11/14/1999
IWDM Study Library 
How Islam Directs Us for the Maximum Benefits in Society and the Hereafter
Los Angeles, Ca

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
This is the National Public Broadcast of W. Deen Mohammed Muslim-American Spokesman. The following lecture titled: How Islam Directs Us for the Maximum Benefits in Society And the Hereafter was recorded Sunday, November the 14th, 1999 at the Western Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, California. The lecturer is W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim American Spokesman.
Bismillah Ar Rahma, Nir Raheem. Wa Ashadu An La Ilaha, Wa Ta Sharika Lahu. Wa Ashadu Ana Muhammadan Rasulullah. Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam. We Praise G-d, we witness that He's one, there is nothing like unto to Him. We witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, His servant and His Messenger, May the peace be upon him and on his companions, his descendants all and upon us be peace. Ameen. Yes, this question brought to my mind several things and what we have to be aware of is that we didn't foresee that we would be where we are right now today. We didn't foresee this. We only had hope, an idea, and we didn't know how it would be fulfilled at what place, at what time.
We certainly didn't know that it would bring us on the world scene and that we would be working with world leaders and world organizations, organizations that have the interests of the world and human family on their agenda. We didn't know at all that we would be in a situation like we are today. So, this reality changes a lot of things for us. This reality puts heavy demands on us. It asks much more of us than what was asked before. So, any effort that we make now in this association of Muslims, the Muslim American Association, it has to be the best. It has to be in accord with the Qur'an. It has to be respecting the life example of Muhammad the Prophet and acknowledging him and thanking G-d for him and appreciating him for being the one that first introduced the Islamic way of life to this world and made it very successful and made possible for us to embrace Islam and be Muslims here in America.
If that had not happened, there would be no Muslims anywhere. And we thank G-d for him and we appreciate him and we know G-d's will for us in relationship to him. His will is that we follow the best and the best human example is Muhammad the Prophet, Peace be upon him. He's the best example in his personal life and also as a public figure. He's the best example. He's the best example for the husband who has no responsibility except to take care of his family and support this society. He's the best example for the leader who's in charge of the society. He's the best example for all. So, we should be aware of the universal context of our life now. It's not just black, it's not just America, it's international. We belong to the international community of Muslims and we have to be conscious of that membership in the international community of Muslims. And this religion Islam, it's no small issue. It's a very big issue.
It has universal respect, not only from Muslims of the world, but from non Muslims. It has universal respect. Prophet Muhammad, you have to be aware that he has universal respect, not just from Muslims but from Christians and other religions. He has universal respect. So, the greatest demand on us, all of us to understand where we are going, the vision is a vision that has to do with where we are to take our lives, where we're going with our lives. And that vision has to be in accord with Islam because we identify as Muslims. It has to be in accord with Islam. Now with that much out of the way, The Qur'an in the Qur'an, the words from Chapter, small Chapter in the Qur'an, "Wa Teeni, Wa Zaytun, Wa Turi Sineen, Wa Hadhal Baladal Amin." "By the fig, and the olive and by Mount Sinai, is this town made safe."
"Wa Khalaqal In Sana Fi Ahsani Taqweem." "We have certainly created the human person in the best mold, or the best model." The best mode, "Fi Ahsani Taqweem." Taqweem comes from the word people and people come from the word stand. And stand is to say established. Established or establishment. Fi Ahsani Taqweem means then In the best stature, best stature, standing position, best stature, the best establishment. And this is, it is no accident that one of the scientific names for the human person that have evolved from his knees, from his hands and knees to this position as Homoerectus. And it means human beings standing straight up like this. Not bent over like an ape or something. Not being bent over like a monkey, an ape or something. So, G-d says, with us being created long before science came up with that concept, that picture of man, in his evolved state, Allah says of him that He created him in the best, "Ahsani Taqweem".
And when we call the prayer, what do we say? "Qat Qama Tu Salat, from the same word. Qama. Qama, Qama. "Qat Qama Tu Salat." It is now the time to stand for prayer. And in a standing position we are reciting the Qur'an and we are facing our Lord. We are conscious of being in the presence of our Lord. So, think not only of persons or human individuals standing and established upon their two feet, but think of community standing. Because G-d compares the establishment of a human person and the life and death of a human person with the establishment of a community and the life and death of a community. So, when G-d says that He has certainly created you in the best mold, I understand that the mold is talking about the establishment. The establishment that G-d intended for the human community, the establishment that G-d intended for the human community.
