July 2nd 1994

Men Only Lecture
Detroit, Michigan

Imam W. Deen Mohammed


With Allah's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The  Merciful Redeemer

(The following is a transcription from a lecture given by Imam W. Deen Mohammed, to Muslim men only, July 2, 1994, in Detroit, Michigan)

As-Salaam Alaikum. That is Peace be on you. Praise be to Allah. We say al-hamdu lillaahi Rabbil 'Alameen; Praise be to God, that is to God, the Lord of all the worlds. We witness that Muhammed, to whom the Qur'an was revealed, is the last prophet and messenger/servant and messenger of God, and what follows of that salute or salutation, Ameen...We're very pleased to see you all out here, men and young men, and we hope that the attendance will increase, as we go on; because we don't want to stop this. I wouldn't want to stop it...

Last meeting, we were discussing the male, even in myth, in ancient myths. We even went to Egypt, looking at the legs of the Pharaoh; and today, we're going to be talking about the male/female relationship.  I believe the main message, or the main information we were trying to pass on at the last meeting was that the male is given the dignity of being the provider and protector for the female and also the support for the society. I believe that was the main information, or the main thought, or message we were trying to give. And I think we did get that across. You that were here the last time, did you feel that we got that across? Was that the message that you got-that we are to be the providers, the maintainers, or providers for our females, for our women, and protection for them; and we're to be the support and the foundation of the society. The very foundation of the society should be the man's responsibility.

I would like to again deal with a little symbolism, before going on. But I see these talks as connected. You know I wanted to give them in the same night, the same evening. Before going on to the next topic, the male and female relationship, I want to again address a little symbolism.

If you studied the history of mythology, from any land, almost any land, they are so similar, most likely you'll arrive at the same idea. It seems to be universal for man that man has really thought of himself and his structure, as copy, or a miniature copy of the
external world in its structure, in its order and structuring; and when you study scripture, you find that scripture has given some recognition to that idea in man's history of myth, mythology, or history of myth. In fact, much of that myth is in certain scriptures, where the human being's figure is compared to the figure, or the order of the external world. Especially the immediate world, or we may say the earth and the lower heavens. And by lower heavens we're talking about the heaven belongs to the environmental earth. That's the clouds that form above our heads, you know. But, we identify, perhaps, just with that extent of the figure, earth and then the space between clouds, rain, where clouds and rain forms, and maybe the sun included. Yes, and the sun included. 

It's easy to understand that when you think of man, his head is where his vision is; his eyes, his vision, and his voice comes out of here too, out of the head. So the voice, when he's angry, or when he's excited, it's like the thunder, you see, and the emotions that cloud his thinking, are like the clouds in the heavens; and if he gets too fed up, too full of such emotions, water will rain down from the higher regions, you know...So, you can see how man kind of compared his own figure with the external world, or external order. So, we won't spend a lot of time with that. But, I'll go right to what I want to tell you about the legs, and then go into the male/female relationship.

The legs, what they immediately support is the industrial complex, the industry and the industrial complex.   We say the factories, foundry, and everything.   That's the stomach! Right? The materials go in, they're sent down to the stomach, and then the stomach starts working with gases and liquids, and acids, and heat working on it and it produces it and makes the finished products for the system and feeds them into the system; and the system can survive and live and be maintained, you see. So, the maintenance of this body, the maintenance compartment is right there in that stomach, where everything goes, and it just works with it there. 

You know those vital organs in that area-mainly the stomach-works with it and just sends it out to every other part. The whole body is fed from there. Some myths have it that the soul is even there. That region was so important, and so exciting to them when they studied, they thought the soul was there, you know. They say when you get afraid sometimes you feel it right in your stomach...But not all the time. I felt it up here once...But think about it, now. The legs are really supporting the industry. Right? Yeah, the legs are supporting the industry. And industry has its waste. You know that. Every industry I ever worked for, they had waste. So, you're supporting the industry and the waste-going that way and that way, you know; keeping the body fit. Now, above the industry are the heart and the lungs. Above the industry the two most important ones are the heart and the lungs. 

They're above the industry. Now, the heart is really pumping the blood that is fed by digestion, which is pumping the blood with food value in it to all parts of the body. Now, this, I would say, is like the monetary system. Now the industry has made the products and up here the products are being passed on to through the system. And up here you have a neck, right? And the neck is above the industry. The neck is above, also, the monetary system and the socialized system-the social economy. The social economic system, it has above it a neck. And the neck really is nothing but a kind of passage way. It's a passage way for what is needed down in the stomach and for the whole body. It's a passage way. And that passage way is right in the head, isn't it? And right where the passage way is, is the voice. So, that neck is something else now! The neck, how did it rate getting the voice box? Well, that's because it sees what's coming through. It registers what's coming through before it gets there, you see. It registers what's coming through before it gets there. 

The head takes it and the neck knows that its going down into the body, before it gets to the body. It's between the body and the head. Now, you know if you think about society, it's structured like that. You have the controls, the centralized controls, in the head, right? And then you have the vital order and organs, or departments of government, or society, pardon me. The industrial complexes, industrial system, and the social system with its monetary discipline, disciplining how the money should be handled and distributed and everything. You have all of that, commerce, and all of that going on there; and over that you have government; and between government and really the operations of the society, you have a silent passage way, Where's being conveyed from the government, by order of the government...now we don't mean this is exactly the way it comes, physically. We mean that this is the order of authority. The government has authority. 

