November 6th 2001
IWDM Study Library
IWDM at Greensboro NC

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Speaker 1: It's indeed an honor and a privilege for me to have been invited to be a part of this program today. It's been an honor also and a privilege for me to bring you greetings, not only 400,000 citizens of Greensboro county, but also bring you greetings on behalf of the oldest, the largest, the most talked about, the most feared, the most hated, yet still the most respected and most effective civil rights organization on earth, the NAACP. I bring you special greetings on behalf of the North Carolina state conformance of NAACP branches where I'm proud to serve as the president of that organization, and it's indeed an honor for us to have our doctor Mohammad in our area today.
He's a legend within his own right and not to mention all the big sacrifices and commitments that his father has given to America. It's a good day for Greensboro to have him in our midst and I'd like for him to come back again and tour the city and stay for a little while longer. I also have to apologize for leaving early, I won't be able to hear him speak, I have one of my employees our son that got killed the other day and his dad's having his funeral at 1:30, so if you forgive me for not staying I would appreciate that again thank you and G-d bless you.
Moderator: Next we'll have Greetings from Goldsboro's wide city council member.
Speaker 3: I join [unintelligible 00:01:49] in welcoming all of you here today, greetings on behalf of the city of Greensboro. I understand that our mayor pro tem Evan Johnson officially welcomed Doctor Mohammad this morning at the breakfast, but I'm here to say welcome again. It's a privilege to have you back in Greensboro. I had the pleasure meeting and hearing him a couple years ago, and I want to say that since meeting you a couple of years ago it's made a tremendous difference in my life. I got to meet Imam  Nuruddin and I've been able to understand and appreciate and to, I think serve better in Greensboro because I understand the diversity, and I understand the reason that we can all work together to make this a better community, and I want to say that I've had that support since you were here and it was what you instructed folk to do and they've been obedient, and I wanted to share that with you today.
I also greet all of you who are visiting to hear this great man on behalf of the over 223,000 people who live in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is a great city, and it's a great city because we are working together to unify this community and to make it a wonderful place for everybody to live and enjoy. G-d bless you and be good.
[applause]
Moderator: Next we'll have Terrence Mohammad to give greetings from the students here at NC A&T University. Terrence Mohammad.
Terrence Mohammad: Assalamu alaikum.
Congregation: Alaikum Salaam.
Terrence Mohammad: In the name of Allah the beneficent and the merciful, I bear witness there's no G-d, but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger. Once again I'd like to greet everyone in the greeting words of peace in paradise Assalamu alaikum. How's everyone doing? We should be fine because we have the blessings of Almighty G-d, Allah, on us today, and I'm here not representing myself. I'm here representing the Muslim student association here on campus in behalf of my president, our president sister Sajida, who was not able to attend today, and on behalf of the Muslim student association, and some other clubs that I'm a part of, such as the history club, some other community clubs and the city we welcome the Imam here, not only in the city, but on our campus.
The reason why I can boldly stand that because I attend A&T and as the students here we're known for activism and our directness and our flair for intellect and knowledge, and we seek knowledge. As it says from the cradle to the grave. We're here to welcome our brother because we know that Islam as the Muslim student association as a new organization, not in the nation, but on this campus, we're striving here to make our campus and not just for us or our students a campus of peace, because we know that Islam is peace, and our way of doing things on campus, we want to spread the vision of prophet Mohammad peace be upon him, of love and the humanitarian way of life that he lived amongst the student population.
The Muslim student association is here to offer guidance and to enlighten the student body on Islam. We're here today in lieu of everything that's happened. Sometimes we think in the darkest hours there's no light, but also in the darkest hours where creation comes. In this dark hour, we know that a light has started to expand which is causing a new creation that I see on this campus, and that's the spread of Islam, and not only Islam because we're not here to quote on quote, overshadow or overpower nobody. But as we believe we're trying to get people back their own nature and give them back to their own selves.
We now that their own selves is to submit to G-d. To be in oneness with G-d, and we want the whole campus to be in oneness with G-d as we want the whole city to be in oneness with G-d because we know those four freshmen in 1960 that set down world war since caused a whole nationwide change. We here as Muslim students want to affect a change, not only on campus, but in the city, and eventually throughout the world. On behalf of our president sister Sajida from the Muslim student association we welcome with open hearts and we thank the Imam for coming to grace and bless our campus with the blessings of Allah's words and guidance to us.
For my fellow students that maybe hear these greetings only means peace be onto you and if anyone knows us or in campus you know that we're always cheerful and loving, smiling and peaceful people, that's what we want to give, that's why the brother is here today to give that blessing that he'd giving to us to you. Thank you, assalamu alaikum.
Moderator: Thank you, Terrence. Next, we'll have Imam Nuruddin to introduce Imam W.D. Mohammad.
Imam Nuruddin: Assalamu alaikum. G-d's name the merciful benefactor the merciful redeemer. It's prior to me doing this we've got so many good people and noted people in the audience here today from various parts of the country. Many in the association of Imam W.D. Mohammad and some who are not. Let me recognize the Imams that are here first. Those Imams that are in the audience, would all just please stand up for us all. Great. This body of Imams who are here today. Mukhtar Mohammad is here, Khemin Alamin, Omar Shaheed, David Hassan.
