00/00/1998
IWDM Study Library 
Conference Human Rights for Religious Minorities Univ Columbia, SC

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As Salaam Alaikum.
Let me first say that it’s an honor, privilege, that we hold to be very valuable for us. We come here to get better acquainted with each other. That is with our different religions that are represented here and on this earth, that we have on this earth, to get better acquainted with each other. So, we can know how G-d wants us to live together, with each other, on this earth. Respecting each other and appreciating our separate contributions to the betterment of the whole. That's our interest.
And to learn from you. I'm regretting that I wasn't here earlier to hear the speakers that spoke this morning, in the morning session. I hope that those presentations will be transcribed or are in print, and ask you to please get my office copies, so I can be informed and benefit. Thank you very much.
He keeps calling me the big Imam, and I keep looking for the big Imam. But I thank G-d that G-d has given me something in here that just throws off what I can't live with. But I pray G-d keeps me that way. Yes, I appreciate you of your respect that you show us, this community, and the leader of my community and my association. We appreciate it very much.
The love and admiration that I feel when I come and visit you the second time that I've met with you. I want you to know that it's mutual. I feel the same way about you. We are in love.
Praise the Lord. Alhamdulillah.
I want to say that in the beginning, that I believe what was motivating me all my life, from the time I can recall the earliest recollection that I have of serious concerns for me as an individual, I think the motivation was coming from my humanity in me, my humanity. I would say, myself, that G-d created for me to have in the world.
We lose this self sometimes. The world recreates us, and we invite the world to make us over again. But I'm talking about that self that G-d created us to be. My true humanity that G-d made. I think I was motivated by that more than any other thing. I used to be believing in the superiority of the black people over the whites. I was given a reverse of what the world knows.
We all know about the superiority of the whites over the blacks. But I was given an idea that blacks are inherently superior to whites. And it was coming from my father that we called the Messenger, we called him the Messenger of G-d. So that's some authority that you fear to question. The Messenger of G-d, you fear to question that kind of authority. So that's the kind of situation that I was born in and raised in.
But when I was growing, my parents had already accepted that idea and thought it came from G-d. It was our religion. It wasn't just a racism or a racist belief. It was our religion. It was incorporated into the important teachings that we had as religion. In fact, it was our theology that gave a different picture to us of G-d and a different picture to us of the adversary, the Satan, the Shaitan, the Devil.
Growing up under that teaching, that also encouraged me to use my brain. We were taught that we should think, we should try to learn more, we should think and we should look for answers, to questions that we didn't have answers for, we were told that we should look for answers, and that we shouldn't take even the teachings that we were receiving in The Nation of Islam from, we said at that time, G-d's Messenger, G-d's Apostle, Holy Apostle, Elijah Muhammad, my father. He was my father.
We were told that we shouldn't take those writings for granted, just look at the surface and think we know what it's all about. We were told to be studious and to look deep beneath the surface to see meanings in the print that were not expressed for the common person. That's what I was told, so I did that.
So, when my father asked me, he said, "Son, how can you disbelieve what our Savior gave us?" He called the man who taught him G-d, in the person, in the flesh. G-d in the flesh. We expressed it, Allah in the Person. Allah, G-d in the Person of W.D. Fard. That was his teacher, this man, W.D. Fard, who was not an American, from outside.
So, he asked me, he said, "Son, how can you reject what our savior, father gave us, and you know how your father got started?" What he meant, he had told us that he was lost. He was given to drinking liquors. It was during the depression. He had no job, so he couldn't face his wife without money. He was ashamed to come home. He was in the streets and became almost an alcoholic. Just drinking and drinking all the times, to keep from being sober, facing reality. So, he said, "how can you accept this... How can you disagree or reject this, and you know how your father got started?"
I can't give you all the conversation, to take too much to this precious time. But finally, I told him, as an answer, when he insisted upon an answer. I say, "Daddy," I said, "You taught me to think, to study and to look deep, not to accept things just on the surface." So, I was telling him, "If I'm making trouble for you, you caused it. You sent me in that direction. You are the one that's freed my mind up to do this inquiry I've done. To make inquiries."
