07/22/2001
IWDM Study Library
A Message to Believing Women Atlanta GA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
IWDM:
We are very much honored to be the guest of the International Coalition of Muslim Women. And we are very pleased to speak with you or speak to you and with you as a guest speaker today. It's a beautiful day here in Atlanta. We thank Allah for this beautiful weather. It's been very hot in Chicago. We're supposed to have a break tomorrow. Monday, temperature is supposed to go down. We're supposed to have better, more comfortable temperatures.
I enjoyed being with you all, felt very special last night, and today, enjoyed very much. It was a wonderful evening. I enjoyed with you, brothers too enjoyed. All of us enjoyed being with you, being your guest.
The Prophet Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him, he had a woman as a boss, Khadija, make may G-d be pleased with her, [Arabic] was his boss before he was called to be the messenger of G-d and a mercy to the world, the last prophet. He was working for her as a person who would go outside of the area to neighboring countries and do business, trade, purchase, negotiate purchases for her and bring them back to her and her business.
There's something that we should know. Even before the prophet became prophet, like the other Arabs or Meccans from Mecca and the surrounding areas, she respected him highly. She had great respect for him. He was a very special person. And tribe of Quraishian, even those other tribes that he didn't belong to, had great respect for Muhammad the Prophet for his character, for his great character.
So she was his boss, but she never bossed him. She was always humble and meek in her dealing with him or in her relationship with him. And that's really the strength of a real lady is that she can be strong and overpowering, but she stands low, meek and gentle and sweet, like most of you beautiful sisters.
Yes. The society needs female and male in order for the society to get where G-d wants the society to go, needs the leadership influence and leadership of both male and female. That's why we find, I guess, in the history of nations, women and men going to the throne, rising up to the position of ruler over the nation or over the people, Queens, Kings and other titles for males and females.
So the point I want to make here with you today is that women represent the first life, the family life, the first life and the social unit in a social unit. So the first society, actually family and home is a society. We were taught in the Nation of Islam, I remember all of those teachings, says social means to advocate a society of men, a group of men, for one common cause. That was a definition given to us in the Nation of Islam's lessons. The definition of what social means.
And the modern world respects the home environment, life and environment, as the first social unit, the first social unit for the development of society, the first social unit. Community starts with mother. And we have this word "umm" in Arabic. And "umm" means mother. But "umm" also means community, our society. And the plural of it is ummaamun meaning societies.
So in the language, we can see that men recognize mother as the first leader of society, first leader of society. We have the common expression that mother is the first educator, but also mother is the first leader of the society, first leader of the society. She provides what is necessary for man to have society. And we came from mother, we have to return to mother. And mother is needed to humanize the society, to humanize the society. And father is needed also to humanize the society. Both sex, male and female, are needed to humanize the society. And it is the mother that brings more of the community life or the life of sharing and caring about each other. Mother starts that, not the man. Mother starts that. She starts that society that shares and cares about each other.
The father, in the beginning of society, he goes out as a hunter. He goes out and do the rough work out in the field. And he brings the needs, the basic needs back home, food, clothing, whatever. If it's cold, firewood, whatever. He brings those things back to the home. But it's the mother who is expected to build that home and make that home a home for a human family, for a human family. So she socializes the family. She humanizes the family.
And when man becomes dominant in the society because, as Allah says in the Quran, because of accumulation of wealth and because of power, the physical power, man kind of gets away from the real life and security of society or family and society. He gets away from that. And the woman is the anchor to keep that, to preserve that. We have a term [Arabic] that means wombs. And the word mercy is taken from the word wombs. This [Arabic] is not just for humans now. [Arabic] is also for animals, the female mothers, animals and human beings.
And the word [Arabic] is what gave the Arabs the word Rahman, means mercy, Rahman. And the first mercy from G-d is the mercy of family life, ruled and protected by mother, by the mother sentiments, by the mother nature, and the mother sentiments. And we read the Quran, Bismillahir rahman. First Rahman. That is G-d, Rahman. The benefitor, the beneficent, the benefactor, the one who has made all this good life and the good things possible for us, created them and made them of service to us. He is Rahman. It is a mercy that he did that. It's the mercy that we have all these things provided for us.
It could be worse. The whole world could have been a Las Vegas desert or an Arizona desert. And it would've been much harder for us to live and enjoy things. But G-d made beautiful gardens. And the first environment he speaks of is a garden. He put the man and the woman in a garden. So that's the mercy that he did that. And it's the mercy that he gave us the human intelligence and gave us wonderful hands that we use as tools to create and make things. All of this is his mercy. And it is a mercy that he revealed higher knowledge to us and spiritual guidance to us, the Quran, [Arabic], the mercy for G-d taught the Quran.
So this is ir Rahman. But then comes ir Rahim. And ir Rahim is mercy that G-d gives us from mother. And G-d gave us the first man, Adam. And Adam is seen as the father of all people. And then G-d produced man from a woman without a man, Mary, Mariam, Mariam the mother of Jesus Christ, peace be upon them. He produced a man without a man from a woman, from a woman, Mariam. This is Rahim merciful redeemer, Rahim.
