08/22/1976
IWDM Study Library 
A New Heaven and A New Earth
Jubilee Atlanta, Ga

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Thank you so much. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, May His Peace and His Blessings forever be upon His Servant and His Messenger Muhammad. Ameen. I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah, the One and Only. There is nothing likened unto Him and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave, servant and His Messenger. We give greetings to the Honorable Mayor Maynard Jackson who is with us, to the city of Atlanta, to the representatives of the Christian community who are here, Imam Ibrahim Pasha, and to all of our honorable guests we greet you with a greeting of all the Prophets from Abraham to Muhammad: The greetings of Peace-As Salaam Alaikum.
It is indeed a great blessing that comes to us today, to be received so warmly, with such admiration. It is a great blessing that we are not just Muslims here, that is by religious title or denominational title, that we are of the Church, of the Mosque, and of the street. All of us are here today and we have one spirit, if we don't have one mind. I don't know how many of you have the mind of truth, but I have felt that there is one spirit dominating this beautiful arena here. And as the Mayor said, and I bear witness, that this audience here is one of the most beautiful audiences I've ever seen.
Whenever the colored people, as we are called, or Negro as we are called, Afro American as we are called, Bilalian as I choose to be called. Whenever we get together there is beauty radiating from our faces. G-d has made us beautiful. It's not because of the blackness of our skin that we are beautiful, but it is because we understand the blackness of the human heart that we are beautiful. We understand the depths of darkness and ignorance and coldness that can take over a human being's heart. So whenever there is an opportunity for us to get close to each other, we just light up. G-d has made us over centuries, over many, many generations, over thousands of years. G-d has made us into a beautiful people. a people that once we find a cause or movement that allows us to come together again as brothers and sisters, we light up, because the forces of society has held us down and kept us away from the warmness for so long. If G-d blessed our society, we would still not be appreciated.
Now, I'm not saying that you are very special in any physical sense, but certainly you are special in a human sense, and you are special in that sense especially because the forces of the world have made you special. Some men are destroyed by prison, by enslavement, by abuses, by cruelties. Some men are destroyed. And there are some men that are made better by the trials and tribulations. But we, as a people, we have survived many cruel and horrible inhuman unbelievable experiences and we have come out of it with the spirit of the Prophets. A spirit that says, "I love G-d in any form other than the human form." Isn't that a great awakening that we have? That's why Almighty G-d has chosen the dark skinned, the black skinned, the curly-haired, the nappy head, Bilalian people to today lead this world today up the road of moral excellence and human understanding.
We thank Allah, and so many great things have been said here today that I see no need of holding you long. We're going to make it a very short address, a life jubilee. I would like to begin by saying the word jubilee is taken from the Bible. The Old Testament carries the term jubilee. The Jews, as you know, were instructed by G-d, to have a Sabbath and that Sabbath is called the Seventh day, and on that Seventh day they were told that they should rest from their material labor and give their time and their energy and their whole life to Almighty G-d. The Bible also tells us that there was a great jubilee that came at the end of a certain time and it was the multiplying of seven. That became a major jubilee. Seven times seven is 49, so after 49 weeks they had a great jubilee.
This idea of Sabbath and jubilee is an Old Testament idea and since we are still living under Old Testament mentality I thought it'd be a good idea to talk about a jubilee: a life jubilee. The Old Testament, when you read about jubilee, it tells us that this great jubilee, the people would gather together their production, their agricultural production, and they were told to celebrate and make it a grand occasion and jovial. When you're jovial, you know that means happy: happy, full of life, making merriment. Is that right? They were told to gather in all of their product and celebrate their great production. If they didn't make anything, they were still to celebrate. What were they celebrating? They were celebrating production. Can you see these people in the olden days? They followed the Prophets of Judaism. They knew that G-d intended that they do more than sit around and wait for the skies to open up and for bread to fall down from the skies. They celebrated their ability, their talent, their skills, to dig down into the earth and bring out those things that they needed to better their living conditions.
