September 6th 1998
Directions For Growth
Los Angeles, CA
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Praise be to Allah. We praise and thank G-d. Praise be to Allah. Alhamdulilah, we say. Greetings of peace to all of you, as salaam alaikum. We witness that G-d is G-d, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the creator of mankind, the teacher of the prophets and the teacher of humanity, mankind. G-d. Our G-d. And we are told in our Holy Book by G-d to say to the people of the book, Christians and Jews, those who have faith, your G-d and our G-d is one and the same. Your G-d and our G-d is one and the same. I would like to thank G-d at this time also for our presence here, that we have been blessed to travel without accident, without loss of life or property, and be here today in the spirit of faith in G-d and respect for sacred matters and human life.
We thank G-d for our presence here. We thank G-d for the presence of those that we have come to know and have friendship with through dialogue, the Focolare Movement representatives that are here today as they have been since we made a friendship with them, and that's been now for about two years. I would like for them to stand so that you will see the representatives of the international Christian movement for Christ's love, for the promotion of Christ's love, his commandment. Love you one another as I have loved you. Will you please stand, representatives of the Focolare Movement. Thank you. Thank you. Praise be to Allah.
We have been blessed also to have history made for us in Los Angeles for this 1998 Muslim American Society Convention, national convention, with a phone call to our father and son breakfast this morning from the Grand Mufti of Syria, who is a distinguished, a most national, international... most distinguished intellect and thinker in Islam today. And I believe he's about 90 years old. 90 years old but that doesn't stop him. It hasn't prevented him from traveling across oceans to embrace others of faith and to share with them the real message of Islam with the hope that humanity will unite and work for peace and better human conditions throughout this world.
So we thank G-d for the phone call from Syria, from the Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Keftaro, my friend, my brother in Islam, Imam that I follow, my teacher that I got one lesson from and a two-hour conversation with him about, oh, almost a year ago now, half a year, a little better than half a year ago. And will see again, G-d willing, in December. Hopefully, I'll spend about three weeks there and I'm asking that all the time that he can spare, except the time when I have to sleep, will be given so that I may have more lessons from him; so that we can have discussions and I gain from his great knowledge and his great spirit and his great vision of how we are to represent Islam in this modern time. So we thank G-d for his phone call and we thank G-d for Jim Brown's presence. Jim Brown, the football star who... Oh, he did wonders. He was a superstar for the Chicago Bears. Pardon me and I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:
Cleveland Browns.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
No, no, not Cleveland Brown. Jim Brown.
Speaker 2:
Jim Brown.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Jim Brown.
Speaker 2:
Cleveland Browns.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
No. No, no. No, he was in Chicago first. No, the one who spoke this morning.
Speaker 2:
Cleveland Browns.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yeah. Of the Cleveland Browns, he said. Well, you know I'm not too much into sports. Yeah, Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns. Yes. I know him as he wished to be known, not only as a great football star, superstar for the Cleveland Browns, but I know him also as a great leader in our society; helping youngsters have a mentor and support from a wise-spirited mentor who has genuine interest in them and love for them. He have met with the big gangs of Los Angeles, the blues and the reds. I'm not up on gangs either. The blues and the red bandanas. And have realized a lot of success with them. So we thank Allah for such persons that have joined us in Los Angeles here for this 1998 Islamic Convention.
And there are others. We have the Brigadier General from the Tuskegee Airmen. Some of you are familiar with Tuskegee Airmen, African-Americans who fought in the war and were discriminated against even though they were fighting for our country. But they finally won respect and the right and opportunity to be pilots. And they performed so marvelously that history now records them as great pilots during the Second World War. And I believe some of them are still... Their descendants are members, are still flying. And he also had great words of value to share with us. We thank G-d for his presence here with us.
We thank G-d for the police chief of Los Angeles, Police Chief Fox, for his comments at our banquet. Very genuine, sincere presentation he made. We are lucky and fortunate, blessed to have such persons in those positions. The chief of polices in Los Angeles is very, very important and serious position and responsibility. So when we can see a genuine human heart and spirit and concern for justice, that the little people, the neglected people get justice, then we are very happy. That's a big relief to know that we have such persons in that position. And I'm convinced after hearing this presentation that he is a genuine human being who has obligated himself to do what's right and to uphold justice for all. We thank Allah for them. We thank Allah for all our imams who have traveled from south and north and Midwest and east and everywhere, from Bermuda and other places to be with us at this convention.
