06/17/2007
IWDM Study Library
Liberating the Community

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
When I first saw her at my father's and mother's house. And she became very good friends with my mother. I should say my father and mother became very good friends with her late husband and herself, Brother Kenneth Muhammad and Sister Margaret Muhammad. And I've always felt that she was a very special person, her husband and her. I felt that just getting acquainted with them, I felt they were very special people. Very special people. And we are blessed when we have such persons among us. It's a real blessing.
IWDM:
So I want to also say that Portis, I had heard her before. I believe this is my second time hearing her. And she's more than a poet. She has a spirit that's propelled by G-d's truth. G-d's truth. Universal truth. And she is a dynamic poet. Yes, yes indeed. She's a real person. She's a real person. That means a lot. That means everything. And I'm happy I was here to witness her presentation.
IWDM:
So good to see Imams that I know very, very well, from around here and around the area. Very good to see you Brother Imams. Good to be with you.
Speaker 2:
Good to be with you.
IWDM:
You know, if Prophet Muhammad, prayers and peace be on him, had to suffer things like deceitful people in his midst and in his inner circle, coming into the inner circle, in his immediate congregation, making trouble for him, called hypocrites in the Quran. If he had to suffer that, then we should expect to suffer the same. Yeah. So when I say to you, "It's good to see you," I mean that.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
But words have gone out and festered all over, gone all over the place. When an Imam says, "Good to see you," he means he see into you. He say, "You're not hiding." I'm only saying that to the few that's spreading the bad words.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
They're the ones that I say that. But I say "Good to see you," I'm saying, "You're not hiding."
IWDM:
But there's calling now. Calling because you've got people thinking, "Imam say good to see you, he mean good to see you indeed." He's looking at you. He sees you. He sees what he's looking at. So I have to change. I'm happy to be with you.
Speaker 2:
That's what I'm talking about.
IWDM:
Yeah. It's in our holy book. Says never did G-d give his messenger something that Satan didn't conspire to interfere with it, to defeat it, to produce the likes of it. So if a prophet has to suffer trouble like that, we shouldn't expect to have it different. There are people who love you for being good. And there are people who hate you for being good.
IWDM:
Hate you for no other reason than that you're just a good person, really. And we don't have to look far to get the proof of that.
Speaker 3:
That's right.
IWDM:
Jesus Christ was known around the world. Peace be on him. Why was he hated? He was hated, mistreated, abused, cruelly abused according to the world report of him by the Christian community around the world. And what did he do wrong? What did he do bad? He was good, and that's why they abused him and lied against him, and tried to discredit him in the eyes of the world for that reason only, that he was good.
IWDM:
So don't think because you're good, "Oh, he's good. Nobody's making any trouble for him." No, that's the one people make the most trouble for. The one who's establishing not himself, but establishing goodness and good intentions and good behavior. Satan doesn't want that. That disturbs Satan and his world, that you are committed to being good and you want to see goodness spread and be supported by many, many people. You threaten Satan and his kingdom.
IWDM:
That's a threat to Satan and his kingdom. And he has many little weak imps, followers everywhere.
Speaker 3:
That's right.
IWDM:
And they don't even know they're connected to Satan. And they're worse than Satan himself in your life because they're not as intelligent as Satan. They're a foolish enemy, the worst enemy you can have.
Speaker 2:
Teach us.
IWDM:
We seek G-d. As we say in Islam, [Islamic 00:06:17]. I seek G-d to protect me from the rejected Satan. And it means Satan, not as a person, but Satan as an influence. Satan as an influencer because you can't find Satan. If Satan was in one person, he would have been dead long time ago. He's not a person. He's in ideas.
IWDM:
He's in ideas and influences. Meanings, ideas, and influences. That what he is, you see. He's in language. That's where Satan is. He's in language, the language of sinful culture. He's in language. Just as G-d. Where's G-d? In language. And what's more important for human beings, for their life? How is human being's life turned on and advanced? Language.
IWDM:
If you never have language communicated to you, you will never become a human being. No. When the word of G-d is communicated to you, it goes deep into your soul. And it transforms you, it makes you all over again. And that's when you're made a man and a woman. But more importantly, the human being G-d wants on this Earth. The human being that G-d wants on this Earth, yes.
IWDM:
Do we have any proof of that in the Quran? Yes. Ar-Rahman, the merciful G-d. [Islamic 00:08:05] Quran. He taught the Quran to Muhammad firstly. He taught the Quran. [Islamic 00:08:12]. And he created the human person. Plain as day. It needs no translation, except into English for you. It needs no more translation after what I gave you.
