09/12/1976
IWDM Study Library
The Earthquake

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Holy Quran Translation by Yusuf Ali: Surah 99: Verses 1 -8
1. When the Earth is Shaken to her (utmost)convulsion,
2. And the Earth throws up Her burden (from within),
3. And man cries (distressed):' What is the matter with her?
4. On that Day will she Declare her tidings:
5. For that thy Lord will Have given her inspiration.
6. On that Day will men Proceed in companies sorted out, to be shown the Deeds That they (had done).
7. Then shall anyone who Has done an atom's weight Of good, see it!
8. And anyone who Has done an atom's weight Of evil, shall see it.
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever, Amen.
There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
As -Salaam –Alaikum
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The earthquake, as everything else in scripture, is speaking to both the physical object and also to the nature of the human being. The human being has what we call a "material" nature. He is interested in material things because he has natural needs, but he also has a spiritual nature. This nature is not just hymn singing and whatnot, it covers all of those activities in the human life that are not in the category of material interests. When we show compassion for each other, that is a spiritual response. When we show a response to beauty, to truth and to righteousness, those are spiritual responses.
The spiritual life is a human life. The human life is more characteristic or typical of spiritual life than it is of material life. That is why the Holy Quran says that man should keep his interests in both the material things and in the spiritual things. But it also cautions man to remember that the spiritual achievements are the bigger or the greater achievement.
The Human Achievements
When we look at the history of the human society, we see that the biggest achievement of nations was their human achievements. Many of them amassed great wealth, great physical power, and great armies. But throughout history people have disregarded the "greatness" of nations, if those great armies of millions of standing soldiers and great weapons and huge skyscrapers and monuments did not have in them the human ingredient. Many of the ancient pharaohs were great men in history, but because they did not have the human ingredient that is necessary to reach the hearts of human beings, the society of the world has disregarded their achievements and they do not have a great place in our hearts. The Holy Quran says that man should remember that the spiritual achievements (human achievements) are the greatest and that he should work for them.
In the chapter entitled, "The Convulsion," the Holy Quran is telling us that there is going to come a climaxing of all of the things that are moving in the earth that are in opposition to the plan of Almighty God. It says that these things are going to reach their fullness, and when that happens the whole world is going to know what has been going on. In that final day of judgment, Allah will make man's material works (materialism) speak to him. Although their flesh tongues will not speak to God, He will make even their physical cities speak out against them. When that time comes, it is going to be as a mighty earthquake.
The Shifting Of Balance
The earthquake prophesied in the scripture is the time when things are going to be shook-up all over the world. We know that material things sometime get out of balance. If we put too much material up on one spot without balancing it, pretty soon it will cause the foundation to give; way. If we amass too much wealth in certain places without any foresight to what the consequences will be, we Will make one person very heavy and another person very light, one nation very heavy and another nation very light. The unbalanced weight will start the material mountain shifting. When the foundation will not support it any longer, the wealth is going to start tumbling down.
We have lived to see the earthquake come in the economic strength and construction of the Western world. The structure of wealth of Europe and America has begun to crumble because of the shifting of balance in the world. Certain people (nations) are not strong enough to support them anymore or either they refuse to support them anymore. America and Europe had too much material weight piled up in their "mountain" society, so it is falling. Today, we have come through a kind of economic earthquake.
When an earthquake comes, the earth splits open and drops houses, communities, and nations down into its crevices. Pretty soon, the whole world takes on a new face or a new look because the earthquake has come and destroyed strong nations that had been standing. In the scripture, God is saying to us that a mighty worldwide earthquake is going to come in the judgment.
Inner Light Of The Mind
The Holy Quran says that the earth is going to shake with such a violent force that it is even going to cause the dead to wake up in their graves. We are not denying that the material world is not all that there is to life. It is just a world created for the life God wants to grow. It is a world that man gets his start in. Once God starts man in His physical world, He removes the physical womb in time and gives man a higher world, a spiritual womb that will enable him to grow eternally. We also know that God speaks to everybody when He speaks. God is not One Whose tongue is short or Whose power to deliver a message is weak. He can reach the weakest mind, the most ignorant mind, or the thickest mind in gross darkness. God knows how to penetrate the thick darkness of ignorance in the head and touch the inner light in every one of us and turn the mind on again.
