you're trusting only yourself, you're in danger.
If ain't careful, you're going to sent children to jail, send them to crime, to death or either they're going to lock you up for abusing your children. You can't do it by yourself that's why we have such a problem in this society. Crime, permissiveness, child abuse, wife abuse, husband abuse, homosexual abuse, every abuse. 
Yes, we continue now. Says if the parents strive with you to make you worship with G-d other than something that is not G-d, it says obey them not. The verse goes on to read, "Yet bear them company in this life with justice and consideration."
That Arabic expression [Arabic language], it means and that's just what he says here and keep company with them in this world. [Arabic language], on the highest standards of human principles, that's what [Arabic word] is. [Arabic word] is the highest standards of humanity, the principles of humanity. Your humanity, listen to what your humanity says. When we listen to our humanity, we hear justice, we hear kindness, we hear mercy, we hear generosity, we hear patience, et cetera. Follow the way of those who turn to me. Keep coming with your parents that doesn't believe right and be nice to them, be kind and respectful, but don't follow them in their disbelief.
Follow the way of those who turn to G-d, that is to Allah. Who turn to me in love. In the end the return of you all is to me, that's what G-d said. That parent that had a problem and didn’t believe right and you, all of you are going to return to G-d one day. He going to straighten all of you out, so let us try to be in the right. I will tell you the truth and the meaning of all that you did. That's what G-d says. The next verse Luqman says, "Oh my son, if there be only the weight of a grain of mustard seed of wrongdoing and it be hidden in a rock or anywhere in the heavens or in earth, Allah will bring it forth for Allah understands the finest mystery and is well acquainted with them."
The next verse says, "Oh my son," this is Luqman, the Prophet Luqman advising his son, "Oh my son, establish regular prayer, [Arabic language]" He says," Establish regular prayer and enjoin what is right and just and forbid what is wrong and bear patiently whatever bothers you for this is firmness of purpose in the conduct of affair." Here Allah has given the man, given the man and the woman, given us the finest principles to live by. Principles that will establish us in the society and won't let us down. It will give us the dignity and the firmness, it will give us the strength we need to handle ourselves in the situations of society no matter what the case is or the situation is.
These are the principles for establishing the African-American people, the black people in this country. If you would take up Islamic principle, you would gain respect from Spanish people, from Chinese people, from Asian people, from French, from the English people, you will gain respect from all people if you take up these principles. Right now as race, we don't have respect from any of those people and that's a fact. Now you think it over. The next verse, the 17th verse. Pardon me, that was the 17th verse, the next verse is the 18th verse and it says, Luqman still advising his son.
Many scholars, many writers, and commentators, those who have written and commentated Al Quran, have said, that Prophet Luqman was of Africa. He was of Africa. He goes on advising his son, he says, "Swell not your cheek in the spirit of pride at men nor walk in insolence through the earth for Allah loves not any arrogant boaster." These are the principles of Al Islam, these are the principles of conduct for Muslims. The next verse says, "And be moderate in your place." [Arabic language], and be moderate in your place. [Arabic word] means you're walking. [Arabic word] means walk, so it means be moderate in your gait, in yourself. Be modest, be moderate. Don't walk falling.
[laughter]
Falling to one side or leaning to one side or jacked up. The different walks of the silly masses, right?
Congregation: Right.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, and be moderate in your walk and lower your voice, don't be screaming at people. In the South, people used to talk to each other from a distance of half a mile. [shouting] "Hey, Mary, you got any flour, Mary?" "Yes, girl, I've got a little bit of that."
[laughter]
Now you move up here in the North and here in your apartment and I can just stick my hand through the window here and that's my apartment. You let up the window, [shouting] "Hey, Mary." "Yes, girl." Be downtown, all those people down there people taking care of their business, the bank is just as quiet [shouting] "Hey, man, what's happening, man? What you're doing down here, man?" "I came down here to take care of little business."
[laughter]
We can go to the other extreme. That's why the Quran says, Allah says, and Muhammad says, peace be on him, "Guard against the extreme." It didn't say one or the other, but extreme period. I guess those are so cool. [whispers] "Hey, what's happening, baby?"
