09/23/1979
IWDM Study Library
IWDM Fourth Sunday

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Thank you very much Brother Imam Abdul Haqq. I needed a few minutes to get some information. Dear beloved people, I want to begin with the reading from Qur'an, the chapter has been translated from Arabic into English as the Expansion, the Expansion. The Arabic word is Al-Inshira. It begins "Have we not expanded for you your breast?" This is the first verse. Have we not expanded for you, your breast? Breast refers to the heart, to the spiritual conscience, and the intellect, and it also refers to understanding. Understanding. If we say a man breast is constricted, then a tightness gone in, it could mean a number of things. And among those things, it could mean that the man has limited, very limited and narrow understanding. It also refers to the same of that individual person. These verses are speaking of Prophet Muhammad and the blessing of Almighty G-d upon him. Verse 2- And removed from you, your burden. Verse three-Which did gall your back, our weigh down your back. Verse four, And raised high the esteem in which you are held.
Verse five- So truly with every difficulty, there is relief. Verse six- Truly, with every difficulty, there is relief. Verse seven- "Therefore, when you are free from your immediate task, still labor hard. Verse eight. And to your Guardian Evolver, Cherisher Sustainer, which is translated here Lord. And to your Lord turn all your attention. All praise is due to Allah who speaks the truth. Now, dear beloved believers, I have read this chapter that brings our attention to the nature of human struggle, or I might say to the dynamics of the human spirituality and social makeup and spiritual makeup. And I read from the translation that is done by... Let's see if I can quickly get the name here. Ibrahim Al Suluki Muhammad. And this is a recent translation. It also carries a transliteration. The printing of this book has been financed by our dear brother and great financial support Jabir Muhammad, who was once known as Herbert Muhammad, the manager of Muhammad Ali.
Now, he has delivered into our hands here in Chicago well over 7,000 of these books and we are turning the distribution of them over to the officials here and most likely we will begin sending right away these books, a share these books, a equal share of these books to the great centers where our membership is concentrated so that as many people as possible that belong to our community will get these books. We believe that we have a thousand here for Chicago and already we passed out copies of this translation and transliteration. Transliteration carries the pronunciation as close as possible. And I believe this is one of the better transliterations I've seen. It carries pronunciation as close as possible, but no transliteration can give you correct Arabic pronunciation. It can only help you. You have to learn from an Arabic speaking teacher or from a teacher who's qualified to teach you Arabic reading. This book is a great help and so far I'm very pleased with the English translation.
There is a common saying in the Arabic language, in fact I read it myself even in an Arab premier. Which means if you want to succeed, then struggle hard. You have to try hard. And G-d is saying to us with this chapter called the Expansion, that Prophet Muhammad himself was one who labored very hard and G-d was communicating to him directly and G-d was aiding him struggle and letting him know that he's moving in the right direction. He has the right idea and that you have to keep struggling even during the time of ease. With every difficulty their is ease or after every difficulty, there is ease. If we would just understand that bit, that little bit. And that's a great bit believe me about the nature of human struggle brothers and sisters we won't give up so quick. Right at the point where you might be ready to give up, that might be the point when things are going to open up. Don't never give up, struggle hard. No need to push hard. Find something to put your shoulder behind and keep pushing hard because life is advanced because of the struggles of my brothers and sisters. And Muslims are workers, and they love to put their shoulder to the wheel. It's only because of this kind of spirit and the history of our community that we have come to the success that we have come to in terms of our unity, in terms of our great numbers, and in terms of our financial accumulation.
We could not have accumulated the financial worth that we accumulated and reached the natural goals that we did reach under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had we not been willing to struggle hard, put our shoulder to the wheel and keep pushing. And every time there's a job finished, we turned around and said, "Where's the next job?" That's the spirit that will get us more and more and closer and closer to the goals we want. All praise is due to Allah. This chapter is telling us that this is a nature that Allah has put in his human creature. And not only in the human being, this is in every creature. You might recall when I began talking about the need for moral development in this community and the correct kind of spiritual vision in this community. I tried to illustrate that by saying your moral makeup is a muscle and like your physical muscles, if you don't use it, it will collapse. Now believe me, the whole human makeup, the desire for physical improvements in your life, or material improvements in your life, your desire for spiritual improvement in your life, your desire for improved relations with your loved ones, whatever it is. Believe me, the more you struggle, the more progress you realize.
The whole human being in his total concept, a total entity, his spirituality, his intellect, everything, has this particular nature given to it by G-d. It operates like a physical muscle. So don't hate people that drive you to use what you got. Hate people that tell you to sit down and relax until something comes by you. Hate them. Don't hate the people that drive you to use what you have because in using what you have you are going to become better equipped to do things for yourself and by yourself. We have several things we want to bring to you and we hope to do it, it's quite a bit, but we hope to do it in a reasonably short time. But I must express my personal appreciation on this national telephone hookup to the people from our community and from without our community that supported the testimonial dinner. It was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown in the Chicago, in the city of Chicago where we are now. Many people ought to be thanked, and I can't thank them all, but let me begin with the man, who himself came to us with this idea and took on the responsibility to make it a success.
Special thanks to Imam Clyde Rahman of Cleveland. And to the brothers and sisters here, among them, Sister Camila Hassan, Brother Nada Ali, and several others, Brother John Omar and many others that worked with them to make this testimonial dinner a success. A person that was not part of the committee is also very much responsible for the success of this testimonial dinner, and that is the man that gave the first dinner in recognition of my leadership and our success. That is our brother Jabra Muhammad. He himself bought, I believe, 100 or 200 tickets, 200. 162. That's close to 200. We wasn't missing it by very much. 162 tickets. 162 tickets. And because of his connection with bankers, lawyers, and very distinguished and well-known people in the outer community, we had many, many, many high ranking people at that dinner and those people expressed strong support for the positive things that we have done in this community, in terms of our outreach efforts, our efforts to reach out from ourselves and become involved in the work of improving society with other people outside of the Nation of Islam or outside of the World Community of Al Islam in the West. Among the people who are on the head table or sat at the head table is the Mayor of Gary Indiana, Mayor Richard Hatcher, who spoke and left us with very enlightening words.
Rabbi Haim Perlmutter and his lovely wife, who also spoke very courageously in support of the moral things and human aims that we work for. And the Reverend R.N. Gooding from Tallahassee, Florida, who really inspired us with his inspiring testimony. James Thompson of Urban League, the Reverend Johnny Coleman well known. He also spoke very beautifully, and I would say very courageously, and I hope you all understand. You know, just five years back, no one could speak until the order came down, and usually you got it directly from a captain or a first officer. And most people feared to speak in our community. Congresswoman, Representative Curline Collins, who is now President of the Congressional Black Caucus. We appreciated her presence and her comforting, encouraging words that she left with us. Congressman Bennett Stewart, Brother Jabir Muhammad, Commissioner Leonora Cartwright, and the world champion, Muhammad Ali. There were many others. I saw the Imam from Oakland, California. Imam Mohammad Abdullah, he was present. I saw the Imam from Cincinnati, Ohio, Imam from Los Angeles, California, Imam Hassan. I saw several of the Imams and we thank the Imams and the Muslims from the Masjids throughout the nation for their strong support that they gave to the testimonial dinner. That's the kind of an affair that bring us new friends and strengthen those friends that we have and improve our image in the outer community. So we want more of those affairs and as soon as we can establish a member of our community's leadership or a good friend from the outer community who can be the one to draw people together, I'll be happy. The sooner the better.
Because I don't like a lot of attention paid to me, but right now that's the best way to get support, they think. They're are banquet tributes going on all over the nation, you know? In my name. You Imams you establish a good record of your own so we can give some in your name. Some of them are doing very well. I think we're going to have a Imam pretty soon, a few Imams that we can support and introduce to the outer community, let them know the wonderful things that they're doing. They also can give these testimonials. Or be the receiver of the tribute part of the testimonial. It's good sometimes to take notice of the things that are currently in the news. And I don't know how many of you keep your eyes and ears open. Since I was a small child back as far back as I can remember, I have been raised to be alert.
I have said that I believe the community is going to split, that some of their people are going to go against the bad ones among them. Well, just last week dear beloved people, the Jewish figure was on TV by the name of Tyson, and he was condemning the militarism and expansionism of the Zionist State of Israel. And just a few days ago in the Sun Times, a Jew was expressing his concern for the kind of narrow focus the Zionist people have that doesn't include the needs and suffering of other people that are in this group with them. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, this is a day of truth and righteousness and those people who will give themselves completeness to truth and righteousness, they are going to be the victor. They're going to be the winner in this day and time. We don't know it, but we have always been the winner. For the world situation and the kinds of things that are operating physically and before our eyes, the human suffering we see, the oppression that we see, the favor that we've seen being given to the bad people of the world, hides the real truth. The real truth is this- never is evil superior to good. Never is evil superior to good and never is evil stronger than good. Good is always stronger than evil.
Truth, stronger than falsehood, righteousness, stronger than wickedness. This is always true. When dawn begins, who knows that light is going to remove all darkness? Dawn first appear in the night and it appear as a faint light and it steadily advances on darkness. And the sun is just as big at the time of the faintest appearance of dawn as it is at high noon. So it's not that light comes from inferior inferiority and gains a superiority over darkness. No, that's not it. But it takes time for the truth to be seen and the truth is always in progress. Oh yes. If we can only believe that, that kind of belief comes to people who believe in Allah, who believe in the almighty creator. If you can just believe in that, that will make you a more progressive person in whatever field of interest you're working in. I'm happy to see Mr. Christie and I don't know what kind of forces are behind Mr. Christie, but I'm happy to see him come out and condemn the evils of Zionism or at least separate himself from those evils.
And many other good Jews are going to come out. I'm sure we're going to see more and more Jewish people themselves coming out and condemning the blind militarism of that Zionist state we call Israel. Isn't the United States supporting Israel? I make a distinction between Israel and Zionism, between the Jewish people of that state and the blind leaders, the hawks of that government. This morning I saw on Issues and Answers, Ambassador Young. And I really, really enjoyed, really was made very happy about what he said. Ambassador Young is determined to do all he can to improve life for human beings, work for the cause of peace and human dignity. He's not about to retire. And the administration that is now in the White House is going to make good use of his skills. His own assistant who is also Bilalian, has been moved up to that position that was held by Ambassador Young. He's now the Ambassador in the United States. What caught my attention perhaps more than anything else that Ambassador Young said was his calling for an economic program, an economic program, a nationwide movement to improve the economic condition.
