12/29/1991
IWDM Study Library
IWDM Speech

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
The following is part one from a lecture from Imam W. Deen Mohammed in Poughkeepsie New York on December 29th, 1991.
As Salaam Alaikum.
All: Wa Alaikum salaam.
That is peace be on you. First, I want to acknowledge the great leadership we have in this area. From the moment that I gained acquaintance with them, that is the Imams of the Mid-Hudson Valley and with the community that they represent in this area. I was made to feel very good in my heart and made to feel more faith and more confident that we are on the right road and have the right people.
Since I've been here for this short stay, I've been even much more impressed with the leadership here in Mid-Hudson Valley. I see that the people at the hotel, the management. I’ve read the press announcements of this activity here today. And all of that, along with the public servants, the officers of the county, the mayor's office, the Vice Mayor, and the incoming mayor, all have said to me that we should be very happy and thank Allah for the leadership we have in the Mid-Hudson Valley.
I can't go into my talk without also mentioning the work of Baitul Nasr. We are very proud of it. That's a courageous thing you're doing. And we know that you are joined by the fearless Imams and leaders of our community who are fighting dope traffic and dope pushers all over this country especially in the big troubled cities. You are joined by them and I see a powerful force of real people with physical muscle and mental muscle and moral muscle rising up as American citizens from the American Muslim public. And that is wonderful.
And lastly, I want to say how wonderful it makes us feel to see the youth awarded. The young man Demetrius, I believe his name and sister Shakura. Yes, I was so impressed with their record. That makes us feel great. We, as followers of Muhammad the prophet, we have to appreciate our young people and our old people. Our prophet the prayers and the peace be on him, he said, "Those who do not give proper regard to our elderly and to our young ones are not of us."
So, this is no small matter. These are the works that will make us a happy people, a people with respect not only among Muslims but also among non-Muslims. I usually give an address that focus not the Muslims, but just human people with human concerns. However, for this occasion, my talk will focus the Muslim. My talk will mainly focus the Muslim. However, I hope to round up my talk or conclude my address by addressing concerns that are not focusing Muslims but focusing people.
I will introduce my talk by giving just a brief picture of Muhammad the prophet, not from any notes that I have prepared. I have come to know him from reading books, materials, by scholars during the early rise of the Muslim Ummah or the Muslim community society. And more significantly in my life, by reading recent scholars. And our brother mentioned one of them and that’s Maulana Maududi, who passed not so long ago. May Allah forgive him his sin, all of his shortcomings and grant him the paradise.
I met him personally. One of his books has a lot to do with my development as a Muslim and as a leader. And there are other books by scholars that have had an influence on my life. Don't think that any of us have come to anything worthwhile without a lot of help, and a lot of help from others. And I owe most of my development to the womb that I was given to, and that is to my father, my mother first because I came to know her first. That's life. My mother first, then my father, then his supporters, his ministers, his captains, his national secretaries, his teachers over the school. Sheikh Shahbaz who was my teacher from the earliest years of my life. He passed too, and we pray G-d for his soul.
I owe my development to you. I'm not saying this to flatter you, I'm not saying this to make you like me. But the truth is what I am is because I was born among you, raised among you, lived with you, shared your burdens, and shared your desire for a better life and a better future. What I am is because of being in that environment. If I had not been born in an environment headed by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I could not exist. This person wouldn't be here. No way. No influence from any scholar outside the United States or in the United States could have made me what I am now. Nothing except the environment headed by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his workers.
I'm often meeting the elderly, many of them, Allah is blessing them to live a long time. One of our elderlies, she passed, Sister Varnada, she passed a few years ago. She was almost 103. Just months before she passed, you could see her in these meetings where Imam Muhammad speaks. You could see her. She would come. She would come from Detroit and she would be right here. If she was alive, she'd be here right now in this audience.
Something has happened is bigger than most of us know. Something has happened in America, in the African American or in the black community, bigger than most of us know. And it's not me. it's the work. I don't want anybody to get confused.
I'm not the big thing. The work is the big thing.
Let me quickly address the prophet's life, the life of Muhammad, the prayers and the peace be on him as an introduction to my talk. We know that our prophet, the last prophet, and he is the prophet of the Quran, the prophet mentioned in the Old Testament and New Testament, or in the Torah and the Injeel, the gospel. I’m speaking now as a Muslim with Muslim knowledge and I'm addressing Muslims knowledge, we know also that the prophet Muhammad was the complete man. We called him rajul kamil, the complete man.
The natural mortal. The mortal human being. As Allah says in the holy book, “Say, I am a mortal just like you," mithlukum means just like you mithlukum. Prophet Muhammad was told to tell the people that He is a mortal just like you. Why is it having to be just like you, mithlukum? Because many people know that the divine person that they claim to be divine, they know that that person is a mortal. They know that he will die, he gets old, they see him aging. They know He's a mortal, but they still say, "He's G-d." He's a mortal but they still say He is G-d.
So, to eliminate any chance that we will fall into that kind of thinking, G-d says to Muhammad, "Say to them; I am a mortal just like you." Now, you know you're not G-d, I hope you know it.
