12/29/1996
IWDM Study Library
Faith and the Role of Youth
Phoenix AZ

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1: The title "The importance of Faith and the Role of the Youth in our community and society" in the year 2000 was recorded in Phoenix Arizona December the 29th, 1996. The lecturer is Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Muslim American spokesman.
Imam Mohammed: As-Salaam-Alaikum.
Congregation: Wa alaikum as-salam.
Imam Mohammed: Peace be on you. Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem. (Arabic). We witnessed that Allah one. G-d is one, and we witness that Mohammed to whom the Qu'ran was revealed is his servant and messenger and we salute him with the traditional salute and what follows of that salute to him. 
We are very thankful to Allah to be in this day and time, living and Muslims and we are thankful to be here in the city of Phoenix Arizona where my father lived for his health for some time here and had a home that I visit him in his home when he was here where he attracted to himself some very good faithful people. We are happy to be here today in Phoenix Arizona for you and also to give an address or make an address.
I have to put my eyeglasses on now. I had a moment when I made these notes. Now I can't see them without it. I can't see the notes without the eyeglasses. [laughs]
Let me before beginning here with what I have to present for the occasion. Let me have a word to say about my visit with a delegation of us to Jerusalem. We just returned on the 24th of this month. A delegation of six of us, along with two Palestinians, a business brother and a sister who works on behalf of the Palestinian people in the US and also, writes in our paper.
Sister Leila Deab. Some of you might have read something of her writings in the paper and a Muslim journal and sister Aisha Mustafa the editor, she was with us and myself three and then we had imams; Abdul Karim Hassan of Los Angeles and we had Imam Omar Shaheed of North Carolina and Imam Ronald Shaheed of La Crosse Wisconsin who works in the administration of the University of La Crosse Wisconsin.
The six of us as a delegation we went-- I myself I have to speak for myself right now. I went anticipating being able to pray in the masjid, Al-Aqsa, as you know the third, the most venerated masjid of the Muslims. The masjid Al-haram in Mecca being the number one and then the Masjid of the Prophet being the second one. Message Al-Aqsa being the third one.
I also learned I've heard of it but I had never really given that much thought to it. The mosque of Abraham; "Ibrahimi Mosque" they call it. We also visited that mosque in Jerusalem which would be a fourth in order of reverence, or respect pardon me, in order of our sacred respect for those places. It would be a fourth the Ibrahimi Mosque, masjid.
I don't want to go into too much details about this visit right now but Inshallah in the future I will and it will be here shared not only myself but the delegation. We will report on our visit and it will be shared with you through the Muslim journal inshallah. But I will just let you know that we think the visit was very successful.
The host people; the Palestinians and their honorable leaders. The president himself we spoke to him, we had an audience with him; chairman Yasser Arafat. They felt that our visit was very significant and successful, productive.
What I regret to tell you is that, the treatment of the Palestinians by the present government is very saddening. It's much worse than any of us imagined it to be. We hear these things but we are not hearing but a small amount of the misery and bad treatment that they are experiencing and have been experiencing for some time there.
It's something that is hard for us to stomach. In fact, we can't stomach it and it's hard for us to tolerate it. I don't think any decent civilized person, American or anywhere else would feel comfortable not doing something about that situation over there. We're obligated to do something politically, and any other way that we can do something, we are obligated to do something to change the situation over there, to change the situation for the Palestinian people over there.
Personally, I'm willing to go and join the army and die over there if I have to.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar
Imam Mohammed: Yes, I don't ask you to do it as I speak for myself. Right now if nothing else to do, I'd like to go over there and go on them and die over there with them. Strange people. They are very strange people among the Israelis; strange.
Well so much for that. This good news, I hope it is. On the day I arrived, I was told by the office there, my office, that we got an invitation from the president. So I'm invited to have breakfast with the president eight O'clock this coming Monday.
Congregant: Takbir
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam Mohammed: Allahu Akbar. I'm expecting that it is for me to share with him my observations while I was there. So this is good, that is good. Oh, this is good news too. About a month ago now, I received an invitation to join a number of Muslim leaders who are on the president advisory. Among the president's advisers on religion and religious matters. Yes. That's good news too. Yes.
I want to begin with some description of our religion, some description of Islam, the religion. All of our help is in our religion no matter what kind of help we need, it's in our religion. If we need help for the family, it's in the religion. If we need help for the education, its direction is in the religion, everything no matter what you can think of that we need. The help for us is in our religion, is in the Qu'ran, is in the teachings and life example of Mohammed the prophet to whom the Qu'ran was revealed [Arabic language]. Prayers and peace be on him.
Now, Islam in the world today. It must not be given to the people or in the lives of the people as it should be. Something is wrong. They are receiving it incorrectly or they themselves are rejecting it. Something is wrong because the role of Muslims, we are not united. We are divided. We are not united in Islam. We are not even in the united in Islam. We are divided. We are not even united on the Kalima. The Muslim creed, La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah. We are not united on that.
If we were there would be more unity evident in our lives and the life of the Muslim world International body. Something is wrong. Something is very seriously wrong. I hope my teacher, in my teenage years and early manhood, won't feel uncomfortable but I have to acknowledge him. He's here in Phoenix. He is here present Imam Jamil Deab. Yes, here he is Imam Jamil Deab. Yes.
Imam Jamil Deab, he never gave us any information on the religion or the Muslim world that insulted my sense of respect that I have for my intelligence. He always complimented whatever he said. Whatever he advised if he had advice, he was slow to get any advice but whatever you said, it always complimented my own sense of respect for my brain, my intelligence, and my rational mind.