The government is over it and it decides the laws for regulating everything else; and from the government it comes to the economy, the economic system, and from the economic system, industry; and then workers-industry and the people. The people are up under industry. People are up under the economic system, social order; they are under all of that-they're below all of that. But, if you remove the people, you don't have a foundation for any of that. Right? If you remove the people you don't have a foundation for any of that! The industry needs the people. The commercial world needs the people. The monetary system needs the people.  Every vital department of society is founded upon the people and justified because of the needs in the people! They're going to provide for certain needs of the people and they're going to give the people certain services that growth and population demands. So, that's how it works. And the men, I repeat, they are in the foundation!   They are the legs!   They are the number one, strong, first, fundamental supports for the whole structure; for the whole society! The men then should be closest to industry.   They should be closest to industry, supporting industry.   That should be on your shoulders!

Now, the political government is on the shoulders of certain ones, like Muhammed, the Prophet. The Bible says "And the government shall be upon his shoulders!" Well, what's upon your shoulders? Say "That guy has got a fine head on his shoulders!" The head is on your shoulders, man! Said "And the government shall be upon his shoulders." This is your government. This head of yours is supposed to be your government! You ain't supposed to put your poot, poot, tooter up on your shoulders, man, and have it think for you, and speak for you. No! No, you don't bring anything from down here and put it up on top of your shoulders and call it a head. See, industry has its wastes, its foundries and stuff, you know, throwing off bad gasses and stuff.

Now, look at this. Beneath the industry, and above the legs, meaning the first support, is really the reproduction of the life itself, and the elimination of waste. Right? Well, we should be supporting that then, if we going to accept this symbolism that I gave you-that the men are the legs. Then, we're supposed to be able to support the reproduction of life and the elimination of waste! We're supposed to be conscious then of keeping the world that we're carrying on our shoulders healthy, not overburdened waste, smelly stuff. We're supposed to be conscious of cleanliness and purification; eliminating waste and pollution and foul things from our society. Don't you know the Nation of Islam, in its symbolic design, was designed to do just that-prepare the men of the Nation Islam, to be responsible for work, industry, business, moral cleanliness, clean and wholesome environments... Oh yes!...and also the reproduction, or family; the reproduction of the human life, the family; the care, maintenance, and production of the family; family life. It was designed for all of that, to at least be a hint or a symbol, in itself, breathing out that kind of hint to us-even if the preacher wasn't saying "Brother, you're supposed to be responsible for work, factories, industry. 

You supposed to be responsible for your family. You're supposed to be responsible for the cleanliness and purification of your life and your society..." Even if they weren't saying it like that, in its picture it was saying that to us. So, every time I walked into the Temple..."Brother, let me see those shoes...Okay, brother, you passed inspection!" Clean clothes, neatly dressed..."You passed inspection!" Temple was kept clean. You better not smell anything around there. Better not see any mess around there. The environment had to be clean, everybody orderly and disciplined, nobody running over the others, everybody respecting each other's movements; even the higher officer had to respect the movement of the lower officer, or the private soldier. Because if he had to move, the officer had to say "Yes, sir brother. Yes, sir soldier!" Right? Yes. Well, this is the beauty to me of our experience we call the "first experience". The beauty is in its quite message, not the loud talk! "Yes, he is the devil! Won't ever be anything but the devil! He was born, created for the purpose of putting misery and hell into the life of my people!" 

Now, that was all right you know, but the greatest message to me, that said the most, was really in the picture of the Fruit, the picture of the Nation of Islam, the picture of its aspirations, i.e., industry, and planes, trucks, and all of that. Man, in its picture it was powerful! Oh yes! The picture of the brother, so disciplined and militant, and respectful. Oh yeah, that's it! Believe me, the Nation of Islam, intentionally, or unintentionally, is a divine sign to the Black Man of America, that his greatest need is the need for him to accept responsibility for society and government in his life. Not that we reject the government that we're under. No! But we want to grow up to be responsible ourselves for society and government in our lives. And believe me every people should have their own portable government. 

They should. They should have their own portable government. I believe God intended that for every group, that they have their own portable government. America provides for government under government. It doesn't provide for no government under its government. The people that came from abroad they came from national life. They came from cultural life. They came from ethnic life. They were invited to come here and establish that life for themselves, in America, under the American system of government. So, if they brought that over here, then they brought with them their government-not their political government. They brought with them their cultural government and that's what we need.   We need our cultural government.   Islam will help us build our cultural government!   And in our cultural government our men should be the foundation of it!   In its foundation, supporting it, guarding its, protecting it, and being proud!   "No, I'm not the President.   I'm not the Vice President.   I'm not the Chief Imam.   I'm not even a member on the Shuraa Body...Well, who are you?   I'm the foundation in this governmental body!   

I provide for, defend, and promote basics!" Isn't that what we need? Yes! And, again, the beautiful picture of the Nation of Islam...The people were brought to the Minister, but the propagation was mostly done by the legs! Oh yes! Mostly done by the legs, out there telling the people about the basics, i.e., food, clothing, shelter, industry, jobs. You weren't selling those papers just to tell the people to come hear a sermon or a lecture. You were selling to those people to show the people that here is a society, here is a group of people that are about being responsible for the production, creation, and protection of their own world. The economic blueprint...Banks, savings, huh. Yeah, once you get a bank, if the bank becomes successful, now you can start financing people who otherwise wouldn't have any avenue to the finances. All beautiful and great! Now, we don't hope that that will ever come as a centralized thing. But we hope that we will have independent groups of business persons, political thinkers, social theorists, etc. You know, we shouldn't leave it up to this society to come up with the ideas, principles, plans for making improvements on society. When we become wise in the religion of al-lslam we feel that we are as fit as anybody else, or more fit, to take on such responsibility. I think we have very good political theory in America. I think we have a powerful cultural system too.

