12/13/1998
IWDM Study Library
Muslim American- Planning and Developing Neighborhood

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1:
The following media is the sole property of Imam W Deen Mohammed, and cannot be sold, reproduced or distributed without the written consent or permission of Imam W Deen Mohammed. Anyone not in compliance will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is the National broadcast of Imam W Deen Muhammad, Muslim American leader.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Praise be to Allah. That is Praise be to G-d. The Lord, Cherisher, Keeper of the worlds. We trust Him. We put our complete trust in Him. We worship Him. We ask Him for His mercy. We ask forgiveness for our sins, our errors, our mistakes, and we ask that He guide us always. Where it is written in the Holy Book, the Qur'an, the last revelation or the last book of G-d. Without Him guiding us, we would never have found guidance. We salute the last Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed better than 1400 years ago, with the traditional salute of Muslims all around the world. We say the Prayers and the Peace be upon him, Alahi Asalat was salaam. The Prayers and the Peace be Upon him, and what follows of that salutation. I have spoke to Brother Rafah who's staying in touch with you here and your efforts here to promote good works, the religion and all of the other obligations we have in the religion and under the religion, under law, laws and instructions and commandments of the Qur'an, the religion. And that is our responsibility to our families to try hard as healthy, able bodied men in their own good minds, to give a good environment, a good home environment for our wives and our children. And you can't do that without a job, without income, without working hard altogether to strengthen the business life of our community, the business establishments of the members of our community, or the members in our community. All of this is very much necessary in order to enjoy the good life. That's why on the day of Jumu'ah Friday, which the Prophet Muhammad, Prayers and Peace be Upon him, gave to us Jumu'ah Friday as the most special day. No day is more special in the life of believers than Friday, Jumu'ah day. He made it even more special than the two major holidays the Muslims have, the Eids. The Eid after the Ramadan fast and the Eid on 10th day of Pilgrimage, Hajj, to the holy precincts, to the Ka'aba, the Holy house, sacred precincts. And you will recall, some of you and many of you maybe, an Eid day that was Friday and you recall that we had to make Friday prayer and have Jumu'ah on that Eid day. The Eid prayers do not interfere with or change Jumu'ah prayer and the Jumu'ah service Khutbah.

That should tell us a lot. And in the chapter of the Qur'an, the last book of the Muslims Bible, we could say. Bible only means book that come from the word Biblio. Means book. And certainly our Holy book is a book. So, it wouldn't be improper to say our Holy Bible, meaning our Holy book. In that chapter, G-d says to us, when the call for prayer on Friday is given, leave off your business, close your business down, put the business down and come to the Jumu'ah, to the Friday service, the congregational prayer on Friday. But in the same, continuing on, the statement is not finished. It says "And when the Jumu'ah is concluded, when it's over, finished. G-d doesn't say it's okay for you to do this. G-d doesn't say you're permitted to do this. G-d says, then go out, disperse into the ways of business, into the avenues of your business, of your businesses." So, we don't have a day like many people have, a seventh day of the week where they take off from work. They just worship and then go and eat and drink and sleep and pray or whatever, or go to the movies or whatever. We don't have a day like that. On our most sacred day, on the day of worship, we go to the worship, we go to the Jumu'ah and do the prayers, hear the Khutbah and do the prayers. And when all is finished, we go back to our business.

Now G-d has made business very important for us. If the Eids, the two Holy Eids, the two sacred holidays we have, they can't interfere with this Friday Jumu'ah service, but business is mentioned and on the same day after you conclude the service, you are told to go from the Jumu'ah back to your businesses. Now it doesn't mean everybody G-d know, G-d knows some of you can't do any business, but G-d knows that. But those who can do business and is doing business, G-d is telling them go back to your business. Why? Because somebody has to support the community. And these people are very important. The business people are very important to the community. If their businesses are neglected, if they have a chance to close on a business deal today and make $5,000 or whatever or 500, that's money. That helps them and it helps their family and help the community. When they are helped the community is helped because they have more in charity. The more they are helped, the more they have to put in charity. And charity is not supposed to be supported by people on welfare. Charity is supposed to be by people who have lawful income. Employed, lawfully employed and have lawful halal income. Halal means lawful.