He didn't accept my answer, but I saw in his expression on his face that I reached him. I touched something down in here when I said that to him. Going back to what I was trying to share with you is this-That all the time, it was an urge in my human core, to have a better life. Firstly, for my mind, because I had a lot of thoughts that I couldn't be comfortable with.
To have a better life for my own mind, for my own intelligence, that was moving me and motivating me to learn better, to seek more answers. To find a better situation for my own intelligence and morality also. For my intelligence and my moral nature, I had to seek more answers and better answers.
And this is the life that's precious for us. This core in our human excellence that G-d put there. G-d put it there, G-d created it. It can survive everything. We can be lost, but the core is not dead. It can be awakened. If the right circumstances come, it can be awakened. So, it's a life that outlives many, many lives. We get many minds and come into many lifestyles, but that core is there to redeem us if we will just be inclined as G-d wants us to be inclined.
So, this is the idea, in Islam, of the human person. This is the true human person. This is the true human identity. In Islam, that is the true identity. And that identity is one that we all share. That identity is not racial. It's just pure human. It is our precious, valuable human life that enable us to ascend, and rise above and transcend all the things that hold us down and hold us back from excellence as individuals and as a group, as a society or as a world people.
I'm not teaching you anything. I'm trying to acquaint you with our thinking, our perception of the human person and our thinking, because this is the basis for human rights. Our perception of the way we identify the human being is for us, the basis for us advocating of promoting equal treatment, equal opportunities, human rights for everybody, irrespective of their race, nation or whatever.
And I believe it's the same for Christians and most likely, for the others too. The other big faith groups also. They will express it differently. Then I'm sure... But I think it all boils down to the same thing. Now, I was in class, I don't have many college hour credits. I'm not the college graduate. Maybe in my self studies, if I could look at myself as my own teacher, I certainly will give myself a PhD in some subjects.
And I thank G-d for that. I was in the classroom, Social Studies class in Luke Junior College, it was called at that time. It's been named for one of our African American heroes. Now, his... I think it's Harold, is that right? Harold Washington? Yeah.
Harold Washington's College in the Loop. That's a downtown area Chicago. And my Professor, he was talking about a subject that's not too clear even in the minds of Professors. He asked the class, he said, "What is the motivation in the life of human beings? What is the main motivation in their life? What they want most?"
So, the different ones answer, and I'm listening. I learned one thing, that if you belong to a small minority, that's to keep quiet. Don't say any more. Know your percentage of the talk that you should have. So, I was just being quiet. He looked at me. Yes, he looked at me. And he looked at me in a way to trouble me inside. So, he did what he was trying to do. He did trouble me inside with his looks. He said, "Is pleasure Muhammad," he said, "Is pleasure no motivation?" I said, "Well," I said, "No."
Then he went on to teach me. And he just said, "Now, I'm going to teach this young man." So, he went on to teach me and I rejected his lesson until I was much older, much older. And I looked back, I said, "I wish I knew his address or his telephone number. I'd call him and apologize to him"
Because he was right, pleasure is the main motivation. All of us are here to be pleased. And that's the goal of all of us who believe in G-d, especially those heavenly faiths, the goal of life is to, one day, please G-d so we will have Paradise, Heaven. And Heaven is a place where we see that place as a place where we experience no displeasure. So, I had to accept that he was right. And then G-d, whom I read in the Qur'an, what G-d says. And G-d says, "To the soul that has struggled to have the life that G-d created for, return to your Lord, pleased, ah pardon me. Pleasing and pleased, pleasing and pleased."
So, I don't know if a lot of Muslims scholars, among the Muslim scholars called Ulemas, the Ulema, I don't know if they have really studied this seriously or looked at it the way I'm seeing it. The soul needs two things, obviously. The soul needs to please. There's a need in the soul to please, to present itself in a way, to give pleasure to others. Something else other than itself.