I expect that one day we going to have, from our own people, our own association, men and thinkers-women too-who are going to make improvements on this society.   Yes, I'm not satisfied with it at all!   And in America, we're free to change it.   We're free to influence change in the life of American society, or its people, and we should be among those making contributions, and should strive to excel with the hopes that one day the Islamic influence, at least in terms of its sciences, will have the greater sway in the life of the American people.   That can come!   That can come and that's my goal!   I'm moving toward it! That's my goal.   My goal is not only to see life change for Muslims.   My goal is to see life change for Americans!   Yes! They will welcome good help from Muslims, Jews, others. 

They will welcome good help for improvements on their own society, the American society. And we're doing it now just by our presence in the society. Our presence, the energy field that we generate, oh, its so strong until it's bringing about change slowly without us directly working it. We're not directly working it. Just our presence here.   Man in a big position, he says "Say, what are those people doing? What are they saying? Say what! Wow!" He starts thinking a little different from then on. Oh yeah! It may affect his life so, that he changes his plan. Says "No, no, we've got to make room for what the Muslims want. We've got to start setting the stage for what the Muslims want. I believe it's good. In fact, I think it's prescribed in our own life. They just expressed it first. But, let us get busy and make room for it." Oh yeah!

Now, so much for that, on men as the legs of society. I begin this talk, now, on male/female relationship, with attention first to meanings, definitions. You know the religion of Islam, as every other religion, it has as its concern human life. And when we hear the call to prayer, which is given before we get up from our beds, and its given before we retire at night. It means that that call is for all the awake hours of our life. And it's a call to what? To Allah, yes. But, Allah is already there. Why do you all have to call me to Allah? You call me to obedience to Allah. You call me to a knowledge of Allah. But, call Allah to the presence of Allah? No! Because Allah is always closer to me than anything else. So;, you can't be calling me to the presence of Allah. Allah doesn't reside on a certain street, or in a certain town. Allah resides in the soul and the heart, or between. Says "between the heart and the mortal life." Between the heart and the mortal life, that's where Allah resides. 

That's in the Qur'an. And why is He residing there? He's residing there to regulate. He there in the neutral zone, between the man's heart and his mortal life, or his heart and his self interest. There God is right there between...He's just like a Spirit-not going that way, not going that way-hovering, right there between a man's heart and his mortal life; to serve the man's conscience. You see...I think we've hit on this already, but we have to do it again...They say "Obey your better conscience!" Right? "Oh man, obey your better conscience, man!" That's what we used to hear. Conscience doesn't mean very much to some people nowadays. But, we used to hear "Just obey your better conscience", you know. Well, not all of your better conscience, but some of your better conscience is the communication from Allah, Himself. "Oh, Brother Imam is always stretching out there. "Yuhadhiduqumul laahu nafsa, It is God Himself Who cautions you!" But, how does He caution you? Through your soul, through your self. 

So it's coming through you (your conscience), but it's God Himself that's cautioning you. Now, you know every believer, real believer in God, really believed that the presence that the presence of God was right inside his own being-in the core or his being-in the core of his life was God (the presence of God); and that God is there for the good of that person. God is dwelling with you, in you, for your own good, serving the very delicate and critical relationship of self interest to community interest. Heart is symbolic of social or community, you see. So, what you would do to me should be taken over by the heart, you see. And what you would do to yourself doesn't even have to be handed to the heart. It's just natural for you to do it. You don't have to let your heart come into it and say if this is right or wrong; or is this just or unjust. 

That's what the heart deals with-right/wrong, just/unjust, etc. So, if it's a self interest, then you just go on and do it. You get up, brush your teeth, you'll eat your food you know. You go to eat.   If you get tired, you lie down and sleep. You know you don't have anything on your conscience telling you "Should I get some sleep? Is it right? No, no, that ain't a matter for the heart. Right? But, you say "Brother so-and-so ain't got nowhere to sleep tonight. Should I sleep in here without even inviting him?" The heart should have that, you see, and the self may say "But, he may disturb me. I don't want my privacy interrupted". That's the mortal, the self interest, the mortal speaking you know. And then God comes in there..."But is that what you're supposed to do as a Muslim? 

Have you forgotten yourself? " Now, you know, God doesn't speak to you if you keep turning Him the deaf ear. After a while, when you do wrong, you almost get the sh-scared out of you. You say..."I did that and I didn't have no conscience, man. Nothing happened!...! didn't even feel bad about that. Hey, something is wrong with me. I have never done something like that and didn't have a conscience. You know man, I took the man's money and then hit him across the head with a piece of iron, and left he there bleeding; and I didn't even think about him until I got home and in the bed, before I went to sleep, I remembered him, man. Damn man, I'm getting cold!" Yeah, you've been rejecting Allah so much, and you've been turning Him a deaf ear. He's letting you go on your own! After while you'll be in the pit, in the flames, and don't know how to get out.