Islamic term. You, see? So, this is the reality. So, I was talking to Rafah and I said, Brother Rafah, I said, what is my subject? What am I supposed to talk about today? This day? It was days ahead. In Detroit. He said, "Well Brother Imam, you are free to talk on whatever you want." So, I saw the theme here and it is right up under my picture. So, I'm sure that people you gave this flyer to, they expect me to talk on what's under my picture, Muslim American Planning and Developing Neighborhoods for All to Benefit. That's the subject. And I've just addressed it. Now let us talk about what holds, what holds the business up. Something has to support business. There has to be something to assure a business that it's got good foundation, that it's got good security, that it's safe, it's protected, you're not going to lose it. And what is that? Keeping yourself aware that there's a G-d that made everything possible. And that there is a G-d that is ever ready to assist your good doings, your good actions, your good efforts.

And give you much more results than you could get alone. In fact, in the end, if you go it alone without G-d, the results is going to be hell fire. It may look good for a while, but the results in the end will be hell fire if you go it without G-d. Russia is a living testimony to that. They went, the leaders, the Founding Fathers of their nation, the Communist society, the Communist Soviet Union, they dismissed G-d. They wouldn't even include G-d in their language. They forbid the government from including G-d and denied the people the right or the freedom to practice religion publicly. They lived about 70 years and now they on welfare. That's the reality. It's the facts I'm telling you. The big powerful Soviet Union is on the welfare. What I mean they're asking for public assistance. Who is the public? American taxpayer. They want the United States government to use our taxes, use our money to help bail them out, to help strengthen their economy. And they're asking Japan, they're asking every strong economic order or country to help them come out of what they're in, strengthen their economy. So, they're like on public welfare.

And Brother Imam said that if he did get to Jennah, he didn't want to come to Jennah on welfare. I just had a little humor with our business partner here who was here. Brother Dennis, CPC member strong CPCC member. I was having a little fun. I told him if I had some food stamps, I sure would throw them in the hell fire before I went into paradise. I wouldn't take into the Jennah, no. Food stamps not accepted there. No government programs there, not from this world. Nothing is worth talking about for a religious community until we first consciously accept that G-d makes everything possible. And without us striving to respect G-d, we have no guarantee whatsoever that anything we try to do is going to be a success. Business, I don't care what it is. What puts us in a good position to be successful in business, successful with a neighborhood development program, is just that. Faith in G-d and a desire to please G-d, which means to obey His plan for our life. G-d made everything. G-d planned me to be like I am. G-d planned me to have eyes to see with, two eyes to see with, ears, to hear with, tongue to speak a language. Intelligence behind all that. G-d planned this. Nothing planned this but G-d. So, if I want to plan something else using what G-d gave me, doesn't it make good common sense for me to turn to G-d and acknowledge G-d and seek G-d's help? And G-d says through Muhammad, that is Muhammad said directly, but it is G-d that put this in Muhammad to say to us that the servant of G-d, pardon me, the servant of G-d that continuously over and over again turn to G-d. Though he make mistakes, though he fall into sin, but every time he becomes aware that he has sinned, he turns to his Lord, G-d who made him and everything. And he says to G-d, I have done wrong. G-d my Lord, I have sinned. Forgive me my sins.

