04/05/1996
IWDM Study Library 
Jumuah Hyatt Regency

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
We praise G-d, we witness that He is One. We associate none with Him in worship. We witness that Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed about 1400 years is the seal of the Prophets, the last of the Prophets, Prayers and the Peace be upon him and what follows of that best salutation to the last Prophet. We thank Allah for our presence here, our health and our ability to be present here today. We thank Allah for making us Muslims, inviting us to the religion of Islam, making us Muslims, giving us the faith, enabling us to have a community. We pray to Allah, who sent Messengers one after another, Prophets and Messengers, one after another. Prophets who were also Messengers us one after another until the last Muhammad about 1400 years ago. The Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace. He was a child of Mecca where the Kaa'ba is, where we turn in prayer, that direction, the Qibla, our direction of prayer. He was a citizen or child of that city and he was also a member of the family of the big tribe of Quraish, the most respected tribe of Arabia, of the Arabs, of that peninsula called Arabia. Saudi Arabia now. We witness that he was that Prophet who received the Qur'an, last revelation, the last word of G-d, not just to the Arabs of that peninsula or to the people of that peninsula called Arabia or Saudi Arabia, but to the whole world, to the whole of mankind. And Allah says of Muhammad the last Prophet, that he's a mercy to all the worlds, that he's a mercy to all the worlds. We witness also that the house, the Kaa'ba. or the Bait, the house that we turn to in prayer, directing ourselves in prayer all around this world, over a billion of us. That that house was not just built for the local people of that land. That house was built for all people. G-d says, highly glorified is He, Allah Subhana Wa Ta Alah. Highly glorified is He. He says that it is the first house built for the worship of G-d and for all people-Buyne Al In Nas, built for all people. We know also that G-d has cautioned us Himself with the Qur'an, the words of G-d in the Qur'an, that we should not take that house, that symbol there, to our hearts and to our minds as something to be worshipped.
We should not let it mystify us to the point that we think it has some power of its own. It's only stone, only stone. As a symbol, it has a great message. Then G-d says that in that house is guidance, guidance for mankind in that house itself. That means in the symbol itself. If you understand the message in the symbol. That in that message that's in the symbol or in the symbolic house itself that represents something else, an abstract though it's concrete. If you understand that, there's guidance in there for all people, for mankind. But don't worship the house. G-d says for the people of the Quraysh, therefore worship the Lord of this house, knowing that He is the one who gave you food, provided for you your food, and safety from fear. The one who provided for them food in the time of hunger and saved them or gave them security against fear. Therefore, worship the Lord of this house, not the house. Worship the Lord of this house, the one who fed you in the time, hunger and saved you and gave you security against fear.
Now, G-d says also, "What is the matter with you?" So, everybody didn't respond as they should have responded. G-d says, "What is the matter with you that you don't respond when it is G-d and the Messenger who calls you to life?" Actually, the language is "Who calls you to that which gives you life, who calls you to that which gives you life?"
We just heard the call of prayer for the Jumu'ah, the big gathering, the most sacred day in Islamic life or in Islamic community life. Jumu'ah Friday. We just heard the call to prayer on this day, on this very special day, the most holiest, the most sacred of days for Muslims. Jumu'ah. Even more sacred than the Eid Al Adha, than Eid Al Fitr, the Eid Al Adha. More sacred than any holiday. This day. The Jumu'ah that comes every week for us, every week for us. This great Friday. You just heard the call and the call said, Haya Al Salat. Haya Al Falah. Come to prayer, come to worship, come to prayer. Come to worship. And Haya Al Falah. Come to success. Come to success. This is a religion that invites us to worship G-d and G-d alone, to make the proper prayers to Him, the Salat, which are five in number. And follow the way of Muhammad, the tradition of Muhammad the last Prophet, Prayers and Peace be on him.
Follow his, what they call his Sunnah, his way, his tradition, his life, his life that he set before us as he practiced the religion under G-d, under G-d's order. And under G-d's invitation. So, this religion says Haya Al Salat. Haya means life, living, living. Haya means living. There's a proverb in the Bible and it is reasoned to be an Arab proverb by theologians of the Bible. Christian theologians themself. It says, "A living dog is better than a dead lion." The Arabs know this saying very well. "A living dog is better than a dead lion." So, this is a religion that the Arabs appreciated because they were a band of people. A band of many tribes banded together or divided one against another. And then Muhammad brought the Qur'an to them, Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Salaam-Prayers and Peace be upon him. They were disbanded, they were not united but some of them banded together. Some of their tribes banded together. And the stronger would band together and the more numerous would band together and impose their way on the others until Islam came and united them and made them one community.
