12/12/1985
IWDM Study Library
Imam Mohammed Speaks at Dinner

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam: Dear Muslims, guests and friends our greeting is “As-salaam alaikum”, as I'm sure all of you know. Firstly, I congratulate those who have worked for this convention, to see that it's a success. We know all results are with Allah. Sometimes you can do a little and you get a lot, and sometimes you do a lot and you get a little. I feel that this is a very successful halal convention. I was present on the first Friday yesterday to witness the halal slaughtering, and I felt very good, at first. But then as I stood there with the crowd, it brought back to my mind pictures I saw of lynchings, where a black person was being lynched, and a lot of white people and white crazy bitches [were] standing around watching the slaughter- watching the action.
I said to myself, "Everybody witnessing halal should have his own animal and be able to slaughter his own animal. Everybody should be busy doing halal rather than being spectators”. But that's necessary just to show our community what it is, but we don't want to go through that no more. Whenever we do it again we won’t all be participating in it. It's the business of halaling. You're supposed to be doing it, and not watching other people do it. But that is necessary, I guess to get us started and introduce it to us. I hope I won't have to be a spectator again for something like that, unless I’m halaling, and get right out, and do my job and get right out.
Now, we expect that these brothers will be halaling food for us in the future in great quantity and great quantity. And they will be the ones and they will be doing their job- they won't be spectators, they will be workers. They'll be doing their job. The beautiful thing about the slaughtering of the animal in the Muslim way is the Bismill?h before giving the death stroke with the knife. Say Bismill?h and then upon giving the stroke, they cut, sever the wind pipe and the jugular vein- [then] we say “Allahu Akbar”. If we do that, it gives us the protection we need from becoming insensitive. ‘Cause you can kill… I used to work at a poultry market right in this neighborhood… a poultry market, for a Jew, right in this neighborhood, and my brother, Elijah Muhammad Junior, he worked there too. And Leroy, and Carl and his children, Leroy and Darnell, we all worked there together. And during the holidays, we would kill chickens just like that. The faster you do one, right up, the faster you do another. And the Jew, he; didn't require we know his kosher procedure, we just slaughtered chickens, and whatever was there to slaughter.
But after a while you kinda… something start happening to you. You forget you're handling life and it just becomes routine. You become insensitive and what we do keeps us sensitive- keeps us knowing that you couldn't do this without G-d. We say Bismill?h and we take life, which is Allahu akbar. Because some men, they kill a cow, kill a bull, slaughter a bull, or a big animal, and I'm sure that when he does that it makes him feel macho, right? He feels macho and pretty soon he'll be thinking that he's almighty, that he gives life and takes life you see. He loses his sensitivity, he loses his sense for life, for the life that he's taking. The halal procedure for us keeps the human being sensitive, keeps him knowing that G-d is above all and he has allowed this to you. You're not taking this, G-d allowed this. The Muslim does not think that he's taking the life of some chicken… he has power even over a squall, a little pigeon or quail or nothing- we're supposed to believe that G-d has made this possible for us and we're accountable to G-d and we have to keep conscious… remain conscious of G-d, through the process of halal, through the procedures of halal. That is the beautiful part about it.
I'm sure in the workshops, you learned many things about halal. You know the first thing the food… that the brother told us… that the product, the meat, has to be halal. The animal has to be halal. And then, the slaughtering process has to be halal; it’s [called] Zab??a in the Arabic, in Qur’an is Zab??a. The slaughtering has to be halal, and the eating has to be halal. Did you say Bismill?h before you eat? If you didn't it's not halal, but if you did it's halal. The animal has to be halal, the slaughtering has to be halal because consumption has to be halal- and [we] say Bismill?h. You don't have to say it outwards. I was in a restaurant and there was about 50 people or 75 people in that restaurant, big restaurant in the big business area. And we sat down at a table, and he [a brother] made his prayer [out loud], and I looked at him, and I never gave him any answer, any explanation or nothing- I just ate.
[laughter]
There's nothing in our religion that requires that. You say Bismill?h, that's all. It [the religion] says, "Do not take or eat anything without saying the name of G-d, pronouncing the name of G-d". So long as I say Bismill?h, I don't have to say it loud enough for him to hear it. I don't have to answer to him if I don’t say it; I answer to G-d. So I say Bismill?h, [inaudible]… now eat. Now, do you want to make a big spectacle, a big show, a big scene you know. Of course [inaudible 00:06:57].
[laughter]
So we bring a lot of burden on ourselves, and G-d says in our holy book, Qur’an, He says, and G-d didn't make all those laws prohibiting the Jews from eating these things, [He] said they did it themselves. And G-d allowed it as a punishment on them for that. Since they claimed that G-d told them to do that, G-d didn’t check it, He let them go on in that… not eating this and not eating that; a thousand good foods they were not eating, because they said G-d said it wasn't permitted. They just denied themselves all those good things.