We have a new development in the African American people. This is the first time that I have seen the kind of leadership, independent leadership coming from African American people. First time we have African American people now, our Bilalian leaders coming together and getting involved in our overseas political concerns. African American people, their leaders that is, from the private sector, non-government sector, going out of the United States of America. They're going out as citizens of America who has the same right that all other citizens have to go outside of America and find truth for themselves. We have a group of American Bilalians who have gone outside of America to the Middle East to talk to the leaders in Israel and to the leaders of the Palestinian Liberation, to learn for themselves firsthand what is the truth of the matter? What is the truth of the situation? Now, I have to applaud their courage, but at the same time, I would caution them simply because I know they are not yet evolved enough to be as sophisticated as the Jew, or the Irish.
So I would caution them a bit. When we move out of the United States into foreign affairs, we have to be sure that we ourselves are together. We have to be sure that our own mind is together and our own concerns are well known and clearly known to us. We can't go out half cocked. We can't go out half knowing what our own concerns are and where our own interests lie. We can't go out half cocked not knowing who we're going to shoot and who we're going to leave standing up. Because if we go out like that, we have to know what we are standing up for. We have to see clearly our own principles, our own concerns. We have to have them so clearly outlined that we can, in a moment, define what our concerns are and show them distinct from what the concerns of the Israeli is and from what the concerns of the PLO are.
I don't know if all those people from the Bilalian American community are as socially and spiritually involved as I am. I wish they were, but I don't know that they are. Ain't nobody going to penetrate myself. Oh no, you ain't going to puncture my identity and have my fluids run out and mix with yours. Oh no. I know who I am. I know what I'm about. I know what I believe in. I know where my belief is carrying me. The map is already made for me. I know what nations I can move into freely and what leadership I can embrace. I know clearly already.
When I meet leaders from across the water, I don't meet them as an outcast. I have a home. I have a dignified home. I have a rich home. I have a comfortable house. I have an indestructible house. I'm not looking for any place in somebody else's nation. So I can go out abroad and I can talk to people and I don't have to worry about them changing my mind and bringing me to their side. I know what side I'm on and what side I'm going to be on forever. And you can't know that until you find the truth.
The truth that answer your questions. If you go away from here with a lot of questions, brother, bothering you, then you better be careful of who you talk to over there. You might never get back on. And I don't mean back to the United States. I mean back to yourself. You might never get back home. Now how sweet it is to know the truth. I've seen young fighters copy the experts and they think they're going to be successful like the experts simply because they were able to imitate the experts. They go in the ring and they look so pretty and they get about two or three wins. They think they're going straight to the championship because they look just like Muhammad Ali.
Sometimes before they get out of the amateur category, we hear he got knocked out. He's going downhill. Well, I would like to caution our black-minded leaders. Don't you try to imitate the Honorable Elijah Muhammad until you get some truth that he had. Don't imitate him and run out making you know everything and thinks you have all the do's and power to do whatever you want to do. Don't get that kind of courage until you learn something that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad knew. And the Honorable Elijah Muhammad knew that in order to be successful in this America as an independent, you have to keep your own identity and never let it blend in or merge with other interests outside of the United States. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us, don't flirt with the Arabs.
He said, "I'm not raised here to make you an Arab or to turn you over to the Arabs." He said, "My purpose here is to make you something independent for yourself." Now I don't have any fear like that of Arab influence because I'm the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's son. Now if you be quiet, if you can be completely silent for a minute, I'm going to tell you what I mean. In fact it might take me two seconds. Oh, I got it. I'm the Honorable Elijah Muhammad twice over. So I don't worry about no threat from the Arab world to this community. What I'm referring to now is a fear that they going to convert some of these people to their leadership. That time of fear is behind us.
Dear love, brothers and sisters. We have a number of problems in our own community that I want to quickly deal with before going into our message for today. Dear brothers and sisters, we have a committee for the removal of images in the worship of G-d. Now we know that the Bible tells Christians, Jews and Christians make no image, make no image. But Christianity for the most of it's history has been a religion giving us false images of the divine. The crucifix of the Holy Prophet Jesus and many other pictures that have been made and statues that have been made are really against the Bible. It is not the Western world fault. The people from the East who introduced their Christianity to Europe, they themselves introduced a pagan, a pagan package and called it Christianity to the European people. They introduced idolatry. What they did, they compromised with the idolatrous religious thinking that was in Europe. Their object was to convert those people to the truth. Their object was to make a friendly nation that was powerful, that had the capability of ruling the world physically. Their object was to introduce a kindred religion to those people, knowing that once those people embrace a kindred religion, those people would also protect them.
They weren't after introducing pure religion to the European. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about the so- called Jews who introduced Christianity to non-Jewish people. I appreciate the brothers and sisters of the CRAID committee throughout the nation who have supported my call for peaceful, respectful, wise demonstration against images in the worship of G-d. But I have to caution you too, dear people, because you will find that every time we take up a good thing and devote ourselves strongly behind doing it, people who are hypocrites, who have other concerns, who have other things they want to do, they come in disguised as one of the committee. Their object is not to work in the interest of the Imam's program. Their object is to disgrace the Imam. Their object is to discredit the Imam. Their object is to make people turn their heads from us in disgust.
And let me tell you how you will know them. Those who struggle hard to win friends and to keep the peace and not offend people, they are supporting me. Those who say, "Let's go beyond this. Let's demonstrate violently. Let's disrupt their meeting. Let's obstruct the way. Let's make it hard for them to even pass to get into church. Let's put our signs in their way." They are not legitimate members of CRAID. Their purpose is to disrupt. They want to cause disruption. They want to cause disturbance. Their purpose is to embarrass us. Those who claim they're supporting me and they put themselves in the face of the people, dirty, looking all shabby, looking strange and weird. They are not supporting me. They are trying to sabotage my work. Those who are supporting me, they want to look their best because they don't want nobody looking down on what we're doing.
About two weeks ago, I came to the Masjid on Sunday and they're standing at the gate looking like something that looked like it should have been in an insecticide commercial or something, being sprayed on. Standing at the gate, eating a cantaloupe, eating a cantaloupe, a whole cantaloupe. Had it in his hand, looked like it was cut in half or broke in half, and he was standing at the gate right where everybody could see him as they come up to the Masjid, eating the cantaloupe, looking weird and crazy. Now that man wasn't crazy, that man is sane, got good intelligence, but he want intelligent people from the society to think that this is what is here. Don't come to these people. Look, I represent what they are. These people are paid by Zionist devils. And crazy minded fanatical Christians will still think in the days of the crusade.
We got to stop these Muslims. They are the anti-Christ. So they send these dirty, filthy servants of the devil down here to embarrass us and take the people's attention away from us and make them think that we are a bunch of crazy people, a bunch of filthy people. We don't care about our appearance. Wearing this cap does not make me filthy,
But if I carry myself in a filthy way and wear this cap, then I look double filthy. I look twice as filthy as a person who is dirty in an American hat because already our minds have been conditioned to see people who wear turbans and robes and things like this that's filthy, less civilized than the American. So the mind has already been fed that image of a person wearing a cap like this or a turban or fez. Your mind has been conditioned to see him as somebody that don't care about the worldly things, who just satisfied to walk around and pick up garbage off the street and eat it, beg for pennies. This kind of picture have already been put into your mind. So as soon as they see a brother with a fez on, or skullcap, or this so-called kufi, whatever you call it, that I'm wearing now, looking dirty and not caring about himself, carrying himself in a loose, disorganized way.
Right away, they identify him with the picture that has been implanted in their minds long ago. They say, "Oh, these Muslims are disgracing America." Look how unkept they are. Look how filthy and untidy they are. They look like bums. Look like beggars and bums. You know what I'm going to do for you beggars and bums? You begging bum looking people. You're not beggars and bumps. You look that way to disgrace us. I'm going to call the police and have you arrested. Every time I catch one of you loafing and hanging around out there, giving us an ugly sight, an ugly face, I'm going to have the police arrest you.
And we know you, we're going to stop you from coming in here. You've been told, now you keep that up. We get on one nut, they send a different nut. So we put heavy pressure on one nut, today a different nut was out there. But I know he's from the same enemy, the same enemies sent him. Allah has given us guidance for all the problems we have and all the problems this world can give us. Don't you think you can come up with a new trick. No loafing around the property. No loafing on the property or around the property. No hanging around this property. I don't want anybody to catch a Muslim on the street outside of the Masjid for more than a minute. If you stop and speak to somebody, say, Asalaam Alaikum, Wa Alaikum Asalaam and go. Don't stand for two or three minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes talking to somebody out there. Don't even stand around within three or four blocks of this Masjid, talking.
Because people are walking here too, and you're standing around holding conversations and talking, and they pass by you and you talking something that's going to discourage them. They'll hear something you say. You are there purposely to send them in the opposite direction. So you can do it, but you will have to do it as the enemy you are. As long as you say you belong to this community, we're going to stop you from doing it. You want to do it, do it as the enemy you are. Come with a sign saying, I am Christian, holiness, dooty, doody, doody boo. Whatever you are. I'm a paid stunk for the Zionist movement. Just come with your sign identifying you. And we won't throw you off. We won't throw you off the premises. We won't tell you to get away from in front of our Masjid. You can come, come, but identify yourself. Don't come around us pretending you are one of us and working against us. I hope that's enough for that. And if it's not, we got a different remedy to follow.
No Muslim belongs to this community should wear something that I don't wear. If I don't come to this Masjid in sandals, you shouldn't come here in sandals. If you follow me, how come you come in sandals? You going to come here in sandals? Why? If I don't wear the Arabian desert garb here, why should you wear it? If I come here with long Arabian desert garb, then you do it. Or ask me, Imam, is this for all of us or is this just your dress? Is this to distinguish you as the Imam or the preacher? Or is this the dress for all men? And if I say, well, I want all of you to dress like this. Then do it. I wear this cap, a round white cap on my head. Sometime I wear a one that's a different color and I wear some of those skullcaps, knitted skull cap. Occasionally, but very seldom. And I carry myself in such ways that people respect me no matter what I wear. When you wear a cap like this, it's called a prayer cap. Common name for this cap is prayer cap. You should be wearing it for prayer in your house, or if you wear it outside, you should be coming to prayer. If you're going to work, why should we wear a prayer cap? Now, if the man will let you pray on your job, you don't have to wear your prayer cap except after you've made ablution, then put on your cap and make your prayer. And after prayer, take it off and go back to work. Let us get on a happy note.