These are members of the Islamic affairs council, it is a voice in Muslim American society that is concerned about Islamic content and where we're going based on the Quran and the traditions of our prophet, praise and peace be upon him. We also have Sister Bassema Saleh, who is a secretary to Imam W.D. Mohammad here, sitting with us here on the end. Also, Imam [unintelligible 00:08:58] who is a steering committee member of the Muslim America society monitoring team, we all know those of you who are in North Carolina, you know sheikh Kenneth Mohammad who's been the pioneer really to open up the state for most all of us.
He made that transition from following the father of Imam W.D. Mohammad to today in following Imam W.D. Mohammad today, he had been a trailblazer and a pioneer. He and his wife sister Margaret, to opening up this state for us, also we have Munir Mohammad here who is the state representative from the Imams in the state of North Carolina, and you heard from Imam Barny Farid who is the representative of Imams in this section, also Adam Peter and his wife just came in and I see Waheeb Abdul Hafeez, Waheeb he and his wife are here and this here is doctor Lincoln's widow is here.
[unintelligible 10:00:01] Abdul [unintelligible 10:00:03] he and his wife are here. This is--see Dr. C.F. Lincolns widow is here, lovely ma'am seated in the back, Dr. C.F. Lincolns widow is here. Would you please stand for us ma'am?
[applause]
Imam Nuruddin: He claimed us black Muslims and really put us on the map in this country and many more people who have traveled from quite some distance; imam Mustapha Sheikh from Fair view North Carolina is here and Salahuddin, Imam Salahuddin; Hassan Salahuddin from Statesville North Carolina. We’re happy to have you all here with us today, we thank you. To Claudette, we thank you for being here; we see the press is here today. I’m proud like you are; I want to hear what’s going to be said too and we’re sure that it’s going to be something relevant to what’s going on today beyond the shadow of doubt.
What the imam is going to is speak for a while and then he will take questions from the audience. He said that he will take questions from the audience. Imam W.D. Mohammed was born to the honorable Elijah Poole and Clara Mohammed on October 30, 1933. After the passing of his father, the founder and builder of the Nation of Islam on February 25, 1975, he has represented Muslims in America, in Oxford, England, at the World Parliament of Religious Leaders for the survival of the earth and at the signing of the Williamsburg Charter along with former US Presidents in Williamsburg Virginia.
Serving on the advisory panel for religious freedom abroad formed by secretary of state or previous secretary of state Madeleine Albright, he helped to promote religious freedom in the US and abroad. The July 7, 1999 issue of the Wall Street Journal, an article cited the growing number of Muslims in the Muslim-American society under his leadership. There are estimated to be at least 2.5 million people today. On February 5, 1992 Imam Mohammed addressed officials, Muslim and military chaplains and had a tour of the Pentagon with Mohammed Ali.
The very next day February 6, he delivered a historical invocation in the US senate ever given by a Muslim. On March 3, 1992 he delivered an address on the floor of the Georgia State Legislature, the state where his father was born. On September 10, 1992 President Hosni Mubarak presented him with Egypt’s highest Religious Honor “The Gold Medal of Recognition” for his religious work in America. He received the same award again in 1993. Imam Mohammed has many historical; first, in 1993 he gave an Islamic prayer at the first inaugural interfaith prayer service of President William Jefferson Clinton and again in 1997 at Clinton’s second inaugural interfaith prayer service.
He sits on various boards; he has had the opportunity of being in the presence of actually world leaders throughout the globe. He is your brother; he’s my brother; he’s the leader of many of us and he’s here to share with us today in his own way what he thinks that we need to know that will benefit us as a public; our brothers and sisters and friends, Imam W.D. Mohammed.
[applause]
_______________________________________________________________________

W.D. Mohammed: Thank you. We praise G-d, the one and only as is said in our holy book the Quran; your G-d and our G-d is one and the same. That is said to--what we call in our Islamic language and tradition, the people of the book. The people of the book are Christians and Jews and also some people; other people I call Sabians in the Middle East and I thought that was a religion that had gone from the earth, but they’re still followers of that religion. Really it's speaking to any who have a legitimate religion, a genuine religion; that is they recognize G-d, supreme power over all things and they feel accountable to that G-d.
They feel that their behavior will have to please that G-d if they expect to have a good life. Life for many, like Christians and Muslims and some others, life here after or life eternally. I want to acknowledge firstly the support that we have gotten from this area, from the Imams from this area and also from Imam and Doctor Nuruddin. You all are doing a very excellent job, I’m certainly proud of your work in Carolina; all of you are doing a very excellent job. I want also to say to you that I just attended a few days ago in Chicago, North West side of Chicago and a big, maybe the most impressive Mosque masjid house of worship for Muslims that we have in the midwest area.
The person that heads that mosque and really he was a civil engineer and architect; he designed it and he oversaw the construction of it and had to approve every detail and everything, you would never know that that man had that kind of a career and that kind of interest if you got to know him as a person because he’s very pious and very spiritual. His whole life is just G-d, obeying G-d, for G-d, obeying G-d. I met him at my father’s house along with about 20 or 21, I think it was 21 young Muslim men who had come to the United States from Islamic countries to get education from universities from some fine universities in our country.
They asked to meet with my father because they want to know why is his religion called Islam and so different from what they know, what they knew to be Islam. They asked for a meeting with him and you wouldn’t believe it, well, I guess you might; they came out happy, my father knew how to talk to people. He knew what to say to make them happy; they came out happy and they had faith that my father intentions--my father’s intentions were good and that he was leading what my father called "a baby nation" of Islam in America and that nation would one day not be a baby, it would be a grown up.