I hope you know you're not G-d. So, Muhammad is seen firstly as the last Prophet, the complete man. Prophet Muhammad is also seen as a general heading the army of Muslims. He's also seen as the number one statesman for the whole society or nation or government of Muslims in his day. He's also seen as a family man, a family man who went out and did his own shopping. He's also seen as a father taking the time to give special attention to his children, all of them. He's seen as a man doing his best to make all of his wives happy. Yes, he had more than one wife, not quite as many as Solomon though.
I should say not as near as many as Solomon. We know that G-d put a limit on the number that he could have, that the Prophet could have. And also limits the number that the men, the followers of Muhammad, the men following Muhammad can have. And also made it impossible for most of us to have more than one.
Because the qualification, we just can't meet those qualifications. And the qualification begins with enough money and right there, most of us are out. We can't manage one. We have to go to President Bush and ask him to give some of us, some of the American people's money so we can keep a wife at home. So, the Prophet was an all around the men.
In concluding this brief look at Muhammad, himself, I want to say to you something in my own personal interest. Because whatever I do or whatever we do as Muslim following the Muhammad, it must be acceptable in light of the holy book, the Quran and the tradition of our Prophet or the life example of our Prophet. What I want to point to is this, Prophet Muhammad was not always seen as the Imam of Al Islam. And he is the number one Imam, he was the first Imam. Every Imam in this religion is Iman after Muhammad and in the office of Imam established by Muhammad. Your Imam is Muhammad the Prophet, and if you’re an Imam, you’re supposed to be following your Imam, Muhammad the Prophet.
He was also seen as a man building friendship with non-Muslims. The Crusades, centuries of fighting between the symbols cross and crescent, kind of put much of the image of Prophet Muhammad out of sight. And it takes this good time that we are having now in America, the beginning of a good time in America, an atmosphere of mutual respect for Christians and Muslims, and a desire to work for the common good.
It takes an atmosphere like this where the religion is receiving now a better press, more recognition in television, in the media, in the newspapers, it takes an atmosphere like this to relax us so we put down the sword. Put down the weapons of the crusade and look at Muhammad as just decent people. And when we see him, we see a man working on building an alliance, an alliance of people committed to human decency, justice, and peace. Working all together for that common good.
Even the idolaters that were his enemy, he made treaties with them, though they broke them, but he made treaties with them. He was a rational man, many of us, we would call our leader, Imam, or our leader an infidel or a kafir if he would go to a known enemy of Al-Islam to try to negotiate some better behavior. But the Prophet did that.
Many of us, and I'm not speaking just to you here, I'm speaking of Muslims generally. Muslims of the international world, the Ummah. Many of us would call a leader, a Kafir, an unbeliever. If that leader would say, "Let us forgive these enemies of Al-Islam that have worked against our religion, that have work to discredit the Prophet and discredit our religion, our holy book and the life of our Prophet. Let's make an effort or a step to bring them over as friends. Let us forgive them their past mistreatment or lies against us."
We will say, "Oh, that brother's a hypocrite. He has joined the conspirators," but the Prophet did that. Yes, when he gained victory, he forgave, he announced that, "What has occurred in the past is forgiven, let there be no more blood spilling." That's what he did. This is a quick look at the Prophet.
What does that have to do with steps to success? We are Muslims, the most successful Muslim is Muhammad the Prophet. If we want to be successful, we should always question, what we're doing in light of what he did. And we should try to develop the strength to do the great things and the courageous things that he did to bring people all together for the common cause of human life on this earth.
That is, we cannot always be seen in the position of someone preaching our religion or inviting others to our religion. I hope the day will come when people of America and of the world will not expect that every time a Muslim have something to say, he's going to be asking for converts to 
Al-Islam.
I hope the day will come when they will think of us just as they think of people in the general public, that when we come we’re going to address the concern at hand and we're going to contribute the best that we have from our resources, without trying to stamp our label on anything but let our good speak for itself, and help the common good or the common cause.
And I stand on solid ground. I believe that is what the Quran invites us to and that is what Muhammad life invites us to. So much for Muhammad the Prophet now as the example or as the introduction for my talk. Now, let me go to the theme, a well-balanced community, that's the theme. And let me say that I really appreciated what brother Luqman Algazili Raj from the Television, the program, the show, “What's Happening Now”.
It was the second time I heard him speak at one of our banquets. Before he spoke at our banquet too. And one thing really comes out very strong and that is that he is a believer. He is a believer. A lot of us are Muslims but all of us are not believers, he is a believer.
A well-balanced community, for us, a well-balanced community is a midway community and that word is not sufficient but it is the best word I have right now in English. A midway community. Midway suggests that it is not a community of the extremes. It is not a community of the extreme right; it is not a community of the extreme left. I'm going to address the steps to success within this theme, a well-balanced community. The word is al-wusta.
In the context, where this word is given, both the community and the middle prayer are identified by this term, al-wusta. We are to be a community of al-wusta. And we’re also told to guard a certain prayer and that prayer is called Salat-al-wusta. It is a middle prayer. Most scholars, if I'm remembering my reading, my learning, most scholars do not identify salat ad-Dhuhr as that prayer, but salat al-asr as that prayer, Salat-al-asr. Why are we cautioned to not neglect that prayer? Because the midday prayer, the society of Muhammad, they took a break. They took a break in midday from work. They were free from work, but there's no break from work for Asr prayer.