There's a program started by a group of brothers and sisters in New York to pay off heavy mortgage that's on the Malcolm Shabazz Masjid in New York. The situation there for that Masjid is very serious. We stand to lose that Masjid. They could foreclose and we lose that Masjid. If it was just a building, I wouldn't be too much concerned. It's more than a building. It now has become a historical landmark. There in Harlem, where the nobodies are concentrated perhaps in the greatest number, a community of people have sprung up, cleaning the ghetto, reforming and rehabilitating the drunks and the dope addicts. And the man most responsible for the progress made in New York, his name now is on that piece of property. Malcolm Shabazz. That's too precious, too dear to us. We don't want to lose it. All praise is due to Allah, they have come to me with a very good relief program. The program of 300. All they're asking for is 300 people to allow their savings that's in the bank, or if we can't find 300 with $1000 savings in the bank, then we would like to see others increase their savings in the bank until $3000 are donated to the project by sending it to the account that they have opened up. They have opened up an account at the bank.
The monies can go directly to that account or you can get the news to the committee of 300 telling them that I'm ready to have my thousand that is in my savings used for that purpose. And what happens is this, your thousand is borrowed on. The bank already has it and it's doing you no good, except bringing maybe 6% or whatever. It's doing you no good, except the few pennies you're getting on it. It's just laying up there. And the bank is already doing with your money what the committee of 300 are asking you to let us do. They're already lending, borrowing on your money. And the committee of 300 is asking that that money be put into one account or into an account for this purpose. And if we do that, we can get the three ... I believe it's $300,000 that we need to free Malcolm Shabazz Masjid and get it into our possession. I'm behind that program. I met the man, I believe, that is leading the program, Brother Marshall. I met him and I'm so impressed by him and his sincerity that I told him to carry the word back to Imam Ali Rashid and tell him that I support that program wholeheartedly and that I will seek funds to match what they deposit.
They have already started and they got, I think, better than $30,000 already into that account. The money they put in from here forth, I have also got into this program to save the Mosque in New York. From here on, I intend to find some money somewhere and I'm going to put it into that account. Every time they get a thousand, let me know. I'm going to put a thousand in. I don't have it, but I haven't made any promises yet that Allah didn't bless me to fulfill. I don't have it, but Allah will bless me to find it and get it. So we thank Allah for those concerned Muslims who share our sentiment for the Malcolm Shabazz Masjid history and what it means for the future for not only us, but for the people of Harlem. That property is not only dear to us, I want you to know that, that piece of property is dear to many non-Muslims in Harlem. In fact, all of Harlem identify with Malcolm Shabazz Masjid. And many of them are helping too. There are poor people under great strain there in New York. New York City itself is under great strain, great financial strain. So I said that was a happy note, and it was. Let me now strike another happy note, and I hope I'll be striking happy notes for the rest of the afternoon that we'll be here.
When I came into office, I began to work on the spiritual and moral needs in this community. And with the pure Islamic concepts, we have made solid progress all along. But something happened that didn't make me very happy. In fact, at times it made me angry. And that was our enemy, the people that don't like us, that want to see us just die out, go underground and never come back. They took advantage of that time and are still taking advantage of that time to try to project an image of us that is the opposed or against the positive things that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was able to do in the Nation of Islam. They have tried to make people think that we now have become so spiritual that we don't want no money, that they have become just another church that only wants prayer hymns, hymn books and prayers. They don't want no money. They don't want no business. Say he's getting rid of the businesses. But we couldn't get into that thing. If I had spent all my energy in arguing with them and trying to dispel the kinds of things that they were saying about us that wasn't correct, they would have been successful. All they wanted to do was tie up my energy so I wouldn't carry forward the program that they knew would bring this community back on its face. Our enemies know, their intelligent and they knew that it took spiritual awakening in this community, to correcting the spiritual concepts and moral development, restoring the community back to its moral strand. They knew that that's what it would take to bring this community back on its feet, and they were hoping that they would tie up my energy into answering and replying to their charges so that I wouldn't make progress in that direction. That's why I didn't make a point of trying to refute all of their accusations.
But we had friends, and the few friends we had, they were able to get it out to the public. That no, the Imam is not telling the people to turn around and go back into spiritualism and for fake business. He's only telling them that the way they've operated business was not successful and the Imam shouldn't be solely in control of business operations, that the community should be allowed to go in business for itself as individual members. I encourage individual members to go in business for themselves and not to have a central control over all financial operations in the membership. Don't you know there was a time when a brother couldn't go into business? Don't you know ... I see you all don't know, brothers, sisters. You new people. There was a time before me, a brother couldn't go into business, you couldn't open a restaurant. The only way you could open a restaurant, you have to have a top official in the Nation of Islam in that location getting some money from you under the table. You would have to pay him ... This is what must be understood.
So many people left the Nation of Islam, that is they left attending the temple because they couldn't have business and stay in the temple. Very few businesses you were allowed to operate and stay in the temple. Say we have a clothing shop, you can't go into that. We have barber shops, you can't go into that. We have dressmaking factories. You can't go into that. We got a restaurant, you can't go into that. We got a grocery store. You can't go into that. That was the situation. That was the case. How come there was those brothers who knew that like that, brother used to work for Muhammad Speaks and went out and start working for the Defender and now he's with another publication. I think he was or something like that. Oh, Askia, that's right. He changed his name. In fact, he asked me to give him a name. Askia, I recommended Askia because I thought he was more black than Muslim, so I said Askia. Askia is from Africa. But I put Muhammad to it hoping that Muhammad would bring him back to a balance, Askia and Muhammad. He went out there and did nothing but say negative things and attack us and try to make people think that we were just deserting all the good interests and concerns of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
Well, all praise is due to Allah. Among those business minded people in our community or in our membership who did not misrepresent our direction and our role, our new role in business or in economics is a business concern or business operation by the name New World Fish. It operates in Los Angeles, out of Los Angeles. It was built by sincere brothers. Two of them got together, didn't have anything, with the little scratch they had they borrowed and that was nothing, pennies. They borrowed $35 and they took $35. In fact, they had nothing, that's right. They borrowed. They took $35 and they went and bought something. They borrowed an old 65 model Cadillac. And they used that 65 model Cadillac to deliver their fish door to door. I'm talking about my followers. I'm not talking about first resurrection. I'm talking about my followers. Those brothers, within a short period of time, were realizing $600 a week gross. They built that fish business successfully to a $100,000 inventory. They have their own freezers, they have a van to carry that fish. Those brothers are in big business. All praises due to Allah. We thank Allah for those brothers because they are evidence in this community of my own role in business. If my message was to go out of business to give up the sinful dollars, how come those brothers didn't interpret it that way? Now I picked them because the news of their success is fresh in the paper. There was just articles written on them in the Los Angeles paper just here recently.
We have other examples of successful businessmen. I asked for a businessman association that would be separated from the Masjid administration that would operate as an independent committee, but following the direction of this community, that is working in cooperation with the interests, the business interests of this community. We have a committee now that has improved and I look for more improvement. I believe that they're going to steadily improve. The Bilalian Business Association in Chicago. This chairman is Brother John Omar. Very brilliant, very talented, brilliant man in the field of business and commercial ideas, interests. I have recently received some correspondence from the Bilalian Business Association in Philadelphia, and I'm impressed with what I've learned so far of their operation there. It seems to me that sooner than we thought we are going to have a Bilalian Businessmen National Association with competent, honest, decent, sincere leadership that will protect my concerns, my interests, so that they won't be at odds with this community or with the concerns in our community. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, this is part of the good news that I wanted to give you today. And that's good news. Best news I can give you is what I keep trying to tell you all along. I ain't doing this. Allah is doing this. I'm just an instrument.
I was reading in Bilalian News, their comments on our call for a return to the economic program of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And in their report is the report that was carried in Black Enterprise Magazine. I was aware that estimates of 80 billion, 130 billion has been reported as a figure representing our spending every year in these United States of America. Don't let your mind forget that. 80, estimate of 80 to 130 billion dollars being spent every year by you and me that complain every year, we don't have no economic dignity, no economic foundation. That report says that presently, there is a or 100.7 billion dollar collective income, aggregate income in the Bilalian community of America. I don't know if all you all read that, but you should, because Bilalian News are carrying some important data, some important figures, and important data from around the world. It's important to read Bilalian News. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. The report also says that we represent in numbers, in physical numbers, the greatest population of Bilalian people on this earth concentrated in one nation, except for Nigeria, except for Nigeria. I haven't followed up this report to see if it's really factual, but I know the editorial department of Bilalian News deals in facts. All right. So I would be very suspicious if you come up with a different report because I know my own. I don't know you.
In order to fully utilize your own capabilities, you have to have some idea of your capability. You have to have some grasp, some mental grasp of your own capability. Oh Chief, why you telling us that? Wake up. The biggest problem for our people is we don't have any ability to get started. We're like the person who never gets enough sleep. Every morning, the blanket weighs 500 pounds. Have the clock alarm 10 times before you finally get up. Reset it and reset it. Two more minutes. Let me have it to reset after two minutes. We are people that have a hard time moving out on things we know we should move out on. And I'm convinced that this problem with us is because we are the people that are least in control of our own self. And the reason why we least in control our own self is because we are the people who least estimate our own worth and value. We don't know our worth. We don't know our value. We think we're cheaper than we are. We ain't cheap, we're expensive people. We ain't small, we're big people. We ain't poor, we are rich people. But we just haven't evolved socially and intellectually enough as a community to utilize the power that we have. Are we about to get down to the nitty gritty? I believe we are.
Dear our brothers and sisters, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, may G-d forgive him his sins and rest his soul in peace and grant him to place he has earned in the history of tomorrow. Or I would say the history pages of tomorrow because the history is already here. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, that courageous Bilalian, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who never received an elementary diploma, not to mention high school and college. He was given courage and faith in a package called English lesson number C1. The 34 problems, the 314 questions and answers. The student enrollment, the actual fact. He was given courage in that package that was put together by his mystical teacher, Professor WD Fard or Wallace Fard Muhammad. That man with something in his hand that gave him direction for establishing a religious black, a religious black people organization or Nation Of Islam in a nation. He got so much courage because of this new knowledge and new vision that he told his people, "There's nothing that we can think of to do that we can't do if you just support me and follow me."