And really only a few of them keep those laws, most will break them. If not publically, secretly. Now, I promised I'll only talk 15 minutes and five minutes have gone already. It's cold outside, that's hard to not say.
[laughter]
I’ll make one other promise here that I’ll keep my little talk an hour, and [then] retire to something else. It’s Friday night, I won't retire; I’ll retire to something else.
[laughter]
I don't know ‘bout you all, maybe you're going home…. all night long.
[laughter]
See a lot of us [inaudible 00:08:54]. I'm so funny Allah [inaudible].
[laughter]
A brother ain't nice to me until I got a nice coat. I got that nice coat, a brother won’t even speak to me no more. For real. My wife picked it out for me.
[laughter]
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam: [inaudible 00:09:19].
[laughter]
It's heavy too. One brother told me, it’s gon’ last about 15 years..
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
[laughter]
I would let a good brother wear it, if I was getting home tonight.
[laughter] 
[Inaudible 00:10:00]. This entertainment tonight was good. I mean really good. We should have these more often. At least once a month. In fact, I’ll see if I can book you for the cultural center.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
[applause]
Yes, I would like to book this room for the cultural center in about two, three weeks. We'll promote it for about two or three weeks, I'm sure we'll get good attendance and everybody will be happy. We'll be happy and you'll be happy.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam: We have people who have committed themselves from outside. Brother [inaudible 00:10:47] he’s suppose to come out here and entertain here at the cultural center. Our brother Paul Amin, he's very good, he has a trio in New York. He's supposed to come out here; he has committed himself. We have a few around the country, but we should start with what we got right here. In fact we should be able to have at least every other week or once a month something… some good entertainment provided by you all right here in the area. Then we could put them on as extra features from outside. That's what I'd like to do so, don't let me forget that. Come to me if I don’t come to you. I'll try to come to you though, soon. All right, so that completes my calendar.
Now, we go now to the word of G-d. [Arabic language]. Allah says, in our holy book, [Arabic language]: “Surely G-d has purchased from the believers their very selves or souls and also their possessions or their wealth, in exchange that they would receive the paradise.” [Arabic language]: “In exchange for their souls or their lives, they will receive the paradise.” [Arabic language]: “They fight in G-d's way (or in G-d's cause), therefore they have to slay and they are slain. [Arabic language]: It is a promise for the people which He fulfills, which is binding on Him”… that is on G-d… a promise which is binding on G-d. “Within the Torah,” that's the book of the Jews, “…and Injil,” that's the original gospel of Jesus Christ, peace be on the prophet, “…and the Qur’an,” or Koran, as the rest of the people pronounce it- powerful book. 
[Arabic language]: “And who is better than G-d at fulfilling His promise.” This promise now is a covenant as well as a promise. “Therefore give the good news of your covenant by which he has obligated you, and that is the greatest reward.” Therefore the greatest reward that can come to us is to accept a covenant with G-d. An obligation to him to give our very all for his pleasure. However, it's not given here for his pleasure. It says here that we will receive the paradise. The term paradise, the hope of the religious people or faithful people, paradise. It brings to mind the place where our pleasures will be fulfilled. Our need for pleasure, our pleasure needs will be fulfilled. There we will have the delights of our hearts. The full measure of our requirements for pleasure. This or whatever term we might use, a place where there will be no wants for things or something to fulfill our needs forever. That's our universal idea- among many people- of heaven or the paradise. So this tells us that the human being has a need for pleasure, for pleasure fulfillment. To be pleased; to be in a situation where if he desires something for his pleasure needs, or for his fulfilment in that sense, he can get it. He does not have to be [inaudible 00:17:08].
So that's the hope that, whatever we desire to fulfill our pleasure needs, we can be in a situation to have it, to experience it, to enjoy it. G-d promises us that. What more could we want than that? That's the highest aspiration that man can have, is that all of his pleasure requirements be fulfilled. So there's nothing more to ask than that, and for that G-d asks only that we give our very lives, our very souls, our very selves to him in a covenant. A covenant- or agreement, a sacred agreement. An agreement to do all in our power to carry out whatever duties he has charged us with- even if it means losing our very lives. This is what G-d asks of us. 
Then you say, "Ohhh. I don't like that talking about giving up life, having to fight, having to be killed, or having to kill. Why do you have to bring up that kind of talk?".