[laughter]
"Wait, what did you say? What?" "What's happening, baby, what's happening?" He done backed up. One way too far out and the other one backed up too far. "Lower your voice for the ugliest of voices is the braying of the donkey." If you've been down South or anywhere where donkeys are and heard their voices, you understand what this is saying. I'm from the North, but I've had occasion to be out in the open land and I've heard the donkey braying. Man, he sounds like one of these women scratching on the blackboard.
That's how it grates on your nerves. A terrible voice. He sounds ugly when he's just speaking out, and when he's moaning, he sounds worse.
He makes a loud, ugly sound, and then he looks like he starts moaning on it. If he starts moaning, he's worse. I'm not going to do that sound in here, but it’s terrible. He sounds just like an old stubborn bad child that you get on, and he hollered, not because you hurt him that bad he hollered because he want to hurt you. He's hurt bad, now you done broke his composure, stubborn sucker. You broke his composure, you really got to the quick of his nerve. You hit him where he felt it, so he cries out but his crying is not so much a cry of hurt from being hit, it's a cry of hurt from being broken. You've broken my cool.
He sound just like that donkey. [mimics donkey] Come out with that loud one first, and then [mimics donkey]. Then he needs a baseball bat over his head did it, whop!
[laughter]
You then take him to the hospital, get him taken care of. When he come out, mostly likely, he'd be a different child. Now, don't do that, they'll lock you up and I will be them when they lock you up. Saying, "Yes, he deserves to be locked up. He's as dangerous as that child." 
Yes, that’s as far as we want to read to show you how the same principles of moderation, of kindness, of respect, of loving care that is established in the Sunnah of the Prophet and throughout the Quran, is now here portrayed in a prophet who addresses his son. Don't be given to these ugly extremes. Carry yourself in a way.
Accept that your life come under principles of conduct that make you lovable, loving, a likeable person. Practice kindness, even in situations when you're inclined to be ugly, restrain that ugly urge and show kindness, especially to parents. G-d says, "Appreciate me and appreciate your parents," isn't that wonderful? The same book says reverence G-d and reverence the mothers that bore you. The same. Here G-d says, "Reverence Me," but He didn't say, "Reverence only Me," and the word is [Arabic word] from taqwa. [Arabic language], and the wombs that bore you.
The word is [Arabic word] so [Arabic word] can't be G-d-fearing like we do say. It's certainly when a mind is in that state, that's G-d-fearing state but it can't mean fear G-d.
If it means fear G-d, why does G-d say the same word? [Arabic language], and reverence the wombs that bore you or your mother's, that's what it means, your relationships. The relationships that care for you, your relatives that care for you. Reverence them, respect them too. That's what it means.
G-d used the same term that we translate 'fear G-d,' which beyond a shadow of doubt convinces us it doesn't mean fear G-d, it means have a deep healthy respect from G-d based upon your knowledge of G-d, so there's a lot of emotions involved; love, fear, everything. That's the word, that's the meaning. There's a certain makeup in your emotions when you think about what is due to your parents. You've done wrong and then you recall the behavior that is due your parents then certain emotions come to play, sometime sadness, joy, love, sometimes fear. I know some fear used to come in me a whole lot of times.
I recall mama and I knew I had done something wrong, I'd be thinking maybe she might get wind, maybe she might hear it some kind of way, and I would fear because I had a mother that knew how to administer justice.
[laughter]
The proof she wasn't cruel, you don't see a single one of her children with an eye knocked out or with a scar on them from beating. In fact, this body that we have, it doesn't bear scars from mama, but she took care of business.
[laughter]
Now, we couldn't tell you that a day or two after she whipped us. You might find one, but she didn't put one on us that didn't go away. They're all gone now, I don't see them. If we could be resurrected together, I'd like to be with her eternally.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam Mohammed: Praise be to Allah. Now dear beloved Muslim, we've come now to the verse where Dhulm was mentioned. Associating a G-d with Allah is called the greatest of sin. There's an imam who was actually a European by the name Kamil Y. Avdich. He was the imam until he passed of the Northbrook Illinois Community there, community of Albanians, I believe if I'm not mistaken. In his book titled Survey of Islamic Doctrine, he explained Dhulm and he says in this book where Dhulm is translated oppression and wrong or unjust actions, it also means shirk. He quotes from the chapter Luqman to say, with G-d's words, that Dhulm is shirk, means associating some false G-ds with G-d.