It is only God Who has the power to light the mind of every man and woman on earth. When He speaks, He is not speaking only to the learned or to the spiritual, He is speaking to everybody. He knows how to touch the core of your being and spark life into your human atom. Maybe you cannot be reached rationally or maybe you cannot be reached with a threat of fear, but God knows how to touch your sentiments, wake up your compassion, and start you turning on your mind to understand what He is talking about. Maybe He cannot reach you through your intelligence or through your compassion, but He has a way to reach every one of us. In the Holy Quran scripture we are discussing, God is saying to us that He is going to get all of us when that day (judgment day) comes with major changes taking place in the world.
Stand Up For Truth
The great earthquake with its shifting of financial power, with its shifting of material power, and with its shifting of the might of nations is going to cause weak people to get the strength to stand up for truth. Those who have been trembling in their knees, fearing to listen to truth, thinking that they will be put in jail will get strength to stand up for truth. Those who have been fearing that they will be persecuted or that they will lose their job will get the strength to stand up for truth. God knows how to break the influence of those things that are keeping you from obeying him. In time, He is going to break every hold that Satan has on the people. He is going to break it in that thing that Satan depends on. When Satan cannot deceive you with his slimy, snake-like tongue, he uses physical threats against you. God says that He is going to cause an earthquake that will break up the material power of the world. He is going to put the material power tomorrow where it is not today and He is going to take it from where it is today and put it somewhere else tomorrow.
Gods Crumbled To Dust
The Holy Quran says, "When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion, and the Earth throws up her burdens (from within)..." There is nothing more perfect and more penetrating than the words of Almighty God. The earth will throw out that which has weighed her down. Something has weighed the earth down and kept it from moving with smooth and free movement like God wants it to move, but God is going to cause a worldwide major earthquake that will shake things up. Even flesh, which is material, is going to quake. It is going to cause the structure of sex power that this world has built up to start crumbling. The world of materialism, the world of financial power, and every material image is going to crumble under the power of the earthquake.
You cannot see the spiritual form and you cannot see truth without looking into something physical (material). The scripture says that God is coming one day with His powerful truth and He is going to break up all of these material images that you have been looking at. When your gods are all crumbled down into dust, He is going to spew up the truth out of that destruction. When the earth is forced to give up her burdens and throw the weight off of herself, the people will say, "What has happened to her?" We have lived to see that time when societies all over the world are looking at the things that are happening in human life and they are saying, "What is wrong with this world?" This verse in the Holy Quran is now realized in the actual language (in the very words) that are said by the spiritual -minded, God -fearing people of the world today.
We were discussing the chapter entitled, "The Convulsion," in the Holy Qur'an. The fourth verse says that on that day (of the great earthquake) the earth will declare her tidings. This means that the earth will be making conversation of the great news. In English, there is not a plural word for "news," but in the Arabic language there is a plural word for news. So this verse is actually saying that several news has come to us. The New Testament of the Bible (the gospel) is called "the good news." There are many good news that have come to us, but this old world of grafted, unnatural mentality has kept them away from us. But on the day of the great earthquake, the Holy Qur'an says that the earth will be in conversation talking about the news. G-d will send the news to the masses of people that this old material world has kept hidden from us.
Now that Almighty G-d has broken up the earth, we can see the secrets that were buried in the days of Adam, in the days of Abraham, in the days of Moses, and in the days of Jesus. We can see secrets coming up out of the earth today because the earth is exploding due to the great shaking that has taken place. G-d has brought the foundation of New Jerusalem down upon the earth and the earth's surface has broken with its weight causing the inside of the earth to spew up secrets that were buried over eons of time are now popping up out of the earth and we see them rolling out in plain view of the people.