To key to the success of this program was only this, that you follow me and support me. He didn't ask for anything else. He didn't ask anybody to come in and write the religion, or write the laws, or write the future plan. He said, "I have the plan. All I want is you to follow me and support me. " He himself was directly in touch with what he had received. So he didn't trust anybody else that was not directly in touch with what he had received. And the community came to his calling and they followed him and they said there's no G-d but Allah. And the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is his last Messenger. And they believed in it, they defended it and they would bust your mouth wide open if you disrespected their leader. Why am I telling you this? Because it's good to reflect on our history. It's good to look back and see how you got where you are today. And we have got where we are today because the Honorable Elijah Muhammad receive a message and a teaching that he could trust with all his heart, mind and soul, and a message that inspired him and encouraged him and the other members who followed him to improve their moral and physical lives. That's how come we are here where we are today.
Now, beloved brothers and sisters, if it wasn't for the new vision that Allah blessed me with, you would have gone straight to hell. Not only hereafter, but here and now, you would have gone straight to hell. We had to get back on the path of moral development, moral building, or development, to save the leadership of the Nation of Islam from moral corruption, crime, and abuses of their own members. Now all praise is due to Allah. On this day, addressing the many Masjids, I can say with full confidence that I have moral strength and more spiritual strength in this following than we ever had in any following behind us. We are stronger now, spiritually and morally than we have ever been since 1930, July 4th.
I have brothers and sisters now that will not only die for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they will die for the Qur'an. They will die for Allah. They will die for truth and righteousness. They will die for each other. This is the day that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was trying to get us into. And isn't it wonderful that he only stopped about three or five years short of reaching the mark? Only about three or five years after his death here we are. Praise G-d Almighty. Don't think that this moral transformation and spiritual transformation that we call an evolution or a metamorphosis. Don't you think it was possible without the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and without WD Fard Don't think it was possible without them. Oh, Allah has blessed us. Allah has been working for us. And He didn't start with WD Mohammed. He started when the first man cried out and didn't have anybody to help him. That's when He started. Buddy, my bones only count inside my body. My blood plays music as it flows through my vein. Every fiber of my being is having a jubilation because I know deep inside of my very genetic makeup. I know, can't nobody tell me. I know. I know that Nat Turner is rejoicing inside of my being.
Oh yes. Oh yes. Frederick Douglass. Marcus Garvey, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. WD Fard. They all having a jubilation inside my being. They say this is what we were waiting for. This is the day we pushed to get to. Oh yes, they pushed to get where we are now. We are home. We're home. And now we're going to build a city. Man don't build a city before we get a home. A man first have to have a home. Then he build a city. All praise is due to Allah. Oh, tell me. How is this possible that you rejected what your father teach and you yet say that you are the continuation? Allah says in the Qur'an that we begin his creation from something no more than clay or dust. When a man grows up and become a man, he wash the clay off of him. He wash the dust off of him. That's where he began. He's not saying it's not useful. He's just saying that I have grown out of it. Clay and dust is still useful to man. But he doesn't want what was in the beginning. Your very being started with something that was no more than clay or dust. Water, human semen, blood, a clot of blood, a fetus lump. Now we wash off the dust. We wash off, rub off the clay from our hands. And we wash off any blood that get on us. But that's where we came from.
We came from mysticism, symbolism, a lot of superstitions. We came from many false concepts. Now don't think we're throwing out the baby with the water. We're just throwing out the washwater. We're keeping the baby. And I tell you over again, you want to see the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that built this nation, that's called the Nation of Islam in America, now the World Community of Islam in the West. Do you want to see the Honorable Elijah Muhammad? Look at me again. The man doesn't die with his body. The man die when people put down his dreams. But as long as there's somebody to inherit his dream and work for his goals, the man is not dead.
How sweet it is that the one to pick up the best that he himself had when he passed is from his own loins. Oh yes, I'm from his very loins. Now you may say you got his teachings, but if you're not from his loins, you don't have his genes. And let me tell you something that science has discovered here recently. They have discovered that the whole mind, the whole experience of the human being is clocked into his genes. And if it's the will of G-d, whatever part of that man and his experiences, that G-d wants to pop out in another one from his loins, baby it can happen if G-d wanted to happen. You know, you've seen the child of a person switching like that person. They got the same switch her mother had. It's in the genes baby. How sweet it is. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. What I'm trying to tell you is this. I am in accord with every good thing the Honorable Elijah Muhammad has done. And it's easy for me to follow and improve upon that because actually I'm from that man's physical body anyway. If I wanted to be different, I could be different. If I didn't like what he did, I could reject it and I could become foreign to what he wanted and perhaps some of these people will now look at me as the enemy.
Yes. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. There is more to what has happened here than meets the eye. And it take Allah to bless you with the full understanding. Oh, are you the Honorable Elijah Muhammad reincarnated? No. We don't believe in reincarnation. I'm the Honorable Wallace D. Muhammad. With no support because of my new insight into the workings or the teachings and workings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Allah blessed me to see into his works and into his thinking where he wanted to, go into his psychology. I was able to see even into his psychology.
So Allah blessed me with that knowledge of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's own thinking. And because of that, I'm twice the man that I would have been had I not been blessed to see into the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Because now I have his great tools plus my own tools. Oh, I don't believe it. That's okay. No, forget it. Dear beloved Muslim, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from reading the lessons that were given to him by his teacher, he took up the same psychology and he began to work it consciously or who knows, maybe unconscious, begin to work that psychology. His teacher told you, oh, very, very fascinating things and very, very unbelievable things, incredible things about yourself and your own worth and power. Some of you couldn't even control a toothbrush. You didn't have the ability to handle the toothbrush. But the teachers who taught the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he said that you were the G-d. You were the G-d. The cream of the planet earth, the father of civilization and G-d of the universe. That's what he told you. That's from the lessons that were given by the mystic WD Fard or W. F. Muhammad. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, he also told you the square miles of the earth. How much water, how much land, the height of the mountain, the weight of the earth, six sextillion tons.
Then he challenged your imagination to even conceive the full expanse of the whole universe. He said the diameter of the universe was six quintillion miles. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad applied that psychology in his efforts to get you to support programs that was needed to improve your physical condition. He applied the same psychology. He didn't have nothing. You making $40, $39.76 a week. And he said, "We want to buy up about 50,000 acres of the best farm land in the South." You want to know where the great worth or great power of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad lies? It lies in his psychology. That's where it lies. His greatness lies in his psychology. And that's what you all haven't understood that still sticking with me. And he got that psychology from his mystic teacher who was a wiz of the Jacubite school. They plan and Allah plan and Allah is the best of planners. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was successful in maintaining his community without the help of government and without the help of outsiders. For about 40 years, he was able to rent temples and buy temples and Mosques, and open schools, buy buildings, open restaurants and grocery stores and import fish, import other goods in the volume that really made his community a big cooperative, big cooperative.
 In his financial power, it had become like a big corporation. Oh yes. Where did all that money come from? You. How was he able to get it? Because you had unshakable faith in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. How did he get that kind of support from you? How did he cultivate or generate that kind of faith for him in you? How was he able to do that? Allah has blessed me to see that great power, great nations have been built by two methods, not many methods, two. One is by following truth devotedly, spiritually, meticulously. And never deviate from it though it may mean your life, fame anything, no matter how great the loss is. Don't deviate from it. That's one way. That's the way that G-d want us to go. The other way and it's successful too, in terms of the material gain, because Allah say He has opened the gates of material blessings for all, the good and the bad people. But that doesn't mean they're going to get the human reward or the human enjoyment. They may have it, but it might be a curse on them. It may torment them. They may never be happy. They may die, worried, miserable. But He said that he hasn't closed the gate of the material things to anybody. They're open for all, and that they are a test. They are a test on the individual. So let me explain to you the other way now. The other way to become the superior on this earth is to follow the path of falsehood and follow it just as devotedly.
Sacrifice all your all for falsehood. Even your life. Everything, sacrifice, everything for falsehood. And just like the truth encourage us to promote truth, to impart truth, to spread truth. One who give himself to lie, he is urged on to promote lies, to impart lies, to spread lies. And the one who's capable of telling the biggest lie will be the biggest ruler along that avenue. No nation before America told a lie as big as the lie America told. America told the biggest lie. Now pardon me, I have to correct that. It wasn't America. Christianity in Europe told the biggest lie that was ever told before in history of human beings. So the one who has the character to tell the biggest lie will become the chief of the liars. And the one who has the character to tell the greatest truth will become the leader of the truthful. Allah has desired this. Allah has designed this. He has made it so you can succeed in the material world by telling lies and going after material things. You can succeed by being wicked. Wicked by being a total devil.
You can succeed. But you will not get happiness. You will not find peace. This world that we have known, that we call Western world or Christianity, it is a world that has followed the path of the biggest liar and it has come into the biggest material award. On the other side, we have the sincere religious people who refuse to follow the big liar. They have also progressed and out of their struggles have come WD Mohammed. Oh yes. And before me, many others and with me there many others. Around this world there are many others, but I don't think none as significant as I am. Oh, how can a man, he's awful proud, boastful, conceited. Maybe you can digest it better if you say it. So maybe I should use the New Testament word. Who do you say I am? And the one that gives the best report, I'll say, on that rock. Since I don't deal in those mysteries anymore, my job is to bring you out of those mysteries. I'm just speaking plain truth. I know of no leader in religion that is more significant at this present time than I am. It is simply because I understand what G-d has done for us.
That's how come I say that. I understand what Allah has done for us. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he got into the path of that movement that goes out for material things and used the tool of the instrument of lies. The biggest lie. The biggest lie is a lie told on G-d. G-d is the biggest. Allahu Akbar means biggest, bigger. Allah is the biggest and the biggest lie that you can possibly tell is a lie told on G-d. The big Christianity gave the Gentile, so called Gentile, the European Western world, the biggest lie that was ever told in the history of human beings. WD Fard coming up as a social experimenter, writing his own satire, indicting what they had done, he created a model. He assimilated their evils under different names and different words, but the same old evil. He assimilated their evil and produced a kind of model laboratory that speaks out against the evils of this world. Oh yes, now look at you. Can't defend yourself. Here we got a black nation going up in your white America and you can't defend yourself. Here we got black religion going up in your America and you can't defend yourself.