Now, here is the point we want to make today. When Prophet Muhammad led fighters, warriors against those people who were trying to deny the Muslims their religion, the freedom to practice their religion, he carried his war mainly against people who professed false gods with G-d. They are called the Mushrikeen, the plural of Shirk, people who believe in Shirk, associating false gods with G-d. Their very life was a life of oppression. They were oppressed by ignorance, they were oppressed by their own inhumanity, and they in turn oppressed others that they disagree with or they didn't like.
I am convinced that the main cause of their oppressive state in their lives of ignorance and also cruelty was due mainly to the belief in many G-ds. The United States of America in it's treatment of the African American people have established degrees of cruelty never before witnessing in the human history. These people who meted out this cruelty on the African American people, they professed three G-ds. We find that those in the early history of the protest of liberation movement, we find that it was those who identified more with the one G-d in Christianity were the ones who were supporting liberation.
Quakers stressed one G-d, not three, and they were the main body of Christians in the movement to free to the slave. The Unitarians stressed one G-d, not three and the Unitarians were also involved in getting the slaves free. So here Allah has told us in the Quran 1400 years ago that many gods bring about oppression, and I have just reflected a little bit on history and circumstances and come up with this much evidence. What will I get if I'd really did a scholarly research, a scholarly job of researching this thing? I would come out with volumes and volumes of support. To prove that people that believe in more that one god become cruel and insensitive to humanity.
[00:28:34] [END OF AUDIO]
[Muslim prayers]
The early history of what we call the temple of Islam, under the honorable Elijah Muhammad shows us a loving membership, a brotherly and sensitive membership, but in time the members of that particular temple of Islam or Nation of Islam as it was called gave in to cruelty and began to be known as a cruel oppressive group of people who mistreated each other, inflicted harm on each other many times for no cause at all and oppressed each other. For we have living proof that many gods take humanity out of people.
In time it makes them inhuman and insensitive they become very cruel. The one G-d principle liberates the best that is in man and brings him to his station of dignity and honor.
We who know this or who believe this, we should put forth greater effort to promote the idea of La ilaha illallah [Arabic language], there is no G-d except the one G-d alone and nothing is equal to Him or like on to Him. Praise be to Allah. So we thank Allah for his guidance, for his mercy to us, for the Quran and for the prophet Muhammad who is a mercy to all the worlds. Peace and the blessings be upon him, upon his family, his descendants, his companions and the righteous all Amen. The prophet Muhammad has told us that we are to help our brother, Muslim, whether he be in the right or in the wrong.
It was asked of the prophet says, “How do we help one who is in wrong?” The prophet replied, “Hold them back from the wrong.” I have read in the bible when I was really myself curious. I was a Muslim but not having sound knowledge as a Muslim. I was reading the bible like we were taught to and like we were given in the Temple of Islam, it was called. I came across the story of the two brothers in the bible, Cain and Abel. Cain became jealous of his brother Abel. His brother Abel gave certain gifts to G-d and Cain he gave the gifts of his father to G-d. G-d according to the bible seemingly preferred Abel’s gift to Cain.
Cain became jealous and so the story goes while they were out on the field he struck his brother on the head and killed him in the field. G-d brought Cain’s conscience to bear. In his conscious he spoke out, in his conscience he said, “Am I my brother’s keeper? According to the scripture to my knowledge and I did read it G-d did not answer, G-d did not reply. He said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” No reply was given. I take it to mean when Prophet Muhammad says, “Help your brother whether he’s in the right or wrong.” That you are your brother’s keeper.
You’re not supposed to keep him against his will but you’re supposed to keep him like a mother keep a child. Like an adult will keep a weak person or a person that needs to be in adult supervision. You’re supposed to keep him that way and if he’s grown, if he rebels against you you can’t hold him. As long as you can keep him and be an influence in his life for good, to keep him not going in the way of destruction then you are supposed to keep that up. You’re not supposed to turn away from your brother and sister and say, “Hell, let him suffer.” That’s not the heart of the Muslim. Your brothers and sisters hurt to hurt your heart.