And the soul has it, and it's in need, inherently, to be pleased. To be content and pleased within myself, with myself. I'm pleased with myself and I'm pleasing G-d. That's what G-d said, that there's a need in the soul to please G-d, but there's also a need in the soul to be pleased with itself, to be pleased with itself. And that the way you get these two satisfaction, this is Islam now, Islam's way.
The way you get these two satisfaction is to strive always to praise your Creator, to have the excellence in your life for yourself that your Creator creates you for. We say every human being is created for what? To serve G-d. And to serve G-d means to do what G-d created you to do. Service of G-d in Islam is anything that I do that is excellent. If I'm a doctor and I'm a good physician, my work is a service to G-d. I'm worshiping G-d. I'm serving G-d with my excellent work.
So, it is for anybody else. And if you have nothing to offer but rituals, then your service is not given that much credit. According to the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad, Prayers and Peace be upon him. He said of such person, that the person who's providing their daily needs, such as a place to live, food, clothing, shelter, et cetera, they're better than the person who's satisfied with just a life of rituals and doing nothing constructive in society.
So, this is the teachings of Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him. I'm saying all this in the interest of getting the audience to know how we look at the human person and how we value the human person. And that qualifies that human person for human rights.
If we deem a person or estimate a person, a human person, of no more value to us than a watchdog or a playful animal that we enjoy, a wolf or something, a more serious dog, then he doesn't qualify for human rights. If that's our perception of the person, that person doesn't qualify for human rights, in my view. Believing in what has been revealed to us in the Qur'an and practiced in the life of Muhammad the Prophet who received the Qur'an about 14 centuries ago, a little better than 1400 years ago.
We believe that human rights and religious rights are tied together almost the same. I don't think the civilized world could have come up with this idea of human rights without first having an idea of religion, of rights of the individual in religion, the rights of the individual in the religion. Inherent rights that G-d accords us. The Constitution of these United States have helped me to appreciate the idea or the perception of the human person that I have established so strongly in me now.
The introduction to our Constitution, as you are aware, and I'm sure written by the Founding Fathers, says that the basis for our citizenship is not on our racial identity or where we came from, but it's on our inherent nature and rights. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator, One Creator, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, certain rights that bears the cost of to give the gift of their creation.
That very makeup entitled them to these rights. These are inherent rights. Native or inherent rights endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these, life, didn't say this, of all. They didn't claim they were naming all our rights, but they said, among these, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There's that pleasure again, that I wouldn't accept when I was a young hot-headed, big-headed student in my... Or a hotheaded student I would say, not a big-headed. I never had a bighead, but I had a hothead. I was angry with the world, I don't know why. Nation of Islam might have made me that way, I don't know. Under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Now, it's under Farrakhan and I think he's doing a little better. He has a little less heat and a little more cooling agents. But when he comes out, we think he's all fire. But I know what's happening on the inside. He has a little cooling agent and it's growing. It's getting bigger and bigger.
Yes, there's that pleasure again. This idea, obviously, came to the Founding Fathers, from their study of universal religions. Of the universal religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Because it's documented that Thomas Jefferson, who was had a big hand in writing that document and some others, that they had also learned of Islam, not from the world of trouble, but from its pure sources. And they had perceived this purity.
And there was President Thomas Jefferson who said, that he hoped that Islam would one day be in America, that Muslims would one day be in America, because he wanted to see contributions come from all around the world. He felt that Islam, being one of these heavenly religions, would have something to offer this new heavenly society that they were envisioning, that they envisioned, pardon me. Now, again, turning to the Qur'an.
And G-d says to them, to us that is, who want to follow Him in the Islam, directly to Muhammad and his followers at that time, but to all, to us today and fight them, meaning, the persecutors of the faith. There were idolaters. They didn't want to see this message of Islam on that peninsula called Arabia. That's called Arabia today. And they were trying to stop it before it could get up off the ground and get strong. The words from G-d came to Muhammad and for all of us, "And fight them", the persecutors, the oppressors, the persecutors of faith, "until the war has put down it's burden and religion is free for G-d".