They were believing my father and hoping to see, - they were all young men mostly in the early 20’s and mid 20’s, they wanted to see one day his following join the world-wide following of Mohammed the prophet; prayers and peace be upon Mohammed the prophet, and that has happened. Anyway, we had this meeting, interfaith meeting in the Villa Park Mosque of Chicago Illinois and it was arranged by my office and Doctor Schuller and his office; Robert .H, Doctor Robert .H. Schuller, the one with the “Hour of Power” TV ministry. Doctor Schuller spoke on that program, the program intended to put in the air and give to the press the fact backed up by our scriptures that terrorism is not accepted by Christianity and it's not accepted by Islam.
We joined each other. Doctor Schuller and W.D. Mohammed joined each other along with other religious leaders and there were a few Rabbis too present to make that statement. Minister Farrakhan was invited also and Minister Farrakhan made a statement. I have known him--in fact I think of Mr. Farrakhan before I think of him as a minister and that’s his powerful image as Minister Farrakhan, the minister, but because I grew up as a young student minister at the same time Minister Farrakhan also was growing up as a young student minister. When we became ministers we were associates and friends.
I visited his home as a friend and he has visited my home as a friend. I think of him firstly as a person that I have personal acquaintance with as a friend. When he finished his speech, I came up after Dr. Schuler and I said, "If you keep talking like that I'll be your follower."
[laughter].
W.D. Mohammed: That's how much I was impressed. Nothing he said caused any discomfort to me. I was very happy to see him say what he said. I'm not going to say, you probably get the news from the journal, Muslim journal, our weekly newspaper and from their weekly newspaper, “The final Call”. And from other--I wouldn't want to say what he said at this time, I would rather let others give it to you.
But all he said was good, it was very good. He said some things that I perhaps wouldn’t say myself. Warning the powers that be, "That we all are answerable to G-d, the G-d of justice." But I appreciated what he said although I didn't include that kind of concern in my notes as I didn't have it in my notes. I'm glad that he said what he said. All was good. As a young man in Chicago he's a Muslim too, he often said, "It's all good brother."
[laughter].
W.D. Mohammed: It was all good, brother. [laughs]. I understand there some persons in this area there I feel a very strong friendship with Dr Vincent Hardin. Anybody here who can get my message to him give him my greetings, warm greetings, brotherly greetings to him and my love. Dr Naim Akbar I'm told is in the area too. I have the same kind of awareness of him and friendship with him too. Please give Dr Naim Akbar my greetings if anyone is here will see him. Give him my greetings and tell him I did get his greetings and the word that he is in the area, but is occupied somewhere else so he says his program has him somewhere else at the time.
There are several others I just want to make those acknowledgements. Islam the religion of Islam is by its own language. Arabic language Islam, is a religion of peace. The Muslim is a person of peace. The name Islam comes from the word peace or the word to give peace. Salama to give peace, or peace. Salaam means peace. The word Muslim also comes from the same word. Our greetings that we give all the time come from the same word, peace. We say, "Assalaam aleykum," Means peace. The name of our G-d is also the peace. One of his names is the peace. Assalaam, G-d's name is Assalaam the peace.
When you say, "Salaam aleykum" you saying peace be on you or Peace be unto you. When you say, "Assalaam aleykum," you are not only saying the Peace be unto you or the peace be upon you, you also saying the name of G-d. Because G-ds name in Islam one of his names is also Assalaam, the peace. In Islam we have to appreciate G-d's creation, the natural world that he made, we have to appreciate the fact that, that natural world that he made, feeds the natural human persons he made. That natural world feeds us with beauty, feeds us with intelligence, it feeds us with life.
The natural world is more beautiful than ugly, more peaceful than disturbed, more supportive of intelligent life then it is not. That’s the natural world. Islam begins with our recognition that the Creator of the heavens and the earth made the world good. I read the Bible, I’m a student of the Bible. I have read the Bible from cover to cover from Genesis to Revelation more than once and I've studied it from Genesis to Revelation. I appreciated seeing in the Bible where G-d says, He made this so much on the first day when He was creating this world, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, seventh day he completed it.
Each day after completion of that work for that day, the Bible says, "G-d beheld that it was good." G-d is saying what I did is good. He created the world and he said it was good even the sixth day [laughs]. He created man on the sixth day according to Scripture and the Satan came in and got into the business of man and brought man to fall, brought man downfall. G-d does not say that sixth day is bad in the Bible, in Genesis when He came to the sixth day He completed and He said and it is good. All G-d's work is good and Muhammad the prophets said, "Surely G-d is good and He does not accept any, but good." That is to say you can't give G-d a billion dollars from drug sales and He accept it, He won't accept it.
He rejects your money from illegal business. He rejects hypocrisy, He rejects deceit. No matter how much you do for religion or for G-d, if you offer G-d something bad He rejects it. He only accepts good. He is as Muhammad the prophet say,(PBUH), G-d is good and he accepts only good. A suicide bomber who's going to give G-d his life, but look at what he's doing, he is taking his own life which is a major sin in our religion as it is for Christians. He's also taking the life of innocent men, women and children. Applying the same logic that Muhammad gave us and that Scripture gives us his gift will not be accepted.