Muhammad the Prophet says that that person can establish with G-d a record of, for having done that every time he committed sin, every time he erred over a long period of time. And Muhammad the Prophet said, Prayers and Peace be Upon him, that G-d at one point, said to such a servant, "Go on, you are free. You are on your own. Meaning that he didn't really have to be concerned for that person. That person had proven by his record of acknowledging mistakes and sins and turned into his G-d right away to get forgiveness. That he established a record. And really G-d didn't have to be worried about that person anymore. That person could be trusted on his own. So, G-d said to that servant, "Go on your own. You are on your own," meaning that I trust you. That's what G-d, that means. I trust you. You have proven that you will keep your life straight for G-d by your constant effort to repent errors and sins and get My forgiveness and go out with a determination not to do that again. And another thing the Prophet has said, that's good for you people of faith.

If you're an atheist, then you can have the Communist philosophy, the Communist Party philosophy. You don't need this religion. You don't believe in G-d. You're not a person of faith. Then you don't need this. You need the Communist materialistic idea. The idea is eclectic materialism. That there is no G-d, that all this material world happened on its own by itself. Didn't have a Creator, didn't have a Maker, that matter is the boss. You can go get that and see can you live more than seven years before you come to your demise. But if you're a person of faith then you're in the right place and you're listening to the right man. I'm a man of faith. I don't have anything before faith. Before faith, I have nothing. Faith makes possible all the other things for me. Faith in the one G-d and in the man, the human man, the man like us, human nature, not spook, not angel, not some different type of human being, no. Common type human being. Muhammad the Prophet. I have him as my leader and I have faith in him. I follow him with no suspicion, no doubts, with nothing but enthusiasm, sound belief, firm faith in him.

So, this is your leader. If you comfortable with me being that kind of leader, then I'm comfortable with you being the kind of person you are. Praise be to Allah. Faith in G-d. That's first and that's last. Without it, we have nothing

G-d says of this creation, of this material scheme, the world, that we see all about us, including ourselves. We are material, we are flesh. We come from the earth. We are part of the material scheme, the whole material world. We are part of that. We are born out of it physically, materially. We are the product of this material scheme, this great material world. And when we die, the proof that we belong to it, it takes us back. Ain't nothing we can do to escape that. It's going to take us back. This flesh is going to go back to this material scheme, this material world that it came from, that produced it. Bones and everything goes back. In time, you can't tell you were ever a human being. In time, you look like nothing but sand, dust, rocks, stone, whatever. There'll be nothing left. In time even the bones go back to earth. You don't see anything but earth. So that's a physical real proof that I and my body and myself came from this material world.

So, the Lord G-d that made all of it made us. And He says, "And He made us from the earth, from clay, from dust, from water," et cetera, meaning from the world, from earth, the water, the earth itself, from the ground. That's what we are made from. And we go back to the ground when we are dead. So that G-d says of this great material scheme, that mean the whole world, everything you see up there out in front of you everywhere, down everywhere He says it is supported by something that you can't see with your eyes. Now G-d said that in the scripture 1400 years ago

After hearing that revelation from G-d about how the stars are supported up there, the studious followers of the Prophet, his students, his students, they don't say disciples, his students. They began to study the heavens as astronomers. They began to study the skies and the objects in the skies, the moon, the sun, how it follows from rise, sunrise to sunset. The moon, how it goes through phases, the stars, how they change in the heavens from one position to another in the skies. They began to study all that and they revived the sciences. We say, we call pardon me, astronomy. They revived that knowledge. It was lost. The world during this time had gone away from those things. They had started making all the heavens become, the skies and objects there, had a place only in their religious symbolism, in metaphysics, in symbolism. And a language that was addressed the spiritual side of life.

But they had no scientific thinkers studying the world objectively. That had been lost. They had had it before. Africa had had that kind of science before. Asia have had it before. The Greeks had had it before, but they had gone to sleep. They had neglected that kind of scientific study and it was a Qur'an and Muhammed that revived their interest in that and caused them to study it again. So, G-d says the big objects up there in the space now, they didn't know they were big. They appear to be very small. But we don't need any very complicated theories to have us understand that those objects out there are not small but big. All you need is common sense.