So here is a statement of religious freedom in Islam, but what is this statement of religious freedom all about? We read some other verses we can understand. That we have something of value as a people, as creatures. We have something of value that qualify us for religious freedom, and that something we have is our common humanity. Our common humanity. We're all human in the human family.
And until religion is freed for G-d. It means until the people are free to live their religion as G-d has ordered the religion to be lived. We can't have religion, Islam, in America or anywhere else if we are really believers with insight, with the knowledge that only G-d can give us. If we are faithful, we will have it. If we have that knowledge, we can't be satisfied having our Muslim life in America but the government is going to tell us how much of it we can have. The government is going to say, "You Muslims are free to have only this much of your religion, that your religion calls for, not to have any more than that." In Islam, we have to either seek another country or another place. G-d says, "Don't come up putting up excuses in the Judgment, saying that the place was so difficult for you to live in, that's why you didn't live your Islam."
Say, G-d is going to remind you that His earth is spacious. Meaning, how come you didn't go somewhere else? How come you didn't seek to find a better place, some accommodation, some welcome for your life? So, it's not enough just to say, "Oh, we have no freedom here. These people don't like Muslims." That's not enough. Look all over the world and find a place for yourself. If that's the case, find a place for yourself.
So, we either have to do that or we have to fight. And if we accept the fight, G-d says, "Fight them until the war put down its burden." What is the burden of the war.? Now that tells us something too. What are Muslims to fight for? Freedom of religion. They call it fighting in the path of G-d, the jihad, all of this. And now it can just be war, political wars, they call it jihad. If the Muslims are fighting somebody that's not a Muslim, he's fighting for his rights, then it's jihad. And maybe its political rights that are established by the political order or by the political ideology. And maybe if you look at the Qur'an, even that ideology is rejected, maybe. That could be, you see? So, it's so confused now, what we should fight for in the Name of G-d, what all Muslims should support. We should support a war for the freedom of religion. And in my opinion, the freedom of religion is the same as human rights. The freedom for human beings to have their human rights. When G-d created Adam, according to the Qur'an, this is our first father. We perceive humanity in its original life, firstly, and the creation of G-d, Adam, the man. Adam.
And Adam, Peace be upon him, is pictured in the Qur'an for his special property that he had, that even the angels didn't have. And that's why Adam was given so much of a special role in the creation of G-d. And the special properties that he had, our father, is the human Aql, the human brain, the human intelligence.
Yes. It is only because of the human brain that G-d created. This is Islam. I'm not teaching. Don't think... I never... I'm always teaching and looking up at my audience, never looking down at my audience. Because I think you may know more about my subject than I do. I'm just sharing, want you to see where we are.
Yes. So, the human brain is what lifts this creature up even above the angels in some respect or in some small degree, even above angels. Because G-d didn't create angels to have freedom of thought. He created us to have freedom of thought. So, we have a special brain. And freedom of thought means we can do what the roach can't do.
The roach is so popular in history. I was reading about the great history of the Pharaohs in Egypt and there the roach was, having such a great role there, such a special role that the ancient rulers of Egypt made him a G-d, gave him a figure, and they have scriptures and everything and made him a G-d. He's one of the G-d's, that roach. But when you study the life of the roach from the ancient Pharaoh until day, it hasn't changed. The way he smoked, he still smokes the same way. The way he dance, he still dance the same way. The way he builds his house, he still builds it the same way.
But we show evolution, we show progress, we show ascension. We are ascending into higher and higher forms of excellence, of human excellence, of creature excellence. And because of that, we are liberated from the matter, from the dead matter. And we are liberated from the animal kingdom. We are liberated and we come into a freedom zone that enables us to perceive our role and even assist other creatures lower on the scale of evolution or on the scale of ascension. We are able to help serve the life of those creatures.