So, religion calls us to life.  Hayya 'ala salah, and they translate it "Come to Prayer". Now, an Arab, who was born speaking Arabic. His parents, and all of his folks were Arab. That's all that they know; all they've known for generations. When hears "Hayya 'ala salah", do you think he hears "Come to Prayer"? He does not! That's not what he hears. But, when you translate it into English-he doesn't know how to translate it into English for you-he's not English speaking. When he hears "come to prayer", he says "Yeah, that's what it means." Because that's what you're supposed to do. When you hear that call, you're supposed to go to prayer; come to where the prayer is going to be. But what is it actually saying, literally saying? "Hayya, Hayyun", means "living". 

Something Hayyun means it's alive, it's living. "Hayya" means "liven up, be alive". "Ala" means on or upon. "Salah" means what? "Devotional obedience to God". We used to call it salat. And our salat is a special devotion that really encompasses the whole of our life.   The whole of our life.   Believe me, the more you learn about it the more you're going to agree with me.   It encompasses the whole of our life! Government, education, everything, is expressed symbolically, or ritually, by our prayer.   Everything. But not just these things without any special meaning in history. No, it addresses these things in their life history, the life expanse of these things. Here, standing erect, is the beginning, life starting. It's beginning in its establishment. Then, it begins to bow down, to thank God. It remembers that there is God that lifted it up, that established it. So, it goes down-the establishment. This is the life, the body that's going through the prayer. 

So, the ritual of prayer that we go through is really a symbolic demonstration of the whole life of the society, pictured in one person, or in an individual, and then the group gets together-they all pray together. And this life brings itself erect, established erect before God, and it begins to acknowledge that God is responsible for what it has achieved-its establishment. "Allahu Akbar!" And look where the hands go. To the ears. I couldn't have had this if my ears had not been open. I open my ears and that's what made it all possible. Can the deaf speak? I open my ears and it made it all possible. So then the hands go down, right? And you begin going through the words of the Salat. And the first thing that you do is acknowledge God as the Lord of all worlds. And the word for "worlds" is not really worlds like these physical worlds. 

Worlds of knowledge, 'alameen, from 'ilm, knowledge. And Fatiha is a must and you should recite a short passage from the Qur'an, with al-Fatiha. When you finish you glorify God again, don't you?..."Allahu Akbar!"...Now, you're going down.  You're submitting! You're submitting the government to God..."Allahu Akbar!"...you're submitting this government to God. And what are you doing now? You're submitting it on what level? Ruku', the social level...That "God, my social evolution, I owe You thanks for it! I couldn't have evolved, socially without You." And then you come back up, because you praise Him with that gesture. "Sami Allahul liman hamidah! And God hears whoever praises Him!" Huh? Then, you go right back down..."Allahu Akbar!" Go all the way down and put the government on the ground! Huh? You put the government on the ground! 

You make the government prostrate to the earth, to the womb of material development.  Huh? You put the government down there and make it prostrate to the womb of material development. And down there you say, "Subhana Rabbiyal 'Ala.   Glory be to my Lord the highest, the most High!"   Right?   Government submits to the origin of itself.   The government of what?   The government of thinking, knowledge processes, insight, intelligence, learning, perception, everything that has a direct relationship with the mental processes-the mind.   Put it down there on the earth itself, because that's where all knowledge came from, out of the matter, itself. So, you submit it. You tell God that "I'm not proud God. I know that everything I have up here in this crown came out of Your creation. And you come back up and say "Allahu Akbar!" You don't say "Sami Allahul liman hamidah", because really that wasn't praising God. 

That was submitting. You were submitting! And you bring yourself back up... and when you submit, you glorify God, not yourself..."Allahu Akbar!"...and you bring yourself to a sitting position. And then you go back down for a second time and do it again, to say what? That man, socially evolved by God, when he discovered the sciences in the material world he believed in a God. But, when he set himself back up on the throne, he began to enjoy the benefit and power of government and achievements, he forgot! He wasn't quite on the track, yet. So, he was not quite educated yet. He was just knowing that some God was responsible for evolving him, socially, and that he owed the material benefits and the knowledge to the creation...

...that was not acceptable for their human nature. They were always uncomfortable with the situation. They were never at peace, hardly at all, until revelation from God came, and showed the way. And really even those religious nations had only temporary periods of time when they enjoyed peace. Their peace was short-lived. They were right back into wars and confusion. The only one that lasted for a long time was really the late ones, Islam, the ummah of the Prophet had peace among themselves for a long, long period of time; the government in Spain for four or five hundred years. Four or five hundred years! That's a long time. That's longer than the United States has been existing. And there were others that enjoyed it for a long time. Not that the ignorant world, or the world of darkness, wasn't making trouble and causing wars, occasionally. But, peace was secured for long periods of time. And that was just the dawning of the light. We haven't really seen the full light of Islam yet! That was just the dawning of the light. But that little dawning of light was passed on to the West and they were able to see the direction for themselves, the Will of God, the order to come, the future order that God wants for man on earth. 

They were able to see it and go back and pick up where there people left off, and search for it and bring this world, that we call the democratic society. But look how long that man has had that dream for the ideal democracy. And over hundreds of years, while they had that idea, and beautiful thinkers-beautiful thinkers-but, the behavior of their society was still savage.   The treatment of subjects, human beings on this earth, was still unacceptable for the human soul to tolerate. And it's only now in, I would say, the years of decline for western power and glory and dominance that western society is beginning to conform to the beauty that it advocated and claimed for itself; a society of justice for all; a society sharing its production and its bounty and its beauty and its comforts, and everything with its people, and promoting growth, and happiness for all of its citizens. We're just coming to that time when the American people are expecting that and working for that, and getting support from leaders to realize that. We're just coming to it.