Look, you'll be killed one way or another. Yes, you'll be killed by illness, you'll be killed by ignorant living habits, you'll be killed by debt, you'll be killed by a criminal. You'll be killed anyway, don't think you're not going to be killed, you'll be killed. Killed by AIDS, by heart attacks. You're going to be killed anyway. Don't think you're going to escape being killed. You're going to be killed by something. You all talk about dying, well you'll die of something while working at work. You'll be killed by old age. Don't think you're not going to be killed, we're all going to be killed and let's live. Let's live for G-d, that's the access, live for G-d. I mentioned the pleasure needs in our lives because as a people we're more geared up for pleasure than any other people in this earth. I don't know another people, another race, another people who are more geared up for pleasure than us. Whatever we do, we wonder what's the pleasure in it. Some people just wanna know what’s the profit in it. We wanna know, what’s the pleasure in it. We don't care if we come out broke or not [inaudible], the pleasure is enough. [We say,] “I don't mind. I’ll come out broke. It's okay.” We have to refine our passions and raise up this pleasure principle in our life, so that we won't be given our pleasures in a way that would cause the undermining of our life and our productive work. But just as we are the people who are geared up more than any other people for pleasure people, we are the people who waste more on pleasures than any other people.
Yes, people are spending millions and billions and trillions of dollars to improve the life- or the lot- of man; to improve the institutions of learning; to do constructive things. But our people, as a people, are spending very little in that way. We spend most of our money for immediate pleasures… huh... immediate pleasures. 
Well… I [have to] ask for ‘bout two, three more minutes? [Audience concurred]
Now, look at the attributes now, that G-d bring to our attention after giving us that covenant. There is no new covenant. It's the same that came in the Torah, same that came in the Gospel, and in the Qur’an. No new covenant. He gives us that covenant, that requirement, if you want your… the fullness of the Lord to yourself, then you have to give the full self to G-d. That's the bargain. It's a bargain; it's called a bargain in this very verse that I read. It's called a bargain, [inaudible]. Then G-d gives us these qualifications..
[Arabic language]: “Those, fit to enter that bargain with G-d, they're those that follow His command (his instructions), and they serve Him with complete service, and they give praise to Him, and they cheer support in his cause.” Yeah. How many of you would cheer a brother, or cheer something that's good for Al-Islam, or good in the path of G-d? How many of you feel this… CHEER? If you don't, you don’t need to follow [inaudible]. That's one you missed. That's one you didn't measure up to. “And they bow their knees in submission to G-d, and they make prostrations on the floor, before their Lord.” That's what we do, right?
“And they honor what is established, what has been proven as high standard for man,” the good life. [Arabic word], the good life that has been proven, tested down through time, generation behind generation that this is the highest standard that preserves the quality life, the good life of man and makes possible progress for him- healthy progress. [It] says that they are that. They promote that, and they prohibit that [which] is irreputable. That, that brings the reverse of that, bring down the status: bring down the quality life; deteriorate the good life of the society, because its vulgarity, ignorance, idleness, laziness, criminal paths, et cetera. “And they are those who keep (who guards) the limits prescribed by G-d.
Whatever he has set up as a limit, they are watchful to guard that. [They would say,] “you know G-d doesn’t allowed that.” Sometimes we have to tell people G-d doesn't allow you to deny these people that. See, all the times it’s not a need for us to say G-d doesn't allow the people this; there's also a need for us to tell certain ones who would deny the people their rights. [For example, they would] say, “G-d doesn't allow this. You are stepping over the limits established by G-d. You're not respecting the boundaries or the limits established by G-d. You're setting up your own boundaries, your own limits,” and that’s what happened. And the Prophet said, peace and blessing be on him, the man who leads a congregation of people in prayer who hates him, the prayer of that Imam is not heard. G-d won’t even hear his prayer.
So, why did the Prophet tells that? That means it's possible that an individual man will become so menacing, so threatening, that we must fear him and follow him in prayer while hating him. So the hadith from the Prophet says that if such a man leads a people in prayer, his prayer will not be heard, will not reach G-d. That's not suggested to that person now that, "Look, you got the power to make these weak people follow you in prayer, so they dislike you; but don't think your prayer will be heard… your prayer will not be heard by G-d". Yes, that’s to tell him that, but also to tell us.
Know that it's possible for a person to gain so much power, that you would just accept him. You would have no impulse to question him. You would have no courage to question him! And he will lead you, but your prayer… that prayer will be no good. His prayer will not be heard by G-d. And if his prayer will not be heard by G-d, then the prayer for the people is no good, huh? And that's the justice of G-d. You hate him and you follow him anyway, so his prayer is not heard, it’s just nothing. He’s just going through nothing. He’s just carrying his captives with him to Hell".