IWDM:
It's clear and plain as day. The merciful G-d taught the Quran to man, first to Muhammad, and created the human person. Now was Muhammad a human person before? Yes, he was. But this is a special human person. When G-d says He created man, he's not talking about the man you meet out there on the street or the man you meet on a job, not even the man you meet in the library or wherever you meet him.
IWDM:
G-d is not talking about the common man. G-d is talking about man, the leader that G-d wants on Earth for all men and for all people. G-d is referring to and talking about man, the leader that G-d makes. He makes man. Yes. The world makes man, the natural world supports man becoming man.
IWDM:
And if it's not interfered with by wrong thinking, wrong thinkers, or wrong-minded people, and the human being is left in a good environment, the natural man forms as G-d intended the natural man to form upon his creation, upon his natural creation, his natural world. And he forms good, and he qualifies to become G-d's special man, that special type that can bring people to the right spiritual life, to the correct spiritual life. Not just material life, but to the correct spiritual life.
IWDM:
And that's the highest life. The highest life is the spiritual life. People may achieve success in many ways, many areas of reality. But the greatest success is achieved in the area of the spirit, in that dimension. That's where the greatest achievements are made.
IWDM:
Because what defeats man other than that? It's spirit. It's his spirit. His knowledge can be all so great. He can have degrees everywhere. But if his spirit is not established, he can be defeated overnight, defeated overnight so quickly. Yes. So when G-d says to the angels, he said, "I'm about to put a responsible leader in the earth." A Khalifa. "I'm about to put a responsible leader in the earth, a human mortal." The angels were disturbed. And they said this will cause blood shed.
IWDM:
And G-d said, "Wait until I have inspired him of my own spirit, imparted my own spirit to him, then you submit. You accept him. You submit. You make obeisance to him." Make Sajdah to him. Now these are angels, angels that G-d is addressing this way, then you make Sajdah.
IWDM:
So what was G-d saying? What is G-d saying with that statement? G-d is saying, "I accept that humans are going to make trouble on earth." And the humans do make trouble on earth, we know that. They're not perfect beings like angels, to be trusted and to keep the peace and be safe. No, you can't trust all human beings with that.
IWDM:
"But some of these humans are going to qualify for my own spirit. I will inspire them for my own spirit, for my own self. And when that happens, angels, you have to submit to them. Submit to my creation, my man that I created." As G-d said, "What's wrong with you, Satan?" This is in the Quran.
IWDM:
"What's wrong with you, Satan, that you do not submit to the man that I have made with my two hands?" Meaning his two major controls, the world of natural things. That's one of G-d's controls. The world of natural things. "And revelation, the man that I made with revelation. I made humans with the natural world. They're supported by my creation, my natural creation. But I'm also making this particular man with my words, revelations, with revelations."
IWDM:
He says, "What's wrong with you, Satan, that you do not accept this man, this creature, this Khalifa that I am making with my two controls, metaphorically, my two hands?" But it means my two controls. And it means that now in common language. Handle him, man. Don't let him handle you.
Speaker 2:
All right.
IWDM:
So we thank G-d. We thank G-d. Now, did I come here to give you a khutbah? Did I come here to convert you to Islam or religion? No. I came here to support us building our community up from the ground. That's what I came here for. But I know that I wouldn't be here, I would not have had those credits that Imam Oliver Muhammad read off to you. I wouldn't have had that. I wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't know me if G-d had not began making a man, that special man, in the United States of America.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
In the family of the African American family. Yes, I wouldn't be here. I know that, and I know whatever we're going to do, we can do it much better if we begin by recognizing our reality in its best conditions is the reality given to us by G-d's word. It's the reality created by G-d's word. And the word carries spirit. Yes. Every word carries spirit or influence, whatever you say.
IWDM:
I can say, "Gnat." Already I've influenced your mind and also your soul. The word gnat, you heard it. It influenced your mind and also your soul. Anything we say. I say, "Trash." It influences your mind and also your soul. Oh yes. Now how it influences it, there's a question of where your mind was when you heard it.
IWDM:
There's some of you around this world, around this country of the United States, this blessed country, blessed and cursed with bad leaders. Yes. Blessed because of good leaders making contribution to the building of a special people called Americans. Yes. And cursed because of bad leaders. Yes. Blessed and cursed.
IWDM:
America the beautiful and America the ugly, all existing together. Now I'm for America the beautiful. And I hope that I'm a factor in preserving and promoting America the beautiful. Yes.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
Praise be to Allah. Yes. I said long time ago, before I was called Imam, I think I was still called Chief Minister, words make people.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
IWDM:
And it means language makes people. That's what it means. Language makes people. The language on the streets, if the youngsters accept it, it makes street people. It makes youngsters of the street. And if you're fortunate enough to be in a congregation that recognizes the Lord G-d over all things, then the scripture communicated to you makes those people. Yes. The scripture communicated by those people to their congregation or to each other makes them.
