1998 MAS Educational Conference in Atlanta Part 1
Imam W. Deen Mohammed
(1998)
Location: Video Lectures – Page 1

00:04 Speaker 1: Today brothers and sisters, let us know that we've been blessed, and let us feel the responsibility of the blessings. Let us see, "Where else can we work? How can I increase the work that I'm giving? How can I increase the efforts? How can I direct the energy that is coming up in me? How can I use what my leader is gonna give me today? How can I use that? How can I put that in my life and in my community, in my surroundings, in my region, in my country, in my city, in my neighborhood, in my family? How can I impact my environment with what I'm being given by my leader?"

00:56 S1: Allah has blessed him and Allah has blessed us and has connected us with the universal Prophet, with the Prophet for all humanity, Prophet Muhammad prayers and peace be upon him, Allah has connected us with him, the common man, the uneducated man, and he lit the whole world, and it's still being lit because of that common, uneducated man Muhammad. Which is a clear sign Allah says, I can make my man, no matter how many men you make, I can make my man whatever I choose and from wherever I choose to raise him up. So that was our Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, but also this is an experience we are having. Allah has taken the common man and started the process all over again.

01:57 S1: I present to you our leader, our Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. [Takbeer, Takbeer Takbeer]

02:12 IWDM: As salaamu alaikum, that is, peace be unto you, we praise G-d, Alhamdulillahi rabbil aalameen who is the lord sustainer of all the worlds. We witness that he is one, there is no partner with him, he needs nothing as a help to himself, everything that serves him must serve him as a servant, he is the only G-d. And we've witnessed that Muhammad to whom the Qur'an was revealed is the last of the prophets, the seal of the prophets mentioned in the Old and New Testament according to the words of G-d in his book the Qur'an.

02:47 IWDM: Allah most high says of Muhammad the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, to say Qul, anna basharun mith'lukum, that I am a mortal person, like you, mith'lukum it means 'like you'. This has been said before by Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, but obviously the people didn't understand him. He said, "I in you, and you in me," meaning that the two had something in common, and that was the universal person that G-d created. And Muhammad and the Prophets all were universal persons, universal persons, universal intellects, universal souls and universal intellects. What we mean by that, their souls were created as our souls were, but G-d awakened their soul or expanded their consciousness so that they would see that they were created to be dwelling or living in not only their local town, or local place, or local country on this earth, but to live within the creation of G-d. They were created to live consciously within the total creation of G-d and the ancient called it cosmic, "Cosmic Man," man of the stars, of the world of stars.

04:14 IWDM: And the Greeks used human figures to designate certain stars in the universe, those stars were given human figures and human names because they saw their science reaching the heavens. It was only to say our science, the science of the Greeks have reached the heavens. And it was Islam, the Qur'an and Muhammad the Prophet that revived the sciences and brought it back in clear language so the world could get the benefit from it. Not in pictures, not in picture language, men, Zeus and others living up in the heavens, up in the skies, as cosmic figures, but pure language, human language, common language so that we could understand it.

05:17 IWDM: And as we go on with this address, I'm sure you are gonna understand more of what we have said so far. Say I'm a mortal person, mith'lukum like you, like you. Which makes it very clear that whatever Muhammad was, we are, and whatever we are, Muhammad was, and that's the mortal human being that G-d created when he created our first ancestor, Adam. And Adam is to be seen not only as our first father, our first ancestor, but Adam is to be seen as the universal person, as the universal person, universal intellect. Adam was not an African. Adam was not a European. Adam was not Chinese. Adam was not Japanese. Adam was human. Adam was simply human. There was no nation, Japan, people, Japan. There was no continent called Africa when Adam was made. Adam was made in heaven. G-d created him in heaven, and then put him in the Earth. This is the language of Islam, and the language of Christianity, and the language of Judaism. That man was created in heaven first, and then put into Earth. 

06:45 IWDM: Mythology shrouds, covers that language. In the Greek myth, we have men being created from heaven, too. Water rains down from heaven and creates men, a certain order of men. And then blood comes down from heaven and wets the ground, and creates the super order of men--the super order of men. So this language, these terms that we use, they go back to ancient times. And that's why we have in the Qur'an, that G-d has sent messengers that are named in the book, and others not named in the book. So we don't know all the messengers of G-d. We don't know all the prophets and messengers of G-d. Allah makes it clear to us that we know those named in the book, but there were others, too, that are not named in the book.