He's given his life in vain, his gift will not be accepted. G-d says and also in our holy book, "There are those that work feverishly and diligently building a great thing in their name to find in the hereafter before G-d in the judgment that all of their work that they thought was a contribution to G-d will be rejected and they'll find themselves in hell. We have to be aware of these things that are taught in our religion. In the beginning of the Quran first chapter of our holy book is a prayer a universal prayer of all Muslims for all occasions and for the most formal occasions.
As today we said that prayer, is called the opening in Arabic Al-Fatiha and that prayer is the universal prayer. It recognize the G-d of all people. It says, "Praise be to G-d, the Lord of all the worlds." If you understand Arabic you know that, - Lord it does not lord like in the political sense like the Lords of London. Lord in the Quran comes from a word which means to take that that is helpless and needs help until it can manage for itself. Like the mother takes the baby and she accepts responsibility to care for that baby until that baby is able to stand on its own feet and manage for itself in the world.
As the parent, especially the mother takes care of her baby, G-d takes care of all the world. I think we who think we are grown up we should know that we're little babies in the presence of G-d. He is taking care of all of us, even our presidents, our kings etcetera of the nations of the world. G-d is taking care of all of us, he is the Lord of all the worlds. It says, guide us on the right path, the right path, the path of uprightness, mustaqeem. I'm skipping some of it just to get to the main thing, it says, not the way of the path of those who incur G-d's wrath, and not the way of those who are astray, or who go astray.
That's our prayer, this is the universal prayer. This prayer of the Muslims has been accepted on the Senate floor. The United States and in so many other assembly locations, this prayer has been accepted from our chaplains, from myself, from our Imams, it is the universal prayer. Islam cannot be seen as a religion separate from Christianity and Judaism. The prophets of Judaism are also our prophets, the prophets of Christianity are also our prophets. Our behavior that's demanded of us by our religion, firstly in our holy book, secondly, in the life example of our prophets of Islam Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him, and thirdly, in the model life of the Muslims that we have known and are recorded in the history and in the tradition of Islam because we know Muhammad the prophet obligated us also to follow their examples.
Says, follow the prophet and also those who follow in the excellence prescribed by Islam. We are not only obligated to follow Muhammad the prophet, we also have to follow those who follow in the excellence prescribed by Islam, those who follow Muhammad in that excellence, we are to follow them. G-d says in our Scriptures something that, as a student I was studying this and it really touched me and held me for a long time, because of the experience I have had trying to find light in the dark, trying to find harmony, consistency in what I was given as young man and boy and a young man as religion.
When I read this, G-d says, “and follow the best thereof” That's exactly what G-d says, "And follow the best thereof." Allah had revealed a whole big book for mankind through Muhammad the prophet. Allah says of his book to those who will follow it, “follow the best thereof”. Well is there something in the book that can get me in trouble G-d? You're telling me to follow the best thereof? I’m to search your book to find the best and follow that and avoid something else? Yes I am, because like the Bible, the Quran is also history. You might be reading something that's condemned by G-d and you're thinking that it's part of the Quran that you should follow, but it's the history of those who deviated, the history of those who missed the mark, the history of those who went astray or the history of enemies of mankind.
You will take something out of context and follow it and it will lead you to the hell fire. So G-d says, "And take the best thereof." Also this applies to the whole book because there are some things in the Quran that are good and they are for us to accept, but there are those allowances are made for people who are weak, who are sick, who can't do better. Allah permit them to do that little bit as their religion. He makes an exception for those. Like when we're fasting in the month of Ramadan that's coming real soon, we'll be starting the fast in a couple of weeks, if I don't see you all, blessed Ramadan, successful fast, honorable and successful fast to you and a blessed Eid if I don't see you all before the Eid, the Ramadan is completed and the Eid.
There are allowances made for the fasting person, if you're sick you don't have to fast. G-d says he does not want difficulty for us, but he wants that we be purified. Allah, G-d makes excuses for us Himself. He says if you can't fast, then give in charity. Feed so many poor people for the number of days you missed, these are allowances. Now what about the man who wants to give in to his weakness? Who wants to find excuse? He'll say, "I'm sick, I've been having this headache all day, I'm sick." “And follow the best thereof”. I can give you other examples where G-d excused certain people, certain persons because of their condition, excused them from obligation.
G-d even says, pork is strictly forbidden in Islam as you know, as Muslims know. G-d even says, if you are forced by starvation and there's nothing to eat, but pork, eat it, but eat it disliking that you have to eat it and eat it just enough to survive, just enough to survive. These are allowances made. Now, the weak person will look for excuses, right?
[laughter]
W.D. Mohammed: G-d says, “and follow the best thereof”. [laughs] A real man he doesn't want to go into no weak training program, he wants a strong training program, a real man. The one who feels his Cheerios like I did when I was 15 and 16. You don't want a weak program, you want a strong program, it'll be an insult to give you a weak program. Well it's in human nature and women are like that too, to want to follow the best thereof. I've heard a youngster say, "Is that all, that's too easy, give me a stronger test than that."
[laughter]
W.D. Mohammed: Your own self-respect, your appreciation for your own ability won't let you have a challenge that's weak. You want a challenge that's strong. G-d says, “and follow the best thereof”. If we'll all have this mind when we're reading the Quran, to follow the best thereof, and when we are in the public, showing the public our life or living our life in the public that includes Christians, mostly Christians and Jews and Buddhists and others in this country, in this great country of pluralism and plurality, ethnic diversity, you should be presenting the best you possibly can present.