This is a special human being. And human being is definitely special. Definitely a very special creation because of the 'Aql, because of the human intelligence. The human intelligence. So, if we perceive the creation of man, importantly... Because some... We know the soul, the human soul. If it weren't for the human soul being created so special, that part of us that wants to be pleased with G-d and have pleasure for itself, if it wasn't for that, if it wasn't for G-d creating the soul that way, the brain would never be activated.
And there are some creatures whose brains are never activated. Their brains never come on, are never turned on. You can give it double shock, triple shock. Never, nothing happens. Nothing comes on. And it's because nothing has happened in the soul. And G-d says, "You will have no change until you change what is bothering your souls." Yes, yes, or have a change in your soul. We know that. But the progress in the world depends on the human brain coming into its role in the society. The human brain has to come into its role.
And its role is to inquire, study, learn, benefit from experience and learning, and lead the way of progress on the road. Lead us in the road to progress. This is the brain. When we look at all these things that we have as conveniences, no matter how good your soul is, you wouldn't have them. Your brain went to work.
This is history. This is history of man. As an industrious creature, G-d created us to be workers. And that's what the word 'Abd means, too. I'm speaking to the community of Muslims now, specifically. When G-d said He created us to be 'Abd. What purpose has he created us? He created us to be 'Abd. And it's translated "to serve G-d." To serve G-d and the services to worship, also. To serve, worship G-d. They come from the literal word meaning to do what? To do work as a slave does work.
And a slave does work to please his master. The slave knows that if he doesn't please his master, he's going to be punished. The consequences will be severe. So, he lives to please his master with his work. That's the slave. So, this idea was taken out of the world and given to G-d, that such service, such complete service and such willingness on our part to serve something should only be for our Creator, should only be for G-d.
So, G-d calls us all the servants of G-d, the slaves of G-d, or the servants of G-d. Ibad alah. And it also means workers. Workers. The 'Abd, the slave is a worker, the 'Abd. So, G-d has created us to be workers. And if we use our intelligence to better conditions for us to make... do better work and more useful work. And Prophet Muhammad, he says, "And the best of you is the one who's most useful to humanity, to all people." The best of you is the one who is most useful to all people, to humanity at large. This is what the Prophet said.
So, it's all about work and having the soul fulfilled, being pleased with your own life and your own work and knowing that your life and your works please G-d. Please G-d. Adam, again... The human intelligence progresses, but the human intelligence can be deceived. It was the same for Christians as it is for us. The adversary deceived Adam and his mate and caused them to come out of the excellence that G-d had treated them for.
But we are told that Adam did something to exonerate himself to get the blame taken off of him. That's the difference for Christianity and Islam. Says "And Adam met with a word from his Lord and he repented his ways" and he returned to G-d. He returned to G-d in obedience again. So, he saw G-d's Word, he finally saw G-d's Word and he got back in line with what G-d wanted for him, with that life that G-d wanted for him. So, we don't have an idea of inherent sin. Now, I know this is outside of the subject, but I wanted to share that with you. I think it's important.
What I'm getting at is not that. But what I'm getting at is the value, the identity that we have for the human person, and the value we place on the human person. And why we reason the human being to be that valuable or so precious is not because he has love, we have compassion on life. I don't think the human being has any more compassion on life than some animals.
I've studied animals and I've seen how some animals will gladly, with no hesitation, they just give up their life. They will jump into the fire, anything, to save their child, their baby or something. They will fight. A little bird, little sparrow, will fight a man that he's afraid of. He's afraid of any child. A sparrow is afraid of a child, afraid of, afraid of the dog, the cat.
But that sparrow, if you take his baby and it's left on the ground, or fell out a nest and the baby's still there alive, if you try to pick that baby up and that sparrow sees, that sparrow will come at you like a fierce eagle or something. All looking frightening. And actually scared me. I know. I'm speaking from experience. I didn't know that sparrow could make itself look so dangerous. Yes. I don't know what it did to its feathers, but it did something to its feathers and made itself look larger, and it was just coming at me. And I got away from its baby.