Here we got a black G-d growing up in your America and you can't defend yourself. Here we got black supremacy going up in your America and you can't defend yourself. We got belief in the true blood growing up in America and you can't defend yourself. Now you tell me I'm not the inheritor. No religious leader has got within one inch, one millionth of this that I have come across. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. This is worth a lifetime. In fact, this is worth all the lifetimes behind us. Some of you grasp it in language. Others of you can't get it in language, but you get it in spirit. You can't tell people what you understand, what I'm saying right now, if you had to tell them what I was saying, you can't tell it with your tongue, but you understand it with your heart and your spirit. And you will go before a firing squad before you let it go. I know it. I know it. The disbelievers don't know, but I know what we got.
Now brothers and sisters, I made this statement before some of the highest educated people in religion. A big gathering of them. They had invited me to make a talk. I made that same statement. You think one of them stood up to challenge me? Look, they responded to my delivery as though I was the Pope. The only thing they didn't do is kiss my hand. What am I'm telling you? I'm telling you that there are people who have been closer to the knowledge than you. And it only takes a little light to bring them right into contact with the facts. Where it take a lot for you to see because you have never seen it and you have never been close to it. Nobody never even directed you in the right direction to get it. Now, brothers and sisters, these concepts that were put on this community were really a challenge and a dare to America. We're doing something you don't like. We're doing something you don't like. We know we're doing something you don't like, but just try to condemn it. Every time you condemn it, it's going to wake people up. Because they're doing the same thing. Hey, what you people talking about G-d is black. Right away that people will say, but you all say G-d is white. Say what are you people talking about that you have some divine origin that white people don't have? And there are people that will say you white folks told us that you have divine origin that we don't have.
Because they have done this. And they have done this in schools of theology. They have said that the demon, the devil is black and G-d is white. And they call Satan that old black angel that fell from heaven. So actually they couldn't touch us. To touch us meant to bring more attention to the evils that they themselves were living in. So you have these two ways of getting supremacy in the earth. One by giving your whole life and your total being and self to almighty G-d and the truth and right. The other way is to go out to tell the biggest lie.
So I return now to the question. How does the Honorable Elijah Muhammad get his power? Heard from everybody else I don't believe. So we asked him the question again. How was he able to get that kind of faith, confidence in you? It was because he used the same tools that had been used to get your blind obedience behind Christianity and the white man. The same tools that had been used against you to submit to the white man and follow blindly Christianity was used on you to get you to follow a black G-d and follow blindly the teachings of the Nation of Islam.
Same tools. He didn't frame your imagination to try to see G-d as something that is not of creation. You already believed in a flesh and blood Jesus as a G-d. So all he did was give you another flesh and blood and say, "This is G-d." And then another thing, the church had always strained your imagination to others. You couldn't understand the devil. You were given a physical G-d, but a spiritual devil. So that burden of bringing your imagination to try to understand the being of the devil was taken off when Fard Muhammad said the white man is the devil. You said, "I knew it. I knew it."
You always suspected that, but you wouldn't allow yourself to think it. History records a woman by the name of Julia, a slave. She said, and it's recorded in history. I can't report to you the book now. I think that statement in the book called The People Who Walk In Darkness. I think that's the book. I think in that book it found also this statement. Julia, the slave said when she was commenting on the cruel treatment the slaves received at the hand of the white slave master. Now listen to this good. Listen people and think. "You people look like G-d in the face, but act like the devil in your heart."
What did she mean that he looked like G-d in his face? Genesis said that G-d made man in His image and in His likeness. Now we know that in religion, you don't think of no physical image. People in religion think of the spiritual, the moral image, the spiritual image, not the physical image. But this woman, this slave said you people look like G-d in the face. Why did he make that physical connection with a face? It was because the Caucasian made a point of giving the picture of Jesus in which G-d had blue eyes, essentially a white man's image, giving that picture from the preacher, white preacher to the black preacher. And he told the black preacher to put that picture in the room where he preached. In the barn and in the field wherever he preached. He had to have that picture of Jesus in an image or in a photo, a drawing, a painting pardon me.
And he would preach and he would tell them all about G-d's son, Jesus who came to save the world. So the slaves were used to seeing G-d as Jesus in the flesh and blood. So she said, "You people look like G-d in the face, but act like the devil in your heart." Now, that problem, that contradiction trying to understand how can these white people look so much like the white Jesus and be so much of a devil? That problem for us was removed when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad brought Fard's word saying the white man is the devil. And the black man is the G-d. "I've been searching for this truth all my life. I've been to the Baptist and to the Methodist and I've been to everything. This is it. I know this is true. My heart tells me, my nature tells me that this is the truth."
Because a relief came, a relief came. The mind and the conscience was struggling and the spirit was struggling to make you get some understanding. How can Jesus be white and these white people are the worst people on earth? The problem was removed. Yes. Who did that for you?
You didn't WD Fard. You saw the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. he did that for you. So your mind thanked him. Your heart thanked him. Your soul thanked the Honorable Elijah Muhamamd. You're very being thanked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad because it had been a burden on your spirit and on your mind from time to time. And now here have come a teaching that can take that off of me. So you were grateful to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad for telling you the white man is the devil and G-d is black. So actually it takes Jesus away from the problem. It just says everything.
And you know that if a man can speak this kind of thing tell you that America, it's a miracle. "Oh, we never heard nothing like this." But believe me, something like that was coming all the time. There are reports in the history of our people that some of the slaves called the white man the devil. Some of the slaves. They believed he was the devil. And the report I just gave to you of the slave Julia, who had the problem, who knows what was in her heart. Maybe that one woman wanted to say, "You people. Jesus ain't white. You people are devils." But she couldn't say it. So she had to use her Bilalian finesse while in the mouth of the lion. She said, "You people look like G-d in the face, but act like the devil in your heart." She said it without saying it. What she was saying is I have a problem. I can't understand how you all can look like Jesus that appears to be white and you people can be such devils. She was saying it really. Then Drew Ali, who is responsible for the Moorish American movement. He identified the white Western civilization as the rider on the pale horse. And the rider on the pale horse is the devil. So in that symbolism, he also called Western Caucasian world the devil. Fard Muhammad, he came together with Marcus Garvey, Drew Ali and Jainism, Comparative religion. He came together with a lot of things and he put together the most powerful things from all those things into his mythological theory regarding Yakub Grafted devil. And introduced the powerful package using the same tools of the white racist or white supremacy doctrine.
That we are divine. We are the people of the divine destiny. The blacks are the Prophet's from G-d's family. So they have to be separated from us so we could take our rightful place. Are you aware that people believe Caucasians believe in this? I'm not talking about a hundred years ago. I'm not talking about 50 years ago. I'm not talking about in Jim Crow time. I'm talking about today, brother. Right now. Right now there are Caucasians that believe that they are by some kind of freaky, hard to understand occurrence or happening that they are the physical descendants of G-d.
And they believe that the farthest people from divine family or G-d's family are the blackest people on this earth. And especially those with hair that is not like them. The black nappy headed ones are the farthest ones from them. They believe that. And they believe that they have a divine destiny to make all blacks their slaves and their servants. And the other people that's not close to them, they have to be too relegated to some interior state or inferior position under white, though the blacks get the lowest position in the whole world. There are Caucasians that believe that, that's their religion.
You know where they got it from? The Jacobite Jew. He sold them that kind of teaching to make them a blind, crazy tool for white supremacy so that when they get up, they will say, "Yeah, the Jew ain't white, but he is white." Look at this lie. The white man is not a Jew. But when the question come up is the Jew white, yes, the Jew is white. The Jew is a white man. But they distinguish between white people and Jews. Jews and the whites. And got Christian now preaching that the leadership, the future leadership of the world is going to come from the Jews. Yes, the Christian people are preaching this. Christian leaders are preaching this and that Jews are G-d's chosen people.
The decision that's going to settle everything and establish peace forever is going to be in Jerusalem. Armageddon is going to be fought there in Jerusalem. And who is going to come out of that victorious? It's going to be the Jew. And who's going to be the king of the earth? The Jew. And all the other people going to be under them and going to thank them and praise them and thank G-d for blessing the world with the Jew. They're preaching that now. I'm not trying to make you Anti Semitic, or turn you against the Jew. Allah is my witness. I'm not against Jews. I'm against wickedness, Zionist, materialist.
Freakish wizards of human psychology that play on human nature and exploit human weaknesses and divert human interest from justice to wickedness, superstition, lies and confusion. I'm against the devil. I'm not against the Jew. All praise is due to Allah. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. You have to understand this because you are going to have to accept a heavy burden in this world. You're going to have to accept a heavy responsibility in this world. You are going to have to accept a heavy trust from me. I'm going to have to place heavy trust on you people. And if you're not educated into what's happening now on the scene of the war of evil and good, you can't be much help to me.
You have to be able to say goodbye to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And turn right back, right back behind that and say, thank Allah for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. You have to come to my point of understanding, my degree of understanding, to say goodbye to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Honorable Elijah Muhammad you can't lead me anymore. I got a new leader. But at the same time, you have to be able to say, "I thank Allah for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad." You have to be able to hold the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, practices dear to your heart, while at the same time saying I'll never listen to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad tell me anything about Allah and about G-d, or about Allah and about the devil.
You have to be able to do that because the Honorable Elijah Muhammad can't tell you about Allah and the devil. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had a trick. Oh, he's saying that again. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad tricked us. He said that I am fishing. And a fisherman, he said a fisherman use a rod or a pole, put a string on it. He said at the end of that string is a hook. He said on that hook is a bait. Now that's what I mean by tricking. You don't let the fish know what you're doing. You don't know let the fish know your intention. The fish think that you love him, that you want to give him some food, but actually you want to destroy his life. You want to separate him from his life that he's in and kill him. You want him dead. But you're going to give him a future in a new world and in a new life. The man that takes the fish out of the water, the fish die. Then he cleans the fish up and he cook it and he eat it. And the fish ingredients or the fish substance or nutrients goes into that man and become part of a new body and a new world. Now, if he would tell that fish, say, "Look, I have a plan to quickly evolve you from fish to man." That fish will say, "Hell no, leave me in the water."
