08/01/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Brainstorming Greensboro, NC Pt3

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. We thank Allah. We Praise Him and thank Him for giving us guidance and mercy. We thank Him for the Qur'an. We thank Him for Muhammad who lived the Qur'an for us so that we would know how to live it as Muslims. And we thank Allah for our conversion to Islam, for our being Muslim in this part of the world, in this Democratic America. A very special situation for anybody who believes in G-d and believes in following G-d's plan for human life. This America is very special situation. Muslims are coming here from all parts of the Muslim world and they're finding that here's the place for them to go to work, to build up the Islamic life, their lives. In their own country, they don't have freedom, most of them to really live Islam as it is given in the Qur'an and in the life of our Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him. We are here and we have been here.
We are not migrants, we're not immigrants. We didn't immigrate. We are not migrators. We are here and this is our land. This is our country. And Allah has blessed us to open our hearts and our minds to all people and benefit from the condition to benefit fully as citizens with citizenship in this great land, in this great country. I see all of this as part of a Divine plan to bring the word of G-d to its completion, to its conclusion. And G-d says, that His word is concluded in justice. What I would like to say at the conclusion of this very, very successful conference, initiated by Dr. Nuriddin, who immediately had his helpers that he knew and was a negotiation with, Imam Omar Shaheed and David Hassan and the others who joined them, including Imam Karim Hassan of Los Angeles.
What I would like to say to you is first, congratulations again. This is a big thing and long been needed and what I see here is the answer to a request that was made years ago. And that is for us to form an intelligentsia, an intelligentsia to watch the interest of this community and serve the interest of this community. By monitoring what happens in this community, by monitoring, monitoring our production, our good production in every area, in every area of our interest. Monitoring our good production so that we would be able to catch up if we're falling back, we'll be able to benefit from what we have, from what we have. We'll be able to be in touch with what we have, benefit from what we have, and use what we have to go further, to go further in the role of progress. This is very, very important.
No society, and we are society, that's what was emphasized yesterday. We are a society. No society can progress without an intelligent body of people composed of both males and females. Cannot succeed with males only. Composed of both males and females to monitor their life activities. More importantly, the progress, the productive works of the society so that the society has a driver at the wheel and at the controls. That's real leadership. The leadership is not in Imams only. The leadership is in the resourceful people that represent the productive life of that society, of the Islamic society. For us, the MAS, the Muslim American Society. I'll conclude by mentioning certain issues that we have to be aware of. And that is number one, the issue of freedom.
This society became the great American society it is the because of people valuing their freedom and being prepared to die for their freedom. Called liberty, freedom, liberty. As Muslims, we have to know that freedom is just as valuable to us as it is to Christians of America. Freedom is no less valuable to us. And we have to be aware that everything that's done in the name of freedom in the society, every thing the society takes up in the name of freedom and does in the name of freedom, is not necessarily the freedom of the people who fear G-d and are pursuing their destiny in accordance with the guidance of G-d. This freedom to do anything is not our freedom. So, there's two kinds of freedom. There's a freedom for everybody and everything and there's a freedom for people who are pursuing their destination.
I say destination because destiny may have a ring that we don't want for Muslims. Their destination as people following the guidance of G-d. So, freedom for us is different. And freedom for us is the freedom of a community life, the freedom of the community life. We can free our community life so we can establish our community life. That's our destination on this earth, that's our freedom. So let us cherish the freedom of the American people because that's the freedom for them too. The freedom of the commercial world becomes so popular everywhere in the culture, everywhere. The freedom promoted by the commercial world, the freedom promoted by the commercial world becomes so popular everywhere that we lose sight on the freedom of the people that really opened the world for the commercial world.
Yes, the People of the Book and Muslims, we opened the world for the commercial world. We opened the society, the world for the commercial world. They couldn't go ahead of us. They had to come behind us. Then they come behind us and they invite the people to all kinds of freedom. Freedom to do any and everything. This is not something that should occupy our time now. Don't think that I'm mentioning this, that we should occupy our time in assessing the corrupt freedom of the world and of this society. No, we shouldn't waste our time on it. Let's let it happen. Let them do what they want to do and let us concentrate on what we are and where we have to take our lives as a society, as a Muslim society, as a Muslim model of Islamic society, or Muslim society.