May Allah keep us in the faith, strengthen us in the faith, and make all of our good efforts productive for Islam and for humanity. In our Holy Book, the Quran, G-d mentions a time when things will be happening and it'll be clear that they're not happening in response to man's doings or his will, but in response to G-d's doing and G-d's will. And it is put in this language that wait until you see G-d come with his clock, with his clock, with his timepiece. What time is it by your clock? You'll give us that time. What time is it by G-d's clock? G-d has to reveal that. G-d has to make us know that.
There are a lot of things that are happening in this modern world in our time that to me are very clear signs for people of faith. Among modern world developments are signs and support for faith in G-d. Signs as powerful as a parting of the waters mentioned in the Old Testament, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River. These signs are very powerful. Some of us see things happening and witness changes in the world but we don't do what G-d asks us to do. And that is not just see things but reflect on them. Reflect on them as believers in G-d. Refer back to your scripture, to prophecies and to scripture, so you'll know what time is it by G-d's clock, not by yours. So you'll know what time is it by G-d's clock.
We have seen Cold War period ended. We lived in fear for a time, the fear of horrible consequences, perhaps the destruction of society as we know it on this earth by the superpowers, if they decided to go to war with each other, with the great stock pile of nuclear weapons that they have and still have. We feared the destruction of society as we know it. And without us being able to predict the end of that time, the end came. The end came. The great Soviet Union was dismantled and only one superpower remained. And we have stopped fearing what could happen if the wrong phone was picked up by the President of the United States and war was declared between the great superpowers. That time of fear is gone.
And we find that almost the next morning, a vast land that we thought had become atheists or was without belief and practice by the faithful followers of G-d, was seen, as I said, almost the next morning with many, many people of faith ready to publicly practice their faith or their religion. Christians, Muslims and others. We were told a story, which was a true story, of the survival of Muslim learned persons and leadership, strong parents who secretly protected their religion and shared it with their children secretly so that Islam would survive communist domination over them. We were told that parents and teachers would awake in the wee hours of the night and they would teach their children.
See, if the soldiers would see or the officers, the police would see light on at night or early in the morning, they would be suspicious and most likely they would come in and investigate to see what you're doing. But in the wee, wee hours of the night, they thought everybody was asleep for sure. And that was when they would get up and wake their children and share with their children their knowledge of their religion. So they were secretly educating their youngsters to carry on the religion, carry on the responsibility of sharing their religion with others and living it themselves. And after 70 years of being denied religious freedom, almost the next day in the morning they began establishing, opening up schools and colleges. And now they have many colleges in Russia for the education of Muslim children, Muslim youth, and Muslim adults who want to qualify in Islam and higher education.
And something very similar happened for Christian leaders, leadership, and the Christians of Russia or the Soviet block. The same thing happened for them. They preserved their religion and they preserved their knowledge quietly and secretly. And as soon as freedom came again for them to practice their religion, it was established as though it only slept for a night of 70 years and woke up fresh as they were the day before they slept. Isn't that wonderful? I think that's a sign from G-d. It's a sign from G-d, mighty sign from G-d. But there are more signs from G-d.
G-d speaks of the earth itself, this huge spherical body we call the earth that we live on and live from, responding to G-d one day against misguided man and corrupt man's abuse of the earth. Saying the earth will behave... I'm giving you quote from the Quran. The earth will behave as though she had received revelation from her Lord, revelation from her Lord. I believe what we are calling globalization now... Globalizing trends and what we are calling globalization and the one world economy, global market, the global marketplace, I believe that these developments are fulfilling that potent prophecy in the Quran which says one day the earth is going to behave as though her Lord have revealed to her. Had revealed to her. The earth itself.