I think that's what's missing in the world today. Disrespect for the human rational mind in the Muslim world. It's not respected, and is equally the possession of males and females. If it was respected there be more respect among us too for females, for our females, it's not respected. Allah says of Muhammad the Prophet prayers and peace be on him. He is the prophet that's promised in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Originally the Torah and the Injil called the Torah and the gospel. The Torah and the gospel or New Testament. He is the prophet promised in these books that was before the Qu'ran and a description of his role as a prophet and leader of the people is given in the Qu'ran. The Qu'ran gives us what is in the Bible of this particular prophet. Says that This prophet will be one that will come breaking the bonds of slavery. He will break the bonds of slavery and free to people.
It won't be just one kind of slavery, physical slavery. But there will be different forms of slavery, and he will be a liberator. Destroying slavery, freeing the people from slavery. He is a liberator. He is also a teacher and his teaching will liberate the people. The teachings will liberate the people. The knowledge that he will be sharing or giving to the people, this is knowledge that is in the scripture. In the book, G-d had revealed it. But it was hidden from the people.
It had been lost from the people because of changes in the scripture. Because of, - as Allah says in the Qu'ran, The ones who entrusted with the scriptures taken it upon themselves to alter those scriptures or to write scriptures with their own hands and misplace the words of the scripture. Change the words in the scripture, or misplace them. That means lose the original meaning and lose the original importance et cetera. This is what happened, and this prophet would be one who would come and give the people the message from G-d pure again so that they will be free from that kind of bondage too.
False religion is the worst kind of enslavement you can have. To have false religion. The worst form of slavery and the worst form of oppression is false worship.
Allah Most High says, And surely the false belief in G-d, the having more than one god, idolatry or whatever that gives you more the wrong idea of G-d and make G-d with gods put gods that are not G-d, with G-d, it says surely that is the worst form of oppression, the worst kind of oppression.
This prophet will be a liberator. He will teach them the book meaning the scripture; the Holy Scriptures. He will teach them the book. Also, the rules of logic; the rules of logic to teach them the book, the scripture and the rules of logic.
Now what I'm speaking on this prophet this emphasis. For our focus on Islam. I want mention something else that I see evident in Christian society today. Allah in our holy book speaking of those who just have an acquaintance with their religion, but don't really know it. He says of them. They know their religion only by faith. Only by faith.
You know there are a lot of Muslims who care nothing about knowing Islam except as faith. "It's enough that I believe in Allah, I believe in G-d, it's enough that I believe in Muhammad the Prophet peace be upon him. It's enough that I believe in a judgment day. Oh, it's enough." They make that enough. They know their religion only by faith alone.
I find that most Christians in America they don't know their religion. Now, how can they have the excellence of life that their religion intends for them if they don't know their religion? Here I am I'm a Muslim, I'm not supposed to know Christianity, I'm supposed to know Islam. But I sorry for many Christians that I meet even so-called ministers. When I see that they don't even have a knowledge of their own religion. They don't know their religion.
It's a religion over here in this part of especially in African-American communities, the black community. Religion is just to have faith that's all. Just to have faith. The preacher, they will go to the school, the seminary or whoever and they will study the Bible and learn the Bible. But most of them will not preach the knowledge. They will only appeal to the sentiments of their congregation the emotions of their congregation, just to make the congregation feel good and repentant and go back home. After passing the bucket several times or many times. Yes. I'm not making a mockery or anything. I'm just trying to point out to you something that I see as a real problem.
I hope that we won't conform to this kind of shallow involvement and appreciation for our religion. Where we can no more than just to say we believe and that's all. Islam, revelation, the prophets, they come to educate us. They come to give us a better mind, a better intellect. More wisdom so we can have a better life. They come to attend the needs of not only our spirit and our hearts but also to attend the needs of our intellect, our minds, our rational minds, so that we will appreciate knowledge in the right way and will have a sense of what is useful knowledge and what is not useful knowledge and benefit more and better being in this world that G-d has created.
This is the prophets, this is what the prophets come from for. To really condition people and help people situate themselves to have not only equality with others, but to be models of leadership for others. The Muslims are supposed to be a model community with model leadership for others to look at and admire. These people are wonderful. These people are intelligent. These people are productive. These people are charitable, et cetera.
This is what the religion is for and if you don't have that sense of what your religion is all about, then you're cheating yourself. You're cheating yourself out of the big gift that Allah wants us to have. Highly Glorified, is He. He comes to teach the book. Some of them don't even want us to teach the book. They just want us to read the book. He comes sending one to us. The Prophet comes to teach us the book and also the rules of logic.
Allah speaks of the Qu'ran, its description and shows it too. Descriptions of the Qu'ran too. Well, maybe I'll say essential descriptions of the Qu'ran and he says that the book has been revealed. In metaphorical language as the translator says, allegories, picture language. Given picture language. Also, it has been revealed as a logic. Says, to those whose hearts are not right, something is missing that should be there or something is there that shouldn't be there in their hearts. They prefer the picture language over the basic logic of the book. They prefer the picture language over the basic logic of the book.
Now, you know that's true for a lot of religious people. They would just express their love for scripture. They just tell you all about the pictures. "and Moses is on the mount and Moses coming down with the tablets and the Red Sea parting." But what are we going to live by? Those are just miracles. Most of us are not expecting any miracles. What should we live by? The translator gives it, says, "and this logic is the basis of the book." That's how the translator translates it, “and that logic is the basis of the book”.
G-d says of the religion of Islam that it is the religion of Abraham, our father. The father of the three great faiths too. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims. The leader for all of us because Allah makes it plain in the Qu'ran that father means leader, Imam. A leader or Imam for all us. Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham, peace be on him. G-d says of the religion that it is religion of Abraham. The upright in his nature and G-d says also of this religion of Abraham, "Who would reject, refuse the religion of Abraham except the person who wants to debase themselves?" Or to make themselves degenerate.