So, really, the second sajda, we see it just beginning to come...This is the life of the order of society in its trials, in its deaths and resurrections.   God gives it life and establishes it.   It forgets its God, has to remember its God, submit to its God, conform again to the social life that God intended for it, and acknowledge that the material benefits came from God and that the knowledge to run society came from God, by placing the crown, the government upon the ground-the head, the crown-upon the physical ground, upon the material out of which came enlightenment, direction, etc., from the Creator, Himself! That's why the language is "...Endowed by the Creator"...in the Declaration of Independence..."Endowed by the Creator!" It didn't say "Endowed by Jehovah!" I said "Endowed by the Creator!" because that connects you directly with creation; Creator, creation. That dollar is a token representing creation. Right? Yes. It represents creation. A dollar of wheat! A dollar of share in an automobile. It represents something that came out of the earth, creation. You see? So, as I've just said, we're just beginning to see signs that the established world, the most progressed and established world is about to try to please, or conform to God's Will, to God's Will for human life on this earth, by making the second sajda. It says that God told Adam "And tell them their names." And when Adam told them their names, all of them made sajda, except Iblis. And he became one of the oppressors. Accept Iblis, and he became one of the oppressors of man; and in time became the worse of all the oppressors. Iblis!

But they all made sajda. What does this have reference to? This has reference to God's plan and help for the intellect of Man. And when God has helped and inspired the intellect of Man, then all other forces that had been responsible for the trust in the creation has to submit to His Man.
Specifically, in this metaphor, or in this description, the angels, those forces that were created to be in perfect obedience to God-the angels. Now, those angels can be understood in many ways, both abstract and concrete. But we know that in their true identities, angels have no concrete image, though they can operate or manifest in concrete form. And those angels are responsible for what? They're responsible for the regulation of God's creation. They operate in the regulation of God's creation! It says "The Night of Power, in it descends the angels..." Not only the Spirit, but the angels descend.  For what purpose are they coming down into the darkness?   To obey every order of God.   

This has direct reference to the dawning of knowledge, the beginning of enlightenment! The angels will be working with God to bring man to enlightenment. And we know that the chief angel, bringing the message from God, is the angel Jibreel, Gabriel. Yes, the angels all obeying God, coming down into the darkness, into the night. But it is not a bad night. It is not a night of ignorance. The night of ignorance is below it.  It's in the higher heavens. This night is in the higher heavens. This night is the night of peace!    "Salaamun hiya...Peace it is! Hatta matla'il fajr, until the dawning! Until the rise of the dawn!"   Huh?   So, this work that is going on to aid the intellect of man is happening in a darkness that is a darkness of peace and quiet, and the peace and quiet is the the peace and quiet that God, Himself, can only give!   Yes!   And there's no light of the world in it.   It's dark, but in it comes the stars.   

The stars will form in the darkness of the higher world, of the higher heaven.   Stars, and they will have patterns and tracts, and patterns and movements.   They will show order and obedience to a law, to a will.   And they will be more powerful in their order than the lights below.   They will endure when lights come on and go out down here.   They still endure above.   Huh?   That's all in your head, my brother!   Yeah, I know it's heavy for you! But all that that I'm talking about has reference to what can be in your head.   Your head can be so above the pettiness of this world until it's like the canopy of stars at night.   Huh?   Yes, bearing witness that the light isn't out, because the sun has set.   It's just so far away that your little eyes can't see the size of it.   Oh man, this is so good!

All right. "Hayya alal salat! Come and establish life upon devotion to God!" That's what it means. "Come alive to the establishment of your life upon obedience, or devotion to Allah, to God!" That's the call. And shouldn't that be the call?   That is the call.   That your life will never be the life that satisfies the core of your soul, until you establish that life in conformity with what God wills! And what do we say, when we're standing up here? We say nothing that was not revealed. If you don't know what to say, you know, you're permitted to say, "Allah, I bring myself to You, a sinful idiot, and weak. Please give me strength, I don't know al-Fatiha yet. But, I'll read it in English." And you read it in English the best you can. Your prayer will be accepted. But you shouldn't be satisfied with that. You should be coming to a teacher, coming to somebody that knows and try to learn how to perform that prayer as its so supposed to be performed. And to perform it as it's supposed to be performed, you don't speak your words.   

You speak only revelation.   So, what is that telling us?   That it was revelation that brought man to stand up and hold himself in establishment for a duration of time. They said when the Prophet first started preaching he used to have them stand in prayer for all night almost, standing up all night, reciting long passages, chapters of the Qur'an, just standing all night. What's holding that kingdom up? The revelation from God! And when it goes down, it doesn't go down because it has to. It goes down because it's too much! "Oh, God, it's too much to stand up here with all of this. I've got to acknowledge where I came from, "Allahu Akbar!"...bend down there and put your hands right on the common man's head. Recognize him.  Don't forget...Reach down there and grab the head of the common man..."Allahu Akbar!"