Now you know if you can see a house and that house in the distance, and you know the distance is far, it appears to be three feet high? You know with common sense that as you get closer to it, it's going to get higher and higher. And pretty soon it's going to look just like all the other houses, it's going to be higher and higher. Just like the houses in your near surrounding. You know that. Michelangelo, the great painter from Italy, you go to the great St. Peter's Cathedral and you'll see Michael Angelos pictures of a bird and people in the Cathedral. And he knew by common sense, he knew that the bird up there at a height of 20 feet or 30 feet in the building, should not look like in size like the bird that's right before your face only two or three feet from your eyes. So, he made it to appear small so it looks real. If he made it the same size, then that bird in the thinking of the mind of a person that's thinking would say, "Hey, that bird ain't supposed to be that big. That bird at that distance wouldn't look that big." So, if we see in the nighttime a bright star and it seems to be far, much farther away from our eyes, physical eyes, then the sun, we must then reason the common sense, that that object is really bigger than our sun, because it's so much farther away than our sun and it appears to be the size of a quarter. So really if we could go and see it, it must be much, much bigger than our sun. So, we didn't need scientists really to get their telescopes and tell us, they lied. They want you to think that they got more sense than they got. The telescopes tell them a lot. But they didn't need a telescope to tell them that. All they needed was Michael Angelos common sense to know that those big objects appearing sometime as big as a hen egg in the sky, but seem to be much, much farther away from us than the sun, common sense says they much be much, much bigger than the sun. Now some of you all having pains in your head. You can't follow this common sense Islam. Why? Because you are rebellious. You don't want to follow it. You got your own. You made your conclusion and your conclusion you want hold on to it no matter what I say. And you don't hate me. You just have a problem in your brain.

And I hope I'm helping you with it. Yes. So, I've been on the beach and I've watched boats come in. In Chicago, Lake Michigan. And I've seen those boats coming in. And in the distance, they appear to be no bigger sometimes than me. Whole boat seems like it ain't no bigger than I am. By the time that boat gets to the beach, it's a big boat.

So, G-d says of those objects up there, "See how they appear to have nothing supporting them?" What's holding them up there? Now we know science now. Science have explained it to us. What's holding them up there, that's what they call universal gravitation. Universal gravitation. Each body is like a magnet having its own force field and they work on each other like magnets holding each other in that orbit, or in at certain distances. They're holding each other. And if a smaller one comes too close to a bigger one, it'll be drawn to that bigger one and will collapse upon that bigger one. Like the meteorites that fall from the sky. They get too close to us and the earth just draws them right on in. The gravity is too strong for them. They got too close, pulls them right on in like a big magnet and they fall on our ground.

So, we know what holds them in check. But what is this invisible force coming from a material body that's so powerful it can hold billions and trillions of tons of material in check. Where is that invisible for? You can't taste it. You can't see it, you can't smell it, you can't feel it with your hand. You can't weigh it with a scale. No, you can't weigh it with a scale, not directly. You can't take it out there in the air. You have to weigh the body and come up with a theory for calculating the gravitational pull or the magnetism. That's what you have to do. You can't take the magnetism itself. You can't take the universal gravity itself and take it out of the air. It's in the air. It's on everything. You can't take it and put it on a scale. It weighs nothing. Itself, weighs nothing, it has no taste, can't feel it, can't smell it, can't hear it, nothing. It can't reach your five senses except by reference, theory, understanding the scientific law of the matter. That's the only way you can know it. But we don't have to go to that which is a little more difficult to understand.

Look at the water. Water. Something so flimsy, something so weak, carries more weight to be transported from one nation to the other than the train, than the choo choo train, the railroad train or the electric train or the diesel train. No train can carry the load that a ship can carry on that water. Now there's a way to understand it. Sure, the water is mass, it's fluid. It opens up and gives space to whatever you put in it. But if you have air occupying or hollow, then it is going to displace a lot of water and the water around it, the force of the water around it's going to be much stronger than the vessel itself. So, it's going to push the vessel up, hold the vessel up like a little light balloon. You put it on the water, it's got air so it can't do anything but just ride the water. So, you see how complicated the material world is? And they tell us the spiritual world is complicated. They tell us believing in G-d is complicated. No. Believing in this material world is complicated. That's why poor people with no sense can't do anything with it at all.