There's a writer, author of a book. His name is Abdul Waheed Khan. The book is titled Personality of Allah's Messenger Muhammad, upon him be peace. He writes in this book, of Prophet Muhammad, he says, "His preaching to the misguided people was through honest and sincere persuasion." Honest and sincere persuasion. Now, the description of religion has been given to us by our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. He said religion is sincerity.
This writer goes on to say of Muhammad, "He preached through reason, knowledge, and logic alone." A-L-O-N-E, alone. He preached through and I may add, the instrument. That's what he means. He preached through the instrument of reason, knowledge, and logic alone. He didn't play on the sentiments and emotions of the people to get people roused up to say I believe. He preached through the instrument of reason, knowledge, and logic.
The divine cause was presented, - speaking of Prophet Muhammad. "The divine cause was presented by him with reason and logic which brought about moral, intellectual, spiritual awakening. He taught the rich to give and he taught the poor to be self-reliant and self-respecting." How many of us know Muhammad the Prophet as such a person? Most of us don't. We only know to believe in Allah and to believe in Muhammad the Prophet but we don't know him as we should know him. We don't know the Qu'ran as we should know the Qu'ran.
The month of Ramadan is coming. Usually when the month of Ramadan comes, I make a pledge to myself to finish the whole Qu'ran twice in the month. Twice. We only want to finish it once but I want to finish it twice in the month. I hope this coming Ramadan I'll be able to read through the whole Qu'ran twice. I'm doubling up on the reading. I hope the Imams of this community will also make a decision to make a pledge to not put the blame on each other or on me for your shortcomings in your areas but accept your responsibility and do what you know is right.
Do you think an excuse can hold up, - “Well you know the Imam, we're doing what the Imam said to do”. Do you think that excuse can hold up in the judgment? When you recognize that what you're doing is wrong but you say I'm doing this because the Imam is my leader. How is that going to hold up in the judgment? I don't care who my leader is. If I know what's right in Islam, I'm going to do that.
This writer further describing Muhammed the Prophet, he says, "He came to emphasize the building of good character, to teach tolerance, to teach and protect the right to freedom of religion." This is our prophet. This is not the prophet that the wolf showed us who fought to make people Muslims, who threatened people with the sword if they wouldn't become Muslims. This is not that picture. That's the false picture. The true picture is the one this man has given. [pause 00:29:31]
The appeal in Islam as we see it when we read the Qu'ran and hear the words of Muhammad the Prophet speaking and see his model life. We understand the appeal in Islam is to your intellect. Respect that you should have for your intelligence, for your intellect.
One imam I heard him say, and he gets it from Qu'ran and the Hadiths, that any idea of worship other than the idea of worship in Islam cheats the intelligence of man. That’s true, cheats the intelligence of man. It appeals to reason and to honesty in us, honesty, sincerity.
Now, there’s a tendency in us to let our own hearts, soul or whatever move us to what we should do or the disposition we should take. That’s only accepted when you don’t have revealed knowledge or scriptures to follow. Once you have revealed scriptures from G-d, G-d give you guidance in the form of scripture revelation. Then you’re not supposed to take a disposition based upon what you think or based upon what you feel until you question that in the light of what G-d has revealed, you see.
We should be constantly checking our thoughts, checking our impulses, checking our actions. We should be constantly doing that to make sure that our life is in obedience to Allah. That's what the Muslim life means, a life in obedience to Allah.
We know how the world got into this fix that they’re in, thinking that religion is a charge. “Oh come on reverend give me that charge, charge me up again so I can feel good at least for today because tomorrow I’m going back into sins”. They have presented religion as something for our emotional side, and not something for the rational side but something for the emotional side. This thing taken to its extreme has separated religion from practical life.
It’s okay to violate every law. Whatever G-d said with the ten commandments, forget about it. Whatever is written in the Leviticus forget about it. We eat what we want pig and all, we drink what we want Vodka and everything, Daniels or whatever they call that stuff Jack Daniels.
[laughter]
Imam Mohammed: We drink it all it doesn’t matter it's not for the senses any more it's just for the emotional side. You don’t have to reason with it anymore it’s just for the emotional side.
They present the prophet John, peace be upon him, as a man coming emotional man. He comes the emotional man and he preaches to the people that emotional message, “repent”, that’s his message, repent. It’s enough just to preach repentance. Sinners repent, but sinners you are sinners and everyone is a sinner but one. In order for you to be saved there’s nothing you can do about your own self except accept this one who never sins, that’s created in another nature different nature from yours. He never sins. Believe in him alone, that’s all you have to do. You don’t have to worry about your sins just believe in him and your sins are taken care of they’re excused they’re paid for.
Drink alcohol, smoke the weeds, snort the cocaine, commit adultery, have the girlfriends on the side, party let it all, hang out, go back to church knowing that someone is paying for your sins. What a messed up world.
I’m telling you this not to tell you what’s happening in the Christian world. I’m telling you this to ask you to not let this continue to happen in your own world because you all are doing the same thing many of you, because you don't know your religion and you’re not making an effort to know your religion. "Oh, brother Imam but you’re not teaching us the (fusha?), you’re not teaching us, Arabia. If you were teaching us Arabia and the (fusha?) we would know our religion." I’m one person, how can I have an Arabic class all over these United States?
You’re supposed to ask your local leader to have an Arabic class, to teach Qu'ran, Qu'ranic Arabic. You’re not supposed to put the blame on me. You don’t have Arabic you should ask your local leaders, can you teach us? If he can't ask, "Can you hire somebody. Can we raise some money and hire somebody?" You won’t be able to have those excuses in the judgment, that Imam didn’t teach us Arabic. "He’s not teaching us our prayers, he’s not teaching us the fiqh and the Sunnah."
You’re supposed to be learning that in your school, you’re supposed to have a school here. I can do much more for Muslims by calling you to see your religion properly. Calling you to see where the importance is in your religion, to see what the priority should be in your religion. Then the local people should establish those priorities, the local people should give attention to those important things. One man can’t do that, impossible.