Now the Arham was created by G-d. And the wombs of mercy was created by G-d before there was any man having any authority or power. Man was created first, but in a certain sense, in a certain sense. And the sense that most of us think man was created first. No, he was not. Men and women came together. Males and females came together. But woman was established before men. It take women to raise children and to raise males to be men. It takes mothers to do that.
So before a man was established in that position of authority over society, the woman was nurturing him and bringing him up until he could do that, so he could do that. And for that reason, we have G-d creating a man without a man, mother before the leader. And the leader grows up and becomes the leader, but after the mother has birthed him and nursed him and served him, and served him, for his place, his destination, place that G-d wants him to have. And if we understand it, Allah says, "Return soul, pleased and pleasing. Return to your Lord, enter you among my servants, my bond men and my servants, my workers." It actually means, "My servants, the workers. Enter you my paradise, enter you my paradise."
The nafs [Arabic]. This self that's coming back to G-d is not a male as such. It's the soul of the man that's coming back. And it's the same for the woman. It's the soul of the woman that's coming back. So the entity that G-d is bringing back to him is a female entity, [Arabic] female entity. The soul of every person is female according to Arabic and Arabic rules, language rules. The soul of every person is given a female description, the soul.
And he made man and woman, [Arabic] from one soul. It's female. When he made the soul, it was female. And he says, "Return soul to me as female. [Arabic]. Return to me," is female. Community is female. Male and female alone cannot do anything. But when male and female come together, they can reproduce both male and female, reproduce both male and female.
Politically speaking, if we separate male and female as teachers and preservers of the best nature of society, we will mess up society, we will mess up society. If we leave males to have too much of control over how society is to be developed, society will be headed for destruction. The female has to make her contribution to the development of society. And her intellect is needed, just like the man's intellect is needed. No great contributions can come from men because of their brute strength. They have to have intelligence. They have to have intelligence, superior intelligence.
And G-d has given superior intelligence to both male and female. And Prophet Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him, he gave an incentive to the men because man, if you leave him alone, he's just like an animal leading a pack of animals. He's a chief leading a pack of animals. And he will just be concerned with the rugged world that he has to live in and surviving in it. He'll just be concerned with those things until he himself becomes humanized by his female. His female has to humanize him.
The mother is never savage like the father. The leaders of primitive orders, the females are never savage like the males. The challenge of the wilds brings out the savage in the male. The woman stays back. She stays human while the male loses his humanity to the wilds, but she stays human.
So women are needed to give of their intellect. And it is for that reason that Prophet Muhammad freed the women and said to the men, "If any of you will educate two daughters, you will have the paradise." Muhammad was a very wise man, very clever man, and a very gentle man, a very loving man. But he didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. He didn't want to hurt anybody's feeling. He never wanted to hurt anybody. He wanted to keep people happy and comfortable, feeling well, feeling good. He could have told the men, "Educate as many daughters as you can." He didn't have to say two.
But the Arabs had that masculine chauvinist mentality. Then as many of men have it today, and the prophet was steering around that. So he says educate two. And they ask him why two? Because takes two females to make judgments and decisions, et cetera. Only one male is necessary. So educate two daughters to balance with one male, to balance with one male. That was wisdom. Very shrewd, a very shrewd man. That was wisdom.
So they wanting to go to paradise. They were happy to hear that. And they started to see that their daughters got the education, got an education. And we read in the Quran that the male and the female are not alike. We know that. They're not the same. The female is not like the male. The male and the female are not alike. And the word for the male is a thinker who reflects, who thinks and then reflects, thinks and then look again at what he thought, examines what he thought. [Arabic].
But Allah didn't leave this function of the intellect to be in man only. In the chapter of Quran on the believers, it says, "The believing men and the believing women, and the thinking men and the thinking women." See how clever it's done because he didn't want to upset the males. You need the males to carry Islam further, to fight the wars. You need the males to build the wilderness, bring the wilderness into a home environment and a human environment. The male is really needed very badly, and didn't want to upset them, didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable, didn't want to create annoyance for them.
So this is how this language is done so cleverly. And that's characteristic of Muhammad himself. That clever way of using language so that you don't offend anybody that you don't have to offend, or that you don't have to sacrifice. You want to keep everybody. So the language is so respectful of the macho in the man, and so respectful of everything really, mother, father, of everything that should be respected. Friends, friends have a great place. A companion, a friend, is highly valued in the Quran, and highly valued in the Muslim society in the Islamic teachings.
I'm going to finish in a few minutes now. But I want to get back to that return soul pleasing and pleased. So the destiny of the soul is not just to please G-d. The destiny of the soul is to please the person. So our destiny is to be pleased with ourselves. We want to present ourselves to G-d and want G-d to be pleased with us. But according to the language of G-d, that G-d gave us in Quran, we also have to have of a need or necessity ourselves too presented to us. And we are pleased, we like what we see. We like what we see. We look at ourselves and we are pleased. We are comfortable inside.