Isn't that what the country mama and daddy told us? Go out there you show your best, you be on your best behavior. Don't you disgrace us, don't you disgrace this family. That's in human nature, to show and present the best that you possibly can present. If all of us strive for the best excellence that G-d has created and caused us to inherit from the best of human beings that went before us died and passed the way, we will have a beautiful and wonderful world. I sit down with Christian leaders and with Jewish leaders and with others, Buddhists and others and after discussing the issues I put on the table for a while, the participants forget that we are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Christians and Muslim, we forget that, you just forget it.
That vanishes, all you're aware of is that you are the same people who are working on the same issues, that's all you're aware of. You forget and you hug a person that's supposed to be your enemy.
[laughter]
W.D. Mohammed: Once I hugged a guy that belonged to a religion, [laughs] I didn't accept his religion now because his religion was an off brand religion, but he was with us  and he showed me that he had the same thing and his heart and soul and spirit that we had in ours to obey the supreme excellence of the perfect being G-d and to embrace each other, to respect the outcome in excellence and work together for the good of human beings in this planet. He showed me that, before I knew it, I grabbed him and hugged him. [laughs] While hugging him I started to loosen up a little bit and then my mind said, "No, he has shown you."
I tightened the grip again and I hugged him, I hugged him tighter than I was going to hug him, I hugged him tighter. When I let him go, he looked at me as if to say, "What's this for?"
[laughter]
W.D. Mohammed: He was surprised, but he was touched. Allah has made us good and when we act from that goodness, we touch the person who are made just like us, made for goodness. All of us are made for goodness. I used to say as a student and minister for the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, I know in the audience there are some criminals, there are some killers, I used to tell them that. I'd say, but I know you better than you know yourself, you've got a good person inside of you, that's the true you that wants to live and be free. I say, so I love you, you criminal. You killer. I know some of them wanted to kill me because they didn't want to see me change the leadership and change the organization like I did, I was talking to them. I used a little bit of psychology on them too, but I really loved them. [laughs] 
In my conclusion, what I would like to say is that Islam is not a religion made by man, Islam is a religion revealed by G-d. Islam is not a religion that conflicts with the best of human standards, the best human standards in this world, Islam is not in opposition or conflicting with those human standards.
G-d does not only say follow the way of Islam, but G-d also says, respect the standards of excellence for mankind all over the world. [Arabic language] if you know Arabic or know the Quran in Arabic, it says, "And give orders or instructions, with respect for the highest standards of mankind." Not just Islam, for the highest known standards of the people of earth. This is Islam, universal religion, universal religion. No Muslim can go against his good human nature and be obeying G-d and his religion. If you start to do something and inside of you, doesn’t feel comfortable with that, and you know it's bad.
If you do it you're going against G-d, you're going against your religion. I'm sure that no matter how much indoctrination the suicide bombers had, I'm sure that something came up in their soul and said, "This is wrong." But their commanders had more power over them than their own souls. Peace be on to you, Asalaam Aleikum.
Congregation: Aleikum salaam.
[applause]
Speaker 1: What the Imam has stated that he will do is, he will take questions from any in the audience that they may have related to what's going on today or what's happening, yes.
Congregant: Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: Can you stand up please.
Congregant: Certainly, Christianity and just about every other religion are twisted about people from history. Why is Islam so vulnerable right now to so many people are twisted.?
W.D. Mohammed: Yes.
W.D. Mohammed: I think there are many reasons, but I think what accounts for all the other reasons is that the psyche  of the Muslim world leaders bears deep scars caused by the struggling to keep the great name of Islam and Muslims in history. As you know, all Muslim teachers including myself, we are very proud of the glorious days of Islam, when Islam was in Africa, Spain and there was peace, there was cooperation for world religious leaders in Spain who were Christians, Jews and Muslims all working to make Spain a great nation. That lasted for about 500 years.
We know of the glorious days of Islamic sciences when the followers of Muhammad the prophet were inspired to become students of G-d's creation of the universe of the natural objective world. It gave birth to the great scientists, Al Khwarizmi for whom Arithmetic is named and many others. We long for those glorious days to return. Some of us because of this deep hurt in our soul and psyche caused by the absence of that picture of ours, that glorious of picture of Muslims, and caused also by centuries of fighting between Christian world and the Islamic world, the crusades, then more recently caused by the days of colonialism when the colonial power of the west, were not only dominating as a military might, but also deciding what Muslim schools would be like, and deciding the freedom of Muslims in their own Muslim lands.
This have left the hurt of the psyche. Then in our time we had the Jews who were brought from Europe, from Hitler's horrible life that he imposed upon them to live in their land, I say their land because Palestine, Jerusalem, also the Jewish land before 1947, and after they're brought to their land, but also that land is the land of the Arabs, the Palestinians. The Palestinians claim that they were there long before Jews ever migrated to that part of the world. They know no other land except there, but Jews said they came from somewhere else to that part of the world, they were not always there.
You have this too in their minds, and then the peace has not been established for those who came from Europe and established a life there, and a nation there with the Palestinians. And the Palestinians have been driven out of their homes. They've had their homes taken from them, child seeing the mother crying, father crying or anger, enraged. They're being taken out of their home, that's the only home they know, they say this territory has to be for Israel, has to be for the Jews. We have to not just as a great Christian leader, African American Christian leader said recently in Cleveland, Ohio. I was invited to be there with them Christians and Muslim Leaders by Imam Clyde Rahman who is a friend of the Christian leader Dr. Otis Moss. He has a huge congregation and following.
