1976-July-2

Bilalian News

The Forces of Birth

Imam W. D. Muhammad

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5. O mankind! If ye have
A doubt about the Resurrection,
(Consider) that We created you
Out of dust, then out of
Sperm, then out of a leech-like
Clot, then out of a morsel
Of flesh, partly formed
And partly unformed, in order
That We may manifest
(Our power) to you;
And We cause whom We will
To rest in the wombs
For an appointed term,
Then do We bring you out
As babes, then (foster you)
That ye may reach your age
Of full strength; and some
Of you are called to die,
And some are sent back
To the feeblest old age,
So that they know nothing
After having known (much).
And (further), thou seest
The earth barren and lifeless,
But when We pour down
Rain on it, it is stirred
(To life), it swells,
And it puts forth every kind
Of beautiful growth (in pairs).

Holy Quran translation by Yusuf Ali; Sura XXII: Verse 5
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In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever. Amen.

There is no god but Allah: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters:
The divine scripture teaches us about the forces that work to bring us to birth. The first force is hunger: a hungering for things that give us satisfaction, like food and light. Hunger is the force that works to begin life and to start it off in the path to its destination. When the life -germ achieves its satisfaction, it is given a new form, a stronger form and a better form to continue its drive for satisfaction. From this point on the life is the life of conflict because it is struggling against the things that stand in its way towards its destination, which is satisfaction. Life is not looking for just any kind of satisfaction, it is seeking a natural satisfaction. In our path towards the things that will satisfy us, we run into many things that are not suited to us that will not give us complete satisfaction. 

We are constantly moving from one thing to another until we arrive at the thing that we think will give us the satisfaction we want. From birth to death we are looking for this satisfaction. In the process we call "birth," the life is moved from a thick, watery substance called "semen" to a blood-like substance called "clot." The semen is not as complete a form as the clot. Eventually, when the clot forms the bones and the flesh, the developing human form become a fetus. The fetus is not as complete a form as the individual person. Even though the baby is delivered from the womb and it is called a human being or a fully developed life, it is not really a fully developed life. It has just been released from one part of the life growth process to begin a new phase of the development process, which is another process of struggle. When we arrive as a person in the world, our new mind begins to be influenced by the things that are in the environment around us.

As the mind grows and grows, it is doing the same thing that the physical life has done in the womb of the mother. It is taking the food that is beneficial for growing it to a more complete form. As it reaches fulfillment at one level of development, it moves on from one fulfillment to another fulfillment until it arrives at the destination that gives it satisfaction. When we are completed as semen, or as a clot, or as a fetus -we have arrived at various stages of completion. Even when we come into the world as a fully developed baby, we have arrived at a stage of completion, but none of these completions are totally satisfying to us. We feel a desire to continue to develop. When the mind begins to grow, it arrives at satisfaction with food. If the body wants the food, the mind is not at rest until it has given food to the body. 

After the mind has given food to the body, it still is not satisfied. It has just reached one fulfillment, which was the satisfaction given to it knowing that it has rested the aggravation that was in the physical body. The mind then, immediately begins to search for something else in which to get involved. It will continue to get involved in new things, one behind the other, because it is looking for more satisfaction. All life in the universe eventually comes back into the total life force in the form that we call "death." The life forces that are in us are a part of the life forces that are in the earth and that are in everything else in creation. We eventually come into the death-form and we go back into the earth. Even though we may have failed to find rest as living matter, we do not fail to find rest as dead matter because dead matter does not resist sacrifice. Some of the former flesh body of the human being will go to the worms, some of it will go to the plants, some of it will go to the soil, and some of it will go to the gases of the air. Because there is no rebellion in death, everything eventually becomes one and then it is able to produce life again.
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57. It is We Who have 
Created you : why will ye 
Not witness the Truth ?