07:45 IWDM: Muslim philosophers, Muslim thinkers, they reasoned that Adam himself was a prophet. Adam, the first man himself was also a prophet of G-d. Adam is to be seen as the intellect, as the intellect that was created to live in the creation of G-d, not just in the local place, but live in the creation of G-d. That is, we are to be conscious of the whole creation of G-d, not just the earth or part of it, the whole creation of G-d. That's the universal, universal man--the universal man; universal soul, and universal intellect or universal mind.

08:54 IWDM: Allah says of Muhammad, that he's a mercy to all the worlds. A mercy to all the worlds. How are we to understand that, that he's a mercy to all the worlds? We know that Allah is the most merciful, and that mercy comes from Allah; that Allah has given of his attributes to his creation, especially his best creation. He has given of his attributes: Attributes of compassion, attributes of mercy, compassion, and many other attributes that make us very special creation--very special creation. Allah is Ar-Rahman, and Allah is Ar-Rahim, and both of these words come from the root word meaning mercy, "Rahmat." Ar-Rahman comes from Rahmat, meaning mercy. Ar-Rahim comes from Rahmat, meaning mercy. The first mercy is the gift of this physical, objective world, thats the first mercy, us included in it. That's the first mercy of G-d. That's his Ar-Rahman.

10:08 IWDM: And the Qur'an is also of the first mercy of G-d. Because G-d says that he, "'Allamal Qur'an," and that comes in the Surah title Ar-Rahman. The Surah is titled, "Ar-Rahman." And G-d said in that Surah, that G-d, "'Allamal Qur'an," that he taught men, human being, the human being, the Qur'an. So we know about that being given in that Surah that the Qur'an is also of the first mercy, of the first mercy.

10:49 IWDM: The Qur'an makes it possible for the human intellect to connect back with the creation, connect back with the creation as Allah intended for the intellect to be connected with the creation. So the Qur'an makes possible the connection again with the creation, and therefore, the Qur'an is the key, is the Mifthah, is the key that opens up the creation again for men to get the proper benefit that Allah, his G-d, his law, his creator, intended for him. That's the great mercy. The Arabs when they understood the attribute of Ar-Rahman, and their intellects as scholars, they became so excited about that attribute of G-d, the Ar-Rahman, that they started saying, "Ar-Rahman," more than they say, "Allah." It is mentioned in the Qur'an because others questioned that. Others were thinking that they were doing wrong, and they questioned that to the prophet they said, "They are saying, "Ar-Rahman, instead of Allah. They call him, Ar-Rahman." So Allah revealed to Muhammad to that, call on G-d by Ar-Rahman or any other name, for to G-d belong the most beautiful names, all of them. That was the answer, which means they were not condemned for saying, "Ar-Rahman," pleading to G-d, "Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahman." They were not condemned for doing that.

12:23 IWDM: But that was approved because G-d is Ar-Rahman. And over and over in the Qur'an, you hear G-d is Ar-Rahman. Our G-d is Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim. So that the first order of creation, the natural order of creation, was created for the human intellect. That's why the philosophers even go so far as to say, that Allah created this whole creation, the universe, for Muhammad--for Muhammad. They call him Ar Rajool-al-Kamil, the perfect man, perfect intellect. Created it for Muhammad, for Muhammad. And if He created it for Muhammad, He created it for all men. That's what it means. But all of us are not in the perfect condition that Muhammad was in. So we must benefit through Muhammad, not directly from G-d, because we are not in the perfect condition that Muhammad was in. And Muhammad was in that perfect condition when the prophet was chosen by G-d to be His servant and His messenger. He was in that perfect condition.

13:32 IWDM: How do we know? G-d says of him, and he'd already lived a lifetime among you. He'd already lived a lifetime among you, reminding them that Muhammad was the man of unquestionable character before he was called to be a prophet. They called him the trustworthy one, Al-Amin, and they believed in him. They trusted him. Even with their wealth, they would trust Him. This is history. The history of the Arabs before the prophet was called to be prophet. They would trust him with their wealth. He was like the bank. They didn't have banks like we have nowadays. So, they would leave it with the most trusted, would leave wealth with the most trusted person. They would leave their wealth with Muhammad, and go make their journey, come back, and get their wealth. They knew it would be there, untouched. And they also called him As-Sadiq. These were names given to Muhammad before Allah called Him. They called him As-Sadiq, which means the truthful one. He never tells a lie.