You should use your intelligence and your Muslim knowledge to make it appeal to them to come closer to the way that G-d approve so they will receive the mercy of G-d. Don't go around here with American society coldness in your heart and on your face and in your expression and think you have as much claim to call yourself a Muslim as the one does that's not behaving that way. You do not. The one that is behaving as a Muslim and showing human kindness has the right to say I'm a Muslim more than you who carry coldness and evil, and are insensetive to your brother and sister.
We can't say you're not a Muslim we can't throw you out but we want you to know that Muslims have grades of excellence. They have grades of recognition before G-d. The ones that don't show Muslims feelings and Muslims sentiments, they're far away from G-d and His love and His respect. Oh yes. Though you call yourself Muslim don't think you have honor, you have no honor if you're treating people cruelly, showing no love, showing no sympathy for people. Won't even give the Muslim a kind Asalaam Aleikum. A kind Walleikum Salaam. Don't think you have any closeness to G-d, or any respect, no you're far, far from having the respect.
In fact if we can't bring those people around from their behavior, we should discriminate against them. Yes. If we meet in a social gathering and there's 10, 20 tables, 50, 100 tables, don't go to the table and sit with that cold sucker. Go and sit with the warm Muslim brothers and sisters. Let the cold ones sit together. They don't get no pleasure out of sitting together. That's all we had to do, just make them sit together, and that will bring them around. Prophet Muhammad says, "The Muslim love the fellow Muslim as he loves himself." We can't imagine a religion for ourselves and call ourselves Muslims.
We have to go by what is established in the Quran and the life of the prophet. Unless we live by what is in the Quran and the life of prophet, we have no legitimate claim to the name Muslim. Let us practice these things. I'm sure most of us want to be right. We don't want to be wrong. Some of us have been hurt by something that happened in our lives. We just forgot what it was. We're punishing every innocent person for it. That’s a shame. Every once in a while somebody comes up to me and just try to hurt me, try to make me suffer, pain.
Try to do something to pain to me, inflict pain and I say, "Hey I don't even know you, why are you trying to do this to me?" Then you know I'm a student of psychology, so I say, "Yes I know what it is. You have forgot who did that wrong to you and you're doing it to everybody that you think you can get by with. If I would kick you in your face you'd stop." That would bring you back to the past, take your mind back to the past and you say, "No it wasn’t him."
[laughter]
I can't do that, that would be savage too, so I just wait on the mercy of G-d. Believe me, this makes us stronger. For the Muslim walks through the, as the Bible says, the valley of the shadows of death. When the Muslim walks through the hellish environment of this world daily and not give up the love of Allah, the love of His law, His book and the love of His prophets and the love of the Muslim fellowship. If he keeps that and walks through this valley of torment and evil and darkness and death, it makes him such a giant. Yes. It grows them up to a giant of a person. Prepares him for great things in the future.
Yes. It makes a survivor, first rate out of him. If the country should suddenly be thrown into chaos he will right away step into leadership position. Because he has survived it and has come through it with his manhood, with his humanity intact. He hasn't been broken down. If there should suddenly come a state of anarchy in America, most likely it'll be our people and the good ones among the Christians and others they will rise to the top of leadership. If we don't get it on this side we have faith that G-d has something in store for us that's better. Praise be to Allah. We can get it on this side. In fact don't you think this is upon us right now? I do. I do.
We are complaining but we're complaining with knowledge, we are complaining with faith, we are complaining with a sense of direction, we are complaining with hope. I think this is all right. When you complain and don't have hope. And don't have a sense of direction and don't have understanding, that's a bad situation. Praise be to Allah, let us stand up as Muslims, stand up for the Muslim life, practice it more and more, practice it consciously. That's how Allah want us to practice our religion, all of our basic devotion can't be done without conscious recognition of what we are doing, it's purpose who we are doing it for.