 All praises is due to Allah. So dear beloved brothers and sisters. We have a great experience here in America. Isn't it wonderful to wake up in a man's world and in a man's form and say, look, they netted me in as a fish. They took me out of my primitive waters. They let me die. They went into my body and gutted me. Flayed me and gutted me. And then cooked me and put season on me and cooked me and then consumed me and devoured me with that teaching. And their ashes went down my being until it was able to go into their being as nutrients. When I remember all that, I have first formed in their being and the fish have taken over that body. Now the man is no more the man that fish for the fish. This fish has evolved to become the man. Isn't that wonderful? That's a miracle. All praise is due to Allah. I used to eat bait. Oh yes. I used to eat bait. I knew nothing but bait. All my taste was for nothing but bait. But one day something happened, a supernatural thing, I guess. And I recall that I was not crazy. And that the fish in this new body must stop identifying himself as a fish and must see himself as the man. And when I did that brothers and sisters, I started hating fishermen. I started hating the pole and the line and the hook.
You have to give a person a line to hook them. And you have to pole them together to be successful. Oh yes. You have to first pole something together. You have to bring something together. You have to have a pole. Pole means bring together. Pole has different meaning. They're somewhat related. They're somewhat related. You go to the voting, you go to the poll they say, right? A lot of people are coming together at a place to vote. They call that the poll. People rally around the totem pole. So a pole is something that brings people together, bring people around it together, you see. So you put your hand around the pole. The thing that brings together and you have a line extended from that and then a hook on the line. And then you put something on the hook that the fish like. Because if he sees the naked hook, there's nothing about that naked hook that attracts him. So you have to obscure the hook. Yes, hide the hook. You have to hide the hook with the bait. Praise be to Allah. If you can understand what I told you and digest it, you should now have no mystery in you. You should be free of mystery. The mystery should be dispelled. You shouldn't now be wondering how come the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is able to do this and able to do that if he was not the Messenger of Allah.
Was the church the Messenger of Allah? Look what they been able to do. Look how many they got together to follow them blindly and to sacrifice their all. Was they the Messenger of Allah? So understand that all you need is something very powerful to affect the changes you want in that person's thinking and behavior. Once you get that, that person becomes your tool. Your tool, your helpless tool. Now, dear beloved people, we know that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his program brought much good to us. Although there was a pole and a line and a hook and a bait. We know that what he did brought a lot of good to us. We know that with his teachings and with his leadership, we were able to accomplish physically, morally, and spiritually things that other people in our same conditions weren't able to accomplish without him. We know that. So let us not throw away the baby with the wash water.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad used all of the different psychology and his blown up teachings concerning our own nature and worth. He used all of that to attract us to come to the washwater. All of that was part of the soap in the washwater. He needed that in order to clean us. If he had used simply something what the church used, he couldn't have cleaned us. It wasn't working. But with those strong detergents of black G-d, white devil, the earth belongs to the black man, et cetera, et cetera. He was able to get us to clean ourselves. Right? So can we understand that all the fascinating and fantastic things that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us, their actual job or the actual benefit of those things is to be seen in the results that came into our life. What was the result? We stopped being filthy in our appearance and we started being clean in our appearance. We stopped having a filthy tongue and we start having a clean tongue. We stopped having filthy thoughts and we struggled to have clean thoughts. Is that right? We stopped being lazy and we struggled to be industrious.
We stopped being people with bad manners and disrespectful toward other people or other people and we start being respectful of other people. We stopped wasting our money on liquors, wine, beer, prostitution, et cetera, and we start using our money to build a community, call the Nation of Islam. So let us see the benefit and understand that no matter what he says, no matter what pole, what line he may say to you, let us look at the benefit we got from it. The benefit is good. Now once the intelligence of this community outgrow the strategy or the methodology that was used. And we looked upon that methodology and frown at it, that we are disgusted with it, that doesn't respect my human dignity. Once we wake up to a better estimation of our own worth in this whole Universe of reality and shed off or reject or throw away that old methodology. Brothers and sisters, we have to have the strength to at the same time say for that mind, for that time, for that condition, that trick was salvation. But for this time, for these conditions, for this mind, that trick is a detriment, it's a yoke, it's a burden that we can't tolerate. It's a moral detriment, a spiritual detriment, and a yoke, a burden upon our intellect. Suppressing the intellect, keeping it down it can't grow a flower. We have to wake up to that. This is not the way of Allah. This is the way of Satan. The way that we have come is the way of Satan not the way of Allah. Allah has saved us from that and brought us now into the clear light, into the right way.
But when we look back on, the methods of Satan that were used to bring us up from filth and laziness, we have to say thank you for the benefit. We have to say thank you for the benefit. Now look what Allah says in the Qur'an. Satan, after G-d has revealed His plan, Satan didn't like it because Satan wasn't the leader in it. At that time, he wasn't Satan. He was just a Jinn. He didn't like it because G-d didn't choose him to be the leader in it. So then he devised himself a scheme. And he said, "I'm going out to work against the man that you're going to give this glory to, give this special place in your creation to." He says, "I'm going to come to him from his right, from his left, from his front, from behind him to deceive him, to turn him away from what you want." He said, "And when I am finished with him, you will not find, but a few are only your protected ones, the elect, are those given to goodness. You will only find those who are given to goodness.
They will be the only ones that I won't hit. What did Allah say? He said, "That's a plan that is well and good with me. " He said, "It leads straight to me." Fard Muhammad picked up that plan and he used it. Now let me again repeat to you. G-d says that's a plan well and good. It leads straight to me. But nevertheless, I will pass both men and sin in hell fire. He said that He was going to destroy or the hell would be waiting for both the Jinn, the devil, and those who follow him. Didn't following that teaching bring us to hell? In the late 60s and the early 70s, the nation of Islam has come to hell. It brought us to hell. But the sincere ones, the good ones, the truthful and sincere ones, they are saved from that hell. And that trial, the trials, the trials and tribulations, the experience we went through, it has served to bring us straight to Allah. Hasn't it? The same thing that has cast many into hell brought us to Allah. We say we love the good. We love the sense. We love the intelligence. We love the human respect. We reject the things that don't respect human beings. We reject the ignorance. We reject the sin. We reject the crime, but we love the positive and good things from that day.
We interpret all that has happened in the Honorable Elijah Muhammmad and in us and we see it as a test and a trial, as a hard path leading straight to G-d. Oh yes. It has been a hard road, but it has led us straight to Allah. We don't throw the Nation of Islam out of the history. No, no. We bring it from Africa to the shores of America to the time that the first slave was ... The man was captured there of our ancestry and made a slave and brought here. Time of the church movement, the freedom movement in the South. Through Garvey, through Drew Ali, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Frederick Douglas before him, until today. We don't separate our mission or our history from its natural line of growth and development.
We don't reject any part of it as being a natural role that we have come along to get where we are today. The Nation of Islam is most significant in that role that has brought us to where we are today. And though we have to say as Muslims understanding this religion. Professor Fard Muhammad followed the line of the Jacubite. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was a helpless tool of the Jacubite teaching and it was fabricated, reproduced to capture us. Yes, we have to say that. But at the same time, we say, look at our metamorphosis.
This beautiful flying Phoenix bird used to be a worm. Oh yes. Used to be a worm. You're not looking at what was yesterday. You're looking at something that had evolved from yesterday. But in order to understand how I got to be what I am now, I have to go back and tell you what was yesterday. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us feet, feelers like a crawling creature on the earth. Yes, gave us feet and feelers. And believe me, we were feeling too. You know those little creatures that crawl in earth, they got all those long feelers on their head and they be moving with their feet and feeling with those long little feelers. Because they suspicious of everything.
They can't see their way, that's all they got to rely upon us is their feelers. And now that creature has been transformed. He has quickly went up the scale of evolution and has become a seeing human being. Intelligent, seeing human being. He's now saying that we weren't even human under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Not in your brain. In your brain, you are not human under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. You might have been human in your spirit, but in your brain, you are not human. Can you be human in your brain and calling yourself black and G-d and hating black? Yes. Followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad called themselves black G-d and hated black.
Tried to find the lightest sister that they could to marry. Go get some of the old pictures of his ministers and see how many real black ones you found among the ministers. See how many very black ones you found in positions of authority. Not many. Why? Because the mentality was unnatural. We were praising black and at the same time in our inner conscience, inward thoughts, we were still rejecting it. Yes. So dear beloved people you have to give me the support that you gave the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. That's the only way for you to be successful. If I abuse that trust, then bring me to judgment. Bring me to the court. Reject me as your leader. But don't become gun shy now regarding supporting of leaders. And say, "Oh, I can't trust nobody." You can't trust nobody now. I'm not going to give him too much. No, if you do that, you cut yourself out of the great future that we are headed towards. If I ask you for a hundred dollars, you go out and try to get it for me the same way you went out to try to get it for the Honorable Elijah Muhmmad. Whatever I ask of you, you should do it for me just as you try to do it for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
To be successful, leadership has to be supported and it has to be supported with everything that a people can give that leadership. Now I haven't asked you. I have been working hard to take burden off of you. I haven't asked you to accept burden. And Allah has blessed me with the direction, with the insight, and with the help I need. He has blessed me to relieve the burden from this community. Look, do you realize that we are in this expensive piece of property here? Perhaps the best church, the best religious house or church like house on the south side that is owned by Bilalians. And we are in here. When the Honorable Elijah Muhammad left us, there was a debt of I think about two million dollars on this building. Three and a half, two and a half, two and a half, two and a half million dollars on this building. Do you know you're in here and I'm not asking you to pay me nothing, to pay nothing on this building?
Do you know we still have the school building? We still have these grounds. And the school now, I believe, is better than it's been since we had it. I mean the whole history of the school in this community. Oh yeah, better now there ever been in our history. Do you realize that now we have the Mary Chevrolet property that we didn't have when the Honorable Elijah Muhamamd was here? And that's ours, we haven't lost it at all. And you haven't strained yourself to keep it. Do you realize that right in the back of that on the next block we have the Ephrim Baha Center that we didn't have when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was here and you haven't been asked to strain yourself to keep it? Do you realize that we have a prestigious piece of property equal in this almost in Oakland, California, and nobody there had to strain to get it to keep it. Pardon me, they had to strain to keep it, but not that much. They didn't have to strain to get it. It's paid for. No note or anything.