14:36 IWDM: So, Muhammad was in that perfect condition that G-d put Adam in, and Adam stayed in that perfect condition, until he was deceived by the seducer, the Satan. This is Bible and Qur'an; Torah and Qur'an. Yes. So, what does this tell us? This tells us that the G-d who made man, made man to come into the knowledge and sciences of the universe. Not the earth only, the whole universe. He made his intellect to feed upon the knowledge that is in the total creation, not just in one local place. And proof of that is, that man, over the history of man's growth as an intellect, his progress as a human mind as an intellect, that history has shown us very clearly, that wherever man takes his mind, his mind can grow there. Wherever he takes his mind, his mind can grow there. He take his mind to the moon, his mind can grow there. He take his mind to a distant planet, his mind can grow there. If he could take his mind to another galaxy of stars, beyond the galaxy of the Milky Way that we belong to, his mind can grow there. Because G-d created his mind to be in the whole of the creation. All of it. That's the Cosmic man. That's the universal man. That's the universal intellect. That's the man that's in every one of us, and sister too, and you too. That's the man that's in every one of us.

16:34 IWDM: So, how can man be in a woman? Wasn't the man and the woman made from the same soul, nafsin wahida, according to the Qur'an. He made both of them from the same person, same soul, same human entity. And He made male and female from the same one. And then G-d makes it very clear to us, what is said there, He says, "And He created you one from the other," not just from male. Originally, we thought, just everybody created from a male, but then G-d says, "And He created you one from another." And from a male and a female, He created you. This is the Qur'an. So, Adam is not male alone. Adam is male and female, because they both were together in one entity called the human soul, the first human soul; nafsin wahida, the first human soul. They both were in that same entity called nafsin wahida. G-d didn't create that soul and then make another soul for the woman, as He have created Adam from this soul and created the woman from that soul, no. He says He created both of them from nafsin wahida, from the same soul, both of them.



18:05 IWDM: Wama arsalnaka illa rahmatan lilAAalameena, And we have not sent you, accept be a mercy to all the worlds lilAAalameena to all the worlds. This is universal man. A local man can't be a mercy to all the worlds. He can hardly be a mercy to his own world. This is a universal man that's a mercy to all the worlds. Why are you all progressing so much here in Atlanta, your high school, and your school? Why are you making this great progress? Why are you so special here? It's because you have been taught what I'm teaching you now. You have been given this kind of understanding, and your mind is being conditioned again to feed on the universe, not on just a few little textbooks your teachers gave you before you understood this teaching in school, the volumes that you have read, you are feeding now, not only on what men have written, or women, when men have written, but you are feeding now on the universe and this because of me bringing the message of Qur'an to you in this way that you are doing that. You weren't doing it before.



19:26 IWDM: You didn't have this ability before. You didn't show this ability before. You're showing it now because G-d's water of life from heaven have rained down on your dry earth and have caused life to come into it. And things are sprouting up that you never thought would sprout up from your head.

19:45 S?: You're right.

19:46 S1: Yes. To be honest, like I am, I knew nothing. I'm shocked every time I look at how high G-d has lifted me up. I'm almost shocked and you should be the same way, and G-d will give you more, but if you don't be that way, G-d won't give you anymore. There was an author, he who has passed now, Nicosteen, I think, is his name. I think it's N-I-C-O-S-T-E-E-N, I'm not sure, but I do have it back home, I can look it up, but I didn't have time to look it up, I was too busy here lately, so many important things pressing upon me, he wrote a big volume, big book, on Islam's contribution to modern civilization--to modern civilization. And in this book, he concentrated on education, education, education. And he mentioned Baghdad as a great center of learning after the Qur'an came and awakened the consciousness, the intellects of those people who have scholarly appetites, or appetites to be scholars. And Damascus, Syria, he mentioned the center in Damascus, Syria. These were great centers of learning that attracted men of intellects, scholarly intellects from around the known world at that time--from around the known world at that time. And also, he mentioned Cordoba, Spain, and how Islam brought civilization, a new civilization to Spain, and how it survived there for over 500 years. Many say 700 years, but 500 years of good life and good progress, for Spain.

21:46 IWDM: We in America, we enjoy long life as a nation, the United States of America, but we do not have that kind of long life; we had not lived 500 years. So, in the history of Islamic civilization, we have a nation that survived much longer than America has survived so far as a nation, as a growing nation, and that was Spain under Islam that brought there by the Northern Africans called the Moors, called Moors of Northern Africa came to Spain, brought Islam there, and the result was the establishment of civilization that lasted with progress and good life for five centuries, for 500 years. You should be aware of these things if you want to have strong schools. You are Muslims, you should identify strongly, firstly with Islam, with the Qur'an, with Muhammad, the prophet, and the glorious history of Islam on this earth.