[pause 00:37:56]
There is another writer of a book, Muslim writer. The book was financed I think and produced by Rabbica, The Muslim World League . The author is a Sheikh Mohammed Ibin Suleiman. He’s discussing the propagation of religion, how it should be presented. He gives four points in the opening of his book.
The first point that he gives he says we should seek knowledge supported by the Qu'ran and Hadith. The second point he gives says, we should be acting accordingly. And thirdly, - this is to Imams now this is not just for everybody, but everybody, but specifically to Imams, acting accordingly. Thirdly, propagating this knowledge, and fourthly, persistence in the face of adversity.
It’s not always going to be easy to do this. Some people might not want you doing this. They’ll make trouble for you. When it gets difficult you should still be as much decided or even more decided to continue the good work of propagating the knowledge. Persistence in the face of adversity. Those are the four that he gives. He gives the foundation for this, or he calls it evidence, what supports this position that he took, that these are the things we should be doing. He gives this surah from the Qu'ran called Surah Asr. For each of these, there is a verse. Each of these reflect what is in one of the verses of the Surah Asr.
If you recall Surah Asr, it says, "By the token of time, surely mankind is lost." Il lal lazeena aamanu, that's one right? Aamanu. Wa 'amilus saali haati, two. Wa tawa saw bil haqqi, three. Wa tawa saw bis sabr, four. Those are the four. The last one he gives persistence in the face of adversity, wa tawa saw bis sabr. G-d speaks the truth, Qu'ran.
Again, what else throws us off? How to begin with the message of Islam? How to begin? What do we offer first? Do we tell them all about the [Arabic language] and tell the people all about miracles? Do we tell them all about Prophet Muhammad? How do we begin? People begin differently. Teachers, Imams, they begin differently. They all don't begin the same. They have different ways of introducing Islam to people. I think this needs to be studied. We need to study it and find out which way is best to introduce Islam.
Muhammad, the prophet, was in a particular situation, condition, in a particular situation when he was called to be the last prophet, Allah's messenger. Peace be upon him. What was that situation? It was pre-Qu'ran, or pre-Islam Mecca, Arabia. A land of idol worshipers. The time is called the ignorant age. The age of ignorance. Corruption worship, idol worship.
We live in 1996, almost '97, in a few days, in the United States of America, a country with great, great stores of sciences, technology, history. This is not an ignorant age in the academic sense. It might be an ignorant age in the human behavior phase, [laughs] but it's not an ignorant age in the learning sense because they have, history, they have sciences, perhaps more than we ever had before on this earth.
We are not in the same circumstances. We are not speaking to a public of uneducated, illiterate, ignorant, backwards people. Not in the academic sense. How should we present this religion? We are speaking to people who also claim that they don't worship idols. They claim they don't worship more than one G-d. We have to respect at least what they believe to be the truth about themselves first. If I believe I'm a camel, if you want to communicate to me, you better regard me as a camel. Because I'm not going to respond to anything else other than what I believe myself to be.
If they believe that they already believe in G-d, and they believe in one G-d, then how effective would it be if we come out like Mohammad did to the idol worshipers of Mecca? His first utterance was, "L? il?ha ill? all?h." That was his first utterance. That's how he introduced it. Should that be our first utterance? I say no. I say no because they already believe that there's one G-d. In your mind, you say, "They do not believe in one G-d. They believe in three G-ds." They have an explanation for that. [laughs]
You think you're talking a camel, but you're talking to something different. It's not a camel, it's something different. They have an explanation for it that satisfies them. Their explanation satisfies them. They're satisfied that they believe in one G-d, even though their language says G-d, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Trinity.
My position is that we shouldn't come exactly as the Prophet came at that particular time saying L? il?ha ill? all?h. In my opinion, we will be like the Bible's gospel, John the Baptist. "Repent", and the people laugh, "Repent what? Hey, look at John, he's gone crazy. Yes look, he's dressed wild again here in the desert with that camel hair on." They just laugh, that's all.
We know that's not the true John. If you want the true John, read Qu'ran. We should appeal to that that is not appealed to, and that's where the emphasis in the Qu'ran appeal to their rational minds, appeal to the best, best reasoning in the people. Invite them to have more excellent judgment in their reasoning. That's what we should be about. A lot of times, you can't go directly to that. It's an insult. You'd be insulting them. You'd be insulting them. You can't go directly to it, but extract from the Qu'ran which is loaded, is filled with rational appeal that respects their rational intellect reasoning ability of human being, male and female.
Go to it and extract that logic, that sound reasoning that respects the intellect of everybody, male and female, young and old, and we can make progress. They will be drawn to this religion, because religion, as we see it in the world generally, disrespects the intellect of the human being, and appeals directly to the emotional side to get by the questions that the intellect may have.
I want to speak to Imams again. Allah says in the Qu'ran, that the places of worship the masajid, the mosques, is not fitting, that in it should be the ones to care for those places that are unclean, unfaithful. It's for the clean and the faithful for those that are clean and decent and believing. Strong believers should be in those positions. I ask you, Imams, to check yourself out. Are you fit for those positions to be caring for those masjids? Are you the clean and decent one in your congregation of your people? Are you the believing person among them? Do you believe in what has been revealed? Do you believe in Allah and his messenger? Do you believe in what G-d has revealed to us in the Quran?
Then, if you stand out among them as the clean one and as the honest one, the believing one, good, you're in the right place, but if you don't, you need to get out of that position and go into training if you really want that position, and become fit for that position. We'd be better off with a person of less ability than yours, in terms of your worldly experience or whatever, a believing decent person would be much better for the congregation than you if you are unclean, indecent and not believing.