When he spoke he said, "We have to give some deep thought to what has occurred", referring to September the 11th when the suicide bombers sent our country into fear and shock, and sent me into fear and shock. I was on my way to the White House on that day. I was in Washington, DC on that, day and that's what I ran into. I didn't know that I had lost my natural condition of mind and spirit and heart etc. until the next morning, the 12th. I'm watching the news at home and I just realized that I was myself again. That was a horrible thing that happened. Nobody, I think, would have thought that something like that would ever occur.
Anyway, he said that that deserves that we give it some deep thought. He didn't say what he was referring to or what he was thinking about. But I guess, and I could be wrong, but I guess that he was referring to the suffering in the world, that the great nation like the United States of America can do more about. When answering the question, I said "Lord, he gave me opportunity to do that."
[laughter]
I think that's the reason why there is jealousy, resentment. The Islamic world leadership, you're jealous of America's progress, of America's longevity, of the longevity of the west, and it being able to stay in the lead of the world. Jealous. The jealousy comes not just from a bad person, it comes from a hurt person. That person think that he or she has not been dealt with justly either, and I'm speaking of not only individuals, I'm speaking of Islamic communities like in Kashmir, the Palestinians, and some others. This is not insanity without a cause, it's insanity produced by something.
If we know that little children have been made sick and now they're grown, and we have something to help them, to heal them. If we're good people, we don't want to condemn them for being crazy minded and maniacal without also considering how they got to be that way. As much as I believe that such persons have to be given justice, and they have to be executed if they're found, if I was the executor, I'd be praying forgiveness for their souls at the same time because I know the suffering, and what ugly things in the world have done to make them the ugly persons they are.
Congregant: Thank you for coming brother Imam. First I would like to preference my question with a one liner. We live in the area of the country that's called Bible Belt. As such, most of our people that believe in religion are deeply influenced by the belief of Jesus Christ. Would you briefly explain the relationship between Jesus Christ and Islam?
W.D. Mohammed: Thank you, I'll go through the most important thing first. Thank you for the question. No Muslim who knows his religion can reject Jesus Christ. We have to accept Jesus Christ as he's presented in the Quran, our holy book, and by Muhammad, the prophet. He's presented in our holy book just as he is presented in the bible almost, especially His birth. That he was born of His mother, blessed mother, a pure woman. His birth is pure, and he had no father. G-d was His creator. That's the difference in the language of Islam and Christianity. Christianity says G-d was His father. Our holy book says G-d was His creator, and says, G-d says that He created him as He created Adam, the first man.
Adam, he made without a mother or a father, but he made Jesus Christ, peace be upon Christ Jesus, from just a mother, a woman. This is our belief. We believe that He is a word from G-d, and the bible says too. The Quran is a continuation of scripture, not a new religion. The Quran is an explanation of what was revealed before, not a new religion. We believe that all prophets were Muslims in their nature and that all human beings, every new baby born is a Muslim in his nature. Really, Muslim is not our religion, Muslim is our nature. We inherit the best of human nature from those that were born before, that we're the children of, we're the descendants of.
We don't inherit criminology. That's what our legal department of the United States decided long ago, that no child inherits criminal behavior, we only inherit the good behavior. We learn the criminal behavior after we're born good. We don't believe in the original sin, and as a student of the bible, Christians don't believe in the original sin either, not in the way that I understand original sin. Christians believe like we do, that you're born in sin, but G-d didn't make you sinful. You're born in sin, but G-d didn't make you sinful. That's what we believe. G-d made you Muslim, ready to be led in the right path. The baby is ready to follow the best guidance of the parent. They're ready to receive the love of the mother. You're ready to obey what the mother wants for you. Allah created a Muslim.
Now, just a moment, I want to have some more words on this. Jesus Christ, I said, is also a sign. I said a word, but He's also a sign, and his mother is a sign, peace be upon both of them. They are a sign from G-d. They're not just persons, they are also a message, sign means a message. Jesus Christ in His creation is a message to mankind. His mother in her purity is a message and as a mother of Christ Jesus that didn't have a father. She said, "No man has touched me." That's the Quran.
They are signs, and signs are messages from our creator, from our G-d. Muhammad the Prophet said, and you will see Christ Jesus and myself together. Knowing that the world was seeing him perhaps at that time at odds with Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ life teaches at odd with him. He said that you will see Christ Jesus and myself together. A day was coming. We have to learn our own religion. Muhammad the Prophet knew that even his best followers were not educated in scripture to know and appreciate and value what was being revealed through him to the world and to them and the world. Like some Christians and some Jews could, because they were traditionally followers of scripture.
He said in his last sermon that he gave at the holy precincts in Mecca, the Kabba, the holy house; he said, "Those who are present listen, those who are present, pass my words on to those who are absent. And those who receive it there, pass it on further to others." He said, "Maybe perhaps or per chance those who received it lastly will understand it better." I remember my mama who was a church woman singing, you will understand it better by and by.
[laughter]
The world has taken generations and generations and generations to understand this religion, and I mean the world of Islam.
Look, we worship those first followers, exemplary followers of Muhammad’s way, peace be upon him and may G-d be pleased with them. We follow them and we look up to them as great giants. I don't want you to stop doing that, but I want you to know that the human beings of today are taller than they were. Those human beings that are following Islam and it's excellence, we are taller than they were. They did not have the circumstances in their life to get as much out of the Quran and out of Muhammad’s life as a message due to us as we do.