So, we think of human beings, we're such good... Oh, the human beings are good. We're no angels. And that's what G-d tells us in the Qur'an. It says if the world had been populated by angels, G-d would've sent you an angel as a Messenger. You're no angels. You're human beings. But in a sense, you have been put here for a role in G-d's creation that raises you up a degree above angels because of the 'Aql, because of the human intelligence.
If you can reconcile the moral life with the intelligence, with the rational life, then we can have the excellence that G-d wants for us in this world. So, the two have to be mated, the spiritual and the intelligent, spiritual side. And the intelligent side has to be mated and come to be married in a holy bond with each other under G-d, that you're not going to violate what G-d wants. And then we can have all of the excellence and beautiful future we want in our understanding as students of Islam.
And G-d says that He created Adam, who was at that time "Nafsin Wahida", which means, that's Arabic, it means one single soul. One single soul or one single self. But we're going to understand that it's not talking about the flesh. Well, we're not talking about gender. It's not talking about male or female. We're going to understand that when we see the grammar. Created him from "Nafsin Wahida".
So, a man is masculine. He's talking about a masculine entity. You only put the feminine Ta if it's talking about a feminine entity. Now understand this. Oh, this was a female. No, not necessarily. No. Understand this about Arabic grammar. In Arabic grammar, we don't have masculine gender, feminine gender, neuter gender. We don't have three. We only have two. Everything, whether it's talking about the inanimate world, the stars, the heavenly bodies, or the animate world or animal world or man's world, everything in creation is either male or female. That's Arabic. That's the Arabic language. Everything is either male or female.
Shams, the sun here, is female. And we thought it was a male, didn't we? The sun in Arabic is female. The moon in Arabic is male. I think the male in this world that rises up that high, he is moon, isn't he? I think when a man gets up that high, he's a moon. You don't get too much warmth from him.
Yeah. So, it's either male or female, either male or female. So, I try to teach the little children around me. My grandchildren, I try to teach them so they understand later on. So, no, don't think because we say he/she we're talking about man or woman. No. Our religion has been revealed through a language, logic or a language system that tells us things are either male or female in the whole creation.
Yes. So, Adam, then, was created himself from something that is given feminine or female description. What is that? In Arabic, the soul. My soul is called nafs. Soul in Arabic grammar is feminine. So, the human soul in Arabic grammar, nafs is feminine. Then Adam himself was created, was made, from of a feminine entity, the human soul.
Says, Khalaq Lakum, "We created all of you, from one soul." Min Nafsin Wahida, from one soul. Again, that's feminine. Wa Khalaqa Min Ha, "And created from her." "Wa Khalaqa Min Ha". "And created from her ". Khalaqa means "her" in Arabic. But in English we don't say her, we have to say it. Proper English translation, "And created it." And created, "Khalaqa Min Ha", and created from it "Zawjaha" it's mate. "Zawjaha".
Now we have the masculine, don't we? Zawj is masculine, but the mate is feminine. Zawjaha. And created from it a feminine entity. Zawjaha, it's mate. And the mate now is feminine, but the man is there now. Zawj, the husband. The man is there now, with his feminine mate. But they came out of one origin, the human soul, which is a feminine entity in Arabic grammar, where there's no neuter gender.
Is that clear? I'm speaking to the Muslims more than I'm speaking to anybody else now. Well, I hope it's clear for you all, the members of the community. The others here, these learned people, I'm sure that if it ain't clear, they know where to go for clarity. Yes, they'll find it in their own orientation. If it's not clear in this orientation, they'll find it in their orientation.
And Muhammad said... Now, if I'm reasoning correctly, then every human being... This is the start, beginning of the human family. Every human being is to be respected as a human soul who is at its need, at its most inherent need, at its most native need, the need to be free for G-d. The need to be free for G-d. And how can it be free for G-d if we go to hold it in captivity? Or if we are going to restrict its freedom, it can't be free for G-d.