It's the brainy people that can do something with it. Now we want a religion that's so stupid we asking no questions, no questions. I don't want a religion that's stupid. G-d has given us a religion that's more intelligent than the material science, more intelligent than the material world, that's more intelligent than their perception of the material world. Then their understanding of the material world. What G-d has given us as faith and religion is more intelligent than that. It's perfectly intelligent. But it takes faith, just like it takes faith in what I've told you. Now, you know this world going on, they making it. They got atomic bomb, they discover the atomic energy. They got all that. They discovered how to break the gravity of earth. They got vessels going out beyond the earth and going to the moon, going to other places. You know they got all that and you know you don't understand it. But you accept it and you obey them, right? Give you a TV and show you something going on. You can't follow that picture. You go out there and look outside your house. You don't see any pictures coming in your house, coming through the wire coming into your house and jumping into the wire like Star Trek or something. Coming out on your screen. You don't see that. You can't tell us how a picture come over your wire, you can't tell us. You'll be forever. If they gave you 10,000 lives, trees will be gone on earth and you'll still be around here right where you are now, not knowing the first step to tell us how that picture come over your television tube from way across in another country, over on the other side of the world in your living room, just like they said it would. So, this is the world that you should question. But you want to question the world of religion that's much more easier for you to understand and live. Praise be to Allah.

So, G-d says this religion is for the for Muttaqim. The Qur'an, the scriptures, you're not going to get it if you are not from the Muttaqim. This is the book without doubt. It is guidance. I'm quoting the scripture now. I'm quoting Qur'an for you. The Holy book of the Muslims. Without doubt, guidance for the Mutaqim. What is the meaning of the word Mutaqim? It means conscious people. Conscious people. That's what Mutaqim means. Conscious. But conscious of certain things in the context of the book. Firstly G-d, conscious of G-d, aware of G-d, keeping G-d before their mind's, eye remembering G-d, keeping G-d before the mind's eye. And they're conscious of that duty to that G-d. They're conscious of the respect that they have to give their parents, the elderly people in the community, their obligations to the weak, the young, the widows, the orphans, et cetera. So, they are the Mutaqim. They're the people that are conscious in the religion. They're conscious in the Qur'an. They're not sleeping in the Qur'an, they're not sleeping in the religion. Their eyes are open to the religion, to the matters of faith and religion that G-d has given them. Their eyes are open to it, not close to it. They're not sleeping in the religion or in the matters of the religion, before the matters of the religion. They're not snoring. They're conscious and awake. This is what's going to get you help. The big help. We say this is the greatest country on earth, right?

But how did it begin? It began with people who put G-d first. We are getting ready to put together a brochure, a book that will be put in the hands of distributors and others who want to sell our products. CPC, Collective Purchasing Conference products. We are getting ready to put a book in their hands, introducing the company, introducing the idea. And I selected to put a $10 bill on I think the second page of the book after the cover. And to have an arrow pointing at the language on the green side of the bill. In G-d We Trust. In G-d We Trust. Now how many of us are putting In G-d We Trust on the most important thing that we are doing or created? How many of us are putting in G-d We Trust on it? So, this nation is not great because it has a lot of money or because it found a lot of money or because it has a lot of material things. This country is great because it put G-d first. The Founding Fathers put G-d first. They say "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men, men are created equal. And are endowed." That means are blessed by their creator. G-d has given them this. The Creator has given us this as a blessing as their rights, certain inalienable rights. "Among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This is the beginning of the language upon which this whole nation stands. Do you understand that?
Audience:
Yes sir.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Find me people who put G-d out. They went the way of the grave, just like the economy of Russia. So, we put faith first. That's what it's all about. Faith in G-d first. They was a saying. "He who heeds the words of the Lord." From Bible. And live. And live. So, what is the life of the believer? Obedience to the word of G-d. Obedience. Obey the Word of G-d. Then you can have a life. And we think it means a spooky life. No, it means all life. If you heed the words of the G-d that He gave the Prophets, the great Prophets, if you heed those words for your life, for your guidance, for the protection of your life, you will have the life. If you don't heed those words, you won't have the life, you'll have the death. And what is the death? All forms of death. What is the life? All forms of life. When the Qur'an came by way of the Angel Jibril to Muhammad the Prophet. And a man gave it to us, Muhammad. Gave it to other men and women and children. What happened to that society? It didn't only come alive spiritually. It is in the history. That society came alive in every way, spiritually, rationally, materially, academically, in every way that society came alive. In business. Everywhere, everything just boom, became big, prosperous, productive, very successful, became the leaders of the world.