So, it's not just a personal mold, it's not only a personal mold for a human being, for human excellence. It is a community model. It's a community mold, a community model in the mold G-d intended for it. Now look at the progression here. And I've taken up my 10 minutes already. Look at the progression. "Wa Teeni, by the fig." Now, by the fig. The fig is when it's ripe, it's a tasty piece of fruit, tasty piece of fruit. And what makes it different from the olive? It is not firm like the olive. The olive is firmer than the fig and it's bigger than the olive. But what's really different when you look at these two fruits, the fig and the olive, the olive has one seed, the fig has many seeds. So, what is this referring to? And what is G-d saying? Man, this is on the level, this is on the level of philosophy. And so, if you are not a reader and if you're not interested in the development of man and history and all that, you can't appreciate this like those who are familiar with this language. But I hope you can appreciate it because I can give you a clear picture.
Our minds, when we are trying to solve problems or trying to find direction, trying to find the logic in something, our minds strain when we are trying to think of something that we can invent or produce to help society, our minds strain. And science says that something happens in the mind. It's like you keep rubbing a match and maybe the first time it doesn't light, but after a while it lights and no one can be sure how many strokes it's going to take to light it. These fine matches they make now just one stroke. But I remember hitting several times when I was a boy, try to get their light, the match, the light. But if you keep rubbing, it's going to light. The friction continues, it's going to light. So thought, working with an object, working with an idea, the mind straining with an idea is like scratching, scratching the match.
And if you do it long enough, the burst of light, there'll be a burst of light and they call it spontaneity in the mind. Spontaneity. And many times when it happens, so many things come into the picture that you have to look for how you're going to deal with it. Asking yourself "How I'm going to deal with this?"
So many things come into my mind. It is like the many seeds of the fig. And this, depending on this activity in the brain has brought about beautiful societies. Improvisation they call it in music, right? Yes. It means that you just go with your feeling, you go with your feeling and you have faith in your feeling. You have faith in your impulses, faith in that. And pretty soon if you follow that, it'll start taking a pattern. It'll take a pattern and it'll turn out to be a beautiful piece of music. Spontaneity. Improvisation I think is the word is for jazz, usually it is jazz. Jazz is spontaneous. They follow the lyrics for just a little while, then they take off on their own.
And it turns out to be a beautiful piece. This is mentioned in scripture as, oh, what's his name? Well, I can't think of it but I'll tell you who was like that in his makeup. Bilal, may G-d be pleased with him. Bilal and his name comes from a Bible name. Bilal's name comes from a Bible name. The same person in the Bible that is put down, that was put down by the people and seen as a ignorant, ignorant donkey. This kind of mind is a donkey. And this is a stage in the development of all minds. All minds have to come to that stage. But some minds never go to the second stage. They stay in that stage and they create beautiful things. So, Allah saying to us that that state or that condition in the human mind is not to be despised, is not to be put down, not to be seen as inferior. It's excellent too. "Wa Teeni, by the fig and by the olive." Then it comes to the olive. The olive is mentioned in the Qur'an, an olive from the olive, a tree, a blessed tree, the olive. And it talks about it. And the olive refers to concentrated thought that seeks, same thing, it seeks the light. But it’s focused, it's focused. Like one seed is focused. So, the one seed means that it's focused. It is focused. Where spontaneity is not focused, it's feeling for something. It's not focused.
So here is one state in the mind where we are feeling for things and we are just letting our urges take us to where we have to go. Our natural urges take us to where we have to go. And the other one, it produces really beautiful ideas. Just a burst of abundance of ideas come out when the match is lit. Whereas the other one is focused on one, is focused on one single thing. One G-d, one man, one human family, one universe, one material reality, one material nature. It's focused on the oneness, it's focused on the oneness. And it seeks a logic. It seeks a logic. So, it requires the rational mind to be active. So, the role in this process is given to the rational mind. Whereas the role in the other process is given to spontaneity or the spiritual urges, the spiritual urges.
Then we come to Turi Seneen, Turi Seneen. Now Turi Seneen refers to spirit. Spirit. And you wouldn't hardly know it unless you understood Arabic very well, or G-d inspires you to understand it. Turi Seneen refers to the spirit, but it's the spirit that is associated with a bird, with a high flying bird. The Turi Seneen. Now you know Mount Sinai is what Turi Seneen is. It is Mount Sinai. But the movement up the mountain is a movement of the spirit. The spirit is going up the mountain like a high flying bird. So, the role here is given to the intuitive nature, the intuitive nature, but it's seeking, it is entertaining a logic and is seeking understanding of that logic and how that logic is to be understood and applied. So, it is seeking that and it's, it's in the spirit. And this is in the Bible. When Moses took the people out of Egypt, they had to cross the Red Sea to get out of Egypt. To get out, they had to give themselves to the spirit all night long. Said, all night long the winds were blowing. And finally when the day came, the winds had parted the sea and we they were able to walk across with rational minds on dry land.