Now, if that's our destiny, if that's our inherent destiny, it means that we will never be pleased until we are pleased with ourselves. Not just G-d. We will never be pleased until we are pleased with ourselves. So G-d is revealing to us that you'll never be pleased until you please G-d. But your striving to please G-d is going to make you more pleasant and more pleasing to yourself. And eventually, you have your hopes answered. You will be pleasing G-d, and you'll also be pleasing yourself.
This is wisdom. This is wisdom for the leaders of society, that don't just drive people to please G-d like some rulers and some the religious leaders do. They drive people to please G-d. How about pleasing myself? I want to be pleased myself with myself. I want to feel good about myself as the common expression goes. I want feel good about myself. So G-d has revealed that when he says, "Return to me oh, soul pleased and pleasing. Pleased and pleasing, pleased with yourself and pleasing your G-d. Return to me, any you among my servant."
So G-d's servants are those who work, not only for G-d, but work also for mankind, for the society as a whole. Work to put the human life in the right shape so that the human life will be happy and pleased with his own life. And G-d is the attraction. G-d is the attraction in the soul drawing us to him, drawing us to him. But service to G-d is really service to community. We serve G-d in community. That's the only way to serve Allah, only way to serve G-d. We serve G-d in community. In family, community, in public, community. We serve G-d in community.
Service to G-d is service through community. G-d says that he needs nothing for himself. He created this whole world for us because he loved that his love and his mercy benefit others or benefit the world. So he created the world so that his love would be in the world, his mercy would be in the world, his guidance would be in the world, et cetera. So he needs nothing directly to him. He says what you sacrifice doesn't reach him. Only your obedience reaches him. Only your obedience reaches him. That's what he said. Taqwa, your taqwa only.
So whatever we say we're going to build a great building for G-d, we're going to build a mosque for G-d, we're going to bring worshipers to G-d. Really, those worshipers and the mosque and all that is not needed by G-d. He doesn't need any of that. All he needs is our obedience. And all of the mosque and the everything is going to benefit us. That's benefit to us, not to G-d. It's going to benefit us.
See how G-d loves us? See how G-d loves humans and loves the world? He loves his creation. He loves humans. He loves his creation, that he did all of this just to have us enjoy and benefit and find our way back to him. And when we find our way back to him and know that he is the one responsible for us achieving whatever we were able to achieve, the benefit even of that is ours. It comes directly to us.
It's a great and wonderful feeling to know that you have discovered G-d, you found G-d, and to know that G-d did it all for you, not for himself. That's a wonderful feeling. I have experienced that for many years now. That is a wonderful feeling. It takes you from a small Wallace and shoots you up to the sky. You become a towering Wallace. But that kind of experience makes that towering Wallace bring himself back down to a microscopic Wallace in the presence of his Lord, of his G-d.
So we have to understand sisters that your leadership is needed. Your intelligence is needed. The saying in Christianity and Judaism that G-d made the woman from the rib of the man. I believe G-d have guided me to understand that. I believe many Christian leaders and Jewish leaders, I don't think they understand that. Maybe a few. But I believe G-d has blessed me to understand it. And it's good. If it was bad, it would be addressed in the Quran as a bad thing. If it's left out, that means it's a troubling thing, but not necessarily a bad thing. It's not understood properly. That's why it's left out.
But the rib is a bone, and bone supports the flesh. And the rib curves. And chauvinistic religious leaders, they say it's crooked. They don't say it's curved. They say it's crooked. I've heard this from their mouths. Yes. G-d made the woman from the rib of the man, from the crooked bone. I've heard them say this in my presence. I've heard this from the mouth of the so-called learned in religious leadership.
But in science, we have come to know that if the curve is continuous, if you keep following it, it's going to make a circle. It's going to make a complete circle. And that will be the ummah. And you know the Islamic tradition under Prophet Muhammad for the congregation to form a circle, especially if they were going to be taught, lectured to by the prophet himself, or just going to be his guest. He would have them sit in a circle. They formed the circle, and they would sit in a circle. That's still traditional in the Islamic world. They sit down in circles. Many of, especially if they're spiritual, the spiritual leaders, they appreciate that circle. They understand it. They sit in circles.
And the universe itself seems to curve. The sky seems to curve. The heavenly bodies in the universe seem to be curved, circular, that is. And when we go to the Kaaba, we circle the Kaaba. And if we would use our imagination and just imagine how we are spread out all over the world, we are actually in a circle all over this planet, aren't we? Because we turn in prayer taught at one point, and we make pilgrimage to that one point, that one place, that one point.
So we actually are living and performing from a circle all over the world. There's no way for you to all look at this finger here from all around and not be in a circle. Your eyes, your sights, are like axis coming to one point. And your body, in its collective state, is like one big wheel. And the Bible says, "And the wheel went up from the earth as the voices of many waters. And wherever it went, wherever the wheel went, so did the creatures." That's no accidents. That's no accident. That's no accident that this same wheel seems to be the Kaaba in the Muslims living all over the earth, with that Kaaba as the axis of the great wheel.