IWDM:
And you can tell them when you see them, especially a believer. You don't have to be a believer of their religion, just be a true believer. And you recognize a believer, whether it's Christian, Jew, even Buddhist, even Hindu. Those outside of the people of the book that we identify with, Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Sabian. Some think it's only Muslims, Jews, and Christians. No.
IWDM:
When Allah said people of the book, He's also talking about the Sabians or called Sabaeans. Mm-hmm (affirmative), also. And they still exist. I thought they didn't exist anymore, but I found out about four or five years ago, yes, they're still practicing believers on this planet Earth, called Sabians. Sabians or Sabaeans.
IWDM:
When you're around them and you have a chance to converse with them or share in the conversation with them, you feel a believer. And after a while, you forget the label. You forget the religious label, identity, and you're just happy to be with another believer. And you feel good in their company. You see?
IWDM:
Well what does that testify? What is that supporting? That's supporting out the belief that I've been focusing for the last maybe 15 minutes here. The belief that I'm focusing, that G-d's word creates the people he wants on this earth. G-d's word creates the people he wants on this earth. And we who share as beneficiaries of his words, we are brothers and sisters on a higher plane of human worth than the common people who just accept common language and they don't have scripture in their lives or in their spirit.
IWDM:
If we just can accept that, believe me, it puts you in a more comfortable position to achieve, what you want to achieve of good on this planet earth, if you would just accept that. See, it's the way we perceive truth and our reality that accounts for our progress or our lack of progress. The way we perceive truth and reality accounts for our progress or lack of progress.
IWDM:
"So, hey. Don't come and give us a sermon, tell us about the money." They say a fool and his money soon shall break.
Speaker 2:
That's what they say. Yes sir.
IWDM:
But I'm building a condition for the money. You first have to have a condition for the money. When we're in a condition to manage money, then we trust each other with the money. I don't want to see the money. Look, those who throw their seeds, farmer, gardener, throw their seeds on stony ground, they shouldn't expect to reap anything. No growth, no harvest.
IWDM:
But if you find the right ground that's suitable, the condition of the soil will support the dead and give life to the dead. What is he talking about? Every seed that I've seen look dead to me. I've never seen a seed that looked alive. They all look dead. And they are dead. Seeds are dead. They are dry and dead, no life in them. But if you put them in the right situation for their development, they open up. They respond to the moisture. They open up.
IWDM:
When they open up, they throw off the outer garment. Don't they, brother preacher? They throw off the outer garment and let the inner life show forth. And G-d says, "In your likeness of your creations, is the likeness of the creations of plants."
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
Yes. Now, we have to be rooted in G-d's creation, like that dead seed. You put it in the right soil, first thing it wants to do is root itself. It wants to root itself. It wants to root itself so it can support its plan or its growth for the future. So it has to root itself to carry the weight. It roots itself in the earth. And if there's no water down there, it will never materialize. It has to be moisture. It has to be some water.
IWDM:
The moisture is what softens it, as I said, and causes it to open up and burst through the outer garment and show forth the inner material, that material within. Now what is that for us? That is our original innocence. Our original innocence we call the good soul. The good soul, the good human soul.
IWDM:
When water-like feelings, sentiments come to you, you're sensitized by those sentiments that your soul loves and feels good about. And being sensitized by good feelings and good sentiments, G-d loves you. That's a powerful statement that affects human sentiments and affects the way humans feel. I was listening once to Dr. Schuler. That was before I became the leader.
IWDM:
I was listening to him because I just happened to have the television on the right channel, and he was preaching from the Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles, California. He made a statement that got my attention. He came on like this, he said, "G-d believes... " No, I'm sorry. He said, "I believe in G-d, and G-d believes in you."
IWDM:
He got my attention. I said, "This man is powerful. This man must have studied psychology." I finally got a chance to meet him in person, and we had conversation, beautiful conversation. I finally got a chance to ask him. I said, "Did you study psychology?"
IWDM:
He said, "Yes, I did." And the way he answered me satisfied me, just the spirit and tone satisfied me. Because if he had answered and said yes, I wouldn't have been satisfied. I don't mean that... I know in high school and junior college or college, you got some psychology. But I mean that you studied psychology for your job you're doing. So the way he answered me, I knew he understood my question, and I knew that he was saying, "I studied psychology for the job that I'm doing."