The enemy of Islam will maneuver, manipulate, deceive, slip people in who are not believing like you believing and they're not decent in their hearts and honest before G-d as you are, and they'll be among you to keep you from ever becoming the Muslim that Allah wants you to be. These are the ones that will be pointing fingers at me in Chicago say, "Well, that's Imam, let's do it with Imam." I'm addressing two people now that may be in position; those who just haven't have neglected to qualify, to work on qualifying themselves, but also those who came in.
You study the history of the Muslims. There are believers, enemies that you see, and the hypocrites. Chapters dealing with the hypocrites, the Prophet hate hypocrites in his following, listen to him while he preach, joining the prayers, praying with other believers, hypocrites. Where are the hypocrites today? Where are hypocrites? We've got them? Well, you don't laugh, this is serious. I know why you laugh [chuckles]. I know why you laugh. I'm not against what you're thinking but this is serious. Where are hypocrites? You stupid? Don't be stupid Muslims.
If he had hypocrites, don't you know you got hypocrites? You don't listen to everything somebody say and follow him; you hypocrite too. Yes, the one that follows everything somebody says just because they're in a position of authority, you're a hypocrite too. You're not supposed to follow everything a person says and do in authority. That woman that questioned the Khalifa, and the Khalifa had to respond publicly to that person's criticism, "What about the men among us? Aren't you going to put somebody on the spot when you see him wrong? You see him lying, you see him not doing what they're supposed to do, passing the buck when they're supposed to be in a responsible position, you just going to be quiet?" And say, “Oh he's in authority, he's our Imam.
That's not Islamic freedom, justice and inequality, that's slavery, where people are just following one person no matter whether he's right or wrong. That's slavery of the worst kind. Those who follow, they're just as guilty as the person who's leading. He's a hypocrite and you are too. Let us question ourselves; if we are not doing these things intentionally, then if we see our wrong and repent it, Allah will forgive us and give us a good life. Don't read these things that say, "Oh, that's what's said in 1,400 years ago?" No, we have to read what is said 1,400 years ago so we will know what to expect in 1996.
I remember when I started out and G-d knows when I started out as your leader. If someone had told me that I was going to experience what I've experienced since then, I'm not talking about the bad, right now, I'm not seeing the bad at all, I'm seeing the good. If they had told me that I would be accepted in higher circles that I'm accepted in and regarded as an equal with high people in this world by them, not by you, by them and regarded as their equal.
I was giving a lecture once in a college campus and these professors, one of them asked me, said, "I want to make some comments on you, sir. How am I to refer to you? By what title?" I said, "Imam." He said, "No, no, no, no. I mean 'Doctor?'" I said, "No, I'm not a doctor." I said, "You mean education?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I never finished college. I never hardly got in college." I said, "I only have three hours credit in English and I went there so I could speak better and understand the language better. I took some other course too but the English was my real reason for going to junior college. Although, I would love to go to college, university and get a doctor degree, two or three if I could. I love studies and knowledge."
This gentleman said, "Mr. Mohammed, see, we are doctors. You see, we recognize you, so how can we think of ourselves as doctors and then call you something less than that?" He just stood up and when he mentioned me, he said, "Dr. W. Deen Mohammed." Now, that's what people on that level say. Then, when I talk to my brothers on this level somewhere there, I don't know, they wink at each other and laugh behind my back. He said, "That's right. I recognize that voice, I think that's one of those that did it." I hope I didn’t get that wrong. I hope I recognize-- I hope [laughs]-- I think that was one of those who did it but I don't know, I'm not sure.
G-d knows if I had been told 20 years ago that I'd be given the reception by these high-level people in the world. I'm a member of about three or four world bodies, organizations that work for betterment of the society of man in the world. I probably would have laughed. I would have said, -"What? No, that will never happen." But it has happened. What does that tell me? That if you're sincere, because that's what did it, my sincerity.
I'm not the son of a professor or doctor in education. No, I'm the son of Elijah Muhammad of Sandersville, Georgia who never had more than three years elementary school formal education who learned how to read on his own, who learned how to write on his own, just practicing. I'm the son of that man. I didn't have any parents or any relatives in my family that I can listen to and learn history of the world and be prepared culturally, no, I didn't have that. I was given the burden of Black English. Yes, “I ain't studdin' you”.
[laughter]
Now, some of you probably never heard that expression, but that's one of the expression we had, "I ain't studdin you." Now that's an old one. I had to hear a blues' singer sing to bring that back to my memory. It had been 30 years from my memory and I just happened to have a radio on listening to Arkansas Red. Now, you all don't know Arkansas Red. He used to be a lieutenant in the Fruit of Islam, I listen to Arkansas Red he's playing these numbers and one of the numbers he played, the blues singer was singing, he said, "I ain't studdin' you, I ain't studdin' you, I ain't studdin' you." I said, "Wow." I said, "Why I forgot I ever spoke like that."
[laughter]
Black English. That’s what they’re trying to make it, Black English. They want to make it part of the curriculum. See how they ridicule us, see how they treat us like dumbbells. That should be an insult to all of us, that they will call our incorrect speech Black English. Legitimized it in the curriculum so that that ignorance will come back to us and be passed on to our children.
I got a call brother Imam was told to ask me what my position was. The people who were working on getting this into the back, - or making judgment on it, want to make a decision on it. I said tell them that I thought that was the English that I had to get rid of in order to get a decent grade in school.
[silence]
Islam will give us the benefit of our intellect. Muhammad the prophet said, prayers and peace be on him, that G-d did not create anything better than the human intellect. That's what Prophet Muhammad said. What is the most valuable part of your life? According to what Muhammad said, prayers and peace be upon him, it's your human intellect. We know when we study the evolution of living things or if we don’t want to accept that idea of evolution, when we study the development and progress of living creatures, the thing that we see accounting for man’s supremacy in the animal kingdom or in the kingdom of flesh is his special intellect, his special rational reasoning brain or mind. That’s what accounts for it.