As lovers of freedom, that freedom that I just described to you as lovers of freedom, we have to also be aware of issues and not be mute on issues like women's equality, women's rights, children, the protection of our children and their rights to a decent environment at home and in the public scene and the public domain. We have to take all these issues very serious. The environment, solution of environment, pornography, all of these issues are serious issues for Muslims and we don't have to do anything but just reflect on the Qur'an and the leadership of Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him, to see that these are issues for us. We should be having in our focus the future of our youngsters. We should be having plans to include them in our leadership. We should be searching among them to see what girl, what boy shows talent, what girl, what boy shows seriousness for this purpose that we are addressing and selecting them.
Say, "Hey, you need to be with the men. You need to be with the women. We need you and you are ready to join us." And the Rabbis, they search for bright children. And when they find those bright children who have an interest in the future of the Jewish people as a society, they bring them into the circle of the wise and let them listen and observe. My father was given very good advice from his teacher, WD Fard, or Mister Fard Muhammad. Or he on his own showed great wisdom by having me, before I was a teenager, I was sitting in the company of Ministers. I knew to be quiet, I knew not to say anything, but he had me sitting in the company of Ministers before I ever was a teenager, listening to him discuss with them the problems. He was grooming me. He was conditioning me for the future.
And not only me, my other brothers and sisters, they were invited to do the same thing, to sit there and be with us and be with my father when he was having serious discussions with the leaders of the Lost Found Nation of Islam, the Temple of Islam back then. So, I want to stress to you at the conclusion here and see yourself as people responsible for this Muslim Society, MAS. "Well what about Imam Plemon El-Amin? He will jump and shout when he gets this news. If he doesn't, I'll be disappointed. He's in Malaysia, he's taking care of his business. His biggest contribution is his leadership in Atlanta for our schools, our schools, preschool, elementary schools and high school in Atlanta. That's his biggest contribution. And his mission now in Bangladesh concerns Clara Muhammed Schools. It's a great, great idea that was suggested to him by an educator who's responsible for finance, heading up the finance and built the University in Bangladesh. He has held political post, very significant political post, this gentleman I'm talking about, and also held very important, important positions in Universities, in Universities.
And he said he would like to see people of Bangladesh, the Muslims there, they don't have enough private schools. Many of their children can't go to schools that their parents would like for them to go to because the schools just don't exist. So, he said that there's an opportunity for you all to have your Sister Clara Muhammed school in Bangladesh. So that's what the mission is all about. And we have discussed it with him. And I said to him, I said, well, one thing I would ask you to consider to make this complete for me, we would like for you to staff a private school in America.
And we would like for you to be responsible for that school, the curriculum and everything in America, just as you're asking us to be responsible for the curriculum of the Clara Muhammed schools in your country, in Bangladesh. These two schools would work together and we would benefit from having your school in our country and you would benefit from having our school in your country. So, they accepted that. And if that can be done, this is going to be a very, very big step for us in education. In education. There'll be cultural exchange, student exchange. There'll be a wealth of knowledge gained from us having this kind of presence in their country and they having that presence in our country. I imagine that benefits are going to come from that project that's going to amount to progress and added beauty to our efforts here in education, but not only in education. Our efforts here, even in business and especially in culture, we can't overlook that either.
Culture is very, very important. Culture. And we are in a society where we are completely surrounded by and saturated by a culture that's not ours. And don't say, "Oh, this is Muslim, this is Muslim." No, no, this is true for any good believer in G-d. It's true for the good Jew. It's true for the good Christian, it's true for the good Buddhist. It's true for the good Hindu. When you're in America, you're in a pluralistic society and the culture is not in the hands of any one people. The culture is mostly influenced by commercialism, by the commercial life That's what the culture is mostly influenced by. And those who realize the threat to their own culture, to their own life and they get involved and they get in the media, the television radio, etc. Stage, theater, getting all of media to protect their own interests.
And the Jew has been very successful. The Jewish people have been very successful in getting into all these areas. I used to think that they were the ones making all the trouble. But no, I've studied them very carefully over the years and I know that they're not the ones making all the trouble. They're the ones trying to protect themselves from all the trouble. And they have been wise enough and had the foresight to make the steps in time to stay ahead of the problem. Yes. So, we have to do that too. We are small people, but we should think big.