Getting back to that crooked rib is what I'm going to conclude on. The rib is not crooked. The rib is curved. Not crooked, curved. Now, and the rib is responding to the breath of life. We breathe in, the ribs go out to make it comfortable for us to get all that air. The rib goes out so we can get that comfortable breath of life, comfortable amount of that breath of life. And then to release it, the rib goes in.
So the rib, it seems to be kind of tied in with the breathing. As breathing comes in, the rib expands. As breath breathing goes out, the rib comes in, in and out. So here is something responding to the breath of life, to the rhythm of the breath of life. A rib, a bone, responding to the rhythm of the breath of life. Some of you all are not ready for me. But I'm going to give it to you, whether you're ready for me or not.
That's the social logic that G-d wants us to have, that G-d supported social logic. Bone stands for logic. That social logic that G-d wants us to have, it's the female. You get it from the female, from the study of the female. If man had not studied the female, he wouldn't have a human society. Thank you. Peace. As Salaam Alaikum.
I forgot the most important thing. I didn't come out here to talk to you all. I came out here to listen to you. So what do you want to say to me? You want to tell me to go to hell, it's fine because I've been there. But you want to tell me something, you want comment, you want to ask me a question, please let me know how much time you have, and I'm going to respond to your statement or your questions. You decide, you have to say. Thank you.
Speaker 4:
See that's a coalition man. Imam Mohammed, we had not planned this. So this is an extra treat for us. And we will begin to take some questions. Sister Betty. [inaudible].
IWDM:
Yes. Women are a sisterhood. Muslims are a brotherhood. And brotherhood includes women and men. Men and women make up the brotherhood of Islam. Although a masculine term is used, right away, an Arabic speaking person knows that the brotherhood means, although the attention is directed immediately to the males, it includes the females. Brotherhood, just like man, includes women, females also. Sisters, there's no problem using that expression or that term.
I don't think it has any problem because, in my understanding and my experience too, sometimes little girl, just started to express herself, one or two years old. The father holds that little girl, and the father can feel a mother in that little girl. So mother comes with the life for female. The mother nature is in the female when she's born. And sisters, you have the mother nature in you. And G-d knows that they're so strong you don't have to call yourselves mothers.
The mother nature is there. It is very strong, and you don't have to have any language to make you aware that it is there. So calling yourself sisters is fine. We don't have to use the term mother. And sisters will, as you have done, bring to the attention of sisters and the community that we need to give attention to the role and value of the mother in the life of the home and in the life of society. So that will be done. I wouldn't worry about the language. The language is fine. I'll just stay here. But you have to tell me who ... I'll stay here, but you got to-
Speaker 4:
I'm going to ask you that if you have a question, so that we can get it on the tape, that you come and speak it to the mic. And we will take it until I give you the signal for time or until the Imam gives us his signal. Okay.
Speaker 5:
As Salaam Alaikum. Well, my question is we have a statement that's been in the newspaper and the articles, and you say we can't stop now. And I would like to hear what type of support you need from us to keep going, for we won't stop now?
IWDM:
First, let me explain the statement. I think most of you know, but let me explain. Some of you don't know yet. What brought about that statement, we cannot stop now. The statement "We cannot stop now" is an expression that I hope will serve to keep us aware of our human excellence that we have really been supported by since man was created.
And as a people in America, as an ethnic group or racial group in America, it is our human excellence that led us to reject slavery. And it led us to do something with our freedom to make our whole people better and more comfortable in their souls and in their lives. It's our human excellence. And the meaning of Muslim has nothing to do, firstly, with revelation. Muslim is the nature of every human being.
So G-d created all human beings Muslim. And it simply means your first nature is to want peace and to yield. It's not just wanting peace. But the Muslim nature wants peace, but is also willing to yield, to submit, to give up something to have that peace. You see? So this is the nature that G-d gave every human being. And Muhammad said it. I don't have to repeat that for you sisters. I know your sisters know these things. To save time, I'm not going to repeat all this.
So Muslim is our first nature. And the Muslim names, the excellence that G-d wants us to keep, he created us with it and he wants us to keep that excellence. It names that excellence. And Muhammad the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, he said those who are excellent now were also excellent in the time of ignorance. That was before Islam. No. He said it just the other way around. Those who were excellent in the time of ignorance before Islam, you are excellent now. You are excellent now.
So he was telling them that the revelation didn't give you something that G-d created you with. The revelation didn't give you human excellence. G-d created you with human excellence. That's your natural inheritance. The revelation gave you the education and the guidance for improving upon that excellence and taking that excellence where G-d wants it to go. But it did not create that excellence for you. G-d, when he created human beings, created that excellence. So when I say we cannot stop now, I'm thinking of myself as an individual. I wish you all knew me better as a person.
When I was a little boy, I wasn't like most of the kids. I wasn't like most of my brothers. When I was a little boy, I was interested in the world that G-d made. I would listen to my father. I was very obedient. You should hear the stories of my obedience. My sisters tell some stories of my obedience. It's something else.