The midday prayer was given a kind of special attention, the Friday prayer itself is at the time of salat al-Dhuhr, it replaces salat al-Dhuhr. If we miss the prayer Friday prayer that we have to do the four rakats instead of the two for the Jumu'ah. You see, it replaces salat al-Dhuhr and that is the time when we all come out and we know that we're going to pray at that time. But salat al-asr, the very name itself suggests a difficulty. Something “Asr” is strenuous, is difficult, very difficult. We have the two words that are contrast. Yusra which means ease. Allah says, “Inna ma Al-Usri Yusra”. ‘Usr, is of the same word asr. 
When you look the word up is though it is not exactly ‘Usr’. When you look the word up, it has the same meaning. Very difficult, the juice that you get out of the fruit it’s called ‘Aseer from ‘Asr.
That means it was gotten by pressure, he squeezed on it. You mash the fruit, you squeeze it. And there is a saying, “that he will tread the wine pressed alone.” So. the Asr is a time of difficulty. Difficulty for what? Difficulty for society, for the Historical Society of man. This is not only a time in one day, but this is the time in the life of man. It is symbolic of a time in the life of man. When he will face great difficulty, his life will be pressed. If he'd get anything to quench his thirst, he'd have to press and get a little ‘Aseer.
Something to nourish him, something to quench his thirst. We are supposed to be the midway community. Now, in times of difficulty, that's the time when people are given to go to the extreme. Calling to mind the heavy emphasis in the Quran, for us to stay out of the forbidden extreme and the word of Allah, to us, identifying Muhammad, His Messenger, as the human model of excellence.
It brings it to stand clearly in my eyes that a well-balanced community is that one avoiding the forbidden extreme. When we say we want a well-balanced community, we mean we want a community avoiding the forbidden extreme. Now, this concerns first of all, the extremes that we see in the life of society that brings the society to die, to its end. In the history of the rise and the fall of enlightened civilized society, man's obsession with his destiny and origin, with destiny and origin, these are extremes too. See, when I said left and right, I know was thinking about political, you're thinking politically. But the extreme too is when man becomes obsessed with an idea of his origin and an idea of his end, his destiny.
This obsession, when we look at it, it provides a focus for viewing that history, that history of society, the classical history of society its rise, fall, rise, fall. Hence man's faith, society's faith, most often has been tied to that obsession. That obsession, obsessed with origin and destiny.
Therefore, a midway community and people, is to be understood as a community neither given to fatalism, nor to romanticism. Romanticism, it brings to my mind, what we have come to see today, these times as humanism. Humanism, that romanticism of the past is related to the humanism that we have presently. These are children of old ideas and we are not to become so humanly tender, so sentimental that we identify with the humanist people or the humanist movement or humanism.
Now, I know, this is difficult for us but this is what Allah wants. Allah wants us to measure up to the difficult task. If we don't measure up to the difficult task, we cannot sustain this great life of Muslim. And that difficult task is to check our own tendency to be too sweet, too mellow, too right. Now you might say, “Brother Imam, as bad as we are, you don't need to give us caution like that.” No, I think most of you are as bad as you are because you are too right, too tender, too sweet, too mellow.
Some of the worst sinners I know, they can really get sentimental. Oh, they can get so sentimental. Start boohooing and shaking like an electric shock. They tell you how much they love you and everybody, with blood on their hands or dope in their veins or whatever. So, we are to guard against these extremes. We may say extreme as the East and the West, symbolically speaking. Because we know that Allah says that, "This light is neither of the East nor the West but it is a bliss of a blessed tree." Neither East, nor West.
We know that East and West are also given symbolically to us as extremes to avoid, East and West. But I am focusing upon the tendency in man to be obsess with his origin and his end, with birth and death. So, he comes up with an idea of society itself, that society's birth comes about like this, “this is the nature of society, it is born like this and it ends like that.” That's his idea, he comes up with this idea.
Then it makes the society, the members of that society under the influence of that idea has his idea of origins and his idea of end, or destiny. Many philosophers they've given us their idea of origin and their idea of destiny, those ideas are ancient, very ancient, many volumes are written on them and many philosophers have contributed to the ideas. If we would look at the society of man right now on earth, and try to put their society in one focus that will make us understand or have light on the behavior, the total behavior of that society and its members. I think the best focus to put the society in, would be this focus, what is their idea of origin? What is their idea of end, our destiny? These the are extremes.
This community must never accept that any man or anything other than G-d be G-d or called G-d. We cannot accept that any human being is divine, never. If we ever start to be sympathetic with such idea, we will be going to that extreme that G-d is guarding, that G-d is warning us against, we will not be that midway or middle way community anymore.
Don't think that this is just a midway community in your own imagination, this is a midway community or middle community in the context of Quran and the life of Prophet Muhammad. This is how we understand the midway community, not in your mind. Some of you may say, "Yes, we are supposed to be a well-balanced community." And balanced to you might mean a totally different thing. You might call balance just drinking a little whiskey socially.