That happened since I've been your leader. Do you realize that we have another equally prestigious place in Bermuda and nobody strained to get it? It's also paid for. That's under my leadership. Do you realize we still have the Pioneer building? We haven't lost it. Some of you crying about two farms that were sold. And a few parcels of ground that weren't doing nothing but taking money from us and was bringing us a lot of trouble going into court, paying money in court because somebody beat up somebody on the farm or stole something. Just kept us in trouble. It had nobody to manage it, nobody to make it productive. And we did the proper thing and the sensible thing with that property. We sold it and we leased another big farm house. Now we get money from it. In a matter of five years or more, we're going to have it paid for and we'll be having more than a quarter of a million dollars will be coming to us from that farm without any expenses at all.
Do you realize that G-d has blessed the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to make more economic progress in five years than he was able to make in 40? But you can't see it because you are not carrying Muhammad Speaks. You are not carrying 300 Muhammad Speaks and you are not carrying a pan full or a bag full of H&G Whiting fish so you can't see it. Do you realize that this community, because of its now principled, intelligent relationship with the world, with America and American people, and because of this intelligent relationship and attitude towards this government, President Carter and his administration. The Department of Commerce. Do you realize that this leadership following the wise inspiration, the guidance and inspiration of G-d has gotten this community into a multimillion dollar project? And now a member of our community qualified. He's qualified. But we had nothing to offer him that would really accommodate his qualifications. We have Brother Hassan Ali, a certified public accountant, really a very, very excellent, a very special man in the field of accounting. He's a comptroller for this corporation.
Yes. And now as a future so bright, this can mushroom into hundreds of millions of dollars. And we are part owners. Not we as a Mosque, but we as a community, as a minority people, and as a minority community, the Muslims, as a minority community, has part ownership in this business. It seems to be a thing of the future. There's a member of our community, Qasim Ali, sitting right up in the top of the leadership of that business. We have Nazim Ali, right up in the top of the leadership of that business. We have Kareem Abdullah who is working part-time there, but have a future in that business, great future in that business. And if you have qualifications, you can have a future in that business because as it expand, it's going to be more room. Even Bilalians who are not Muslim have a future in that business, if they have qualifications, it's not a racist business.
Many different nationalities are in that business. We have equal dignity in a business worth millions. But you can't see it. How come we don't get some cash, some dividends? That's how come Bilalians can't progress as business people. Just because they got a big business, they think they ought to have a big savings, a big cash savings from the business. Business people don't get big business by having big cash savings. They get big business by trying to expand business and employ more people and produce more goods. We'll never see that business in cash dollars. We'll see that business in the growth of that business and in the number of people it's going to employ from our community and from other poor people, poor people communities. That's where we're going to see that.
Wake up. You been made silly minded. This world has made you crazy. It got you thinking that all you need to do is open up a business and then you start piling up money in a bank account. Now you open up business and then you start building up credit to get more money to expand that business. To go into business as a borrower, using the assets that you've got to get some money from other people that's got money so you start off putting money in business and you keep putting money in business and you put money in business forever if you successful. The time you stop putting money in business and start piling up for yourself, buddy, doomsday is just around the corner.
Isn't it wonderful that if my son don't become an Imam like me or a teacher like me, he has a future in the outer world because we have now opened up the outer world for us. We have now made the changes on our world that have opened up the outer world to us. Isn't it wonderful that now we have a leadership and our children can go to United States fields? They can go to different colleges. They can go to different hospitals. They can even be President of the United States if they want to, if they can get that high. Isn't that wonderful? And again, speaking more closely to home. Isn't it wonderful that we have a million dollar project going? And that if my son can't find a job out there and he doesn't have the spiritual inclination that I have, maybe because he's my son they'll say, well, look, the Imam's son has the skills we want in American Power. Didn't he go to such college? Didn't he take such course? We have a place for him. Tell the Imam's son to come here to American Power. That should be enough. It ain't what blood you have in your vein. It's what sense you have flowing in your head, brother. And what skills you have. That's what'll get you somewhere. But what I'm saying is now if we qualify, the door ain't going to be closed against us because we are black or because we are not wanted. We have opened up the world to us and we are also building up ourselves so that there will be greater opportunities for ourselves within the work that we are doing ourselves.
I know it's getting late. We ain't in Egypt. We crossing the desert. In Egypt you go to bed when the clock says ten o'clock. On the desert, you go to bed when the work is through. Now dear beloved brothers and sisters. What we are asking your support for now is not a dream of WD Mohammed. I have not dreamed of this idea. This is something that has worked and is now worth it for many people. It is something very close to what has worked for the Mormons. It's very close to what has worked for Abu Khan and his people.
It resembles the kind of corporate buying that's being done in America. Not by poor people, we don't have the sense, we don't have the unity. It's being done by middle class people, and some of them have money, they're wealthy. Isn't that a shame? That America has people buying collectively and getting stuff at wholesale a little above wholesale pardon me, getting that benefit and offsetting or holding off the effects of inflation. And they are not poor. They're not the people that really need that. They're middle class. And here we are, poor people and don't have the faith in leadership, the trust that we should place in a personal leader to put our collective power behind that person's program and say, "We're going to do this. We're in unity with WD Mohammed. We're going to trust him with our dollars. We're going to trust him with our economic future." That's all we have to do. Now you're being watched. You're being watched because you're feared. You feared. Those people now that are getting that 80, 130 billion dollar spending benefits don't want to see us cut into that.
They will put pressure on individuals. They'll put pressure on groups. They'll put pressure on institutions. They'll put pressure on the government. They'll put pressure on the courts. I don't know what extent they'll go to when they see that the Bilalian is no more going to be economically enslaved or oppressed, that he's going to have his economic dignity and his freedom in this country. I don't know what extent they'll go to, but I'm prepared to take whatever the future holds. Now let me tell you something, brothers and sisters. You've got people sitting among you right now in this Masjid and in the Masjids outside of this Masjid. Perhaps you got many who have been watching us just to report back to let the people know if we are about to advance in any direction. And as soon as they hear we are about to advance in that direction, they are going to move against us.
There are people here right now who are going to report what we are saying to let the people know who want to check our progress, to let them know that now they're about to advance and they're going to plan to check that advance. Allah has power over all things. Allah has not given birth to this leadership and to this community to have it defeated by those devils, by the greedy people of America who have no respect for human dignity, no respect for anything. Allah has not advanced this community and this leadership to have them defeated. Brothers and sisters it's a very simple thing, but it's the most revolutionizing thing that has ever happened in America among the poor. It was never possible in America before, because the people were never united solidly enough, or if they were united solidly enough, they were never healthy enough in terms of what America required of its citizens.
So the power of the enemy could be used against us. But once enemy powers could come against our citizens, community, and this aspiration. They could not come against it. They could come against Garvey because his was not as sound and as thoroughly put together in a righteous way as this one. They could come against the Honorable Elijah Muhammad because it was not accepted by the outer world. There were too many problems with it. They cannot come against this one. The only thing will hold this back is your ignorance, your pettiness, your envy of me, your hatred towards me, your blind hatred. That's the only thing can hold you back. It ain't going to hold us back. It's going to hold you back.
We are going to be successful because Allah is our guide and our protection. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. It's a simple program of economic salvation that asks of us to do nothing but trust leadership. I'm not asking you to trust your local Imam. I don't trust them. I'm asking you to trust me. And if you will trust me, Allah has shown me. And I say, Allah has shown me because whatever good comes to us, it's because of Allah. I didn't have special encouragement with anything. No strange voices came to me, but I know Allah has blessed me with this vision and with the faith to follow it. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, we don't want all the complications of the business world. The more you get into their way of doing things, the more opportunity they have to defeat what you're doing.
We're not going to do it their way. We're going to do it our way. We know there are many of their little imps computer people that they have made, placed among us. I should say computerized people. They have been turned into computers. I know that they're here right away to say, "Okay Chief. Now let us vote on this, vote on that, build a structure, a infrastructure and a super infrastructure. They're going to come up with a lot of plans and suggestions. I don't want any of it. We need a banker. We need this. We need that. I don't want any of it. When we get to the point where I think we need some of it, I'll get it. But right now, I don't need any of it. All I need is you to buy when I say buy. And send your checks. And I mean cashier check. Or your money order where I say send it, send it. That's all I need. When I say send your checks or your money order, cashiers check or your money order to such and such place, you send it there. That's all I need from you. Now what I need from the local people, the Imam's that I don't trust, is for him to build trust by showing me that he's going to follow me 100% for the first time, along this road, sure road, called economic dignity.
That's what I want from the Imam. And if I send him a letter, I call him up and say, Brother Imam, I want you to send the people in your community to raise their hands and I want to see how many there want to get involved in this program. I want you to take the number and send it to me. I want him to be faithful and sincere and send me the exact number. And don't go into those people's personal business asking them what's your address, what's your phone number? Ask them nothing but what I asked of him, a show of hands.
Don't give anybody your telephone number, your address, unless I tell you. Don't tell them where you work or nothing. What they need that information for. Don't give up no private or personal information on yourself to nobody in this community unless I ask it. And believe me, I don't think there's been any occasion for me to ask. No, I don't need that. All I need is people to support what I'm doing. Why I want your phone number. You call me. Say, "Brother, I gave you a check for so and so and so. You haven't delivered it."
 And if I don't deliver it, say brother, I'm turning this over to a lawyer. Yeah, that's right. If I don't deliver, send me another message saying, "Brother, I'm about to turn this over to a lawyer." I ain't rushing this. We got to learn how to pay big prices for big things. I could rush with it, but I think you need time to let that sink in. Do you know we still got amendment that keeping followers by threatening them physically? Yes. There are still a few around who maintain a following that keeps them with some rent money and food, et cetera by threatening them physically. The people are afraid of them, that they are a physical menace to the people. And you think I'm going to trust a program like this to the Imams of this community? I'm not saying all of them are like that. In fact, most of them are not like that. But we have such a problem among Imams that this community interest can't be trusted to Imams. We haven't grown up that much yet. We have some people looking very good. Soon, we're going to have many people in this community without fear. Whether I'm present or not. That's what I work for, that's what I hope to see. And I'm going to stay on everybody that say they represent me.