All of those tribes came under one community, the community of Al Islam. And that tribe we mentioned, that most respected of all the tribes that the Prophet was born of, the tribe Quraysh. It was known for its strong, strong spirit of community. The Quraysh tribe had the strongest community spirit of all the other tribes. It was known to have more social life, more social establishment, more social principles, more social laws than all the other tribes. Its history, especially its history preceding the birth of Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be on him, for a couple of hundred years or so. It's history was a history of strong community life. And it was a Prophet out of that tribe, out that most noticeable and most respected of all the tribes. It was a Prophet out of that tribe that was chosen to be the Prophet of the whole of humanity. And G-d says to us that "This community of yours is one community and I am your Lord, therefore worship only me." This is the word of G-d to us. So you can see in the words that I've given you so far in this Kutbah, on this very special day, you can see the emphasis on community. And the Kaa'ba there is a symbol for the unity of the community. The Kaa'ba, the symbol for the unity of the community. And this community wasn't intended to be just a local community. This community is intended to be community covering the whole world.
G-d says again, "You are the best of the communities evolved for all people." Antum. You many, the many you. All Muslims. 'Khairu Ummatan", that's the most useful, the most beneficial of all the communities. "Ukrija lin Nas." Evolved for all people. Moses is a Prophet, upon him be Peace who's very special in the Prophetic projection of the word and plan of G-d. And Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him, is established in the Qur'an and in the tradition as a Prophet like unto Moses. And we know that Moses is known to have led a people outside of another social system, outside of another political government or political power and outside of their social and cultural system into an independent social and cultural system. That's what we know Moses, the same thing we know now of Muhammad. G-d blessed him to lead the community of Muslims into a sense of government.
They realized the first government in the city of Medina Al Munawwarah, the city of the light or the Enlightenment. They realized a sense of government. They became a government there and a kingdom was established on earth right there. And it's still there. And it's still a lovely place, a beautiful place to visit. And it's still the second of the most sacred places for Muslims on this earth. That place where the Prophet established his home and for the purpose of establishing a system for the social life of the Muslims, or government system. And that is to spread until it covers the whole earth, embrace everybody. Not that everybody will be a believer or everybody will accept it, but it is to invite everybody and some from everybody will come. Some from everybody will come. This religion has not just an attraction for whites, or an attraction for Araba or an attraction for blacks. We know that the Prophet in his last sermon, he played down the importance of these things over the importance of the word of G-d in the community of Muslims.
He said there's no superiority of a black over a white and no superiority of white over black. And then he addressed nationalism. There's no superiority of Arabs over non-Arabs or of a non-Arab over an Arab. So, you get away from all of that. In Islam there could be no nationalism as a part of our religion. Our religion does not permit us to have nationalism as a principle or a concern for our religion. And it doesn't permit us to have racism or racial arrogance or racial supremacy at all. There is no superiority of one color over another and there is no superiority of one nation over another. We know that this is the confusion that has affected the world before. People claiming to be G-d's chosen nation and that damn nation was going be the nation for all the world to recognize and for all the world bow down and pay homage to. We know that was in the religion, but this Islam kills it, takes it out. So let us not jump into these traps that were designed by people, generations before us and thousands of years before us. Don't drop into their old rusty traps.
But accept Islam, the refined and beautiful religion that appeals to every decent, sensible human being. It appeals to your heart, it appeals to your mind, it appeals to your spirit. It appeals to your flesh and blood. This religion is a religion that unites you with your own self and unites you with your own people and with other people that belong to you by distant relationship established upon the belief that Adam is the father of us all. It enjoins you with G-d, the Creator of us all. That religion gives you peace in your heart, in your soul and you feel good. So don't even think about having somebody tell you something different. Allahu Akbar.