"I'm going to be balanced, brother. I take a little bit, socially." Now, that may be okay in most of the world but in the Muslim world, that's a heavy sin. It's not balanced in our mind, "I'm going to be balanced but I'm going to go out and party a little bit. I don't want to become a dull fellow. I got to be balanced brother; I'm going to go party a little bit tonight." No, you're not balanced, you're out of the light, not only are you off-balance but you're out of the form of a Muslim when you start to think like that and behave like that.
Partying for us must have a totally different meaning, it must have a totally different meaning. Even in the days of my father, the honorable Elijah Muhammad our late leader, we would use language of the world sometimes and we would say, "Brother, I'm high." We would be very disciplined followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We didn't mean we were high on in the alcohol, or reefers or dope or narcotic drugs, anything like that.
We meant we were so high spirited that it was satisfying us, we thought, as much or more than the drugs will satisfy the addict. We would say, "Brother, I'm high. I'm on a high." I'm not telling you to don’t, we don't want people so stiff that they look like the man from, the golden, brick road or something like that, the Tin Man.
Yes, that's a miserable way to exist. But what I'm saying is be sure that you have your own definition of what partying should be, we should have social life, we should have social gatherings, we should have food and entertainment. Men and women can dance but under the rule of Al-Islam, let them dance. Don't have any gesturing, don't have any behavior that will be interpreted as vulgar, indecent behavior. Don't imitate the world, establish a discipline, a model for the world. Then you are Muslim and you can be happy.
I broke a lot of laws back there in the early days, because I had teenage friends and I wanted to be with them. So, I would sneak and go to their dances. And I could bebop and waltz, they called the waltz, strut. I could do all that stuff as well as they could. And I'm not proud of that because I know I shouldn't have been among them, it was a great temptation, it was only the mercy of G-d that saved me.
But I am proud that I didn't let myself be given to the extreme, and I didn't come under the influence of the party. I was there at the party, but I wasn't under the influence of the party. I never drank, I never smoked a cigarette, I didn't behave indecently, I didn’t display vulgar, I didn't get loud.
My friends admired me because I wouldn't take drinks, and they will try you over and over again, even though you turned down, they try you over and over again. They were finally convinced that I wouldn't do that, they admired me and they thought that I was the special person among them, and they would protect me be more conscious of my protection than they were of their own protection. Yes.
It was because I didn't reject them because they smoked reefer. I had one that had a reefer habit, more than one, two or three of them had it. I had one had a drinking habit, he drank too much but they were nice people in their hearts, and they were my friends, they liked me, why should I reject them? Now, I know many of you say, "Well, you're not supposed to keep company with such people." They're ignorant people. They didn't know, they weren't Muslims, they didn't have Islamic knowledge. They're ignorant to our standards but they're my friends, so I kept them as friends. And for me, it worked, some of them became Muslims later.
Yes. I don't regret that, I rather go before G-d with that kind of sin on me than go there and G-d says, "You love nobody." In whose heart I found goodness, if G-d punishes me, I think I'll be able to bear that punishment, it's not going to be very much. So, that's one risk I'll take, in all of us there is a little bit of gambler, so I gamble sometimes.
This community is not ever to come under the extremes of materialism. That's extreme. On one side, humanism or another extreme materialism, these are extremes too. Birth, we all are born as human, that's why I keep saying, human. We are born as human. As the Prophet say, “we all born Muslim”. Which is to say, we are all born the human that G-d created us, that's all that means. We are born the human that G-d created us to be. So, we are all born that, but how we end is another thing.
The imagination of the scholars, the Gnostic people, I think they call them Gnostic. The Gnostics are the ones who believe the divine spark in man, and that it can be traced back to G-d Himself, that the man has his origin in G-d. This is the shirk, for us, this is a terrible shirk. That's the light, the symbol is given that some people are to look at the Sun to see it, and the sunlight puts out their eyes.
That's the symbol of that, “that we want to see G-d, we just have to see G-d”. In straining our limited human capacity, mental capacity to see the creator Himself, the only divine, we put our eyes out, the light is too much. In other words, that is too big for the dimensions of our human intellect or mind.
I feel very comfortable. I was born in a society that taught me, “to see G-d with these eyes.” I was born in a society that taught me, “the only way to see G-d is with these eyes. The only way to know G-d is with this rational mind. The only way to know any reality, is with this rational mind. That anything can be proven by rational five senses and rational mind does not exist.” I was born in a society that taught me that, with the milk that came from my mother's breast. That early in my life I was given that and I have come to be happy and comfortable with the real Islamic idea and that is, “you cannot see G-d directly.”
Isn’t that what G-d told Moses? “You cannot see me directly. If you want to see me, look at the mountain.” Yes, “you cannot see me directly.” Okay. Now, I became very comfortable with the idea that I can't see G-d directly because the idea that I could see him directly had punished my mind and I was tired of being punished in my head.