I don't think that means the physical stones or the virtual stones and sand and soil and trees and the rivers and lakes and all that. I don't think it means that, not quite that; but by interpretation it means exactly that. By interpretation it means exactly that. The role of waters, the value of waters to commercial man, the value of the winds to commercial man, the value of the land to commercial man, the value of the sun that heats the earth and the growth that comes out, because of the climate. That is of importance to commercial man. That these elements and this earth, all of these elements in man's commercial interests are going to speak out against abuses that man has made. Abuses of the proper use, the correct use of these things.
I recall in my life being a young man before my teens and during my teens. I recall how powerful our nation was, the United States of America. And I recall how the west dominated other lands and how we as citizens of this great nation... It was great then it's greater now, I think. Citizens of this great nation had a much higher standard of living than other nations; that our nation was much more powerful, much more richer than other nations because our nation was using the natural resources, the minerals, and et cetera of other nations and giving them little or nothing in return. But the day has come now when economic justice is being called for. And the material realities are no longer in the hands of one nation, not even this great United States of America. Material realities are now in G-d's charge. You may not see it that way, but that's how I see it. Man hasn't brought this about. G-d has brought it about.
When education influences for awakening the conscience of the most backward and illiterate people have reached them through the powerful media that some of our great men and great writers of insight has identified as a liberating tool in this modern time. A liberating tool in this modern time. Television, television. Television has its problems, we know. We have many complaints against some programs on television. But television has also been the means for reaching masses of people all around this world and bringing the true picture of world communities to every community on this earth fortunate enough to have a television. We think we are in charge of everything. We think we are in charge of ourselves. We think we are in charge of the material resources. We think we are in charge of the economy. We think we are in charge of the wealth. G-d is always in charge. We are not even in charge of ourselves.
G-d is always in charge, but He is the hidden force. He's the hidden force and He's watching over us. According to scripture, He's watching over us all the time and He knows when we are going to be off course and have a terrible collision and cause great destruction to ourselves and others. G-d knows that. And sometimes G-d lets that happen. And G-d is in the accident and G-d is in control of the accident and G-d comes out unaffected by the accident. And we recover and don't know that it was G-d all the time. G-d all the time overseeing the works of his creatures and making sure that if they make mistakes they'll recover from those mistakes.
And G-d is the one who can take a plus and make it a minus, take a minus and make it a plus. G-d is the one that can do that. And look how communism was a great minus. And look how G-d has now made it a great plus because now it is history for the Soviet Union. They might go back to it, we don't know, but I don't think they can go back to it. I really don't. But it is history for us and it is a sign for us that these things that go against the will of G-d are temporary. G-d's way is permanent and what seems to be a hurt can also be a means for us to have a better life after the hurt that we could have had before the hurt. So I see these things turned into pluses, minuses being turned into pluses. And to me it's a sign from G-d. It's a support for my faith.
I believe we are living in the day of G-d's clock. Not our clock, G-d's clock. And I believe... what G-d says in our holy book that he has not made man or jinn except for his service. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are serving G-d. G-d says in our holy book that He created the mountains and everything and man and the angels, all. He made the world. And He said to them, "Come in obedience to me. Come in obedience to me willingly and unwillingly." We look at the great problems of rising, crime rates, the loss of our children to the streets of crime. And we know that's a hurt. It's a terrible hurt. While it is a punishment on society, it is also an instrument in the power of G-d, an instrument in G-d's control for awakening our conscience for even a better family life than we could have had before.
Our conscience is awakened again and the hurt touches us deeper and cause to arise in us concern as spirits and determination that makes us stronger for establishing healthy families than we would have been had our muscles not been tested and strained and our souls not had not been disturbed so deeply. I hope you're understanding me. G-d, with our bad circumstances that we bring upon ourselves, turns those bad circumstances into positive things, positive forces, positive influences for preparing us to do a better job and have a better world and a stronger world than we would've had had we not had any of those experiences.
Look how we are born from our mothers. Nine months carried by mama. And while we're carried by her, we are land, water, yes. But then we're delivered from mama after nine months normally. And we come out and take the first breath, air, and we open our eyes to the light of day and begin to become creatures of the sun, creatures of the sunlight. Our societies are sometimes in such bad condition that the world has to receive us again as living things that die, go back to the earth. And then a regeneration, a rebirth, a resurrection from the grave of corruption, materialism, greed, et cetera. A rebirth from that, a rising up again from that, permits us to be born again, to breathe the air of freedom and to walk by the light of the sun.