IWDM:
Yes. Well, you'd be surprised. Scripture is the beginning of sciences of the psyche. It is the beginning of the sciences of the psyche. The world of psychology and psychoanalysis and all this, got its start in religion. And then, introduced itself to the secular world.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
And that's philosophy also. Yes. It all starts with the word of G-d. Yes, with the word of G-d. It's in myth, but myth is also religion. A lot of us don't know that. Myth is also religion. Greek myth is also their religion. They're G-ds, what are they called? They're called mythological G-ds. There are G-ds in the myths of those people. So the myth holds the G-ds for the ancient Greeks and Romans and many others.
IWDM:
You find their G-ds in their myths. But what does that have to do with us? We're Muslims. Well, when the Quran said that the book is given in different forms of language and some of them are anthal. Anthal is the plural of myth. And [mythal 00:28:05] is myth. Mythal means a likeness.
IWDM:
So G-d gives a picture that is a likeness of the real thing he wants to talk to you about, but he has to give you a physical picture, a visual, something you can visualize first. In high school or in college, English 102, it's a metaphor. He gives you a metaphor, and the metaphor is the myth. It's the symbolic picture holding or enshrouding the real thing that G-d wants you to have or wants to reach you with.
IWDM:
So those G-ds turned out to be not really G-ds. With the thinker, the thinker continues to think, and he thought himself out of those concepts. Oh no, these concepts are too small for the real G-d. So those things were condemned as G-d. They became false G-ds. Zeus, Apollo, and all of them, they became false G-ds. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yes.
IWDM:
What does that have to do with us here today? You'd be surprised how much myth you have in your life. You'd be surprised if I would just take my time and work with your brain, work with your mind. You answering me and responding to what I say, you'd be surprised how many false G-ds, how many mythological G-ds you have in your head. You'd really be surprised.
IWDM:
The drug addict that can't stay away from the drugs, he has a G-d. His G-d is his drugs that he depends on. That's his G-d. That's why you can't reach him. You can't reach him even with the word of G-d because he already got his G-d. His G-d is drugs.
IWDM:
G-d is what you devote yourself to. G-d for the individual is what the individual devote themselves to. If you devote yourself to lying, cheap Lie is your G-d. Yes, whatever you devote yourself to over other things. Your highest devotion, whatever is receiving that devotion, is your G-d. Crime, whatever.
IWDM:
And this is no new explanation I'm giving you. This is the explanation that produces the myths. All of those mythological G-ds, they represent some influence in the life of people. Sometimes it's a composite influence. Sometimes it's a collective influence. It's not just one, it's a combination of influences. And the combination of influences work together. They all work together in the mind or in the hearts and minds of the people.
IWDM:
So those ancient people gave it a description, gave it a picture, and gave it a name. And they will say, "Bless the G-d of these people." They identify with what was their G-d. And they came to us in modern times as myths. But in the lives of those people, they were not myths in the way that we understand it. They were reality. They were real. They were reality. And history said that the people would meet at certain times, certain times of great celebration, great joy.
IWDM:
And to some of those myths, they committed suicide or sacrificed the life of innocent people to appease the myth, to appease the false G-d, to make the G-d happy. "We're going to give you our best child." Now you think about that. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:
Yes.
IWDM:
'We're going to give you our best child, our purest one, our most innocent one. We love you, G-d." This G-d, that, whatever it is. "We're going to give you our best child in sacrifice." Yes. Now, I return to what I said earlier that as a seed, we have to be rooted in the earth. Rooted in the ground, rooted in the land.
IWDM:
You know, ground has many meanings, ground. For electricity, ground is needed. Isn't it? For it to go to work, for it to do work. If you're a welder or whatever, if you're going to go to work and you need electrical source, you have to have a ground there, a ground. A ground is very important. It means that that supports whatever is being done or whatever is going to develop upon it, ground.
IWDM:
So ground is supposed to support, supposed to be the support. And the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "Let's get some of the good earth." And he formed an organization called Salaam... I think it was...
Speaker 2:
The [crosstalk 00:33:45].
IWDM:
Land Development.
Speaker 2:
Progressive Land Developers.
IWDM:
Progressive, pardon me, thank you. Progressive Land Developers. He formed that company. Progressive Land Developers. The community of his followers supported him, and we saw a lot of material progress around the country. But he said, "Land. Come to the land."
IWDM:
Now Islam invites human beings, community, human community, to build themselves upon the earth, have land. Muhammad the Prophet was leading his followers for 10 or 11 years in Mecca, and very little progress in a community sense was realized, very little.
IWDM:
But when he got the help from Allah, G-d, to visualize and draw and establish a community, Ummah, we call it, a community for his followers or for Muslims on this planet Earth. He went in response to the invitation that had been given to him, even before by the people of Medina. They said, "Why should you suffer all this persecution here? Why don't you come to Medina where you can build your society?"