I was happy to be released. So, I accepted that I can’t see G-d directly and happiness begun to fill up my heart and my breath. Yes, good feeling and I began to tell you all, back then when I was risking my presence that stop trying to put G-d on a microscope slide. Yes. And with the mercy of G-d, we have arrived. Oh yes, we have arrived and I say to you, that you may not have the scholarly knowledge and resources that many of them have over there. But I say to you, our general membership is more educated than their general membership. Our general membership is more in the excellence of the Muslim than their general membership.
Now when it comes to scholars, we do not have the scholars yet to measure up to what they have in their scholars. We don't have that yet but Inshallah, we are going to get that too. We're getting it step by step. I'm not here to play down importance of the whole world of Muslim but that's just what it is.
Now, coming more directly to what we need to do in order to have steps to success. Allah Most High says in the beginning of the Quran and why do I say it's the beginning of the Quran, because the first chapter of the Quran is called the opening and it may be called the opening and by opening, we may also say an introduction. Can we say an introduction?
The introduction to the Quran is Al Fatiha, or the opening. So, when we start into the Quran itself, the Al Fatiha begins with no signal. There's no signals for Al Fatiha. You just begin Al Fatiha. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. With Allah's name, the merciful benefactor, the merciful redeemer. All praises be to Allah and you go on to the end, Amin. But with this chapter, this chapter that is really the beginning of the Quran, after the introduction, Al Fatiha. It gives signals first: Alif, Lam, Meem. Those are not words and no matter how much we have read on what the scholar has to say about the meaning of those words, we and the scholars are still standing in one place waiting for some more light.
They will tell you what Alif mean but where is it established in the Quran, where is it established in the Sunnah? Since they can't do that we just have to say, "Well, maybe you're right," and that's what they say, "Well, maybe we are right".
So, they are just letter, Alif, Lam, Meem but they get your attention. Isn’t that a wonderful way to get your attention? And it must be a natural way for communication. In the communication media, sometimes they give signal before they start, right? They give signals before they start. I guess even ET got some signals before he really got his telephone conversation going. Yes, so after the signal, Alif, Lam, Meem the words come. This is the book, in it is guidance for sure. Without doubt, to those who fear G-d and let me bring this to your attention. Fear G-d, this is important, very important.
There is no language in that verse that says, "Fear G-d". And the Word that is translated fear is not accurately translated. The common word for fear in Arabic is another word. Two other words, not this word. This word that we have here, is a combination of a lot of emotions, not just fear. It is a combination of a lot of emotion and the best way to understand the meaning of this word is just to understand what you feel inside of you when you about to do something wrong in the eyes of G-d that you believe in and feel you must answer to.
You feel something in your heart, you feel something in your nervous system, you feel something in your soul and when you know that you did something wonderful under the eyes of G-d, you feel something.
You did something wonderful under the eyes of G-d, you feel something. That's also that, when you are striving. You know you're in a dangerous situation, a situation that will cause you maybe to do some wrong or to be taken off the path of Al-Islam and you’re very cautiously and very attentively following your Islamic mind and discipline.
You're under that influence then, you're under that influence.
I can go on talking about or giving you the many examples of that being in us and that being responsible for how we are behaving. It is called Taqwa, Taqwa. All right? The best translation they have given, is "God-consciousness” and "The fear of G-d" and so forth. But G-d says, "Have this" I call it, 'Regardfulness'. Now many don't want to use that simple translation, they think, it takes something away but that's what it is. It's regardfulness, 'regardfulness'. We have to have that 'regardfulness'. Now, "regardfulness" is a special "regardfulness" that we only come to understand as Muslims, when we see the word in the Quran in its context in the Quran.
And here is one context in which it appears in the very beginning. It says, "To those who fear
G-d". The translation that I would give, if I was translating it, I'm not rejecting this translation. But if I was translating, I would say, "To be regardful". To be regardful, to those who are regardful. That's how I would translate it. Then if I had to give more explanation, I would give it in a footnote, in a commentary. I would explain this state or this meaning for regardfulness in the context of the Quran. It goes on to say, "Who believe in the unseen". Now, understand this, that whenever the Quran introduce a word or an idea. What follows that or what was before that, addresses the meaning of that.
Those who believe in the unseen, that is the condition of that Taqwa. That is a condition of that state of mind, or state of the soul that you believe without proof. Believe in the unseen means, believe, even though it hasn't been proven to you. Al-ghaib means absence. Bil-ghaib, we believe in that, we believe without proof, that's what it means. We believe without proof. Nothing has come to prove this to me but I have strong reasons to believe it. Not all of us have put to the test to prove that G-d is. You can't prove it to nobody except one that believes it or someone who has a tendency to believe it. Right?
Audience: That's right.
The others you can't prove that to them. You can't point to Allah and prove it to nobody. Allah is in your heart, Allah is in your life, Allah is in the conduct of your life. You go shopping and the ease is given to you, in traffic that's difficult for other people and you as a believer, you say, "This is G-d" You thank Allah" Right? Yes. Well, that's what you experienced and ain't nobody, Atheist Muslim, or Atheist from any other big religion. Nobody can tell you G-d doesn't exist. They might make you doubt your religion but you still believe in G-d. The only reason why they make you doubt your religion is that you don't have enough knowledge of your religion, so the Satan will get you there.