You can use soul force all you want brother. You can use soul force all you want. You can use heart power all you want, but you'll never be able to compete in civilized society until you use brain power, your intellect. This is Islam. This is not to say that the heart is not important, certainly, the heart is important. But the heart and the brain should have a marriage. And the heart should give the brain the best of its advice and the brain should then act on it, following the best of the heart’s advice. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful marriage?
Our heart advices us sometimes wrongly. Don’t think the heart is perfect, “Oh, the human heart is perfect.” Perfect, what do you mean perfect? You never heard of a tainted heart? You never heard of the expression, "my foolish heart"? The human intellect, the human intellect. G-d says that He will cause whatever’s in the sky and in the earth, all the creation to yield its benefits to the human being that will obey G-d. It created us for His obedience, for obedience to Him. Then He created all these things if we obey Him, give our obedience to Him, He created all these things to yield their utility to us.
There’s usefulness there, there’s utility there. He created those things to give it to us. How are we going to receive it? In our hands, it’s too much, it’s too heavy. The tree is too much to carry. You only can receive it through your intellect. Through your intellect and not one of us, but if all of us begin to respect the intellect and cherish the value of the human mind that G-d created, the intellect, we will begin to have many among us males and females studying and being educated and doing research, et cetera, and utilizing the benefits that G-d has put in this vast creation for the betterment of human life on this earth. This is Islam. “Did you hear the Imam? “Yes. Again, he came here just speaking from his own mind. When is he going to teach us the Quran and the Sunnah?” When are you going to read it on your own, you hypocrite?
Last night was a beautiful occasion and a meaningful occasion. Your speakers were wonderful, intelligent speakers, organized speakers. They had their presentation prepared, organized. It was wonderful. The interest, the best. Family, our youth, education, this is where we should be. This is exactly where we should be. We should be about attending the needs of our family life. About protecting our youth for the future, betterment of our society. Yes. You’re on the emphasis, you’re on the- hitting the right priorities.
What’s going to get you there? Using the language that is popular in the schools now of America? Using the language that is popular in intellectual circles of America today? Using the language that is popular in academia today? Will that get you there? Hell, no. Is it getting them there? No. You need to get insights into the Quran, insights into the Quran and the model life of Muhammad the prophet. If you don’t have it or you can’t get it, you should follow those that got it. Follow those that got it. G-d didn’t create all of us to be independently going on our own. He created us to have organization and leadership.
That's what Allah created us for, organization and leadership. Society can never manage its affairs, could never serve its needs if it didn’t have organization and leadership. Organization and leadership, that’s the only way you are going to get somewhere, - organization and leadership. You just can’t have leadership in your home and not have it in your public. When you go out in the public, you have to be obeying leadership. I never saw and I thank Allah even though my thinking in life, the life train and my intellect, it was changed. It was interrupted. It had an abrupt stop and a shift into a gear again. It get started over again.
G-d knows that never for one time did I think the one that I should listen to that know how my life should be lived was in the church or in the government of America, the president of the United States or in some college professor. No, never. I always believe that my leader was number one, G-d. How G-d's your leader? How is G-d your leader? Didn’t G-d say it to us in the Quran that he guides who he wills? If he guides me, he’s my leader.
Muhammad is my leader, my human leader. My perfect divine leader is G-d, my human leader perfect as a human being is Muhammad. Not perfect as a divine being, perfect as a human being. He’s not the divine being, he’s a human being like I am. That’s what Allah says. Allah, Quran, Muhammad, these are my leaders. Allah, G-d, when he revealed the Quran and Muhammad, the modern human to whom he revealed it, those are my leaders. My leadership is the Islamic knowledge. Islamic knowledge, that’s my leadership. That's what leads me, what G-d has revealed and given us as a guide. Praise be to Allah.
Who’s your leader? The Imam W. Deen Mohammed is my leader. That’s fine. He’s my leader too. He is. Under those authorities, I follow W. Deen Mohammed. Not W. Dee Mohammed in his whole behavior, not W. Deen Mohammed in his whole behavior, W. Deen Mohammed in his perfect behavior to G-d, Quran and Muhammad. I follow that man and waiting for one of you all, I'll follow one of you.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam Mohammed: Right now, that man is looking better to me than the rest of you are.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar. [crosstalk]
Imam Mohammed: And that's the only reason why I continue to follow that man. This is just the truth. I’m just sharing with you the truth that I feel in my heart and my mind, this is it, that's it.
The Prophet Muhammad said of Islam, he said this religion is structured upon five essentials. Five essentials. He says structured like a building. Islam is like a building. It’s like a great building, a great edifice, a great structural edifice. The most important structures in its construction is La ilaha illallah, Salat, Zakat, the fasting in Ramadan, and Hajj Al Bait, pilgrimage to the house in Mecca. They're wonderful. That’s the structure, that’s the big structure, the big edifice, supported by those great structures. Each one of those structures is a building in itself. A building within itself, each one of those structures. It’s a complex building, isn’t it?
It’s a complex building, having these buildings or constructions inside the inclusive construction. In that, G-d has given us what we need for our life in the East, in the West, anywhere on this earth, but it takes education in Islam to make that clear to us. That’s what we special people like these Imams, myself, who have been selected by you, that’s the only reason why we’re special. You selected us, you accept us as your leaders. That’s what we should be about. We should be about trying to understand this great construction, this great house, this great edifice. We call Al-Islam, the religion of Islam.
Something else we should be very much aware of is the beginning of our life, the beginning of our understanding, the beginning of our sense of being and well-being. It begins with what? A belief that we owe our existence to a creator. That we owe our existence to a creator. Since that creator gave us our existence and gave us that that we need to support our existence and to have the existence we want, a good existence, we owe that One firstly, our obedience, taqwa. That’s what it's called, taqwa.