So, we praise G-d that have called us to faith. That we have heard a calling to faith, and we have responded saying we believe. Praise be to Allah. And that caller we know who was calling is Muhammad. That was Muhammad the last Prophet calling us to faith, and we have responded and accepted faith. And we know also that G-d calls us to life. That means we also must accept the life. So, we praise G-d who created everything and planned the whole creation to support His aim. His will and His aim, which is to have the best of creation serving Him and Him alone. And the best of creation is rational man and the rational human community that accepts the guidance of G-d and form their community accordingly and worship G-d only and work for G-d's pleasure to make themselves better and better, more excellent. More excellence in this life, every day and every year, until the end of time. We praise G-d for His creation of Muhammad the Prophet. He created Muhammed the Prophet. We praise Allah for his creation, Muhammed the Prophet. We accept him as the Messenger of G-d and seal the Prophets the last. We praise Allah for the Messenger of G-d and we follow his tradition. We don't follow any other man's tradition over our Prophet's tradition. We don't follow any other man's ideas over our Prophet's way. We don't follow any other man's ideology over what has been given to us in the Qur'an and the life of our Prophet.
We don't let any other ideology come in the way of the Qur'an and what the Prophet has given us from himself, from his own life. Whether it be education, the secular world knowledge or whether it be their Bibles, their scriptures, or whether it be their political ideology, their nationalism. We reject it all if it conflicts with what G-d has given us in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah, the life of the Prophet. Praise be to Allah. Allah is greater. Allahu Akbar. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Al Amin. Praise be to G-d, the Lord of all the worlds, the Sustainer, the Cherisher of all the worlds. And for G-d is the Praise and the thanks. Ameen.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Al Amin, Praise and thanks is for Allah, the Lord Sustainer, the Creator, Sustainer and Cherisher of the universe. We witness that He's one and one alone and has no partner in the rule of the heavens and the earth. And we witness that Muhammed, to whom the Qur'an was revealed about 1400 and so years ago is the seal of the Prophets prophesied in the scriptures, the last of the Prophets. The prayers and the peace be upon him, Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam, Am Abad. Then what follows of that salute to the last Prophet. We pray that Allah gives strength to our weak people and to our aging people, to our sick people. Give them health and strength to live, see their lives out as they want it to be on this earth.
And we hope that Allah will increase this community, its members in knowledge, the knowledge of Islam first of all. We hope that Allah will increase this community in the knowledge of Islam. And the knowledge of Islam is to be found in the Qur'an first and in the life of the Prophet to whom the Qur'an was revealed. If we read the Qur'an, we can't help but learn of Muhammad the Prophet. The Qur'an was revealed to him. The words came through him. The language was first spoken. The language we read on the pages of the book in Arabic now translated to hundreds of languages by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the last two years have made available the translation of Qur'an in more than a hundred languages.
We know that that language, when you read the language, the words itself, that human beings speak, we know that that language came from the mouth of Muhammad the Prophet. It didn't come from anybody else's mouth. It was his mouth first. Even though we know the angel with the medium. Gabriel, Jibril was a medium to bring it to Muhammad the Prophet from Allah, G-d Himself. But that language, those words did not come from Jibrils mouth. Jibril does not have the mouth of a man. The words came from Muhammad's mouth, Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam. The Prayers and the Peace be upon him. Came from his mouth. Just as you're hearing my voice now, and you're hearing my words now, me speaking of what G-d revealed to Muhammed the Prophet when they were sitting before him in Arabia 14 centuries ago, they heard his voice, and they didn't hear a word of Qur'an until they heard Muhammad's voice.
And then the scribes began to write it down and preserve it for generations to come. So, understand the reality. Don't let the spookism kill the reality. Keep your eyes open and yearn to understand the reality. The reality is your foundation. The reality is your strength. The reality is your key for the victory in the future. Stick to the reality and don't let spookism or mysticism take you off the reality, the foundation of reality. Now in my conclusion concluding this Khutbah, I said I was going to speak for only 15 minutes and conclude within 25. I think I'm going a little bit over the time. Praise be to Allah. In my conclusion of this khutbah on this wonderful, special day, the most sacred of days for the Muslim community of the whole world and the international, the international Muslim community. And I want to invite you, all of you, to read what has happened since 1975. Read it not on pages, page for page. Read it in your recollection.