Very obedient child. I was quiet. I didn't talk a lot. But I was thinking. And I wanted to understand things. I wanted to see things. I wanted to know things, just like an average child. Little child, they curious. Little baby born curious. Well, that's the way I was. And I stayed curious like that. I wanted to understand.
And while they were hearing the white man is the devil and all that, I wasn't beat up by the world. I got the religion at home when I was a little boy protected from the world by my parents, by my mother. I was protected from the world. So I wasn't beat up by the world. So the race problem wasn't the biggest issue in my life, was hardly in my life at all. They had to teach me about that. I didn't experience it.
So what was reaching me was that my humanity was asking for it, that my human sensitivities were asking for it. So I heard statements like social means to advocate a society of men, or a group of men for one common cause, and equality means to be equal in everything. Oh! It went into me and it branded. It just wrote those letters like a welder making a pan iron, making the letters upon steel. It put them in me. That went into me. Then many other things that I heard went directly into me.
And what motivated me more than anything else was what Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "Be your own self. And your own self is a righteous Muslim." So that meant to me be good. That's what that message was to me, be good. Be a good person and don't be caught other than your own self. Those were some strong teachings for us to be good, be righteous. And that righteousness was my own self. That was myself to be that way. So it's unnatural for me to be bad. It is natural for me to be righteous. That's what that language was saying. Powerful psychology, powerful language. So that's what motivated me.
Then when I come to think of the people, when I got older, I began to think of the plight of our people, I learned this from my home, but I also learned it from self studies, the plight of our people from slavery, from Africa into slavery, and from slavery till now. So I studied the plight of our people, and I began to identify strongly, not consciously, but strongly without even thinking about making a connection. I began to identify strongly with the slaves that couldn't accept slavery. I began to identify strongly with Frederick Douglas and those that were bringing the human being in his bad condition away from his bad condition and directing him to the destiny that G-d created him for. I came to identify with them.
So I have never, as a minister, Minister Wallace, and as a Imam WD Mohammed, I have never separated myself from that struggle for excellence beginning with slavery till now. I have never separated myself from that. And I saw the Honorable Elijah Muhammad with his great Nation of Islam and his great work and contribution to our people. I saw his work not separated from that. I saw his work not separated from that woman that I read about in a publication by a German, says when she looked at the white men in the face one day, she said, Julia the Slave, she said, "You look like G-d in your faces, but you act like the devil in your heart."
So there was a woman, long time before my father's teacher Mr. Fard and my father, making a connection with their works and Satan. Bringing Satan and their works together. Now many, many years later, a century or so, at least a century, as a black man, not a black woman, telling them that you are the devil. You are the devil.
Well, I see that as a continuation. And I know that Mr. Fard didn't get that idea from himself. I know he got it from Father Divine, who was preaching before Mr. Fard started his teaching. He was preaching that G-d was a black man. He told the people, "You want to see Jesus, you want to see G-d? Look at me." That's what Father Divine taught. And he married a white woman and called her Mother Divine to kind of soften it a little bit. He didn't want all the divinity by himself for the black race. So he married a white woman after he had a black wife and he called her mother divine. I'm sure she felt good.
So I have studied all these things over the years. And I have the light on for me. The light is on for me. So I know how all this has come about. So we cannot stop now. I want you all to see this movement, this activity that put us where we are supposed to be, starting not with us and Imam WD Mohammed as a leader. Started even before Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his teacher, Mr. Fard. I want you to see it started right back there.
So if it started back there, we must understand that G-d wanted that to happen. So that was really G-d with us in our human excellence, your human excellence, driving you to leave these bad state, this bad condition, this bad treatment, this bad world. So G-d was right there in that human excellence right there with it. And he's a force too. That's what made it so powerful. That's what makes it so powerful. Our human excellence, not the only power, G-d is with our human excellence. He says, and they ask about those gods, the pagans, Arabs ask about those gods, "Oh sure. We could see Lat and Uzza and our gods. Muhammad, show us this G-d," like most people did Moses. "Show us this G-d."
So the as answer came in revelation to Muhammad says, "These gods that you mentioned, have you really seen them?" They saw what they made with their hands. That's all they saw. Have you really seen them? Those things are dead. The statues and things, they're dead. Have you really seen them? It didn't say Muhammad saw G-d. But it says that they went parallel as two arrows shot from one bowl going to the destiny or to the target, to the aim. Who is that? G-d and Muhammad's excellence going parallel together in perfect harmony, reconciled, his excellence reconciled with the will and spirit of G-d. And they going as two arrows. Means arrows only symbolic of spirits, energy forces, going to one destination, having one and the same aim. And they met in the far horizon. This is Quran. This is in the Quran.
So the same two spirits in our people, in every people, but they don't manifest so strongly depending upon the pressures, the conditions that's piled on you, whether these spirits will really become forceful spirits in us. So these two arrows were fired by the pressures and denial of our excellence in this world. They were fired. They were fired way back there in the days of slavery.
And as slavery was pushed out of the way, they continued to seek excellence, G-d with us. So what am I saying to you sisters? G-d has been with us. Before we knew Islam, G-d was with us. G-d was with us before we called ourselves Muslims. G-d was with us. It's the same G-d, the same help, the same love. It's the same everything. And we cannot stop now.