IWDM:
They had invited him to do that. Only after he had the ascent, G-d took his soul up from the earth in the sacred spot where the Kabah is. G-d took his soul up into the heavens, into the seven heavens, into the highest of the heavens. He reached the seventh heaven, and then G-d caused him to travel from Mecca at the center of the Kabah to the farthest mosque, Al-Aqsa, in Jerusalem where the kingdom of David and Solomon was at one time, where there was still signs of the ancient kingdom of Solomon and David.
IWDM:
He caused him to travel to that point. And Muhammad, after having that experience, was prepared to go and start building as the leader, the first leader, as a father really, but we can't call him father. Because Allah says in the Quran, he's not the father of any of our children, but as the leader of the Ummah. He went to Medina, and he realized success after success until the Ummah was established and strong there.
IWDM:
The community of Muslims were established in Medina and very strong there. And progress in all community areas was realized after that. Progress for education, number one. Progress for government, progress for business. All realized in Medina after the Prophet ascended and traveled to the site of a great kingdom that once existed called The Kingdom of Solomon.
IWDM:
So it is very important that we have roots in the land, roots in the earth. But we should understand-
Speaker 2:
I got a chair back here, brother Imam.
IWDM:
I'm okay. Thank you very much, though. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
Yes. You touched my soul and my mind.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
Yes. Where were I?
Speaker 2:
Roots.
IWDM:
Yeah. We on the roots. We on roots. Isn't that something? We on the roots. The route is also a road, isn't it?
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
Just spelled a little different, but it's pronounced the same. Route 66. Yes. That root is powerful. It is. Yes. So we have to anchor our life. We have to fix our life in the natural creation. Now just having fun and a good spirit, you can drift, you can float. You can. And pretty soon, you're not anchored. You have to discover that you're not anchored.
IWDM:
"Wow, let me get back to reality." Right?
Speaker 2:
Right.
IWDM:
I know you've experienced it. All of us have experienced it.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
"Wow. Let me get back to reality. I done gone too far with this thing." Yes. So you know a people have to have a relationship, a sacred relationship with the land. A sacred relationship with the land. If you find a people, a community of people, separated from the land, detached from the land, they don't have land values anymore. They don't value the land anymore. You'll find a weak people.
IWDM:
Find me any people like that, you'll find a weak people.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
We were stronger for the challenge of life when we were in the south. Dirt farmers. Didn't have it big, but we valued the land, and we worked the land. And we had a better sense of family. And we had a better sense of what the future of a people should be. Huh?
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
And we worked for that future. Didn't we?
Speaker 2:
Yes. Bring it on.
IWDM:
Yes, because it came for me, it came to me. It came to me from grandfather, my grandmother, my father, and my mother. It came from them into me. So I know something. I had people tell me, "Where were you born?"
IWDM:
I said, "Detroit, Michigan." But I say, "I know Chicago because that's where I spent most of my life. My mother brought me through to Chicago when I was 11 months old. I don't know Detroit."
IWDM:
And they say, "Oh, you Northern. You a Northern boy."
IWDM:
I said, "No. I'm a Southern boy. I'm not a Northern boy. My mother didn't put the North in me. My mother put Georgia in me."
IWDM:
You can be born up north, but that doesn't make you a Northerner. It's what your parents put in you. And my mother never left Georgia. She always had a Georgia mind and a Georgia spirit, and that's what went into me. I'm a Chicagoan by choice. I'm a Georgia boy by birth, birth in spirit. And I never identified with typical Northern people. I never did.
IWDM:
I always felt comfortable with the people from the south. More comfortable with the people from the south. So we have to have roots, and business is very important. It's not of no significance or no importance that the Prophet himself was a businessman before he became the Messenger of G-d. What was his profession before he became the Messenger of G-d? Business. He was a businessman.
IWDM:
And G-d made Adam, the first man, from the earth. He formed him of the earth, the first man. And he's still the first man. Yes, read the Bible. Read our holy Quran. He's still the first man. You all are from Adam. Isn't that what our book says?
Speaker 2:
Yes. That's right.
IWDM:
He's still the first man. "Oh, he sinned, and he lost his place." His place was never lost. When G-d give you a place, it stays forever. You may fall out of it, but in time, he can wake you up and put you back in it. Right? That's what Allah tells us in our holy book.
IWDM:
See certainly Adam fell out of his place, but he repented. And he met a word from his G-d, and he was established again in his place. Now you're thinking about a flesh and blood man. And G-d is talking about a picture of the man he wants, not a flesh and blood man. G-d is giving us a picture of the man he wants. This is a word-man. This is an ideological man. This is not a flesh and blood man. It's an ideological type.
IWDM:
The first type for a human being that G-d wants on this planet Earth. Now could any other man be successful out of that type? No. Jesus said he's the second Adam according to the gospel. He said he's the second Adam. He didn't say he was not Adam. He said he's the second Adam.