Read it in the effect it has had on you. Read it. And when you read it you'll see that we are in accord with G-d's plan that He has for all people in the Qur'an. And that plan is to motivate them, to give them the spirit to want to be a community and to want to be responsible for community life. To be responsible for community life, you have to appreciate life first of all. We are told that Islam is a comprehensive religion, meaning it leaves out nothing important for the life of people. It is a comprehensive religion. But you should first understand that life is comprehensive itself. Human life is not satisfied with just having hymn books. Human life wants more than that. It wants more than just the hymn books. So, we find that human life when it's established and strong and it can accommodate places for the hymn book readers, we find that it's supported by something a little bit broader than the hymn book reader.
It's supported by knowledge, faith, knowledge sciences, not one science sciences, many sciences. And a community of people that appreciate that and raise their children to appreciate that and raise their children to qualify in the avenues, in the avenues of intelligence, in the avenues of knowledge. And G-d says, knowledge huh? He has created us that we should have knowledge. Saying that He brings our attention to the fact that He has made us rational. He made us to look for logic. He made our minds to want to look for logic, to look for understanding, to get out of confusion. To free the mind of ignorance and confusion. He said He had made us like that. Then why don't we respond to the Qur'an, the book from G-d that respects the best of us. And the Prophet said that G-d has not made anything better for a human being than his ability to reason.
If he didn't have the ability reason, he wouldn't be any higher than that animal on the totem pole of evolution. But because he has the ability to read, to think himself into another vision for the future, to think himself into another idea for his life, he has the ability to reason and break from old molds and old restraints. And old laws, and old ways, and old culture. And come into another house of knowledge, culture, morals, et cetera that gives them a different behavior. So, in my conclusion, I want to invite you to look at what has happened since 1975. Review it in your own mind, in your own memory, in your own life experiences. Review it even though it's touched you maybe just 5% or maybe 2%. Review it and see where we’re at today. Listen to the community today. Try to identify the spirit today. The spirit today is community. That's what the spirit is. And you have to now take on that spirit so that spirit will affect your behavior. So, your behavior will become the community behavior. You won't be to be behaving like black people divided against each other. Or like black Muslims divided against other Muslims. You'll take on a new spirit. And as a result, that new spirit will help form in you a new behavior, a new behavior. And you'll be ready then to follow us on the road to a new destiny.
And the destiny is a great community. Great community, providing all the needs for human life as G-d intended. Great community under G-d, under the Qur'an, the real destiny. So, we ask Allah to always give us guidance. Forgive those who error, show us mercy. Turn to us and accept our prayers for forgiveness. Have mercy on us and give us guidance. Give us the guidance that You provide, the guidance that You have provided, the Qur'an, the Qur'an. Oh Allah, we pray as Muslims pray all over this world among the learned. Make the Qur'an accessible to us. And make the living of it easy for us and keep us in this way and let us be witnesses to the Prophet that we are the people of Qur'an and the people in the following of Muhammad the Prophet and the people for justice under G-d. Ameen.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Ash Hadu An La Ilaha Il Allah. Ash Hadu Anna Muhammadan Rasulullah. Haya Al Salat, Haya Al Salat. Haya Al Falah, Haya Al Falah. Ikhama Tu Salat. Ikhama Tu Salat. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. La Ilaha Il Allah.
We want to welcome all of you to Chicago. We are very happy to know you are here in these big numbers for Jumu'ah. We want to acknowledge your Imams from around this area in the Chicago area and from the distant places in these United States. We want to acknowledge them that they appear. And everywhere I go, the Imams well represent you. They're in big numbers everywhere I go.
So, we want to acknowledge them. Wish you all very beautiful stay here in Chicago and we pray to Allah that we have results for this weekend celebrating our achievements since 1975. I'm looking at men right now in business. One of them put $10,000 in my hand at one time. Yes. And another one who also donates thousand dollars, not hundreds. And on a regular basis. And there are several others that are doing this and it's making it possible for me to not have to worry about money for my travel and my dawah and myself and my family. They make it possible for me not to worry about that so I don't have to press the poor. These brothers are giving big assistance to make up for that that is lacking after the poor have made their contribution. Thank you very much all of you. Have a good evening, good day and good evening and InshaAllah I will see you both tomorrow and Sunday. I hope we'll see each other all together. As Salaam Alaikum
Audience:
Takbir. Allahu Akbar.
Host:
Please hold your position until the Imam leaves please.
Also, don't forget, the Imam has two new videos just released here. One is an interview from his visit to Saudi Arabia. Another one is from a lecture he gave in South Carolina.