Though we have drifted away from that idea in religion, thinking that religion is just prayer, singing hymns, spiritual excitement or emotionalism, and we have neglected the world, the development of the world, as religious people. We leave the development of the physical world to the government. We leave it to the business people. And most of us are now bent on condemning the business people. We call them wicked demons and Satan because they are getting involved in the development of the earth. The Bible says, G-d says, to go out and subdue the world, multiply. He says, "Use up the world." Isn't that what G-d said? G-d said, "Use up the earth." Then He must've had something in mind for us to have to be using it up. Some of us are afraid use up those few pennies that we made last week, and G-d said, "Go on out and use up the whole world." Some of us don't have the courage to cultivate five acres of the land. G-d said, "Go out and use up the whole world." Is that right? We're talking about life jubilee. All right.
This is a side of life that religious leadership has ignored and has sent the masses of the world, the donkeys of the world. And sent the donkeys of the world... you know, the Democrats, they represent the donkeys of the world... Have sent the donkeys of the world right downhill in the poor valley and lifted up all their wealth up there on top so the few rich can enjoy. Religious leadership has failed the world.
Now, I'm not here to condemn a Church, a Mosque, a Synagogue. I'm here to condemn religious leadership. I'm here to tell you what life is all about. G-d said He made two legs for you to use, not one. G-d didn't make any one-legged, peg-legged human beings. G-d gave us two legs. He gave us spiritual balance and material balance and He said, "Go on out with your spiritual force that's greater than the whole material creation and use it up." Isn't that what He said? . "Use up the physical resources. Use them up." G-d knew that you can't use them up. He said, "Go out and traverse the boundaries of the heavens and earth, escape the earth if you can, but you can't do it unless you have great knowledge and power." But G-d didn't say you couldn't do it, did He? He said, "Go on out! Traverse the boundaries of the heavens and earth. Escape the earth! Go on out there in the sky." He said, "But you can't do it unless you have great knowledge and power." G-d wanted us to get great knowledge and power.
That Caucasian group, they got great knowledge and power. They went up there and sat down on the moon. Now they expect to send some type of contraption on Mars. Russia's bringing one back, I hear. But what has the Church, the Synagogue, and the Mosque done? Sit around here and talk about Nicodemus. The very people talking about "Get behind me Satan" have been the ones who've been getting behind Satan have let Satan take over the world. You can't invite them to any decent conversation of developing their society or enriching the community without some of them telling you, "Oh, You sound like Satan. Get behind me, Satan." It took The Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad 44 years to make the church get the congregation to talk about development of land, putting some money in the people's pocket, opening up businesses for the community. They left all of that the government, left all of that to Nicodemus. We thank Almighty G-d Allah that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, despite whatever he has done, whatever he has said in the past, he did wake religion up in America to the need to do something about the poor condition of the masses.
Certainly, we must have a life jubilee. The Bible tells us that G-d is not restricted to the skies nor the earth. Man started out, they looked to the skies, and saw so many wonders up there in the sky. They saw so much order and peacefulness and so many lights and beauty in the sky. And he thought that was the best thing for him. And then developed a desire to live up there. And while I can't go up there physically, but my soul can go up there. We began to think that G-d was sitting up there somewhere and was not on earth. He looked at the earth and he saw the animals beating each other up, competing with each other to survive. He saw the force of the glacier and volcanoes and earthquakes raising a lot of hell on earth for human life and for other life. He saw fires and storms and everything on earth and he thought that this must be hell. He looked up there in the sky and he didn't see nothing but life and beauty up there and quietness. He thought that that must be heaven.
They said, "Oh G-d up there, do something about conditions down here." But he didn't look at the scripture. The scripture says, "Man, I put you down here, not up there. I put you down here." Is that right? "And I put down here because of all these disturbing forces down here. Y'all seeing the volcano, man. Drop a bomb in it and get it out. "Man, I have made you My custodians in creation." Look what G-d is saying about the human being. I know what you have heard, that man is born in sin. We're not talking about that story. That's another story. That's the creation of grafted mentality. Grafted mentality can't be born in anything else but sin. I'm talking about the human being, and G-d said that He made human beings to be the crown of this creation, and He wouldn't trust the care of the creation to anything other than human beings. Is that right?