So Allah is not with us for us to be Muslims and have his blessings all to ourselves. Allah is with us for us to be Muslims and to share his blessings with all of our people and all mankind and all humanity. That's why G-d is with us. And G-d always chooses. G-d always chooses the innocent, the innocent that's been abused and no help came to them from mankind. Then G-d chooses those people. As he says obligates them, justice obligates G-d. This is G-d's saying in the Quran.
So he's obligated to take those people, to answer them, to go to their call, to their needs and serve them and work with them and help them until they are able to manage for themselves, just like a good parent will do for a child or for anybody's child if that child is left without help or without anyone to care for it. So this is the way we should see this. We cannot stop now. When you hear me speak, make the Muslim American Society address on Sunday, this coming convention, you're going to hear me say exactly what I'm saying now
I'm going to say, "Frederick Douglas, we cannot stop now." I'm going to say, "Du Bois, we cannot stop now. Booker T Washington, we cannot stop now. George Washington Carver, we cannot stop now. Sojourner Truth we cannot stop now. Marcus Garvey, we cannot stop now. Noble Drew Ali, we cannot stop now. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we cannot stop now. Fard Muhammad, we cannot stop now. WD Mohammed, we cannot stop now."
So this is G-d's work. This is G-d's work. And we want to see it in its full run, not just in me and not just in my father and not just in Booker T Washington. We want to see G-d's work in its full run. And if we appreciated it in its full run, we'd have more power from our own excellence and we'd have more power from G-d to do even better works in the future than we have done in the past.
Now, I didn't want to take that much time with that, but it's very important that you understand where I'm coming from when I say we cannot stop now. I don't mean we've been beat up too much and we got to get even. I meant we've been helped by some wonderful souls or by some great souls. And G-d has been there all the time, hidden, but helping us all along. And that's why we cannot stop now.
Yes. We got a line here. I thought that was a choir. I thought you all going to sing after.
Speaker 6:
As Salaam Alaikum. Brother Imam. My concern is I read a lot about the treatment of Muslim women in other parts of the world. And I remember reading in one of your articles that you said that the believers here, the Muslims in this country, we are the leaders. We are the leaders for the world to change the way Muslims perspectives is on the religion because I recall you saying that in other parts of the world, they're not free to practice the deen like we are over here in America.
So my concern is the way Muslim women or the status of Muslim women in other countries, the honor killings, like Sister Aisha Mustafa was saying, the terrible conditions of women, the way they're being treated. And I want to know what can we do as the Muslim American Society to help make a change to address these terrible things that are going on in other countries with Muslim women, and maybe even in this country? Thank you. As Salaam Alaikum.
IWDM:
Over and over again in the Quran, G-d says of Muhammad, to the people through Muhammad, he says, "You are not responsible for arranging their affairs." So in light of what has been accomplished for us as a Muslim community, our progress as Muslims, in light of that, many needs that you would think need to be brought to me shouldn't be brought to me. These are things that you are well situated and prepared to take care of. The concern you just expressed sister has already dawned in your heart and in your mind, and you have expressed it now and we have also heard it. You should stay with it and find others who share your concern, and you should do something about it, and then let me hear the good news.
Speaker 7:
Imam Mohammed, a couple of things. First of all, I hope you're doing well. And I wanted to let you know that I'm the only female that sits on the majlis here at the Atlanta Masjid of seven members. With my sitting on this majlis, which I'm very appreciative of and having this opportunity, I find myself often playing the role that is somewhat different from what you described a few moments ago in describing the rib.
I do believe exactly what you said regarding the curve. And in my teachings here recently with dabbling a little bit with the new age thought and yoga and those things, we are being taught that we've been breathing improperly most of our lives, that we've been taking the air and our air hasn't been going into the diaphragm. We're just shallow breathing. But once we breathe deeply, actually our bellies should be going out when we take in a breath. So in other words, the rib is really supporting the diaphragm, not really giving way to it. And I'm wondering if you can see how and who I am as a female who has some times and most times opposing views to the dominant male environment how that can be of value.
IWDM:
Well, I'm going to have to make this very quick. I understand what she's saying. And I've had enough experiences to know that happens too, that you become a member in a particular project, or body, or function, you become one of the members supporting that, or being responsible for that, and the male's chest is so rigid. You're right. You're just supporting the diaphragm. You're not really giving the ease and helping to bring in the life and provide for the ease. I understand that. That exists. But you have to come away from that one description of your female worth and remember that the other part is that you're a thinking human being, you're a thinking creature, just like the men are. And keep thinking, you'll work it out.
Speaker 8:
[unclear] For the African American people from a-
IWDM:
Yes, ma'am. She asked one that's a little touchy and I don't know if everybody's going to like me when I give you this answer. Our people are asking for reparation. I wouldn't dare come out publicly and make trouble for that, or have a different position, take a different position. I wouldn't dare do that because our mistreatment is too touchy. It's too sensitive for us to do that.