This great learned world that owes this great learning to the appreciation for knowledge and the natural world that G-d clocked into the natural world, put it into the natural world, it also that owes this greatness to the promotion of literacy for its public, not just for few, but for the whole public or for all citizens. Literacy, ability to read and gain knowledge. We have a higher level of literacy in this United States than the present Islamic world has, not to mention the one back 800 and a thousand years ago.
Today, in these new favorable circumstances, we are coming into better and clearer understanding of the book, the Quran, and the life of Muhammad. I call this the day of religion because for the first time, we find leaders of the great religions meeting together in their sacred spaces, their sanctuaries, in the Vatican, in the holy precincts of Mecca, in Arabia, in Mecca, and don't believe none of them allowed in the holy precincts, don't believe that. No. If the right one come there, the King himself, his majesty King [unintelligible 01:04:53] who will be his escort and escort him there himself.
They are not accepted as worshipers because that's not their religion, that's our religion. To think that none of them have been in that area is ridiculous, they have, and they meet and they discuss the common life that we cherish. Common faith, faith in G-d the creator. Faith in mankind, that G-d trust mankind with our lives. G-d trusts us with our life. That's just one thing that attracted me to Dr. Schuller. I was watching him on his Hour of Power (show). He began his address with these words, he said, "I believe in G-d, and I believe in you."
Not only does Dr. Schuller believe in mankind, G-d believes in mankind. One of the -- belief in our religion means trust. I believe in you, I trust you. The same words that we say for belief, we also use that word it means I trust you too, same word. El Mukmin, all of us are Mukmin, right? You know the religion? All of us are Mukmin, it means believer. It means that we trust G-d, and G-d's name one of his holy names given in the Quran is El Mukmin. Should we say the believer? G-d doesn’t have to believe in, - He knows everything. That wouldn't be correct, would it? We have to say the one who has trust, to trust His human creation.
When G-d says he is the El Mukmin, G-d is saying that I am the one who trust my creation with freedom, with the will to work his own life out and the freedom to work his own life out. G-d has entrusted us with our life, and G-d is the trusting one and the trustworthy one. G-d is El Mukmin. Dr. Schuller when he said that, I said boy, that's what we need to do. We need to let more people know that we believe in G-d, we trust G-d, but equally and more important is to know that G-d trust us. That G-d believes in us, if we know how to qualify that language.
G-d believes in us. G-d has trusted us with our life, our freedom et cetera. That's wonderful. Muhammad said you will see Christ Jesus and Muhammad together. I believe that this is the time for that when the great pius, thinkers and scholars of Islam approached the study of the Quran afresh, dismissing the hurt, the bitterness of history et cetera. They will discover Islam in a bigger and more beautiful picture that ever has been discovered. I'm not saying this to brag, I hate attention on me. I have discovered it, I have discovered it.
We are to work with the good Christians of this earth, this planet, because they  essentially want for human life what we want for human life. We are to work with the good religious people, with the Jews because they essentially want the good life for human beings on this earth that we want. G-d says, and this is going to be my last statement for addressing the question; G-d says, "Among them, meaning among the Jews, you will find a group or a party promoting justice and fairness among men." He said the same thing with the Christians, "Among them, you will find a group or party promoting justice and fairness among men." The word is Islah, for fairness, Islah [unintelligible 01:09:52] among the people promoting fairness.
Fairness means justice, compassion and equal justice and equal compassion.
When you become the perfect parent, you have to be careful to not communicate to your little children something that will trouble them, because your heart is telling you treat another child the same way you treat your own child. That sometime confuses your child that you love him just like you do me and give him equal love, but I'm your child. But the preference you want to become perfect as a parent. You will not give another child less than you give your own child. I'm not talking about money. Money is not the value. Your sincere interest, your sincere attention to their needs. Your sincere advice for their life, and your protection if they're in danger. You protect them too just like you protect your own child.
This is the day of religion. This is the time for Muslim, Christians and Jews and all who profess to believe in having justice and fairness for this man, for this world and mankind. This is time that we work together and realize that none of us have a monopoly, not in G-d's presence. Muhammad The Prophet said that he saw the after world that G-d has promised us. He saw in there a great following of Moses and Jesus. We can't say that Jews and Christians won't be in heaven. Muhammad has already made it clear, they will. He said he saw in heaven a great number of Jews and Christ followers of Moses, Jews, and Christians. The followers of Jesus, meaning the Christians.
But he said that, I believe if I remember that report in the Hadith Bukhari and Muslim, the collectors of the sayings and works of our prophet. I believe, if I remember it correctly, it said that his followers were in the greater numbers. If that's true, I'm comfortable. But if I didn't remember that correctly, I'm not comfortable. Because it tells me that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, it kind of makes me nervous because if were going and multiply this bad germs buddy, it ain't going to help us in the future. I'd rather see the numbers grow slowly, very slowly, and have the quality Muslim that we want rather than the quantity.
We believe in Jesus Christ and we believe in His blessed mother. We believe in the Immaculate Conception. These two religions are very close together. Allah says in the Quran, and you'll find the nearest to you to be those who called themselves Nasara. That was the name that the Arabs knew the Christians by at that time, Nazrenes. The Nazarenes, from Nazareth. Jesus from Nazareth, peace be on Him. Thank you.