What happened? They stopped putting first things first. They stopped earning the help of G-d by neglecting the most important things. G-d first, faith first, obedience to G-d first. So, then they were hearing and weren't hearing. And isn't that what G-d said. G-d says, because of your own actions, a deafness will come in your ears and you will hear and not hear. Blindness will come in your eyes, you'll see and not see. And therefore when you speak, you speak as a dummy and not as an intelligent person because you can't see and you can't hear.

This is what G-d said. This is not me talking. I'm only giving you what G-d said. I don't have anything except what G-d gave me. Well, the people were told before Muhammad's time, the time of Jesus Christ and others, to heed the word of G-d and live in every respect. And we are asked to do what? To say as the best of the followers say, as the best of the believers say. It's in the Holy Book Qur'an. We hear. And what? Obey, we obey. That's night. That's the guarantee that you going to have life. Don't be suspicious of G-d. Don't trust this world with all of your future and everything and don't trust G-d who made it. Trust G-d above the world. Trust G-d above the United States government. Trust G-d above the President, the White House staff, above the Senate and the Congress. Above the police force, above the military of this world. Trust G-d. And you'll see a change come in your life. You'll see G-d working with you, aiding everything that you have in your power, your resources. Aiding it and aiding all of your efforts to do good. G-d will be doing that.

Can any one of you lead this community now with me still here? Can you take my place?
Audience:
No.
Imam WD Mohammed:
That's because you have not come as close to G-d as I have. You have not committed yourself to obey G-d and trust Him firstly as I have. You have done it, but you haven't done it to the extent that I've done it. You don't keep a conscious awareness of G-d before everything else like I do. You do it but not as much as I do. If any of you will equal me, men will be equal to me. If any of you will go more in front of me, I will be behind you. That's real. I didn't say that for you to look at me. I said that for you to look at the truth and know that G-d is the answer. It is guidance for the G-d conscious people, guidance for those who put G-d first and want to know what G-d says about it before they want to know what somebody else says about it. And then after they heed or hear the word of G-d, they act upon it and they become the devoted to it. Devoted means that you make it your interest. You make it your daily interest. It becomes your daily concern to live it and to make progress with it. That's what devoted to something mean. You have a constant now obligation to it. Something that you have wake up every day with. So, what are we supposed to wake up every day with? G-d is greater. G-d is bigger. That's the first thing you're supposed to hear when you awaken from your sleep. Allahu Akbar. If we had a person calling to prayer in the morning at Fajr time like we're supposed to have in our neighborhoods, we'll have this. If we put some material investment in it, we can have this. You'll be hearing not the alarm clock, you'll be hearing something more important than the alarm clock. You'll be hearing Allahu Akbar, G-d is the bigger G-d is the greater. That's what you'll be hearing. So that's telling you to start your day knowing that nothing is bigger, greater or more important than G-d. That's what that's saying. And then after that, after that's repeated it for a number of times, you repeat then, I bear witness that there is no G-d but G-d. If G-d is greater than what can be a G-d other than G-d? If G-d is the bigger can the smaller be equal with the bigger? No, A big G-d, some little G-ds? The order of family life tell us that when daddy or mama's there, you don't look at one of the lesser G-ds and say, "Well my sister told me it was okay Mama." If it was my mama, boy your butts gonna burn. That kind of disrespect she say, "I don't want nothing but your flesh. Take off those clothes." When she get through wearing out that fanny of yours, you'll take the Shahada. "I bear witness that their is no authority in this house but mama." My mama told me, she said, "I don't worry about you, just keep on. When I get to you, I'll whlip you until you come into another spirit." My mother knew how to change your spirit. She knew how to give you another spirit. When G-d turn you over to the angels that take you to the hell fire, you'll get another spirit. And I ain't talking about after this world is finished, I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, G-d can let you go and your life becomes such a mess, such a big hell, you'll be just like somebody that the angels have taken into the hell fire. You'll be miserable with no hope.