IWDM:
And Muhammad, what did he say when he ascended? When he ascended up into the heavens, he found Adam, not in Hell. He found Adam in Heaven.
Speaker 2:
Go head on, brother.
IWDM:
And that was the first one he came upon. And he greeted him and said, "As salaam wa alaikum. [Islamic 00:44:48] Adam. Peace be unto you my father, Adam." Let the fathers be united... The children be united with the father. He smacked the earth with a curse. Yes. So we have to be united with the natural man, the man that was devoted to cultivating the ground. Cultivating the ground, cultivating the earth. And if you're separated from that, you will be cursed, and it will be a terrible curse. Terrible curse. Wipe you off of the face of the earth.
IWDM:
Yes. So look at African American family. You're not attached to the land anymore. You're not devoted to the land anymore. You have been separated from your first father, Adam, and your life is cursed.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
It's roots I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about getting those roots. Be devoted to the cultivation of the land.
Speaker 2:
That's right. All right, brother.
IWDM:
And know that it's your natural rights. It is your inheritance to be, yourself, responsible for developing some land. Now we don't have to have all the people in our congregation doing that as long as we have a representative. A representative group, a representative number devoted to cultivating the land. We have Adam in our life. We have Adam in our hearts and in our spirit and in our souls. We have him. We have the first father with us if we do that.
IWDM:
So that's what this is all about. That's why we're meeting here on this earth land here, because I love people who value a piece of land. And that was Kenneth Muhammad, a great man. And she's carrying on his tradition.
Speaker 2:
Praise be to G-d.
IWDM:
So much for that. Now, if you've been listening to me and agreeing with me or at least liking what I'm saying, we can talk about money now. Ain't nobody going to fall over on their head and turned topsy turvy or anything. No, you'll keep your balance, and you can listen to me talk about money.
IWDM:
Everything of this life has a purpose and a conclusion. Everything of this life is to serve something else. It is not an end in itself, but it is a means to an end, and that includes money. Money is not an end in itself. Money is a means toward an end, or many means to an end. And what we want money for? You know.
IWDM:
Each one of know what we want money for. Now when you want money for things that have short life, you have to have somebody among you or some people among you that want money for the long haul. For the long haul, for the long distance. "Yeah, I want money because I'm going to get a five-day notice if I don't have money before this month's out. I want money because they'll take my car back."
IWDM:
Those are short-lived things. Such concerns, material concerns, are short-lived. But if you want money to invest in an effort to bring the whole people up, then G-d is with you. G-d is with you wanting that money. And G-d is going to help you get that money. And G-d is going to cherish you. And G-d is going to help you have your life comfortable because you're not living selfishly just for yourself and your loved ones and your family members, bu you're also living for the whole people.
IWDM:
And G-d is with the person who is living for the whole people. With him, strongly with him. Yes. G-d will be so real in your life and for every other thing real, it will look like it ain't real. Yes. I know. I don't talk what I believe only. I talk what I know. I'm telling you what I know. I'm sharing with you what I know.
IWDM:
Yes. So we have to have business. We can't leave our neighborhoods to others. And we go out and work for somebody, we get a salary, biweekly or whatever. And we leave our own neighborhood, but we don't have an interest in our own neighborhood like Irish, Jews, Polish people, Spanish. All these ethnic groups and the newcomers from Africa, Haiti, wherever, India, wherever. The newcomers, they're coming into our area. And we see them busy like ants. Working the material reality.
IWDM:
And we see them taking over the shops, and multiplying the shops. Dunkin Donuts, hotels, motels. They're just moving earth. They move earth and produce the businesses in our neighborhoods. The motel in our neighborhood, owned by somebody else, most likely. The businesses in our neighborhood, owned by somebody else, most likely. That was not always our makeup.
IWDM:
If you look back into time, like I can as a Chicagoan, I look back into time. And I remember when I went to a corner store, and it was owned by one of us. I went to a restaurant, and it was owned by one of us. I went to a grocery store, it was owned by one of us. I went to a shoe shop, owned by one of us.
IWDM:
Candy store, owned by one of us. Cleaners, owned by one of us. I remember those stores. Now that wasn't all that we wanted because even back then, our people in business thought that was a little bit. They wanted much more, but we lost even the appetite. So we leave it to others to supply our appetites. We lost it. We won't even go to our own people for what we have appetites for.
IWDM:
We stopped that, and we lost. Our people uprooted, died, lacking nourishment from the natural creation that G-d made. So we are building business. We want to build business for the whole people. Because see, the whole people becomes stronger financially. That's why I'm leading the effort to build this. That's my reason.