Destruction And Treasures
When mighty earthquakes take place we see fire come up out of the earth. The ancient wise men of scripture used this kind of allegorical language because it speaks so well to the message that they wanted to give. Fire is symbolic of knowledge and certainly knowledge is going to pop up out of the earth on that day. Earthquakes throw out lava and that lava throws out minerals, metals, and iron to distant places. They may destroy those things that are close by but they throw out treasures to those things at a distance. This wonderful chapter is telling us that although G-d certainly sends individuals as messengers, there is going to come a time when G-d will have advanced His plan through individuals to the point that it will be feasible to speak to everybody. The scripture says that a day will come when G-d is going to speak to the people, but He will not have to speak to them through an individual prophet or messenger. The Book (Bible) presents the same idea when it says that there will come a time when every eye shall see Him and every tongue shall confess.
The Earth Is Inspired
It is wrong to think that the great earthquake just means a physical destruction that is going to come about to make souls rise up out of the grave. Certainly Almighty G-d is going to raise us up and He is going to give us a new creation, but He is also going to raise this particular human family up while they exist on the earth in physical form. Just as he was able to show Himself to His prophets and messengers, He is going to show Himself to all people in the end of time.
The scripture says that the earth will declare her tidings "...for that thy Lord will have given her inspiration." The Arabic word that is translated as "inspiration" is the very same word that is used when G-d inspires a prophet or a messenger. It means that in coming to them with His message, with His spirit, and with His truth, He wakes them and guides them. Then He sends them out to guide and to wake others. The very same word that is used for G-d's inspiring individual men that were called prophets and messengers is used in this verse for Him inspiring the earth Himself.
A Message From The Earth
In the day of the great earthquake, everything in the physical world (physical nations and physical powers) is going to be broken up. When this happens, people are going to be more inclined to listen to what G-d has to say. If they turn an ear to G-d, He will make them hear (understand) what He is saying. He will not be speaking through an individual, but He is going to speak through the earth itself. He will speak through the rising and the falling of nations; He will speak through the scheming and planning of nations; He will speak through the massing of wealth and power; He will speak through the massing of filth and cruelty that this world of grafted mentality has spread all over the world. He will speak through every physical thing. He will speak through the physical sun, through the physical moon and stars, through the physical clouds, through the physical rain, through the physical wind, through the physical snowstorms, through the physical ice, through cold winds and hot winds He will speak through every single thing in creation. Everything is going to be so thoroughly broken up that a message will come out from the earth itself. This means that things are going to be so thoroughly broken up that our mind's eye will be attentive to them. Then G-d will be able to speak to us through that which we have given our attention to.
Today, Almighty G-d has not only inspired me, but He has inspired every one of you. The masses all over the world are inspired today and they are all reaching out for spiritual understanding. They are questioning the established institutions and the doings of man on earth. G-d has inspired all people all over the world and He is making His signs manifest all over the world. The signs of the time tell us that His hands are in control over things in the world today. I am only one of those that G-d has taken up and inspired to speak out and to stand up for truth.
An Atom's Weight
A few weeks, ago, we discussed the judgment that is taking place right now in this life so that you may be shown the deeds that you have done. Anyone who has done an atom's weight of good shall see it and anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it. Certainly G-d speaks the truth. If there is only an atom of evil of good, why is it going to be detected at the time of the great earthquake? It is because the light of G-d will be so bright at that time cover the whole world. It is going to be so clear and so plain that it will remove all pockets of darkness, answer all questions of confusion and doubt. We will be able to understand things that we were not able to understand from Adam to Muhammed.
Today, the way of G-d is being shown so clearly manifest from the way of the diabolic {grafted} mentality that the people are able to detect the right way with their own senses and with their own mind's eye. If you manifest just an atom's weight of deviation from the direction of Almighty G-d's plan, the people who understand the voice of truth will be able to detect your deviation. Nothing can be hidden from the righteous people of G-d today.
Imam W.D. Mohammed (raa) 