We are limited, but we shouldn't think as though we are limited. We should never think as though we're limited. So, I envision us having a big, big role in television one day, a big share of the media, television, radio, and the newspapers, magazines, everything. And theater. Don't forget theater and theater is something you can go into right away. Doesn't take much money. We should get together and every meeting like this should have our Performing arts people right here. And they should also be having their workshops- Performing arts people. And they should be helped to know where to go with their interest by all of us. We should help them to know where they have to go with it. And soon we see this strong leadership for this interest in the Performing arts, soon we can start financing a project where we would have theaters popping up in these big populations and cities of ours, big arts theaters belonging to the Muslim American Society. Theater of Arts, that's what you need. And people will come and hear what you're saying. And believe me, G-d has opened our eyes and G-d has put us in touch with the word. That's the key to open up the world, the key to open up the world. So don't feel that you can't compete with them in language. When I talk to Jews, I'm not intimidated. I'm surprised that they do this when I talk. And I do this when they talk. We recognize each other.
So don't think, don't have any fear that we can't handle ourselves. We can handle ourselves. When it comes to the language, there are few that can match us. Believe me, few that can match us when it comes to handling the language, the language, the language of truth, the language of truth and the language of culture. There are few that can match us, very few that can match us. So, you are way ahead of most of the world when it comes to managing the language of truth and the language of culture. And Allah has blessed us with this. See, some animals, they'll be blind if they're not kept in the dark long enough after they’re hurt. Bringing them straight into the light will blind them.
Well, we were kept in the dark long enough for us to have healthy eyes and very, very sharp vision. All the blessings of G-d, all the blessings of G-d. It says that He's the one who made the darkness and the light, not the light and the darkness. And He's the one who made the darkness and the light, Dhulimati Al Nur. He's the one who made the darkness and the light. And the word for darkness is not Lay. Lay means the darkness of the night. It is Dhulimat. And Dhulimat, you get the word Dhulman, which means oppression. So, it is G-d who oppressed the intellect of man before He frees the intellect of man. He first oppressed the intellect of man with His fascinating creation, this complex nature that He gave man. And all of this mystified man. And he couldn't find a way, it oppressed him, locked him up in the prison of darkness.
But it only made him more determined and more anxious and get more power to break out. It only made him want to see more. The more you oppress him, the more you want to see and the harder and more effort he'll make to see. So, G-d made the darkness oppress the intellect to bring about a strong spirit in man to break out of the darkness and into the light. And He says He sent Muhammad to do what? That he may bring you out the darkness into the light. Into the light. So, believe me, I listen to this world and they do not confuse me. I hear every note so clearly. G-d has done this. I sit among the wise, they talk. Nothing escapes me. And they know it. They know by the way I respond that nothing escapes me. So, they know much more about me than you do.
Believe me, the world leadership know much more about me than you do because you don't know what's happening in this thing like they do. Alright? If I didn't know myself, I would say I'm Jesus Christ back on earth. I would if I didn't know myself, I would say I'm Muhammad returned. If I didn't know myself, if I didn't know myself, I might say I'm G-d in the flesh, but thank G-d I know myself. Those are the giants and I'm the small person. And I'm satisfied to be called Wallace D. Mohamed. No title at all. I don't need titles. And the titles have already been given to Prophets. No more titles to be given out to men. Not that title Prophet. No more title to be given out to men Christ. Christ is come and gone, Prophet's come and gone. Prophecy is concluded. So, none of those titles are for me. And I'm so happy just to be a regular man just like you. Oh, it's so powerful. But believe me, I know the right and I know the wrong and I know how to follow it.
And you are blessed. You understand that? You are blessed. And I'm blessed for you. It's not for me. I'd be happy doing welding at home, cooking in my kitchen, looking at my woman. That's satisfying to me. I am not joking. That's serious. And I thank G-d. You know that's a blessing. That's the greatest blessing of all. This great opening of my mind and the exception that I get in this world, with the world religious leaders does not affect my ego at all. That's divine protection. That's really divine protection. And I thank Allah for it because I'd rather be dead and not have leadership and not have anything. I'd rather be physically dead than to lose this common life that I have, common life that I live.
Alright? Yeah. So, I'm going to conclude with that, that we have to be aware of where the great minds of this Democratic society wants to take their life. And if they're G-d fearing people it's the place we want take our life. But we want a model for Islamic life as a model of what Islamic society should be. We don't just want this freedom, we just don't want professional successes. We want success in this Islamic society model. Congratulations again. May G-d forgive us our errors, forgive us our sins, strengthen us in our strength, have Mercy on us always, and give us the guidance for without His guidance, we have no guidance. Ameen. As Salaam Alaikum.