So, after life, conscious life, then we have to commit ourselves. We have to pledge our allegiance to G-d before the United States, before anything else, we have to pledge our allegiance to G-d. We have to be committed to G-d, to serve Him, to obey Him, to do what His word says. And then devote ourselves every day to making our life better, for G-d's sake, better as G-d wants it to be. For carrying out our responsibility to our family, to our children, to our wives and our children, to our household brother. Carry that responsibility in a way that you think will make G-d say, "He is a conscious person doing a good job." Yes. And then you want to watch your behavior because your behavior pattern, the pattern you set for your behavior, it must tell everybody you are G-d fearing. It must tell everybody that you obey G-d first. If you were raising hell every day in the house, calling people ugly names, family members ugly names, ain't no peace in your house. That tells me that you are not a person that puts G-d first. If you put G-d first, then you know G-d is more important than your bad language. G-d is more important than your bad temper. G-d is more important than your bad spirit. So, you are supposed to be working hard to get rid of that bad spirit so you won't have that bad language, so you won't have that bad behavior. And if you're not working on that, that tells me and all other believers that you are not really a person behaving or trying to behave to please your G-d.

So, we have to keep our behavior the behavior of a person of faith. And the religion has already been given to us in the Qur'an and in the history of Muhammad the Prophet. We know how to, if you're intelligent, if you're not, trust the more intelligent people. if you are educated in Islam, good. If you're not, trust the educated ones in Islam to lead you, to teach you. We have to have Imams. We have to have teachers of Islam, students of Islamic studies. We have to have them qualified to teach the Qur'an, qualified to teach the life history, the life work of Muhammad the Prophet, how he lived his lifestyle, et cetera, his Sunnah, we say. We have to have the people that do that and reach us with it so that we will know the purpose for our life.

And G-d says He has not made us to be anything other than His worshippers, His servants, His worshipers. It doesn't mean go and sing songs, have some spiritual hymns. That ain't what being His worshiper is. Being G-d's worshiper is doing with your life what G-d wants you to do with your life. That's what being a worshiper is, doing with your life what G-d wants you to do with it. If you are not doing something to help better the state of your mind, to improve your knowledge, to learn how to read better if you can't read. A Muslim, a real believer in Islam, you ain't happy going around saying you can't read the signs out there on the street. You ain't happy with that situation. You'll be trying to find somebody that can help you. "Help me read this sign." That's how the illiterate became literate under Muhammed the Prophet. Because they understood the heavy responsibility on them to lift up their matter, to lift up their human creation that G-d put in them to be dignified, honorable, worthy, valuable, worthy of respect in the society of mankind. Intelligent mankind. They had that obligation on them. So, they responded. And if they were dumb, they said, "I'll not be dumb tomorrow. I'll know a little more tomorrow. I'll known a little more next year. And in five years I'll be speaking with the tongue of an educated person." People who were illiterate did that. Now what are you going to do with your life? In order of us to uphold matter, have the faith to uphold the matter, to uphold the world of business, we are going to have to become strong in faith and obey G-d. And then we'll have that invisible energy to hold up billions of dollars. Thank you.