But personally, I think we've been given reparations and we are still getting reparations. We're getting reparations. When you right the wrong, you're getting reparation. And the wrong is being righted. It has been corrected, and it's being righted all along. I think that is reparation. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask you to excuse me for just a couple minutes, and I'll be right back.
Speaker 9:
All right. If you sisters will please be seated. We will serve you as the Imam continues to answer these questions for these three sisters that are here. And then we're going to allow him to take a little reprieve, because he will be back for the brothers this evening. And it is our pleasure to serve you.
So I'm going to impose. The hostess is back there to assist. If you all will please be seated, we will come to your tables and serve you. And we really want you to enjoy the cake. We really do. And we'll make sure that everyone is served properly and with the coalition spirit. And if we can have you all to lower your voices, we will begin with sister Vanessa.
Speaker 10:
As SalaamAlaikum. Thank you Imam Mohammed for allowing us to have this opportunity with you. It is really great. Is the mic on? Oh, okay.
Speaker 9:
No, don't touch it though. Just stand.
Speaker 10:
Okay, I will. And I'm kind of following on what Jessica had originally asked regarding her being the only sister on the Majlis board. And you'd also spoken about there being two women to one male. I'd like for you to kind of elaborate on that for us, because I can understand the sister's feelings being in that situation. And what does that mean as we strive to apply this deen in our daily endeavors and how does that relate with her situation?
My question is as ummis and striving to do [Arabic], and that's a challenge given the male's dominance of understanding ofr wherever he is. And so often, as ummis we see things that happen, because our real desire is to please Allah and to bring about a truly community life that will be enhancing for us all. How do we, as ummis, when we see ... What should happen in the instance, when we are given an opportunity, which is rare, to have an audience or a group setting where we can't express ourselves and be heard, and there are some infractions occur during the process, how does one go about correcting that? Because I hear it.
The theme now is we are moving forward to forgive and to move on. What happens when an infraction occurs in the past? And is it not to be corrected or just to be accepted and to go on? Or is there some type of reparation on the part of the aggressor to ask for forgiveness? Or we should just forgive without any kind of asking for forgiveness? Thank you.
IWDM:
This sister just took the claw hammer and took the nails out of a board that was on a window and light wasn't coming in. Somebody had boarded the window up for about 1400 years. And she took a claw hammer and took the nails out of that board. Now the sun is shining in. Let me address your first question. That was your first comment. And that was about the sister being the only sister on the majlis.
Sisters, in the new light that I have on this issue provided by the question that was just asked, you all stand on firm ground to ask that you have two females to every male on the council. They have to be consistent. If they're going to use it to keep you down, then they have to use it to let you go up too. Your representation has to be two to one. It must be consistent all the way through. Two female witnesses in the court to every male, two females on the council to every male. You see how wise Muhammad was? He knew it would come to this. The rest of your question, it faded away in that powerful light.
Speaker 14:
As Salaam Alaikum. Imam Warith Mohammed, first, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Allah for your presence in our lives, particularly in my family's life. And I'd like to also thank you for being present. And may Allah grant you with long life and good health.
My question to you is I'm a printer. And I've been asked by the youth group more to help do a fundraiser. What has come to mind is doing magnets for the refrigerator. One of the things that came up was saying can we do the magnet I can't stop now? As a printer, I know we can do that. But they asked to add your name to that, and I know I cannot do that without your permission. So I'm asking for your permission and whatever else is connected to that.
IWDM:
Well, you have my permission. But I think that statement doesn't necessarily have to carry my name all the time to say there's a quote for me. I would like to see that statement become our statement, not just my statement.
Speaker 11:
As Salaam Akaikum. Imam Mohammed, I have a concern and a question that maybe you can answer. I have a problem with women a little older than me and my age now, Muslim women in the African American community, stating that I have to work outside of the home. I don't have a choice. So I think that this is causing problems in our homes and societies and in ourselves. So what, if there is any so far as the Quran is concerned, or what do you recommend from your interpretation, can women do to help men or encourage men to take their full responsibilities as maintainers and providers of women so that women can take on their primary responsibilities as mothers of the family and the community?
IWDM:
Yes. That's a real serious concern and really more for the males, African American males, than for the females, because really it is helping the females. In my opinion, this new freedom and acceptance of so-called equality of the sexes is helping the females at a time when our males seem to have lost their natural spirit and instinct for making progress for the society.
They seem to have forgotten the society, that they should be concerned for the whole community, for the whole family, for the whole neighborhood, for the whole community. They seem to have been forgotten now, these distractions of sex. I wrote a poem. I hope I can give it to you all one day. I called it Sunny Phony, Sunny Phony. And I say, Sunny Phony, your world has grown too bony. And I'll give you the rest of that poem one day. I hope.
So these distractions have really taken our males from the productive life that G-d wants them to be in. And it seemed to be the will of G-d, I think, not just the doings of society, but I think it's the will of G-d that this time, bad time for males favor the females coming back into your rights, because you haven't had your rights. So it is a good thing, I think on the whole. But that doesn't excuse our males.