So, believers read the Quran often, come more acquainted with it, all of us are supposed to be reading the Quran daily, and getting more acquainted with it. “Who believe in the unseen, are steadfast in prayer.” See, if you have that Taqwa in you, that 'regardfulness' in you, then you feel a compulsion to pray to Allah, and to do it as He has ordered you to do it.
Now, any believer that can neglect the daily prayer and not feel anything, they're either ignorant, they don't know the religion or they're unconscious Muslims. If you're conscious Muslim, it hurts you to think that you've missed Fajr prayer. That's no pleasure unto you. It makes you feel bad to know that you missed the Dhuhr prayer, the noon prayer or Asr prayer, the afternoon prayer, or Maghrib prayer, the sunset prayer, or Isha prayer, the night prayer. It makes you feel bad. Now, I have done something that make most of you all call me and say, "Oh, Allah is going to really punish of him.”
One time I miss my prayer and I had to do something; I just did sajdah. I didn't do the prayer. I know my sajdah didn’t substitute for prayer. I still missed my prayer but at least, I showed G-d that I want to do it. I got down and I counted the number of sajdahs in that prayer, and I made that many sajdahs and then I left out of the house. I rather come up before G-d and G-d tell me, “Wallace, you missed your prayer and your sajdahs that you did does not equal the prayer.” I'd rather be told that, than be told, “Wallace, you've missed your prayer, period.”
Now, in that I caution you not to Follow me, follow the commands of G-d in Quran and in the Sunnah.
Don't follow me. In other words, if you do it, you're doing it on your own.
I am not going to answer for you in judgement.
But we have to admit that the Prophet situation is quite different than ours. In the history of the early community of Muslims, the Prophet for almost 11 years was not seen leading people in prayers. Not formally, prayer was not instituted. It was after about 11 years or the 11th year that he started instituting prayer and they prayed. They begin to pray in groups and publicly. That time was quite different. It was a time that allowed for a total takeover by one society of another. It was a G-d-fearing society, taking over control from an idolatrous, an idol worshiping, heathen society. We are not in any situation to do that.
We don't live in a heathen society; we don't live in an idolatrous society. Believe me, there are some Muslims among us that worship more idols than the church, than you can find among church people, believe me. I believe they mentioned that last night. The Prophet pointed to the fact that it is not idol worship just to worship a physical thing but when you worship your own pride, when you're under the influence of your own selfish pride, that's a form of idolatry.
And the worse, that's one of the worst forms of it. That's what the Satan was formed of. He was formed of that pride, that he couldn't give up his big idea of himself. “And believe in the revelation sent to you”, speaking to Muhammad the Prophet. So, these people believed in the revelation sent to Muhammad, that's the Quran. “And sent before thy time”, this translation is the translation of Abdullah Yusuf. “And sent before thy time”, now here it's not mentioned the Torah and the Gospel or the Old Testament and New Testament.
It just said, “sent before your time.” That would include revelation in addition to the Torah and in addition to the Gospel, you see? “And who believe in revelation sent before your time.” So, this is a condition on Muslims, we must believe in the Quran and we must believe that there are other authentic scriptures or revelations that came from G-d. Though they have been influenced by man's hand over the time, after the Prophet that brought it, we still have to accept it in its spirit and its purity, in it is originality, we have to accept it. Does this make us broad-minded people?
Audience: Yes. 
It says, "and in their heart," which is to be understood also in their soul. "And in their hearts, have the assurance of the hereafter." Now we know, hereafter is an English expression. The term is 
Al-Akhirah, means the end. Al-Awwal, the beginning, Al Akhirah, the end. What does that suggest
to us, steps of success. This is philosophical but very important. Muslims if we expect to be really successful, we don’t want to be just successful as the ordinary person is successful, we want to be successful as a society of people. Our success is not just personal success, our success is the success of a society of people, the Muslim community. So, we have to understand the philosophical message to us. It says, “And they believed in al-Akhirah,” that’s G-d saying to us. We have to be a people believing in the future. Now, that’s just common language. I made this expression very common. Reduced it to very common language.
We have to believe in the future. Any people that don’t believe in the future, they don’t have a future. We have to believe in the future. Do we have a future vision for Muslims in America? Do we have future plans for Muslims in America? If we don’t then we are not having any progress. We don’t have the first steps for success. First step of success is to have a look into the future. The Muslims along with many religious people, we are people travelers in the path.
Now, whether you’re riding a modern vehicle or you’re riding a donkey or a horse the old vehicle, when you sat on that thing and you start moving, you don’t look in the present. Your eyes are not concentrated in the present. Your eyes are concentrated in the future. If you concentrate your eyes in the present while traveling, you’re going to have a bad accident, soon.
Now I admit that I am a kind of different preacher. But I tell you, if you accept what I give you buddy, you’re going to grow bigger. Because I know from firsthand experience, it has grown me bigger. Lastly, in these verses from the second chapter, Surah al-Baqarah of the Quran, “They are on,” and the translator puts in parenthesis, “true”. Although the word is not in there, to give the meaning, he wants to satisfy the meanings of the original context, the Arabic. “They are on [true] guidance from their lord. It is these who will prosper. It is these who will prosper.” Now, prosper means be successful. That’s exactly what it means. “It is these who will be successful.”