[foreign language]
Congregant: Hama said that the prediction of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus together, we see in the city that I’m from. We thank you and all the good Muslim. We have here a picture of a Muslim, Jew and a Christian youth. Their our mayor called a rally after the incident of September 11th. They called us together, a big rally. We have to believe in G-d to go to that rally. We got over 2,000 European and a few us Muslim at the rally. But these people were good people, honest people and they accepted as again. They had a big prayer a few nights before. We will join this ship New York town, go on with a ship and we got separated, me and the mayor Muslim brother.
He turned around and he couldn't see me. And you can imagine everyone having a flag and everything in this first day. This incident took place on Tuesday. This young man he turned around and he said, Muhammad, and everybody looked around. I looked around for Muhammad too, who say we are Muhammad? But nothing happened. When I'm saying the mayor called a rally, we came here from Charleston to thank you because we believe wholeheartedly when we look at the whole Islamic world, we know who G-d have blessed and we believe that this is the best country. We believe that we have the best leader.
We know that we don't want to be seen but we have to tell the truth because the truth will set you free. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, the mayor and all the youth. The people is calling up, calling our youth to say a prayer. The prayer that you say is universal. This young Muslim youth say this prayer at this gathering. We see that the city, the people think about the future and they see Islam, Judaism and Christianity together. We thank you and we thank the Muslim and we thank the people who organized this. As-salamu alaykum.
[applause]
Congregant: Thank you for sharing that with us. Thank you.
Congregant: Hello. I wanted to ask you agree with the president's response to the attacks of September 11 and the war that is going on right now.
W.D. Mohammed: Yes, before I address his response, the military response. I want to share with you something that read that the president said. I think the president, what he said the Muslim should be aware of this. We should understand it from our position and from our awareness and perspective as Muslims in Islam. He said on the history of Islam and on the history of Muslims, he said that this is an attack upon our freedom. I don't know if he had the same thing in mind that I have in mind. He might have just been saying that our freedom is threatened. Maybe he, president Bush, was saying our freedom is threatened by these people. And it is a challenge and threatened by these suicide bombers.
But I understood it differently, I think. I believe that the same leaders that I have mentioned as being in a body of people late world leaders who suffer a damaged, hurt, seriously hurt and scarred  psyche Muslim or Islamic psyche, I believe that they fear freedom. They fear freedom. They fear freedom because they have little power to direct the world or to direct the masses of people on this earth as they would love to do. So they fear freedom. They fear freedom because they haven’t been able to reach the hearts or the majority of the people or a sufficient number in the population of human people on this earth to come to their aside. They fear freedom. They want to talk to their following and they want to talk to the world. They wish the world was not so humanly sensitive as it is, I’m speaking of the western world and western world influence. They wish the world was not so determined to be free western style and to insist that all people be free.
To them, this being free means that you will not feel an obligation to listen to them when they tell you, "G-d says this." In America, we believe in precious human freedom. We don't care who you said, said it. If it doesn't sound straight to us, we think we have the right to say, "Well, I don't buy that." I think they fear our freedom more than they fear anything else. I believe our freedom is what holds us together more than anything else. They fear freedom. But they also fear freedom for their own following. They don't want their own following to be free.
This message of freedom from the west is reaching everywhere now. Television, that powerful medium and media, is taking the message of the West, the freedom of the West all over the world. These people are beginning to look at themselves again and say, "Look, they want their citizens to be free." We are not free in this country. We're not free in our own Muslim country. This is a message that threatens their grip on their own people. I do believe that these fanatic maniacal leaders in the Islamic world fear our freedom more than they fear anything. Their attack is an attack upon our freedom.
Now, to address the military presence in Afghanistan, I made a statement before the military was carrying out its mission. My statement I give to you now responding to your question. I said, we hope that we, the United Stated of America, will not in the search for those who are guilty kill innocent persons. I said, if that happens, then we'll be in the same position regarding how we feel about our actions that we are in regarding how we feel about the actions of the suicide bombers. Muhammad the prophet told the military, "Do not attack people who are not bearing arms." and he said, "Do not even destroy their crops, their trees that they will need after the war has put down its burden."
Our prophet was a true human and a humanitarian person. So I'm a Muslim, no matter what the need is or how strong it is to get even, to find people who have that mentality and destroy them, it does not make me happy and I could not cheer our successes in the military campaign if we are killing innocent men, women and children.
[applause]
Congregant: Thank you for the opportunity. Just another question.
W.D. Mohammed: Just one more.
Congregant: Okay.
Congregant: My question is, do you believe the United States Foreign Policy of Israel has anything to do with the attacks on September 11th?
W.D. Mohammed: As we know, under President Clinton, under Carter, under President Clinton, and I would say all the Presidents up until very recently, there was, in our opinion, a stronger interest in bringing about a peaceful solution to the problem for Israel and the Palestinians. I don't have to be correct but that's what I've-- and maybe this administration just doesn't publish all that it is doing like the administration of the democrats did, I don't know, that could be I won't allow. I'm not saying that I condemn President Bush handling of the problem in the Middle East for Israel and Palestinians.
But it doesn't appear to me that there's the interest and desire to do something about that situation is as strong for this administration that we have now, the Republican administration that we have right now. I don't believe that these things would have gone this far, violence, rage, desperation, had there been instead of President Bush, - Bill Clinton, are Carter in that position as President of these United States.
[01:26:34] [END OF AUDIO]