Even in the time of the prophets, there was some people claiming to be-- Look at this, here nobody knew what Muslim was, nobody knew what the messenger of G-d was in Islam, but when the prophet is being introduced and established as that person, here comes somebody claiming to be one too. The imposters, the false people, they had a mosque, they had built had built them a masjid. And it wasn't fit for worship. Why? Because it wasn't founded upon taqwa. The believers were warned by G-d in Quran to don’t even pray in that place. That there is one that was established from the first day it was built. It was established upon taqwa, go pray in that one.
What is that there to tell us? That’s to tell us we don’t join people heading up a mosque and saying that their program is get rich, unity upon an economic program or unity upon some political plan, no. It’s unity upon belief and obedience, belief in and obedience to our Creator. That’s what it’s for, that’s what it is, taqwa [unintelligible 01:17:22] taqwa. Founded upon taqwa.
G-d says Ittaqullah. This is from taqwa. This is the verb of taqwa, ittaqu. Ittaqullah, reverend G-d. Revere Him, with a sense of dependency, with a sense of fear that if you don’t please Him, great harm can come to you. With a sense of love, a sense of indebtedness to Him, et cetera. This is taqwa and reverence G-d, who created you from one person or from one soul and you know the rest of it and created from it, its mate and caused to be spread all over the world many men and women. Then G-d says and also the family ties or as one the translator give, the wombs that bore you.
We have to understand that this word we call taqwa in its verb form is not just used for G-d. We ought to have taqwa for G-d firstly and uppermost. Every other taqwa is qualified or proved upon that reality that G-d is deserving of our taqwa first. But that's not where it should stop for G-d says and also fear the fire of hell or the hell fire, ittaqu. Ittaqu, fire, I don’t think it’s only the hell fire, I think it’s just fire, fear the fire. Why? Because this wonderful word is used, not the simple word, ordinary word for fear something. And fear the fire.
Man has gotten great utility from the fire, hasn’t he? For respecting it, he respect the fire, he appreciates the fire, the warmth it can give him, he cooks the food with it and all the benefits of it. He has this kind of respect and appreciation for the fire and he has a fear of the fire too. G-d says, and also ittaqullah, to fear the fire, to have the sacred regard, the special regard for fire.
Then G-d says to us for our family's benefit, [foreign language], save your own selves and your families from the fire. Now, this is the hell fire from the fire of hell. This responsibility is on us. These people are discussing family interest and family values and academia among this in the intellectual circle. They are discussing these things upon their own opinions, judgment and interests.
For us, it is a sacred requirement in our life. To take up the condition in our families as an issue and do something about the condition of our families, to save our families from the fire of hell. G-d said it. We don't need nobody in academia to tell us when to start attending family needs, when the family is in crisis. We don't need this world for that. We should never be in the crisis they're in if we study our religion and obey our religion.
We don't need any outside watchtower people to tell us when we-- now this has nothing to do with the watchtower religion, or mission. I only mean those who put yourself in position to be on the alert for problems in the society or for a problem in the life of man. We don't need any such people on a tower monitoring what's going on as our guardians, or our protectors, looking out for our security, protecting our life and where it should be going. We don't need that. We don't need to listen to them. We're not trusting them with our lives. We're trusting the Quran.
If you're fascinated by what they have in that world of knowledge, if that's to you the attraction more so than the Quran, you're lost from Islam. You're lost from the Muslim community. You're out of it and I invite you to come back in. Get your head together. Get your senses together. Respect your own commitment. You say, "I accept Islam. I used to be a Christian but now I convert. I'm no more Christian. I'm a Muslim." Respect your own judgment. You made that decision. So respect your own judgment. Respect your own commitment and study your religion, so that you can live it better and more fully. That's no more than common intelligence, good sense.
I'm not just speaking to this audience here. I'm speaking to all of us all over the United States because that's where it's going. It's going to all of us. It's not going to stay right here in this audience. It's going into the Muslim journal, it's going on the radio broadcast, it's going maybe on W. D. Mohammed and Guest television. It's going on perhaps some television I don't even know about, because there are others with shows even outside of our community that ask us some time for our tapes. Thank Allah and I hope more opportunities open up in the media for us.
G-d says in our Quran that He has a rule. G-d has a rule. Says Allah's rule is the rule of knowledge and mercy. That His rule of knowledge and mercy is extensive, meaning it's stretched out all throughout the creation. It incorporates everything, everything, nothing left outside of it. Everything, each little single thing, each little single thing within our own being, and there are billions of things in my own being. Each little thing in my own being is under the rule of knowledge created for it by G-d. Not just the rule of knowledge but the rule of knowledge and mercy.
The whole life of a Muslim, a believer should be devotional, devotional life. Some people, they think of their religion as requiring them to devote certain parts of their life to the religion. No, for the Muslim, the religion is whole and the life must wholly be given to G-d. That was Abraham. He gave himself completely. The whole entirety of himself, he gave it to G-d for worship and obedience, for service and the way of G-d.
Devotional life or this religious life that we take for granted is really descriptive of the whole life of the Muslim person, the whole life of the Muslim person. Everything in our appearance and all that we do should express or speak of our life, love for Allah, adoration of G-d, and the glorification of G-d, Allah. The glorification of G-d, the love of G-d and the glorification of G-d, adoration and glorification of the Lord G-d who created us, made all things possible for us. Allah most high. One inspired to love G-d has also at the same time simultaneously been inspired to love the rule of G-d, to love the rule of G-d. We must love G-d and love the rule of G-d and his rule is by knowledge and mercy, by knowledge and mercy.
[silence]
Now, getting back to family. Family should be a system. It should be a system. Family should be an organization for each and every one of us. We should believe in family organization. We shouldn't have family with no sense of family organization, but we do. In our families, if there's a male qualified to lead us in prayer, the best qualified male to lead us in prayer should be responsible for calling all our attention to our prayers in that household. When he ain't there, that should be with someone that all the other members know be qualified to act in he's stead for he's not present.