The light, the light, establishing the light. Now, we have to see the social plan for our life as the overriding plan, the prevailing plan, the plan that incorporates all other plans. Now, this is not socialism. This is community. That's the difference. You see, socialism is more on the regulation of society as dictated by the needs of the people as a social group, or social entity. Right? That's the socialist's idea. Whereas the Islamic idea doesn't take in this social relationship first. It takes in community first; that man has been created to be a community and as a community he is supposed to perform no matter how small his responsibility is. You have a family? That's a small community! It's not so much the relationships first that we look at, i.e., husband to wife, parents to children, but family itself; the unit. 

We need to appreciate the family as a group. Because if the family keeps its collective group in the family order, contains its members in a group, as a community (they live together, they socialize together, they eat together, they retire together, they get up together to go out and seek support, means, income for their group). So, this is a community. This is supposed to be seen firstly as a community. So, for us it is not social, or socialism as much as it community and community responsibility, or responsibility for a community. Now, we're supposed to see that life, that family life, that community life with its relationships and its order-social relationships-as the sanctuary of life. Sanctuary means a place that's supposed to be guarded, protected, from all trouble, from all danger, etc. Right?   That's sanctuary.   So, you're supposed to cherish this community life so much, in its social nature, in its social identity.   

You're supposed to cherish the social community so much that you guard it with everything you've got!   You will sacrifice your life to it.   You will go to war for it. It's more precious than anything else to you, except God Himself. The social community, or the social nature and its community life.   What will that give us?   It will give us security.   If we cherish it, protect it, it will give that sanctuary security.   As sign of that is the Haram, the Sacred Precincts, that we visit when we make hajj, pilgrimage.   Says that God established that place, or made that place what?   A sanctuary!   Made it what?   A secure place!   A place of security, where you feel that you can trust everybody and everything around you; where you feel safe.   No one will rob me.   No one will harm me.   I'm safe here.   I'm secured here.   It's a sign that if we order our community life beginning with the family itself, as God intends for us to order it, recognizing God as our Authority over all other authorities, we will have a sanctuary, a haven, a secure place from the world that will survive when the world is gone.   The world may live and die, but that sanctuary, that life will stay.

With that I say that the Muslim life, the Muslim community life should never depend on the world that it lives under or in. No! The world that it lives under or in may come and go, but our life should stay. Yes! No reason why it should come and go. Not only should it stay, but it should not be affected that much by what happens in the external world. It should have its own government. It should have its own authority over it. It should have its own obedience.  It should have its own life! I don't want to point to anybody, but everybody doesn't die when the economic system fails the world. There are a few wise people.  You may call them lucky people. They may progress more during the death of the economic order than when it was striving. 

So understand that. We don 't have to die. We don't have to suffer the consequences that's registered in the world. No! If we have our eyes on our own form of life, our own system of life, our own perception of what should be government in our life, then we should be able to exist and endure and continue to thrive and prosper when others are dying. That's why I say we want that tree that gives its fruit in every season. The winter comes and some are dead. They can't bear any fruit. But, we want that tree that will give up fruit in every season. In the winter time it's bearing fruit. It didn't exclude winter. It said every season! I'm not off of my subject, brother! I beaming in there with full force! With the help of Allah, we're right on target; full force!

Now, we mentioned meanings.  Now, let's look at some meanings here. "Human"...Now when we want to understand "human" in English, we say "Oh, 'human1 means to be like what is the best nature of the person, his good side". Right?...and if you go to the dictionary for a meaning it will tell you just that, but it also says human means "homo sapien", thinking man.   So, it goes back to the brain, to the mind, to the intellect.   Right?   Now, God says that if there had been angels populating the earth, He would have sent us an angel as a messenger.   That's to tell us many things and here is one thing it is to tell us.   The good side of human beings-this light idea of what is human, or this sentimental idea of what is human-will not bring us to the destiny and the bounty that God has created for us. No!   Angels can't get there! But, a   man obedient to God, a society of men obedient to God-like angels are obedient, but being rational men with open minds and thirsty intellects-they can get there!    

So it's not just the human, sentimental, good side of the person. No! The real human identity begins with a rational mind. That's what distinguishes us from animals. That's what distinguishes us from angels; that we have a rational mind. Now when that rational mind also embraces, and strengthens, and cooperates and gives support to the sentimental side-that soft side-then you have the best condition! But, it doesn't mean that if you ignore that side, you aren't going to progressive or successful. Because there have been some hard, hard political theorists, cold ones, and they have made a lot of progress. They have a lot of the dunyaa. They may not have gotten the paradise, but they sure came up with a lot of the dunyaa-the world, that is. 

So, we have to think of our definition of human in both ways.   Prophet Muhammed is the ideal human.   But the beginning of his life is in the dawning of his mind, his intellect.   But that can't come from God unless you're already of good character.   He will only bless those of good character with that great dawning of enlightenment in their dome.   Now, thinking man, homo sapien...how long do you think that the West has had that kind of terminology? They didn't have that kind of terminology before Prophet Muhammed taught us dhikr.  Dhikr means what? Thinking, reflecting with the mind. Dhakir, thinking. And what is man in the Qur'an? What is his name? He has many names, but the name that God contrasts with female is dhakir. God says "and the dhakir is not like the unthaa, the male is not like the female". So, man, you should think of yourself as being the thinker!   Now, I know women don't want to hear this.   But it wasn't a woman that went up on the mountain, or set by the river, resting her heavy head on her hand and came back to the city and said "the way we're doing this is wrong.   