Our scriptures tell us that revealed by G-d over 14 centuries ago to Muhammad, the model man, the model human person, may prayers and peace be upon him. And G-d wants us to look not at individuals when we want to understand the resurrection from the death, the resurrection from the death, the resurrection from the dead. G-d says look at a town whose buildings have been neglected and the roofs are falling, caving in and how that town can have a resurrection. Structures can be repaired, new buildings established. He says, likewise is the resurrection of the dead.
Islam is to be understood by Muslims. We need knowledge from the highest sources of Islam to correctly understand our own religion, to correctly identify our own life, what the Muslim life is. We need knowledge from the Quran and we need the knowledge of the human person that received the revelation, the Quran, and introduced for the first time Islam to the world of people, to this world of human people, human beings, nations. Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca, Arabia, prayers and peace be upon him. Our religion is the religion of peace. It's the religion of peace. Peace is so prevalent in our religion. Our name is Muslim, meaning person who accepts peace. Muslim is from "salaam," peace. Our greetings is "salaam," peace.
And we are told to look for a day when we will arrive at the abode of peace, dar-us-salaam. The abode of peace. And we are told that our G-d is the source of peace. That He is the peace, our G-d, G-d of all people, the G-d of the universe. We are told that He is the peace. So how can a religion that has so much peace in it, in its composition, in its important language, in its most important terminology, how can that religion say so much to peace, address peace so much, and we not be a peace seeking people? We look at the life of Muhammad, the Prophet, prayers and peace be on him. And we think of him as a warrior. He did not want to be a warrior. He had to be asked by G-d to take up arms. He was a peacemaker. He was a lover of peace. He suffered and took abuses and didn't return the blow or fight because he wanted to give people the message and not fight them.
But the idolaters were a people that were not enlightened. They were not an enlightened people. Muhammad was born in an idolatrous society. They worshiped idols. They didn't have the right concept of G-d, so they didn't value human beings, the life of human persons. And a human society like civilized nations of Christians and others value human life and human society. They were savage in many ways. They were cruel savages in many ways. The Prophet suffered enough and it was G-d who knew the time to tell him to rise up. And G-d permitted him to return the attack, to defend the mission and the community, the Muslims, the faithful against the war makers. He was not a war maker.
On the day of victory when he was victorious in the peninsula we call Saudi Arabia now, on the day of victory, what did he do? He did like the Prophet David in the Bible. Peace be upon David. He forgave his enemies and he told them, he proclaimed that as long as they accept the order of peace, as long as his enemies accepted the order of peace, they would have no fear. Their lives and their properties would be protected by the state, by the new Islamic state. He didn't tell them that "as long as you believe." No, he didn't say that. He said, as long as you accept peace, which means you didn't have to become a Muslim. He forgave the enemies and didn't say, "You must now become Muslim." No, he did not.
Christians were existing before in territories that the Muslims had won and they continued to exist. And he said... He mandated that they practice their religion as they had practiced it before. There was no demands on them to change their religion or to get rid of it or to become Muslim. He said the same to the Jews. He mandated the freedom of religion also for the Jews. So if this great man forgave his enemies and permitted those of other religions to continue to live, practice their religion as they had practiced before... He even didn't go out witch hunting, seeking idol worshipers, spying on them to see if they still worshiped the idols. He didn't do that. All he asked is that they accept the new order to live in peace and to keep the peace.
Muhammad the Prophet, we should know him, brother Muslims. We should know our Prophet. We should know the model man, the model human being that G-d gave us, who was a mercy to all the nations as G-d says in the Quran. We should know him. He's not a warmonger. He was never a warmonger. He's a peacemaker. He was always a peacemaker. He is a liberator. He came to champion the cause of the freedom of religion. Not to persecute the religious communities, but to champion the cause of the freedom of religion. And G-d says to us of Muhammad that his model as a human model is enough to satisfy any people who believe in G-d and the Last Day. Any people, Christians, Jews and others. He is enough as a human model to satisfy. He's sufficient to satisfy any people who believe in G-d and believe in the last day. Do you think there are not Christians who respect Muhammad.