G-d said He made mind. What is Adam? Adam is the human mind. Not just any intelligence. Human intelligence is an intelligence that's stimulated, that moves and functions and brought into full power by moral consciousness. Any human being that does not have moral consciousness working inside of his mind cannot become a very intelligent human being. I know you have great crooks and liars, but believe me, at one time in their life there was a great activity going on: The activity of that was moved by moral consciousness. The human being is a special kind of mind, a special kind of intelligence, an intelligence that's moved by moral consciousness. The first thing that comes into your mind is that whether or not a thing is good or bad. Is that right? This is right. This is bad. This is good. This is bad. You see? This is loving. This is hateful. This is the beginning of the human language. Is that right?
That intelligence moves out of moral language into what we call the laws of the land. Then later on in the development of our mind, that this here is not practical. Is that right? This here is not rational. This here is not useful in this situation. Is that right? All right. But we begin our language, the intelligent language, with a moral statement. This is good. This is bad. This is loving. This is hateful. This is cruel. This is merciful. So, the language of the child, from his beginning under his mother, is the language of good and bad. "Don't do that. That's not good. Here, take this. This is sweet." All right. G-d made us to develop as a mind but a mind that is held together by moral strength. This is the key. If we want life, we must have intelligent development, intellectual development. That development must be stimulated by moral consciousness.
This is life. This is the only kind of life we can enjoy as human beings. Human beings cannot enjoy any other kind of life. Divorce morality from intelligence and you will destroy human beings. You will turn the human world into a world of monsters and freaks. But if we can keep the proper balance along with moral justice there with intelligence and the appetite for knowledge, then we teach the proper balance of a human being and the human being will grow and grow and grow, and there is no limit to the growth. We don't have to fear to grow. We don't have to fear the world. Don't think things are going to close up on us and there's not going to be anything left. Don't fear poverty. Don't fear the conditions of the economy now. Brothers, G-d has made enough for whatever He has put into creation. He's made enough for all of them. In the Holy Qur'an, G-d says that He has provided for every creature that will ask for a provision. Is that right? All right.
So don't worry about these things. I'm here to tell you that Satan is a liar. Satan is a liar. Satan is a coward. Satan is a freak! That's what I'm here to tell you. And Satan is not a spook. Satan is real! Satan gets his birth right in the minds of men and women. And he gets his birth there because somebody lied to the mind of men and women about the intentions or about the plans of Almighty G-d. All we have to do is tell human beings, men and women, what the plan of G-d is for human beings. I don't care, you can speak to them from the Bible. And the Bible is an awfully mixed up and confused. And it is so confused that in the third book it says, "Death to he that reads and understands." You have to be blessed by G-d to come out with any understanding when you're reading the Bible. But even that Bible, even that Bible my brother, will show you that Almighty G-d had a plan for the human beings: a great plan.
G-d said that He made man true. Not man of a male sex. No. Man is a mind. It was the Western society that translated Adam as man into the male sex. No. Mind. That's what G-d wanted us to know, that your mind is the organ of movement for you. It will move you out of debt. It will move you out of sickness. It will move you out of poverty. But if you don't have no life in your mind, you'll never get any movement at all in creation. Is that right? So, G-d made Adam and had to put him in the garden. Why? Because He hadn't yet turned his mind on. He had to put him in the garden. But once G-d opened up his mind, He didn't have to move Adam another jot. Adam began to move all about the Earth by himself. Is that right? All right.
Here's what the book is telling us: that G-d created you and He's made your best vehicle your mind. That's what will transport you. That's what will move you to from place to place. That's what will carry you to your goals that you want. But you need something. G-d gives you a definite and He also gives you responsibility. Is that right? The Holy Qur'an says that G-d has made you in the best of molds. "Ahsani Taqweem." And He said that if you don't follow His blueprint, if you don't accept His guidance, then your own rebellion brings you down to the lowest of the low, to the most despicable creature. Is that right? This is what the Holy Qur'an says. And the Bible says to who much is given, much is asked. Now if G-d has given us the position of custodian, caretaker, ruler in the creation, then the responsibilities must already be great. The responsibility has to be as great as the blessings. is that right? If G-d has given us the freedom to disturb the order of nature, to go and change jungle life, to go and change the forest, change the water, make the earth a newer, physically a newer... Physically, a newer earth. Change the climate, change the direction of rivers. Man has done this. The mind has been able to do these things. Is that right?