58. Do ye then see ?— 
The (human Seed) that 
Ye throw out,—

59 Is it ye who create it. 
Or are We the Creators ?

60. We have decreed Death 
To be your common lot,
And We are not 
To be frustrated

61. From changing your Forms 
And creating you (again)
In (Forms) that ye know not.

62. And ye certainly know already 
The first form of creation: 
Why then do ye not 
Celebrate His praise?

Holy Quran translation by Yusuf Ali; Sura LVI:  Verses 57-62
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As living men and women, we do not have to go through death to accomplish this life producing form of oneness, we can accomplish it in life by following Islam. As a community, we are struggling from one stage of development to another stage of development. We are hungering for more satisfaction all of the time and we are never completely satisfied. Although we are naturally driven by the things that we desire, many of us have no desires beyond our home life. All of our desires are contained within the walls of the home: it is our wives, our husbands, our children and getting the needs that we need for that particular home. That is a natural world and it is a step up the ladder of the development of the human world, but the human world is not supposed to stay on that level. All animals are equipped with the power and with the tools that they need to form a home life. We have no advantage over animals when it comes to the development of the home life; in fact, we have some disadvantages. 

Animals seem to manage their homes better, their children are more disciplined and their children are stronger. They get busy and join the adult world with just a few problems. When we talk about human life on a home level, we do not have anything to brag about over the animal world. But as human beings, we were not meant to stay on a home level. We were meant to move above the world of the home into a community life. If we are to be successful on a community level, we will have to realize that hunger is a part of nature. We cannot let ourselves grieve, nor can we complain because we are not fulfilling all of our desires. We are not supposed to fill all of our desires until we have satisfied Almighty God, Allah, and become one with His life (His creation). Until we have done that, we have to accept that many of our desires are not going to be fulfilled and that hunger is going to be moving us all of the time. Hunger is good for us because it drives us on towards the final goal. We should not ignore the hunger, but we should try to satisfy the appetites in us that are legitimate appetites. We have to realize that all of the forces of creation are in the human being.

The ancient, wise people said that all the animals of the world are in the human being. There are some appetites in us that are dignified and there are some appetites that are low. We do not want to satisfy the appetites of those animals in us that are low despicable, mean, and contrary animals. We want to satisfy the best and the most dignified appetites that are in us. If we do this, we will end conflict within us. We will be successful as we move from one stage to another stage. The birth of life in the womb does not fail to accomplish its natural growth. As it reaches each successive stage of development, it satisfies itself and fulfills its hunger with a natural completion of its new form. Brother and Sister, we should not want to just eat and eat and remain in the same old form. Once we become satisfied in one form, we should want to move to a higher, more complete form.
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31. And We shall try you 
Until We test those
Among you who strive                               
Their utmost and persevere                                     
In patience; and We shall                                  
Try your reported (mettle).                                   

Holy Quran translation by Yusuf Ali; Sura XLII:  Verse 31
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We should continue to grow and grow and grow and accept the life of conflict because life is conflict. The aim of natural conflict is satisfaction in harmony and agreement. Conflict does not occur in human life just because we love conflict. Conflict occurs because it struggles for satisfaction, for harmony, and for agreement. If we keep this in our minds, we will be a great people that will be very successful in our lives. We will be a people that will not suffer a lot of unnecessary burdens, grief, or pettiness in our lives. All of this can be wiped away if we will just accept what the Holy Quran refers to as "the natural religion." We must come into the awareness of the knowledge that human life is just as natural as any other life, but it is more complete than the other life form because there is more freedom. 

This does not mean ' freedom to disobey God or freedom to destroy yourself, but there is more freedom to grow into oneness with God. There is nothing in creation with more freedom to grow than the human being. Everything else has limited freedom to grow, but the human being has unlimited freedom to grow. We can grow until we grow as big as creation itself. The Holy Quran says that when God designed the order of the creation, He asked what creature would like to have the job of "caliph" (ruler) over the creation. The allegorical story says that every creature said "no" but the human being. The bold and daring human being rose up to the challenge and did not take the time to measure it before he said, "Yes."

If we accept the responsibility and the challenge of rulers over creation, we must understand the forces that can move us up the path to total human development.

Your brother, W.D. Muhammad