We'll hear the Iqama you know. The Adhan comes and then the Iqama. The Adhan saying the same thing the Iqama said. Right? But the thing that came before, it prepared you to stand up. And not stand up slouchy, stand up erect. Not just for males. For males and females. Sister is supposed to stand up just as erect as the brother in the prayer line. She's an equal soldier in the army of G-d. Yes. The Adhan comes. What is the Adhan? The Adhan comes from the ear. Udhan is ear. The word comes from that is Adhan. It means a call to wake up the ear, to get the attention of the ear. That's what it means. Get the attention of the ear because the ear is the doorway to the brain, to the conscience.

It knows the language. See, other things can come into us, but they don't know. They don't come to us in the language of our intelligence or our mind, our devoted mind, our responsible mind for carrying out duties in the real environment of the world. So, they can't read it there. Now you can blow something into my head, but it just doesn't sound, it doesn't have language. You could touch me and feel me. Maybe I'll understand, you keep touching me and something. Maybe I'll finally get your message. But nothing comes as clear with the help and with the effect of intelligent language. That reaches the ear, goes into the mind, the mind understand it and the mind can act upon it. So, you hear these words praising G-d, acknowledging G-d as the superior, and it comes into your ear. And what is G-d saying to us through our Prophet and those who had the visions in their dreams of how the Adhan should be made and brought it to our Prophet?

And our Prophet said, "Yes, I saw the same thing." So actually G-d, through the intuitive, the spiritual mind of the Prophet and other members gave us the Adhan that says Allah is the greatest. G-d is the greatest. G-d is the greatest. I witness that there is no G-d but G-d. I witness there is no G-d but G-d, I witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d. I witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d. Come to prayer, come to prayer. But the word come comes from the word Haya, which means living, which tells us we are to come with our life to prayer. And we are to come to something that's going to give us life, going to give us new life. It's going to give us the real life. The word of G-d is going to give us life. It's going to give us life and new life and the real life. The word of G-d. Come to it.

And it's not what I say. No one can write you prayers. You have to follow the Qur'an. They're all in the Qur'an. No one can give you prayers to say. They're all in the Qur'an. Or you might say, "Oh, the Imam made a mistake." We have many prayers from different Imams, from the Prophet and others. Those are not prayers. Those are du'as. That's calling on G-d. Prayer is what we do together. When we stand, recite Qur'an that's prayer. That's salat, that's not du'a, that's salt. So, you have to understand the language of Islam. So, no one can give us salat, no. Salat is Qur'an.

You can't change it. So, the call is not to your du'a, the call is to Qur'an. You're going to hear Qur'an when you come. And you going to follow Qur'an while you're doing the salat. And that's the life, the word of G-d lived. That's a statement. Carried into practice is the Muslim salat. Are you following me? Yes. A statement came hundreds of years. Who knows? Maybe thousands of years. Before the Qur'an, they only had a statement. Then G-d revealed to them how they were to put that into practice. Listen to the revealed word of G-d and hear it. Respond to the call. When you are told to come to it, to recite it in salat. And it lifts you up. It brings you standing. You hear the Adhan, and that's enough to bring you standing. It is enough to make you discipline yourself and stand orderly like soldiers in the best army of mankind. Looking to the right to make sure you're lined up properly. Look to the left and make sure you're lined up properly. Following each order in obedience, in unison. As one body. Bending down and coming up. That is G-d that lifts me up. It is G-d that will take me down. That it was G-d that has lifted me up on my feet again. For G-d's word is the life. Hear it and live. As Salaam Alaikum.

We pray to G-d to guide us always. Our Lord forgive us our errors and our sins. Accept our prayers. Show us your mercy and guide us always. Ameen.