You know he [the described tyrant Imam would have probably] said: “Well now, if you had’ve listened to the Imam. [So let’s heed] whatever he got to say to us.” That’s right. So I got to save you. [Audience laughter]. But they love me, they can't help it. [Audience lughter].
Congregation: That's right, Brother Imam.
Imam: In connection with this portion of Qur’an that I have read today, for this occasion and making comments on, there's also a saying from the Prophet. He said peace, peace and blessings be on him, [Arabic language]: “He said, do you know which deed is more beloved by G-d most high?” [Arabic language]: “A young person said, ‘Prayer and Zakat?’”. [Arabic language]: “And another person replied saying, ‘The jihad?’. [Arabic language]: “The Prophet said, peace and the blessings be on him”. [Arabic language]: The prophet said, "Surely the most beloved deed before G-d, Most High, is to love for Allah's cause and to hate for Allah's cause”. So we may carry out the fundamentals of Al-Islam: we may make Salat; we may pay Zakat; and do the essentials of our religion- which represents the structural life of our religious community. But if we don't do it for G-d, then it is not as good as an act by another person- maybe people outside of our religion-who is working, but they are working with the awareness that they owe G-d everything. 
The Muslims should live and work with an awareness that we owe G-d everything. He says He has made a covenant with us: He made it with the people of the Torah; He made it with the people of the Gospel, and He made with us of the Qur’an, the Muslims, the Believers. And we should understand that covenant, and we should understand that we should be doing everything, we should be living and existing and working with an awareness that we owe our Lord creator everything.
It is simply put this way by many Muslim teachers… imams. As a Muslim is supposed to seek the pleasure of G-d. Now, we know G-d is not a creature like ourselves [inaudible]. Because, in our holy book He says He is free of all needs, He has no needs from anything or for anything of His creation. But He wants for us the good life, the rewarding life and the fullness of life that He created for us, and for that reason He had required us… required of us… that we do these certain things, and that we respond to him in certain ways that are proper and G-d gets that as [inaudible 00:32:53].
Lastly now, the great light of religion… or revelation… it shows us that one finds his own life fulfilling for himself, when he gives that life in obedience to G-d, in service to G-d. G-d says in the Qur’an, all souls believing and pleasing G-d, that is pleasing for yourself, you find your life, you find satisfaction yourself and also satisfying your obligation to G-d. He says return to your Lord: enter you my paradise; enter you among my servants.
Pleased and pleasing. You have pleased and you have been pleasing your Lord. That's the condition. That’s the condition… that will make for the happy life. Now, let us speak as men of insight on this very same need in us for pleasure fulfillment.
There’s stages for this pleasure fulfillment. One is what we mentioned here earlier, the immediate pleasure reward- just like we ate that dinner, we got the pleasure while we were eating it- that's immediate. We play and party with each other- that’s immediate. And then we have the third reward- delayed fulfillment. We expect it and we can do the things with a relieved spirit. In good spirit, we can do it in good spirit, but we're not getting anything for it right now, in fact we can’t, we [inaudible] being hidden. Like when you work five days or four days and on the fifth day you get happy, right? Because that's payday, or you work nine days or on the tenth day, or whatever workday you get paid on, that day you hide it, because you know I've been deferring this pleasure for a long time in getting this job. But now, I'm gon’ get mine, correct?
You know really that’s not Islamic, because the Prophet said, “Pay the worker while the sweat is still upon is his brow”, peace and the blessing be on him. So the Prophet taught pay as soon as you finish a job. Let him finish something today and give it right there, give it to him. Some people say, "[If we] give these fools their wage every day, then [consequently] we got more problems than we got now".
Well maybe if we give these fools their money every day, they will get in such condition that they will get wise! Sometimes you have to get more foolishness before you get wise; and many times the fool… the… they… meaning the wisdom is delayed because other people are taking care of his affairs. Let the fool carry more responsibility and the fool will wake up sooner.
Yes, that the defer reward, the deferred pleasure. And then we have the greatest of all, and that is devotional pleasure- just the pleasure of doing it. When you get pleasure out of doing it, you ain't expecting no reward. A lot of things we do, we don't expect no pay, we don't expect a reward. The pleasure is in doing it. We find it to be useful, we find to be good for people, or helping society. 
[For example,] I’d like to help my mother. I like to help this old person. I have to help this young child; I see he has a good future has good qualities, he has good manners. So I do it just for this child, I know they’re not earners, I don’t expect anything. Right? Yes! So we do things not expecting any reward but we do it because we are devoted to a certain principle. Now, the greatest principle to be devoted to is this principle: that I owe everything to. Thank you very much.
[applause]
[00:37:30] [END OF AUDIO]