We have to come from this haphazard hit and miss kind of society that we have.   God has shown me something!" or "A power above has shown me something. There's a logic to this life!   There's science and enlightenment-great lights-in the darkness of matter!"   Yes, so he started telling them these things, you know, and they started listening to him.   And pretty soon there were studious men sitting down with studious men.   Pretty soon there were scholarly men and students and others scholars coming from long distances, on donkeys and horses and whatever they had to ride on; walking, coming to the one man that had gotten this new vision.   And after a while there was a better order of civilization; laws, human treatment, regulation of money, and business and everything.   It wasn't the woman, it was the dhakir, resting his crown on his hand, heavy with thoughts, heavy with a whole lot of ideas!   Just having a brain storm-spontaneous burst of energy in the higher regions of the heavens-and it got so heavy that he had to rest it on his hand.   Said "Oh Lordy! Oh Lordy!"   Sometimes he's like the prophet in the Bible who said "My cup runneth over!" Just too much to tell.   Drowned with messages - head drowned with messages.   "I'll have to sleep tonight.   

I'll see what I can say tomorrow!"   That wasn't a woman! That was a male!   Now, they don't like that.   But it doesn't mean that they don't have brains.   But that wasn't your role in the creation and the advancement of man's world!   That wasn't your role!   That was rny role!   And God says "And the dhakir is not like the unthaa!"   You ail can be homosexuals if you want to buddy! Whew!   I have a pride and a dignity with this perception that the Qur'an gives me.   I have a pride and a dignity, man, that will make me cut off my leg and my arm before I'll be a homosexual!   And look at the fringe benefits!   Oh Lordy!...Tonight, after the work is all over, I go there and have my soul rested! Find tranquility for even the flesh! My flesh even speaks to me and says "Hey, that was some nice rest last night!"   Says "I was as rested as a baby!"...Shoot man, the world as Allah designed it for us...ah man, it's heaven!   it is heaven!   And that's what Allah says through his Prophet, prayers and peace be on Muhammed, before the Satan influenced the design of the world it was a paradise.   And we can have it right here on this earth in these physical bodies that we have.

Now, let's look at English word "man". Now, what does "man" mean? They'll tell you. But, learn how a word is used, or a part of a word is used, or how a word is joined to
other words, to make another word. We can tell. They can't hide everything, even though they don't give it in the dictionary. "Man", mechanic, manipulate. You get all of these words. So, actually what is the English word saying man is? Man is something that works-management. Man is something that works! I like that English word. You're supposed to be something that works, something that doing a work; something that's handling something else, being responsible for something else, controlling something else. Management/manage..."! can manage this" - means that I can be responsible for this; I can control this; this is within my power to handle. I can manage it! So when you think of man, think of words like that. Man/management. Even manipulate, that isn't too bad. We have to manipulate sometimes. I'm manipulating you in a small degree right now. But, my intention is good. It's a good work. It's a beautiful deceit! A holy deceit! And you know I must be your friend, because I'm even telling you.

Now, look at this word "woman". "Wo-man". The ignorant say "Woe to Man!" They say that's what woman means, "Woe to man!" And that's the ignorant in the western thought, you know. Because it says that the fall of man came because his woman let Satan deceive her and she seduced him-after Satan deceived her-and brought them both under Satan. But in Islam we're told that the man slipped and we're told that the Satan seduced both of them. Not one of them, but both of them. There wasn't anything passed to Adam, the man, by the woman as a conduit. No! Satan went directly to both of them. It says he seduced them and caused them to come of the dress (identity), or the clothing that God had put them in. So, we've cleared that up. So, now let us see what is the term for man in Qur'anic language . The term for man is "dhakir" and the term for man is "bashir". "Dhakir" is thinking man, or man as an intellect. "Bashir" is man as a social member, as a member in the social order. 

What makes him now so important as a member of the social order? Because he is sensitive in his outer body, whereas the woman is sensitive in her inner body. She is sensitive in her inner body. The man, that Allah wants, is sensitive in his outer body. He's sensitive when he sees his family hurt, his children hurt, his friends hurt, his neighbors hurt. The woman is sensitive when you hurt her feelings, when you disappoint her trust, etc. That's what hurts her so much. She's more sensitive in the inner core that in the skin. But the man is sensitive in the skin. As you go deeper in him, he's not so sensitive. He becomes more stable inside. He tends to be more stable. You see a man falling down, and his heart has gotten disturbed, he ain't a man no more.  He's been feminized. Yes.  He's supposed to be upset because his family is hurt, his friend got mistreated (didn't receive justice). Those are the things that are supposed to hurt him. But his girlfriend wen with another man...Now if that makes you boo hoo and stops you from going to work tomorrow, you're not yet the man Allah created you to be. 

You're supposed to register that like a light tremor and then the impact goes to the skin, and the skin says "How are my children going to be affected? How is their future going to be affected? Let me see if I can defeat her in her purposes, deny her what she has her eyes on, so it will go to our children." Now, that's the bashir! That's the man! And he sits down and looks at the child that's hurt and upset because the mother, or the girlfriend has gone out with somebody else...You know the young boy, when that girl, man, disappoints him-he's a boy!   His sensitivities are more like the female. He hasn't reached manhood yet.   So, he just boo hoo's and carries own, like a baby deprived of his candy stick, that won't stop crying until you put it back in his hand. But that man, he'll take a whip or a stick out and if that organ gives him too much trouble, he say "Hey! Obey! Stop bothering me, Goddammit! I've got business to take care of!"