IWDM:
If I just wanted money, I could have had it long, long time ago. Believe me, I could have had plenty, plenty money long, long time ago. All I had to do was when my father opened the two sachet cases, he opened two of them in front of me and made sure that I saw what was in them. Crisp dollars from the bank, both of them loaded.
IWDM:
And he wanted me to accept that his teacher, W. Fard Muhammad, also called W. D. Fard, was G-d. He said, "Who is G-d, then Wallace?"
IWDM:
I said, "Daddy, you read the Quran, and you're the one who started me to read it. I can't tell you who G-d is better than what you already know."
IWDM:
And he looked away from me so I wouldn't see his eyes.
Speaker 2:
Aw man.
IWDM:
"You know what this mean?"
IWDM:
I said, "Yes, sir."
IWDM:
"You won't be able to communicate with your mother. You'll be put out." Abandoned, excommunicated.
IWDM:
I said, "Yes, sir." And that was the end of that. But let me skip a lot of things that happened between that, and tell you what happened lastly. They brought a tape to my father to get me put out again. He had let me back in. And without saying I lied or mis-fraud his [inaudible 00:56:06], he didn't give me any conditions, he just accepted me back in. And he said because he felt sorry for me... He said one of my brothers saw me, Wallace, in the street. "Daddy, he looking real pitiful and mad."
IWDM:
I don't know who they was looking at. But anyway, it got me back in, so I never said I wasn't looking pitiful and mad. I didn't say, "Daddy, they told you a lie." No. Whatever got me back in, good. So they brought this tape to my father, and he didn't even listen to it until I was present. And it happened to be on Sunday. And I don't know exactly when they produced the tape, but I think the tape was produced within a few days because I was made the talk on a radio on the South Side of Chicago, a little town called Lansing.
IWDM:
An African American woman hosted me, and she liked it too. She liked the tape. She said, "When you do some more on this, will you come back on my show?"
IWDM:
I said, "I promise you, I will."
IWDM:
So anyway, my father told them, "Put that tape on." Now we're all at the table on Sunday. It might be some of you Imams here who had the good fortune of being at the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's table on a Sunday after meeting when all the officials would sit at his table. He had two big tables, load them up.
IWDM:
One brother's here. Yeah. The table would be loaded. Sometimes it would be almost 50 people at the tables, big long tables, accommodate a lot. A good number of them was his personal staff, his personal staff of secretaries and helpers, brothers that helped him personally, served him personally, directly.
IWDM:
So anyway, all of them over there, and family members. My mother was sitting at the end of the table, other end of the table, opposite end of the table. My father at one end, she was at the opposite end. And I sat where I would normally sit. I sat on the side of the table with my mother to my left, my father would be to my right at the head of the table, the other head at the end of the table.
IWDM:
And he said, "Son, we got a tape here." He said to my nephew, his grandson, he said, "Put that tape on of Wallace."
IWDM:
And they put it on, and I guessed they thought, "Well, he here goes, out again." My father at one point during the tape, when I was explaining the trouble for the American people. I say, "Mythological G-ds is the main burden on the American people. G-ds that are not real, they are myths. And they are in the life of the people, and they don't know it." So I said it.
IWDM:
And at one point, the Honorable Elijah, now he's sickly. This is the time when he was having trouble, serious health problem. He's sickly, and his face flushed. The color of his face just flushed, beautiful face. And he smiled, and he stood up straight. He said, "My son's got it."
IWDM:
Now I felt just like you feel right now. I was wondering, "What are we talking about?" Talking about G-d. But he said, "My son's got it." I thought he just had a good conversation, but he saw something deeper than that. He saw his son coming into an independent mind, and will be speaking from a new mind and a new knowledge to his followers after he died, and he was happy to see that. "My son is free."
IWDM:
He stood up, and he said, "My son's got it." And he looked down to the other end of the table, long table, to my mother. And he said, "Clara, isn't this what we wanted?"
IWDM:
And she smiled, and nodded her head like that. And from that time on, I've been beating my opponents. They haven't been winning.
Speaker 2:
No.
IWDM:
I've been winning over my opponents from that time till now.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
IWDM:
So I had a plan. And I believe G-d was with me. Yes I do. I had a plan, and my plan was to deceive the leaders of the Nation of Islam after the passing of my father. I had to deceive them.
Speaker 2:
Yes you did.
IWDM:
So I came out with, pardon me, "Man means mind, and words make people. And woman means the womb of mine." Oh, the leaders, they liked it. They liked it.
IWDM:
"He ain't making no trouble for us."
IWDM:
But I knew that once I get a language, a new language, into the minds of the following, they would then be my following.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
The sheep knows the shepherd's voice.