Again, I repeat, that human rights and religious rights for us are all intertwined and at some points it become the same. No different. The human rights and the religious rights, all the same. Muhammad said "G-d did not create anything more valuable than the human intelligence". The human. He said 'aql. It means the human brain.
And we know the human brain is different from all other brains. You put any other brains on the scale or put them up here on the table, the human brain is different. It's not the same as any other brain G-d made for any other creature. The intelligence is what we are referring to. The human intelligence. G-d did not create anything more valuable than the human intelligence, the human brain or the human intelligence.
Now, I want to go to what G-d says of Muhammad. Muhammad finds himself now persecuted by his fellow countrymen, relatives with them. His own relatives with them. Two of his uncles persecuting him, seeking to stop him or kill him, stop him from preaching or to kill him. And he says....He's given the revelation from G-d what to say.
And Muhammad says something not for just Muhammad. Muhammad says something for every human being whose freedom is denied him. Muhammad says... is told by G-d to say, "And I am a free man in this town. And I am a free man in this town." But before he says that, how does G-d tell him to present that? Says, "And I swear by the parent and what it gives birth to." That's the child. The child. "And I am a free man in this town. And I am a free man in this town."
So, I think what G-d is saying there through Muhammad who was in those circumstances, is that every human being born of a human parent is a human being, and must be treated as such, and regarded as such, and respected as such, and is entitled to whatever G-d created for mankind. G-d created the earth and all of its resources for mankind. G-d created human intelligence and all of the civilization that we are able to realize. G-d planned that for every human person.
Because the gifts are not possession of one people, one nation, one city, one nation. No. these are universal gifts that G-d gave us directly from natural resources or created us for. And we had to utilize the creation of G-d, our own intelligence, our own human creation, and the environment that G-d put us in that is rich with so many supports for the future that we all would like to have. We can't deny that to any person that we all are equal inheritors in that, entitled to equal shares in that.
And G-d says, "And seek the Hereafter, the Promised life, the spiritual, blissful destiny. But don't forget, "Wa La Tanza" but don't forget or neglect "Nasibata", your share of this material world." "Nasibata Minal Dunya", of this material world. For those who understand Arabic, you're getting it better than I can give it to you with English. "Nasibata Minal Dunya", "Don't forget your share of this material world".
So, these are human rights. They begin with the first human parent that G-d made. And whatever G-d created for that first human parent, all of the children are entitled to it. We are inheritors of whatever G-d created our first parent to have. And that's the whole world. That's the whole world.
We have the ability to think outside of this earth and to find utility in outer space travel, as Muslims I am to believe that every... And that's why our government welcomes the Black to go on the ships to go to outer space. You want to train to go out? You want to train to go out to outer space, sister, brother? You're welcome. Train. You can qualify. Maybe you'll do better outer space than you're doing in space. I don't know.
I tend to be a kind of a comedian, too. They know me. Yes, yes, yes. So, we're entitled to that. How are we entitled to that? G-d says when He created our first father, that's us. When G-d tells us He created our first father, that's G-d telling us He created us. So, stop thinking about Adam's creation as a creation of some distant, some alien ancestor. No. Adam is the creation of us human beings. G-d is telling us He created us. But he has to have a figure...one figure in the beginning that represents the beginning. So, G-d says that He created for him and made the world, created the world, and made useful... made the world to yield its utility, its benefits to the human being.
He says whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth, He made it all to yield, give up, its utility, its benefits, for the purpose of destiny that G-d wants for the human being that He created. The human being that He created. So, to me, that's how I understand what human beings are entitled to. They say human rights. I have to look into my scripture to see what are human rights. So, I've tried to share with you the basis for human rights in Islam in hopes of giving you a good idea of what we would be demanding as human rights. Thank you very much. Peace. As-salaamu alaykum.