It is only the mother, the sister or older sister, she should be qualified to do it. How can she lead the males? She lead the females. The males will gather separately. If they can't lead themselves, they will get it separately to themselves and they will follow Allahu Akbar, et cetera, and pray with, pray. She's the qualified one. A mother lead her children in prayer when a husband or a qualified male is not there. If the male is 80-years-old, and he ain't qualified in his brain and in his understanding, he's one of the children in that knowledge at least. Follow your mother, brother, If you got nobody else.
The family system, the family organization. Knowledge and mercy. This system is formed of mercy, isn't it? Yes, this mercy that Allah created the women to have this good mother nature. That's a mercy to their young. When that good nature that Allah created we call mother-nature is not there, then it's cruelty to the young. Some of these mothers are very cruel to their children, because they don't have that good mother-nature that Allah created for them. They'll be looking like female, they'd be looking like mothers, but their treatment of the family and their children will not be that of the mother. It will be that of a cruel person, a monster in the household. Yes, we often can have that. Sometimes you have to call the police on the mama. They come, they take her, and they take her to jail and lock her up.
Mercy; it’s the mercy of G-d that we have these mothers to get up in the middle of the night. They have to get up in the morning at 7:00 and prepare the breakfast. Where here is a sick child with high temperature and the mother can’t sleep through the night, she gets up and she comes in the room, she feels the head of the child to make sure the child is safe for her to go and rest.
The child is too hot; she got to work with that child in the middle of the night. Child may be so sick, she has to get up, put her clothes on. Nobody else to take the child to emergency. Take the child to emergency; she’ll get her sleep later. Isn’t that mercy? It’s mercy to the creature that’s dependent on the mother. You disturbed, you crying little baby, something hard is up under the baby. Mother wakes up and she finds the trouble, she takes it out or she looks- pull the diaper down, she see the diaper needs changing, she changes the diaper. She won’t change it like most of these modern mothers do, just take that one off and stick another one on.
She’d take him and get a little rag and wash him up and everything, clean him so he’s dry and comfortable again, so he can go back to sleep. Mercy of G-d extended to the baby through the mother. [foreign language] He has established for everything extending throughout the creation the rule of knowledge and mercy. The judges qualify to be judges in our court, in our system, legal system. If they don’t know the rule of knowledge and mercy, they can’t be judges; they don’t qualify. He has to know when mercy, when the evidence, the information says that mercy should be shown in this situation; instead of justice, - mercy.
It takes knowledge and ability to be kind, to be merciful. And to know when to be that way. Kind and merciful, lenient, passing over the fought, because the knowledge points to something that says, “There was a reason in this situation that we have to give respect to, --"Know what this is, this is a breach of the law. This is an offense to society”. But in this particular individual’s case, it must be excused, mercy should be shown, because of ignorance or something else. Knowing the ways of G-d, that’s what the revelation comes for. To teach us how to know G-d and to teach us how to know the ways of G-d, so that we can be more obedient to what G-d wants in this life for us.
[silence]
Now, if we prepare our families as we should prepare them, then we will have a life that can benefit both spiritually and materially. Both spiritually and materially, but if we’re not situated in our own lives, as Allah intends for us to be situated, spiritual interest can destroy us. Spiritual interest can set us back, confuse us, blind us, weaken us, destroy us. I don’t have to say material interest can do that. All of us know that, yes.
The call in Islam is the call to worship G-d. And he said He has not created men or jinn for any purpose other than His worship, to worship Him. Meaning, to give your life and service to the Plan of G-d, to the Will of G-d, to the Plan of G-d, which makes it possible for you to have the best life; the best possible life for yourself. The call is what? Hayya alas Salah. Hayya alas Salah. In the word "Hayya", you hear Hayyun living, living alive, hayyun living alive. Hayya alas Salah. Come to prayer, to worship.
Hayya alas Falah, come to success. Life, worship for your life; the worship that G-d wants in your life for your life. The productive life; the success, the prosperity that Allah wants in your life, for your life. Islam is the call to it, inviting you to it. It can’t be any better than that. Religion cannot be any better than that. I’m getting ready to conclude. I’m taking my time because I don’t have to rush and catch a plane.
[laughter]
I only have to go to the hotel, and my wife is not with me. I don’t like too much television. No, I’m not complaining, so please, if you’re not married, I can’t carry any more burden.
[laughter]
But I said, I feel for you sister. Because these men are getting almost as scarce as a Bible. The Bible, - see, I’m acquainted with a Bible too. The Bible- I got this from my father. My grandfather and my father, they were Bible people. The Bible says that a good man will be so hard to find until one day people will see a woman with a bone; she’ll be walking with a bone. And they said, "Why are you carrying a bone of that dead person?" She’ll say, “This is the bone of a good man.”
[laughter]
Now, to conclude this. We are not just to work to protect our youth for the future, we’re supposed to pray to Allah for the future of our youths, because the future of our youth is the future of ourselves. We don’t have any future on this earth unless it’s through our children.
Oh Allah give us from ourselves a leader. Yes, we should pray that the next generation will have the leader we need, and we should be alert to see what youngster is showing signs that he may qualifies to give that youngster support. If he needs more money for his education, if he needs a better situation for his development, all of us should be ready to contribute to that youngster’s future, because his future is our future. Thank you. We pray to G-d for guidance always. We ask Him for forgiveness when we go wrong or sin. Amen.
Speaker 2: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 2: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 2: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Voiceover: For more on the ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim American spokesman, call or write WDM Publications; call 1-708-862-7733. All right. Post office box, 1944, Calumet City, Illinois, 60409. For Muslim journals, see local distributor. Thanks for listening.
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