Speaker 2:
Yes, come on. Yes we do.
IWDM:
That's scripture. Yes. So I knew that once my language went into them, they would be my people.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
Yeah, Jacob, he wanted to get the followers of Laban.
Speaker 2:
Yes he did.
IWDM:
So he took the cattle to a certain place where they could see something particular and important in their view. So when the cows went to water there, with that scene that Jacob wanted to keep in their view, the cattle came out, just the babies came out just like he planned to visit Laban. He told Laban, he said, "Whatever cattle... You're going to entrust me to tend the cattle. Now, we're going to make an agreement. The cattle that come out ring-streaked, they'll be mine."
IWDM:
Laban said, "Okay."
IWDM:
Well Jacob set up a situation where he knew the product of his teaching, those cows are students, they're not cows. The cows are students instinctively, and Jacob is the teacher. So he put something in their view, and it caused the product to come out ring-streaked.
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
And he got followers from the land. From the land, he got followers. So my scheme was similar. I put certain things in your eyes.
Speaker 2:
You sure did.
IWDM:
Certain things in your eyes, and you came out ring-streaked. And I'm measuring my numbers, and soon as I saw I had the majority, I started speaking like a lion. Oh yeah. I stopped roaring like a little kitten. I started roaring like a lion. And I knew they couldn't deal with me, it was too late.
IWDM:
The National Secretary came to me. He had power. He had great power over the congregation.
Speaker 2:
Yes he did. We remember.
IWDM:
The National Secretary came to me, and he said, "Chief Minister, I see where you're going. And I don't want to be any trouble for you. So I'll just take myself out of the picture. If you ever need me for anything, you let me know. Call me." He left. And the rest of them who stayed, I wasn't worried about them. Nothing they could do, it was too late. Too late.
IWDM:
So G-d blessed me to be successful as a leader and to bring the following of Mr. Fard and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to the purity of the Quran and the exemplary life of Muhammad the Prophet. Praise be to Allah. Praise to Allah.
IWDM:
Now let met tell you what a scholar told me, well known scholar in Islam. He said, "Imam, you have actually performed a miracle."
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
I told him, "No." I said, "G-d was with us all the time. It's G-d that stayed in our hearts and minds, and G-d that brought us to where we are now."
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
Faith in G-d has brought us to where we are now. And faith in G-d is going to take us to community establishment. Community establishment, faith in G-d. If you all lose that faith that is in my sister, Margaret, Sister Margaret, and in me, and in special ones that's out here in this audience and all over the country, some out of the country. Some even working in Saudi Arabia now, but they have what we share together. They have what we all share together.
IWDM:
And that has brought us to where we are, and that is going to take us all the way. Don't let anybody tell you, "Imam is not a businessman. He should stick to teaching the Quran, and stick to... " Don't let anybody tell you that. I'm not working alone, and I'm not working at admiring myself or thinking I'm some great guy.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
IWDM:
I'm working for G-d in us. You hear what I said?
Speaker 2:
Yes sir.
IWDM:
I'm working for Allah in us. Allah is in us. We have kept Allah in our hearts and in our souls. And I am working for Allah in us, and we are going to be successful in a big and amazing way, very successful.
IWDM:
I told you what I came upon overseas. I came upon people who loved the leadership, and they are friends of our community. They're friends of our community. Not friends of each one of us. No. They're friends of what they see developing over the years from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad until now. So they are friends of that, and they value it highly, and they will support us getting better opportunities in business so that we can grow in business here in the United States of America.
IWDM:
Dubai is an excellent situation where the big major commercial artery is, the big shop, the big market that stays open 24 hours. Makes you think you're in New York City, yes. 24 hours, around the clock and people busy. Going in and out, all the time. That big marketplace is only about 10 to 15 minutes, no more than 20 minutes even if the traffic is bad, from a friend of ours who is a ruler of one those states. They're called the United Emirates or the Gulf States. He's the ruler of Sharjah, and he's still living.
IWDM:
Like I said, he's 10 or 15 minutes from this big shopping area. I wasn't able to pay him a visit on these last two visits I made over there. But on the next visit, In Sha Allah, I plan. In fact, I met someone over there that has direct access to him and his palace. And we plan for me to meet him. I want to see him as a courtesy to tell him thank you, and to let him know that nothing is lost. We are getting ourselves situated to make big progress.
IWDM:
He had enough faith in us to give us close to a half million dollars. When I was a Chief Minister on Stony Island, we had heavy debts coming in. But we didn't ask him for the debts, we asked him to invest in a masjid and a school complex we are hoping to have. But the money didn't come. The money didn't come as we thought it would come. We thought that the other donors would come behind him from the Emirates and would donate too, and some also from our area.