Understand that G-d want us to practice this religion consciously not with just a feeling. I'm going to practice it with a feeling, no, practice it with a knowledge. Then the feeling will be right. Praise be to Allah. In the words of Allah in Quran [Arabic language] And when the king heard this he was touched. He took his cane, the report says and he made a mark, a line on the floor. He says the difference between their religion and ours is the line on the floor. When you say there's a distinction but it's not a big problem. Yes and we know that later it reported in the history of Al- Islam that this ruler professed the religion, he himself became a convert to Islam.
Praise be to Allah and if you would like to know what the situation is now in Ethiopia the land that used to be called Abyssinia for our religion, there are more Muslims there than non-Muslims. Yes, so today is witness, today is the witness. What has happened to Abyssinia? The majority of the people in Abyssinia and Ethiopia they're Muslim. They're divided because there's social influence, socialist influence in one part and the other part there's not. There's a division there, but it's not an Islamic division.
It's not an Islamic division. They are Muslims. The great majority of Ethiopians are Muslims and you know Ethiopia is the oldest Christian country perhaps on this earth and just think today, it is majority Muslims. Praise be to Allah. You can check this out in Encyclopedia Britannica and Muslim Gazette. Check it out anywhere you want to. Have to help you out because you don't know anything. I'm talking to the 15%. That defiant group that just got to protest everything. They know nothing but disagreeing. That's why they have nothing. They don't agree with anything, so Allah won't give them anything.
They say, “What you got chief?” I got Qur'an in my heart, the Prophet Muhammad in my heart and respect in the world for having that. I think that's a whole lot and came here today in a Cadillac limousine. That might impress you, so I gave you that too. Praise be to Allah. It clear what Allah says about Jesus Christ. This particular person who was uneducated was serving as a spokesman for the group who fled persecution and were appealing to the king in Abyssinia for refuge. This person quoted these words from the Qur'an. The king wasn't dumb in his religion. They wouldn't have a dumb king and Christianity ruling over a Christian country. He had to be wise in the religion.
If he listened to the words of the Qur'an, and his heart was touched, and he saw no real conflict, then that should tell you that really those who really know Christianity, they shouldn't see any real theological conflict. They're misinterpreting their own book. When the right interpretation was given, the learned understood it.
Now let's see what it says. We have to talk about Jesus because some of our people they had nothing but Jesus. It says, "Surely Christ Jesus, son of Mary, messenger of G-d, is the messenger of G-d and a word from him sent to Mary and a spirit from him. Therefore, I believe in G-d and his messenger." The king listened to that and he was a Christian and he didn't take the side of those Meccans who were trying to say, "They say your Christ is not a G-d. They say your Christ is only a prophet, only a messenger." The word of G-d says a messenger. That Christ Jesus is a messenger of G-d and a word from him and a spirit from him. That should tell us that the word and the spirit go together. Don't they?
The word must had itself a spirit sent to Mary. Verses from Qur'an where it says of Mary, "And the Mary was innocent."
Ja'far read that to the King too where Allah says in Qur'an that Mary is innocent of the charges that they had made against her. The King knew of the charges that they had made against her and where they came from [chuckles]. Didn't come from the Muslims, no. We should understand that. When the King heard these wonderful words, he was so impressed and he was never the same thereafter. Eventually, he became a Muslim. We know that in the time of Prophet Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad himself led funeral prayers for the deceased King.
When this King died, Prophet Mohammad recognized him and led funeral prayers there in Arabia given recognition to that great man of Abyssinia. I have read that, not to put in, give any special attention to Africa or to Abyssinia, but as descendants from that land, we should cherish that piece of history. I have said that to show how there is living documented evidence of the power of the Qur'an to do miraculous things in the human life.
Transform the life of a hot-tempered, stubborn, brutal man, in many respects he was a brutal man. That's Omar, the Caliph, to make him the great statesman he was as a ruler of the Muslim society and touch the heart of the King of Abyssinia, coming from the mouth of uneducated man Ja?far and bring such a transformation in his life that he, before passing, declared, "La illaha illallah Muhamadur Rasulullah "
This is wonderful. You can't find evidence of the many changes of this nature that has been brought about in Al Islam you can't find a likeness of that in other religions. No, you can't. You find stories that are given as stories. They are stories given as stories and accepted as stories.
[00:29:29] [END OF AUDIO]