And I'm going to expose you for your wrongs and your weaknesses until you either leave us or get in line and start exemplifying in your own self, the kind of behavior and thinking that you see in me. Dear beloved brothers and sisters, we are most fortunate and it's because Allah is doing the work for us. We have Brother Jabir who was present on the Tuesday night when I made this announcement that we were going into collective buying as a way of fighting inflation. Not fighting it. We ain't going to fight inflation, man. We're going to kill inflation. Ain't going to be no inflation. Have I failed you yet? I'm five years with you, some President only lasts four. That's right. We've had some Presidents only last four. I'm five years with you. And you haven't seen me grown weak. You've seen me grow stronger. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. I announced here in Chicago that we are going to revitalize the Honorable Elijah Muhamamd's economic program and turn our community of poor from a welfare community and jobless community into an economically thriving community. We're going to do it in this gloomy time of economic life for America. This is the time that it is to happen. We're going to do it in this time, dear brothers and sisters, so that when plenty come again, and believe me, material plenty will come again to America.
When material plenty comes again to America, we won't have to fear that our men will be tempted to go out and rob the rich or get into unlawful kinds of things, be stealing and selling dope and crime and prostitution. We won't have to fear that because in this trying time, we're going to take advantage of our spiritual development and moral development. We're going to organize this moral and spiritual force behind an economic program that will work. Brothers and sisters, we are about to do a phenomenal thing in America. We are about to do a thing in America that shall write history. Oh yes, we are about to write history in America. G-d has evolved us spiritually and religiously. Now we are talking about another evolution, which is all part of this evolution we in. G-d will now evolve us upon America's economic fall as a thriving economic community. And all we have to do is use our more spiritual cleanliness and soundness and give our individual support to our leadership and buy when the leadership say buy and buy in the quantity that you need and not what you want. Don't buy what you want and buy, buy. Buy what you need and buy an economic quality, not a quality that's going to be a bad financial deal. Don't you know if you buy the cheapest shoes for yourself that you're buying unwisely? The cheapest shoe is more expensive than a little higher grade.
Don't you know if you buy the cheapest food, you're buying unwisely? Because in terms of the benefits you're going to get from that food, the nutrition is the value, the nutritional value. And in terms of the health benefits you'll get from it, you are buying unwisely. It's going to give you more health problems, you're going to pay more for hospital bills. And you're going to be physically lacking in the kind of nutrients you need for your health. So don't buy the cheapest food, but don't waste your money on food. Don't buy the cheapest commodities, but don't waste your money on commodity. Get something reasonable. I think we can buy suits that all of us are proud to wear. Not sixty dollars suits. If you can find a sixty dollar suit now.
You better go buy you some work overalls. Because those work overalls going to outlast that suit. And it looks better than that suit in about two weeks. The first time that the humidity goes up, that suit's going to go up. And I don't mean go up in value, it's going to go up your legs. It's going to start shrinking man. If we buy our men's suits, start off with something like that. Maybe who knows? Maybe we'll find the manufacturer that can give us right from the start, everything we need to in clothing. Suits, underwear, socks, whatever. But socks are those small things that they were out so fast. It'd be best maybe to stay away from those things. We don't know. We're going to search it out. We'll let you know. Say if we bought suits. Shoes are expensive. These are things we don't buy every day. At the moment, three times a year.
If we will do this and follow leadership, what I mean by follow leadership. We don't want to dictate. It's only those that accept it. If you don't accept it, we don't give you 90 days and put you out. You'll just be out of the bargain. You won't get the financial benefits. I'm not asking to be a dictator. I'm just asking you, I'm not saying it's going to be that extreme. But if it's that extreme, you people have to accept that. You don't need all these shoes and clothes. You just throwing away money. So let us get some quality suits that'll last two or three years or more. Let's get some decent shoes that we can wear for two or three years and let us get some hard knock around shoes that can stand the rough stuff for at least one year. Yes.
We're going to buy for economic dignity. And that means getting away from our past economic ignorance. Dear beloved brothers and sisters. We start with clothing, we move into appliances. We move into tools. Everything that we are spending money on right now. Do you know what's going to happen if you follow this idea of collective buying? You talking about using this 100.7 billion dollar buying power. Brother, this is it. Oh, this is it. Let me tell you what's going to happen. Here come the news that Brother Jabir likes. Here come the news that Minister Rahman like. Although Brother Jabir didn't need me, Brother Jabir has stood by my side. Brother Jabir has made it possible for us to buy a new Masjid in Houston a few weeks ago. Brother Jabir has made it possible for us to save the Kansas City almost better than a million dollar property from foreclosure. That will have been lost Friday. Brother Jabir have made it possible for us to save that property.
And Brother Jabir has supported Clara Muhammad School. And Brother Jabir is supporting me, and Brother Jabir is supporting the poor in this community. And Brother Jabir wants to see my leadership spread over this earth. I just want to set Rahman straight. I don't want him thinking that I was comparing him to Jabir in any way. Jabir is a businessman. Minister Rahman is a businessman. The Minister in Bermuda. What's his name? He's a businessman. We have a lot of those Ministers that were back there. I don't call him Minister because they never got into the mind of an Imam. Once I see a minister and he can accept at least to have the mentality of a Imam, I accept to call him Imam.
But we got a program now that'll bring the hustler up to a dignified position if he will let his support to it. I'm not calling on them now. We don't want all that trouble. But just in case he's back in the community and hear me over the hookup, I'm inviting all those business minded ministers who just couldn't make it in the Imams office. Captains, ex-captains, ex-lieutenants who were so physically oriented that they couldn't get into this religious role like we have. You ain't too physicalized for me to accept it. Come on back into the Collective Buying program. Hang around here long enough you'll get a revelation.
Before you know it you'll be speaking Al Islam. Oh G-d has blessed me with a new tongue. Brothers and sisters, let me go on with this. Say we can get a $35 suit. Say we can get that shoe for $10. Okay, let's say that. I don't know. I haven't studied it, but I believe we can. Maybe we can get that shoe for $10. All right. We order these shoe for everybody that want these shoes. All right? After we order for everybody, order shoes for everybody that needs them, after we order for everybody. Then we also take orders from those who want to open the business. Some people want to open a business. They want to sell these things. Here is our law. You cannot sell to us. That's like us selling to ourselves. You can't sell to us. We won't buy none of your products. We don't hate any of your products. We getting your products for the same price you get. Did you hear that brother? Did you hear that sister? What I'm saying is that we're going to have the buying power of a giant corporation. And we are not going to give any preference to anybody. I don't care if they have one million dollars or one billion dollars. They're not going to buy any cheaper than you can buy.
But if he has, as Jabir said, he didn't think he was going to have something like this open to him. He was only going to lend his money to get these products in here. He said he got $1 million. That's what he told me Tuesdy night. Brother Jabir, he came up front and he said, "I have $1 million that I will use to open a letter of credit so you can buy the product." That's not the way we going to do it. We're not going to buy, open up no letter credit with his million dollars. We're going to open up a letter of credit with your money that you want to pay for the product.
And he gets the goods for the same price you get it. Or I should say you get them for the same price that he going to get. He can't sell you these goods because you got them for the same price he got them. All right? Now. We're going to have an amount set. And if you can come up with that amount, you can come in. And you will be able to get as small business, you're going to be able to get the product for the same price that big Richmond business man get them. So you'll be able to go outside as long as you don't sell anything to us. You'll be able to go outside and sell items that is if you get a peddlers license. You'll be able to get things and go outside and sell stuff to other people.
But look, don't think of this small thing. I just said that so you won't be restless and uncomfortable for the rest of my talk. The big benefits are not going to come that way. Here is where the big benefits are going to come. When we open this up like this and a brother here, he comes up with $10,000.00. All right? He sells until he sells out. And then he lets the next brother come in that has saved up his. He don't give the store up now. He sell out. When he sell out there's another brother who's been saving up, right? He's ready to open up, right? He saved up. Maybe before that man sell out. There's another man. He come in, he sell out. Another brother come in and take over the rent. He sell out. So that store will be used by several men to sell their merchandise that they got in one order. You understand? And they sell it until they sell out. We don't have to get a new license. If we need a license for shoe shops, we can get a license for shoes, retail shoes and suits at the same time.
Or we can get a license that covers all of that at the same time. This man maybe got suits. He'll sell his suits. He sell out another man come and sell shoes. We still got this store. All right. We got stores that come in and they a shoe store and we look up a couple of weeks later and it's a liquor store. Or it's a restaurant. It stay t a restaurant for two or three weeks up two or three months, and then it's a barber shop. So we don't have a stable community anyway. Right? So we can have suits and they run out. I got some heaters that I bought. Or you might say, "Look, I got some refrigerators I bought. I'd like to put some of my refrigerators in there and the brother sold out all the suits." Well, we just start selling refrigerators.
The people won't think nothing wrong because we don't have nothing stable going for us anyway in our neighborhood. Brothers and sisters, this is a program that's not only going to relieve the bite of inflation and remove it from our community. It's going to also help the outer community. It's going to help the outer community. Say, look, brother, how can I get into this? We know he's a minority too. He's in the community. He's a suffering minority. Okay. He said, look brother, you can't get into this. What can I do, man? Well, I'm a wholesaler. I'll sell to you.
They don't have the unity. They don't have the unity. They don't have the cooperation. They don't have the spiritual unification. They don't have it. Shouldn't we be happy that we in position also to help our brothers and sisters outside? And I'm not talking about black. I'm talking about any poor person out there. I don't care what the color is. Shouldn't we help them if they in our neighborhood? Our whole neighborhood is being strained and burdened by crime and everything else because there are no economic stands in the community. So shouldn't we all also want to help him? Well, believe me, it can happen this way.
Say Brother Jabir. He orders $50,000 in goods. He can then compete with Jews, Italians, Irishmen, Arabs. I don't care who they are. If they sell it to poor people, he can then compete with them. And he can bring those prices down reasonably so our people, our poor people will not be exploited and suppressed. If you with me, and I believe you are, then I want to see a show of hands right here today. Are you raising your hands to obey me when it comes to buying? Well, I think that's almost 100%. All praise is due to Allah. Looks like about a hundred percent to me. Men and women. That's all we need. That's all we need. Now we're going to set the beginning of this venture March 1st for us as a day to have our checks and money orders in. And in the meantime, I'll be seeking out the persons, the channels that we have to go through and work through, and the way to set up a bank account. We don't go to one bank account. We want the bank to be in the region. We don't want one central bank. We want banks in different regions. Bank in the Midwest. Bank in the south. Bank in the South. And we're going to gather people in those areas, send their money to those banks in their areas. And we are going to move that money around in the best interest of this community and in the best interest of the suffering poor people. May Allah bless us with success, Asalaam Alaikum.

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