Beautiful, beautiful. So, these are mysteries of the nature of the human brain, the human intellect, the mysteries of the human intellect to help us understand where G-d wants us to go. So, G-d is saying that this is how He has created the human intellect. He has created the human intellect to take these forms and everybody has all of these in him. I have the fig in me, I have the olive in me, and I have the high flying bird in me that will take me up to the top of Mount Sinai. We all have that, but Moses had to come down from the mountain. "Wa ha Thal Baladil Amin." "And this town made safe and secure." So, it's four steps really. So, unless you're able to come down and know how to apply what was revealed, you are not home yet. Now why am I telling you all of this? Because this is how I have come to the vision that I have.
I have come to the vision like that. And if you want to help me, you have to use all of that. Some of you are given to spontaneity more than to rational activity. We need all of you. We need all of you. And there are some of you who are spiritual, you're looking to be near G-d. You want to be with G-d, you want to serve G-d's will. You want to know His plan, you want to go to Mount Sinai and come down and do the work. We need all of you. But where we should focus and know what we are doing "Is this town may safe?" Yes, this is where we all can come and speak the same language. In the town, we can come and speak the same language. Maybe I can't speak to the man who is given to spontaneity. He has his own language.
And maybe I can't speak to the one who's the high flying bird. He has his own language. But down here, this familiar territory we call the city or the land, this community, we can speak one language and we can make great progress. So, we want to encourage all of you to use your best talents and to seek fulfillment, fulfillment for yourself, for your ideas, but in with an interest in using whatever you come up with to better the state of our community, the state of our vision for our society on this earth in America. Now you say, "Well how can we best help you?" You can best help me by looking for some activities, some organization, some effort by people you respect in this community that's already doing something and answering the need for us to materialize the hope and the vision. So, look for them first.
Look for somewhere to work first. Don't think you are starting out and no one else has done anything yet. Someone has done something. So, look in your town. You can't find anything in your town, look at other towns and find some work being done by the Muslim community under good abled leadership, trustworthy leadership. And then if you don't go and join them, at least consult them or investigate what they're doing so that you'll have help from something that has already made some progress. That's my advice to you. And I think what I have given you as a future or aim for us is clear. It should be very clear to you. Simply put the best society for man under G-d. That's what we want. The best society for a man under G-d. Before we were told build a nation, we were trying to build a nation under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. It's no different. The only difference is we don't have emphasis on Nationalism. We don't have an interest even in Nationalism per se. And we don't have any interest in organizing people under some government. Only the government of Islam. The government that is seen and the authority of the Qur'an, and the way of our Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him. But the life is the life of society. That's why it's called ummah.
It is not called wattan. Wattan means nation. Not ummah. Wattan means nation in Arabic, not ummah. Ummah means society. Society intended by G-d, just like family comes from mama. Society comes from G-d too. G-d created mama, G-d created mama and daddy. And G-d determined how families would be established. So, we should want to establish society the same way. And it's called Ummat. And Umba becomes become Ummah. And Umi is my mother. If I want to say my mother, I say Umi, my mother. Ummati means my community, my community. And it does not mean our local community. Ummati means our international community. G-d says you are the best community. So, the community of Muslims is an international community. So, what we have locally is nothing but a local model in that international community. So, stop thinking of our community as a community separate from the international community.
It is not. Whatever we build will be an addition or an establishment within the international community. And we can strive to make it as excellent as we can. We can become a leading model in the international community. We have that freedom and that right. And G-d says, "Let there come out of you a band a group, a special group of people out of the whole international community." So, G-d wants these separate efforts and individual efforts because some will be blessed more than others and G-d want us all free to work on building this special community so that the community at large will have the benefit of the best resources and the best people. And it will be influenced and led by the best of its members or by the best of its efforts to have community established as G-d wants it established.
If you have an interest in furthering your education, further your education, if you have an interest in going to school and increasing your skills, you say, "Well, I want to do this, but I need some more skills." Do it. Anything that you see you need to do to put you in a position to better serve and contribute to this ideal model of human society on earth, do it. Don't work with people that you can't agree with. Don't work with people that don't share your enthusiasm. It's like putting a live coal among a lot of dead coals. And what happens is the dead coals sap your energy and pretty soon you're dead with them. Thank you very much. As Salaam Alaikum.