22:53 IWDM: That's what you should be identifying strongly with firstly. And then secondly, you identify with something else, whatever that is, your motherland Africa, or whatever. You identify with that secondly, but that's nothing like as important as the message of Islam that you are getting today, and that the world got from Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him, that's nothing as like as important as that. And nothing has re-awakened this world and made possible the sciences and human comforts and progress for human life more so than the Qur'an, Muhammad, and the teachers of Islam who followed in his tradition. This is a fact. A fact of history.

23:45 IWDM: All the support we need for education in our schools comes to us with our religion Islam. That's where it is. That's where the great support is in our religion of Islam. To mention a few persons who contributed to the revival of scholarly devotions and sciences. We might to have to mention persons like Abu Ibn S?n?, the one who revived interest in medicine and made possible what we have now as modern medicine. Abu Rushd and Al-Khwarizmi--I love mathematics, I love arithmetic, I love science--and Al-Khwarizmi is the father of modern mathematics, and those other scholars in his time who made contributions to revival of the sciences, among them mathematics. You can hear arithmetic in his name, Al-Khwarizmi. They took arithmetic from his name, Al-Khwarizmi's name. And the numbers we have, they are called Arabic numerals in our encyclopedias, dictionaries, good dictionaries too. When you look up the numbers one, two, three, four that we use. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, the number system we have. They are identified as the Arabic number system. Arabic numerals they say, 'Arabic Numerals.' Shouldn't that make you curious? It did me.

25:34 IWDM: I was a son, and student, and follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a young man in my teens. And when I learn that those were Arabic numbers, it really caught my attention. And I began to wonder more and more about it. This is our religion. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad says that we are Muslims, and Arabs are Muslims, and these numbers are called Arabic numbers; that made me feel very proud. That's how I became the man I am right now. Yes, see you all don't know. You have to have the right attitude, the right condition of mind, and soul, and spirit. You have to be in a good human condition for Allah to bless you with his great blessings. "Are you bragging that Allah blessed you with his great... " No, I'm not bragging. Every time I think of how I've been blessed, my soul is making Sajda. I'm making Sajda inside my body. I humble myself completely to G-d because I know I have nothing except what G-d gave me, I have nothing. And I wonder, why me? I am nothing.

26:40 IWDM: I came from a father, a father from Georgia, a man from Georgia. He was nobody, he was a drunkard, he was a habitual drunk. He couldn't stand the depression times, he couldn't come home to see his wife and his children with no money. So, he stayed out in the street drinking. He stayed drunk all the time so, he wouldn't have to be conscious of it. No more than he had to. And my mother told me, she said "Son, I used to have to go out and find him in the streets, and bring him on my shoulders." She was a strong woman. I saw her carry a 100 pounds of beans up the steps. Yes, my mama. 100 pound bag of beans, that was doing the time they were rationing food, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad told them to store food away, put food away. As she was... I was too small to carry that 100 pound bag but she would carry it. And she told me, she said "Son, I used to carry your father on my shoulder and take him to the bed, she said." And then, push him off my shoulder unto the bed and he would fall upon the bed. And that's where he would stay until he got woke up the next day.

27:42 IWDM: She was telling me that not to tell me my father was a drunkard. She was telling me, to tell me what my father received from Fard, Mr. Fard, W.F Muhammad or W.D. Fard, had made such a change in his mind. And that we should be so happy for that happening because if that hadn't happened, we would have a drunk for a father. That's what my mother was telling me. But that's what I came from. I came from him, I was born to him. That was my father. And I was born to Clara Muhammad who never received more than seven grades education. She says "Son, the highest I was able to go in school was seventh grade." And my father told us the highest he was able to go in school was the third grade. Not because they were ignorant but because they had to work in the fields or their parents told them to work in the field I guess or whoever their boss was told them "Look, You're not bringing enough in, getting enough money. You better push them... " Your boss would tell you, "You better put those children out there in the field to help you." And they had to go to the field with their parents to work.

29:11 IWDM: A man like Moses, Muhammad is called, a man like Moses. What is the understanding we are to get from that statement in the Qur'an? That Muhammad is the one that is promised to the people. That would be raised up from among the men, the common men, the men, the brethren, they translated. A man like Moses, a man like unto Moses. What are we to understand from that? Moses was a man who was not educated. How do we know that? He had to have the help of Aaron his brother, to communicate. G-d gave him his brother Aaron as a Prophet too. Aaron was made a prophet by G-d. Gave him his brother Aaron as a helper to him, to help him communicate. Why? Because his tongue had a knot in it. Had a knot in it. What is to be understood by a knot in his tongue? It means that he was not of educated language, he was not of eloquent speech, et cetera. He was not an educated man. That was the knot in his tongue. Moses was not educated by his people. He couldn't have been educated by his people, because he was sent from his people as an infant upon the river.