So sister, I tell the males when I'm talking to them that you are just giving up, and you are letting the women show you up, you're letting them do everything, and this really is eliminating you. You're you're being eliminated. So I tell them that. And it's serious, it's very serious. Our males are being eliminated. And we need our males to wake up to male responsibility and not to hold a sister responsible for doing what you know G-d made you for.
G-d made you to go out and work and to bring money into the house. You know G-d made you for that. So if you don't do that, then you are really disrespecting your female, your mother, your sisters, all females, and you are making yourself a sissy. And I don't care. Don't think sissies don't look like he-men.I was in prison and there was a sissy who had better physique, bigger muscles than every male in that facility. But he was a strong freak. He was a sissy. He was a homosexual. So these boys out there with all those muscles, showing in their chest, if they letting you take care of them and the children, they're nothing but sissies. They're not the men G-d made, that's for sure. They're not the males or the men that G-d made. And that's for sure.
Speaker 12:
As Salaam Alaikum Imam Mohammed. I'd like to thank you very much for your presence today and your leadership in our community. I'm going to ask a question of grave concern, and it's pertaining to children, the wellbeing of children and the safety of children. Unfortunately, in some of our Islamic communities and this is across the board, but it's happening within the MAS, we're having children who are violated. They're sexually violated, they're being neglected, they're being physically abused. And I'd like to know your view and your recommendation to Imams on how to handle these situations when they're brought forth to them in the communities.
IWDM:
Well, I think sister you are capable of handling the question yourself, but you want me to address it or speak to it. What we have to be aware of is that as the world grows more crowded, and scientists have experimented with crowding on animals and how crowding can bring out the destructive forces in the animal or in human beings, and how it can also kill productive forces, kill productive forces in animals and human beings.
The world is getting to be more and more crowded. Crowding is a problem that's not going to go away unless Allah caused something to happen to remove it as a problem. So it's going to be more crowded. It's going to get more crowded, more crowded, more crowded. And I'm sure they're going to find ways to make life still livable. In spite of the crowding, we're still going to have good life. But the soul spirituality, emotional nature, all of this is going to be taxed more and more, going to be taxed more and more, going to be more difficult to keep your soul, to keep your own soul. To keep your own mind in a normal state, it's going to become more and more difficult.
My concern is that these males that's increasingly abusing children, and don't think that the only abuse is sexual abuse or being too heavy handed and battering your children up. Don't think that's the only abuse. When they support youngsters being in crime and in street gangs, you have old men out there with children supporting them in that, that's abused by them too. They're abusing our children.
What we have to know is that many of these men that are molesting, battering their children, they themselves are children in their minds, children in their social development. They are not developed. They're immature. They themselves need a lot of help. So I'm not saying spare the rod or spare justice for these males, but also be aware that we need to treat the whole male species as a child that's becoming more and more a child as time goes on. And I think you'll do a lot of good.
Is that it? That's the last one. May I have one word to close up?
Speaker 9:
Oh, you can hear it.
IWDM:
I didn't want to leave without coming back to something that I was saying there. And Imam Plemon, as we were walking out, he made some comments that he was thanking me for how I dealt with the rib in the Bible, the rib of the man, that the woman was made from the rib of the man. And I couldn't just stop there. The Christian preachers, they also use a statement in the Bible that woman was made to be man's helpmate. Helpmate, H-E-L-P-M-A-T-E.
But also in this Bible, the other expression, another expression is used too, helpmeet, H-E-L-P-M-E-E-T, helpmeet. If you remember what I said about the female and how I tied it in with the chapter about the soul returning to its Lord, so really that's our destination, isn't it? And helpmeet means the woman was made to help man reach his destination.
Now, if we see the breathing, the breath of life, if we see that as a spirit, man is called the spirit more so than a female spirit. And Jesus Christ was a spirit from his Lord, a word and a spirit from his Lord, or a sign and a spirit from his Lord. And G-d breathed into man his spirit and he became a living soul. This is spirit. I'm on spirit now. Breathed into man his spirit and he became a living soul. So he already had a spirit, didn't he? He had a spirit, but he was lacking the spirit of G-d. So G-d breathed into him his spirit and he became a living soul. Not just a living man, but a living soul.
Now, if we can see this breath behind the rib, or inside the rib, as the spirit too, not just breath of life, but as the spirit, Allah says of Muhammad, "And we shall expand your breast." Means his chest. It means rib cage. We shall expand your breast. And it's symbolic of making his compassion bigger so he can receive the whole humanity into his own compassion. That's what it's symbolic of, expanding his ribs.
Now, if the female then is this rib, which I've also identified with a certain logic, she's this rib and she's responding to the breath, then that tells me that female is needed to work with even the spirit of G-d in man to assist the spirit of G-d so that it has the support from the rib. Open to receive more and come back in to push out to the world again, in from G-d, out to the world.
So she's needed to work with even the spirit of man so that the whole life will return to G-d and get where G-d created it to go. This is beautiful. And you know what I heard one preacher say sister as I'm getting ready to go from here? One preacher said, "G-d made woman from the rib of man so you always be hugging her right under your arms."