Now let us quickly go over the steps of success. This is what G-d says. What Muslim is going to argue with me when I tell them what G-d said? G-d gave some steps for success, and in our holy book. Okay. All right. Let us quickly go over them now. Said, “it is guidance for the G-d-fearing”, but I told you the word is regardful. Now, in going back, reviewing this, let’s quickly see what 
G-d says is regardful in the Quran. Allah says, “Be regardful of Him and regard Him with the regard that is due Him.”
In other words, we give a special regard for Allah the divine creator of everything, the giver of everything the source of all goodness and excellence and everything. There’s a special regard that we give Him. That regard we give to nothing else. Nothing else gets that kind of regard except Allah Himself. Allah also says right in the same stream of words, G-d says, “And be regardful of the family tie. Be regardful of the family ties.” For us to have “G-d-consciousness” and I don’t accept that translation but I’m using it for the purpose. For us to have “G-d-consciousness” is also to have family-consciousness. I mean with the same serious mind, with the same serious attention, we ought to have family consciousness.
G-d says, “And be regardful of a day that’s coming where no soul will be able to help another in anything, in any measure.” Haven’t we come to a day like this? In these big cities with all this trouble in the life of our children and youth? It pains us to the core of our heart and soul that we can’t do a thing to change the behavior of our own children. We can’t come with them to the Quran, we can’t come with them with the life of Muhammad, we can’t come to them from our own selves, from how we love them or what we did for them.
Remind them how sweet they used to be when they were babies and how we loved them and carried them. I carried my son on my shoulder in the winter time. I was in a poor situation. My father had rejected me but I still lived with my family. I loved my children so I had to carry him to the big snow and the bus stop. I carried him on my shoulder for about eight or nine blocks in deep snow, carried him on my shoulder. We went to where we had to go and I brought him back. I’m sure he can’t forget that experience. I reminded him of it, and it wasn’t enough to change a thing.
For me, I’ve already seen some of that day, “where no soul can avail another, ought. Not in anything. Not in any measure.” And G-d says also, “And be regardful,” using the same term. What I’m saying to you? I’ve given you two references. I’m giving you now a third. These references use the exact same terms that were translated here, G-d-fearing. And G-d says, “Be regardful of the fires of sin.” Is it natural? That’s why fire is used, you know? Because every sane human being understands fire.
Yes. It says, “And be regardful of the fires of sin.” We are to understand that. Now, if we do those things, and believe in the unseen and remain steadfast in prayer. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to miss prayers. His translation is steadfast. It means be devoted to making your prayer. The meaning is be devoted to making your prayers. It doesn’t mean that you make every prayer. No, you might miss a prayer but when you miss it you feel a hurt or emptiness.
And spend. Also, a step for success is to be one who’s not selfish with your earnings, or not selfish with your money. You spend not just in your own interest, but you spend in the interest of others. And the first obligation is on your own close relatives. Your mate, your wife, your children, your close relatives. To spend on them, to share what you got. Now, I tell our community, how in the world we’re going to qualify as Muslims if we are going to be satisfied on welfare? Ain’t no way.
You’re spending somebody else’s money. That’s not spending. You’re not spending. Somebody giving you something that's charity and then you take it and you bring it here and give it to us in charity. Now I know you’re well-meaning, you mean good, we love you for that. But let me tell you something, when you get money in charity and you come and put it in our charity without a determination to break from that dependency, then you’re not a good Muslim. You have to have a determination to break from that dependency. You’re supposed to feel bad when you don’t have nothing to put in charity but charity.
You should want to go out and shovel somebody’s snow or help somebody with their groceries to their car at the supermarket. Do anything. What I’m saying, you have to be willing to accept something small and beneath what you have been conditioned to expect and want to be satisfied with. You ought to get out there and get you some shoeshine polish man and a rag and a shoeshine box and get in a good situation at a good place where a lot of big shots come in with their little briefcases and stuff. You got to tell them, “Man, you ain’t dressed without a shoeshine.”
And if you have that kind of determination Allah will bless you to have something that you earned to put in charity. We know that. We know that brother. We've had the experience. When my father started out, there were no people on welfare supporting him. There were people out pushing junk carts. Man, like a horse or a mule. He got a junk cart as big as some of these pick-up trucks. I'm not jiving. His junk cart was as big as some of these pick-up trucks and he got it loaded with rags and paper and cardboards and old metal that he found and you'll see him pulling down the street, bent over like a slave.
Yes, had a heavy belt on his shoulders, tied to his waist and that's how he went. When he came in the temple, he came in looking like I look right now. White shirt and tie, nice suit, pants pressed and he'd put something in charity. That was a man.