Now, look at life itself.   What does it mean?   "L-i-f-e, life".   It is not accident that "ife" is also in wife.   That's to tell us that life and wife are tied together.   That the woman in your life should be symbolic of life, because she's the field out which you hop to get generations of life. She's the field for your crop of life!   Your harvest of life!   Your investments in life!   Yes, this is the way that we should see it.   But you speak English.   I'm not coming straight from the Qur'an all of the time because you speak English, and it's there.   Why should I overlook it if it's there.   Now, also look at the word "live".   It's no accident that "ive" is also in "give", and "alive", a-l-i-v-e.   You want to live?   You want to stay alive? Give.   Don't be so damn selfish!   Give!   Live for more than yourself and then you'll really find life!   You'll really experience life!   You'll really appreciate life! When you start to live for more than yourself;   and you'll have a bigger life.   You should be living for as many as you can life for.

Now, we talked about the rituals that we go through, or the movements in prayer, as
indicating establishment, submission of the establishment, but also they indicate life and death for the establishment.   Life and death.   And putting the head on the ground is symbolic of dying.   But dying to what?   Dying sometimes to just establishment.   You don't have the life anymore to establish yourself and your head falls to the ground.   But, if you glorify God, you will live again!   Huh?   Yes, you will live again.   You see?   So, it is also a picture of the sunrise and sunset of our life and it happens all of the time.   The sun is rising and setting all of the time.   But behind each sunset is there's another sunrise coming...Oohh!   Glorify God and one day you will say "

Peace be on you and the mercy of God!   Peace be on you and the mercy of God!"   Who can announce peace?   The one who has found it and is sitting upon the throne of the order of peace!   He has found the order of peace, and established the order of peace, and he's sitting on the throne, representing the order of peace; and he speaks out, with authority, as the emir, or the khalifa..."Peace be unto you and the mercy of God!"...and his voice is not limited.   The range of his voice, it's not limited.   It will vibrate around the world!   Because when God gives the man the perception of how society is to be established, how peace is to be ordered, it's good for everybody, everywhere on the globe.   "As-Salaamu Alaikum, wa Rahmatullah!    As-Salaamu Alaikum, wa Rahmatuilah!   Peace to the sunrise and peace to the sunset!   Peace to those in light and peace to those in the dark!"   Man can go to bed now and rest.   Yes!   Now this isn't just dreaming.   This is real and we're going to get there!   We're getting there.

Now, I'm going to close out on this...Most precious to us is the Muslim commands in our life. God says "Don't do this. Don't do that!" If you fall victim, be like that one we mentioned earlier. Come to your God. Say "My Lord, I have done wrong. I repent to You!" And God said "I forgave him!" That's what God says. This is in the sayings of the Prophet, the prayers and the peace be on him. So, be like that one. No matter how often you sin, don't say "Ah, there's no need in me going back to the Masjid. I can't live that kind of life."   That's Satan! That's Satan whispering in the weak side of your life; whispering in the weak parts of your soul and your spirit and your mind; whispering in there, making you think you should give up, making you think you aren't fit for the Muslim community. Anybody who loves Allah and wants to be right, you're always fit for the Muslim community.  I don't care if you gamble everyday, shoot or use narcotics everyday, drink liquor everyday, do wrong everyday! 

As long as you love Allah, it's going to work more of that stuff out of your life and eventually you're going to overcome all of that. Never give up! You have never heard me say anything that makes a man who's in sin think that he's not welcome in an audience when I'm here. You've never heard me say anything that indicates that. We don't know the burden on each individual.   We don't know the circumstances that account for what has happened to each person.   Only Allah can judge us! All we can do is help our brother and show our brother the right way, and encourage him in his good deeds and in his strength; and don't encourage him in his bad deeds and in his weakness.   That's the mistake some of us make.   We act like we're going to tolerate the brother's weakness.   No!   Love the brother and hold him close to you.   But never tell him that his bad deeds and his sins are okay, or you're going to overlook them.   No, if he shows them to you, you can't overlook them. You've got to tell him "Brother, that's wrong! You've got to go and try to overcome that!"   Be your brother's brother, not a hypocrite for the sake of just having friendship.   Praise be to Allah!

Now, you look at the word life" and you see "wife". You look at the word "death" and you see "eat". And Allah says, in the Qur'an, "Innal a'atainaakal kauthar! Surely, We have given you abundance!"(108:1)   Abundance of good! And Allah says, also in the Quran "Al haakumut takaathuru hattaa zurtumul maqaabir.   The going after abundance, amounting and piling up wealth, will stay on you until you come to the grave!"   (102:1).   It's some thing that becomes hypnotic.   It becomes almost automatic in your life, and it stays on you and causes you to lose conscience, moral conscience, and you just keep going after it, compulsively, without any ability to resist going after the wealth, or going after material plenty.   And where is it carrying you?   To the grave, to the hell, to the destruction of your human nature, your good life, your good soul.   That's where it's carrying you.   But, you see what I did?   I gave you a reference of abundance in a good sense and in a good light.   God wants you to have abundance and at the same time God warns you that going after it will bring you to the grave-the grave of the death of your humanity!   And look how it is in English, in these words: "Life/wife", "death/eat".   This culture and it's commercial system that poisons and deforms the culture, it's designed to take you from your wife, to take you from your life, to make you eat, eat, eat yourself to death!  Peace be on you. I'll see you next time! As-Salaam Alaikum!

Transcribed by: Ronald B. Shaheed 12/12/94