Now if G-d has given us all of this power to work and tame natural forces and rise above the gravity of the earth, and break out of the earth community and go places: To the moon, and go to Mars. So now Here's a creature that G-d has given him the freedom to move out of his birthplace and go on out into other worlds. A bird can't leave his nest. A bird comes back to the same old nest. And every bird is born from the same nest . The sparrows nest that it made this year is the same nest the sparrow made 100 years ago. Is that right? The ant hole this year is the same ant hole he made a thousand or a million years ago. Is that right? All right. But here man make some new homes for themselves. Changes his home and escapes his home and go out into other regions of creation.
Don't you know there is a heavy responsibility on you? G-d has blessed us, blessed us, but there is a heavy responsibility on us. Now, if we don't accept that responsibility, if we don't acknowledge G-d as proof, then G-d will turn all of this into curses. That's what the book says. Here I open to you two ways: The way of life and the way of death. Is that right? "Heed you the way of life. "The way of life is to follow the light of truth. That G-d is not a G-d that would dwell among us like a man or like a woman. This is a silly idea. Nowhere in the book is that idea really given to us. There is a lot of allegory, a lot of stories, a lot of symbolism, and in that symbolism... if you look at symbolism right on the surface you see G-d walking around on earth like a human being. But listen to what the book is saying. Solomon says, "G-d, I made this temple for you, but I know this temple can't hold You. Not only this temple, but the whole earth." He said, "Not even the heavens and heavens can contain You, G-d." Is that right? So Solomon had enough sense to know that G-d wasn't no flesh and blood man that he could house in a temple or that was going to walk around here with us on earth.
I think that G-d is not telling us any foolishness like that. G-d is telling us that He's bigger than creation. Creation is a small thing. "When I made you, man, though I made you of creation, I've given you something of Myself." Isn't that what he said? The Holy Qur'an says every human being, male and female, has been given something of G-d's own spirit and G-d's divine spirit inside that human body enables that human body to do wonders on earth, to do wonders with creation. But if we don't remain faithful to truth, to truth you understand, don't think that G-d is going to be side-by-side with us, we're going to walk shoulder to shoulder with Jesus, we going to sit down somewhere with Jesus one day and be facing Him because Jesus is at our side. No. G-d is closer than your side. G-d is in your mind. If you're alone in the world and can't find one body to sit by, if you can't find one tree or one living thing, if there's nothing but brown dust near you, G-d's still all about G-d. G-d is as close to you as He ever will be. Let the world be full of light. G-d is closer to you. G-d is truth! That's what G-d is. G-d is truth!
Don't get me wrong now. I don't mean that G-d is not a being. I don't mean that G-d is not an intelligent being, that G-d is not a righteous G-d that affects your life, that looks into your life when you invite Him and affects your life and helps you, just as though there was a physical being living with you and walking around with you. I don't mean that's a lie. That's the truth. G-d gets into your being. He comes into your life if you invite Him and He will be present with you just as though a physical being was there. You won't see Him with your physical eye but he'll be more there than any physical thing ever was. But the only way we're to follow G-d is in truth. G-d is too big to keep company with us. But he's given us truth to keep us company and Jesus said, "Know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Is that right? And the Holy Qur'an say the very attribute of G-d is truth, that G-d is a hawk with wings of truth. All right.
We can't have any life jubilee if we're going to go around with one eye closed and hopping on one leg. If we want a life jubilee, we have to keep rational balance, moral balance. We have to be conscious of our spiritual development, conscious of our physical development, conscious of our moral development, conscious of the total development of the full human being, conscious of our obligation to other members in this society. And G-d has not only made us one blood, but He's also made us one creation. If you ignore to tend to the need of a tree, you're failing G-d to some degree. If you don't tend to black earth beneath your feet, you're ignoring and you're failing G-d in some degree, for G-d has put you here to be the crown of creation and to serve the needs of creation wherever you find them. G-d blessed you with another jubilee. As Salaam Alaikum.