Allah is my witness; I've never asked for unemployment compensation. I have been out of work. I have been denied by my family. I've never asked for unemployment compensation. I've never asked to get on welfare. I've suffered. I went from door to door knocking, "May I wash your rug? May I clean your rug?" I could do that. I knew I could do it and I got some rugs to clean. "May I wash your windows?" I got some windows to clean. I got enough money to get me a machine. Then I started doing the carpet with the machine. Before I was doing it with a scrub brush. A scrub brush and a sponge. But I got me a machine. I started to make a little money. Don't let anybody tell you and I'm just only repeating what Murad said last night.
“Don't let anybody tell you that there's no money in America.”
There's plenty of money in America.
You just have to have a little industry in you to get it. And our religion makes it our religious duty to be gainfully, legally and in an honorable way, employed. It's the duty of our religion. You're not measuring up to the essential duties of your religion if you're not trying to get employed by legal means. Halal means. Another condition is to believe in the Quran. It didn't say, “study the Quran rationally and accept it when you've proven it by your own calculations. When you've proven that this book is correct by your own calculations then accept it.” No. It says believe in it.
Believe in it means trust G-d. G-d revealed it. If you accept that G-d revealed it then trust G-d. I've never disbelieved in any part of the Quran. I have had dark areas in my mind, I didn't understand it and I still have dark areas in my mind. I don't understand parts of it but I won't disbelieve in it because I'm a Muslim. This is my book. It's from G-d, I believe that. To not believe that is to not be a Muslim.
So, I believe that. So, whatever I run into that I can't handle, I just go right on pass it the best way I can. Go through it, or over it, or under it the best way I can. Or around it the best way I can. Keeping the faith. And many times, after I get around the dark area, the big pit and everything that was there for me to fall into because I didn't have the light, after I go around it very cautiously respecting that I'm limited in my head. I don't know everything. Sometimes it's immediately as I turn the corner that I run into the bright light that satisfies me.
This is human life. That's what makes life beautiful for us is that we don't know everything. If we knew everything, we would lose all the pleasures of life. Only G-d can bear that kind of heavy responsibility or heavy I would say existence. Only G-d can bear that. He's of another dimension, of another reality, you see? He's not of this human reality. Only He can bear that. If we want to be happy, we have to accept that certain things our minds ain't big enough for but our heart is. Oh, yes. Now don't tell me your heart ain't. Your heart is big enough for it.
“And such people that believe in these things have assurance of the hereafter.” And remember that I said it means the future. And G-d requires of us that we believe in Al-Akira. And Allah says, "and the better things." Though G-d says, “don't neglect your share in this present world.” Meaning in these material things. Don't neglect our share of it, the material possessions. G-d says and the better things are the things of the end, Al-Akira, the future. Now, that is to be applied as everything else in the Quran is to be applied. The prophet has established that everything in the Quran has an express meaning, an explicit and an implicit. Express meaning and something that we get by interpretation of that. The prophet has said that everything has an expressed meaning and a hidden meaning for want of a better word. But the hidden is not absent, it's implied. The intelligent person can see that this is implied here, you see?
They also have two applications. It has an application in the world that readily comes to our minds and it has an application in the world that G-d promises us. Yes, so I am addressing both these meanings when I tell you that Muslims are supposed to believe in the future. We're supposed to gear ourselves up for the future. We're supposed to have plans for tomorrow, one day in the week, plan for the week, plan for the month, plan for the year, plan for the years, plan for my life, plan for Sadjiddeen life. That's my bad son that's getting much better. Your prayers are being answered.
Yes, Sadjiddeen’s life and Wallace's life, another one of my sons. He's bad. His wrongdoing's mostly to himself. He just frowns all the time.
So, he's just hurting himself but he's coming out of that too. A girl then softens him up a little bit. I thank her. I thank Robin. I meet Robin, I say, "Hi Robin." The way I say hi to her say, "Thank you Robin."
Allah Akbar. I'm going to conclude this. I've gone much over the time. I didn't want to spend this much time. I've gone way past the time. I'm going to conclude this by pointing to those general things now. Dear brothers and sisters, to be successful we must stay away from sin. Stay away from sin. We as Muslims we have our definition of sin, Christians have their definition of sin, Jews and others have their definition of sin. I'm telling all people, the majority of you are muslims. I'm telling all people stay away from sin.
Our religion doesn’t tell us, "Don't commit adultery, don't have sex with a woman that's not your wife." Our religion tells us, "Don't go near her." If you start walking toward her, you're weakening yourself for the temptation. Every step you take makes you a little weaker for dealing with it when you get there.
And when you get there [shouts].
For each step you took you lost few ounces of muscle. When you get there you only have one urge. You want to be successful? Check the first impulse to sin. Check it. Don't entertain those impulses. You're making yourself weaker for the situation. Once you get there you're finished. I'm speaking for all the brothers. I'm talking to the brothers. I talk a lot because we all have problems. None of us are supermen. Especially with you sister. We may be supermen before we get to you but once we get to you, we ain't superman no more.
I'm speaking for all the brothers. We love you sister, we love our wives, we love our children, we love you very much. I don't believe there is more love for wife and children in any other people's hearts that it is in the black or African American people's hearts. But we have just been damaged so terribly, thank you very much. As- Salaam Alaikum


