12/30/1984
IWDM Study Library
IWDM Dedicates New Masjid
Inglewood CA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Dear beloved believers, Muslim, people, friends, peace be unto you, as we say in our religion, As Salaamu Alaykum.
I just have to again, comment on the work that you all have been able to accomplish here. This is a very beautiful Masallah, Masjid prayer hall, very beautifully decorated. It's excellent. It was done by the assistant Imam, very excellent. A very beautiful place. 
Allah, most high says in the Quran, “This is the book which there is no doubt, it is guidance, for the G-d fearing,” it is translated. The word is Muttaqeen, it has come from a word, the noun form taqwa noun form being reverent, deep, serious respect for them.
The word you've used may have throughout the Quran, Taqqullah. It's translated in different ways, "Fear Allah, reverence Allah, obey Allah." The different ways it's translated. Most of the time it's "fear Allah." You find that the same word has been used also for that which is other than G-d, other than Allah.
For G-d says that's Allah, "Fear G-d wal-arham and also the family ties. There is one translated in English as reverence the womb that bore you. Guidance for the G-d-fearing, guidance for those who fear G-d, guidance for those who reverence G-d, who have a deep, serious respect for G-d."
G-d requires of us that we have a deep and serious respect for certain other things such as religion, the family ties of the womb that bore us. There's one translation says. He says also, "Reverence the end day, the last day." He also says, "reverence the fire. Have a deep and sacred respect for the fire."
We know we're not to worship fire. It doesn't mean we're not to worship our relatives. It doesn't mean worship. It means to have a deep and sacred respect of the value and the life of society. G-d is the first, most important for the life of society. That which he has established, his word, revelation, the prophets, especially the last prophet, peace be upon him, you ought to have a sacred respect for them.
G-d never has said that we should a prophet. He did say that we should ataqqiy It is fear, have a deep and sacred respect for the family ties and for the fire, and for the last day. It is guidance for the G-d-fearing, guidance for those who have sacred, deep sacred profound respect for Almighty G-d. If we love Muslims, one who has that respect for G-d, is a believer.
G-d calls us by the name, believers. Ya ayuhaa muminun. Over and over again, yes Ya ayuhaa muminun "O you believers." Very rare does he say Ya ayuhaa muslimun "O you Muslims." "O you believers." "O you that believe." There is nothing without this respect for G-d in religion. Without G-d being at the center of our life, the most important thing in our life, that we have the deepest respect for him, the greatest respect for him, then the religion is nothing.
It is not religion. It all begins in faith. We must be a people of faith. Why is faith so important for the life of the society and for the life of the human being and society? Many of us we take faith to be something that we look for in a church or we look for in a mosque or look for in religion. We all understand the need for faith in the whole of our lives. For imam Shabazz, what he is depending on most of all, for the success of his projects, his faith. It needs supportive people that understand he has a responsibility and appreciate it. It needs intelligent people, it needs money, but what he feels as the greatest need is faith. Because without faith you don't give money. Are we on the air yet? [laughs]
I don't know how I'm coming. Am I taking off already off the air? Are we off the air?
[laughter]
Faith. Faith, that's the foundation. Faith. How wonderfully it's given in the Quran. We look at these great, huge bodies of material. The earth, and even those bigger than our own family of planets than this earth, Jupiter, how big it is in mass. Science tells us nothing, it's holding it up, except something that's invisible, weightless. Attracting power of a sort.
An attracting power is holding it up. When you go out there, the body it seems to float just hanging in space. The things that are too heavy for us to lift down here just hanging in space up there. Space has been compared to this power. This invisible power that keeps great bodies, great mass like Jupiter, and the Earth, and Mars, and all of these planets, and those that are much greater in mass than these held in space seemingly without support or structure.
For the disbelievers, they say, "What is this Imam trying to convert us to? It ain't real." because they can't touch it with their hand? They can't see it with their physical eyes. They can't weigh it on a physical scale. They say, "This is unreal." But you can't weigh that that's holding up this planet either on physical scale. You can't see it either with the physical eye. You can't touch it with your hands.
Give us the Quran. None of us should be foolish. Not as we claim to be Muslims and think that the believers will have to define for us our religion. You have to present your point, your message, your principle, your ideas, your philosophy, whatever it is, in a way for us that convinces us that that is exactly what G-d says in the holy Quran. If you can't convince us that that is exactly what G-d is saying in the Holy Quran, we throw your bull away.
Audience: [laughter]
That's the believers. The dumbest of the believers cannot be fooled by hypocrites. No. Because they have opposite natures. The believer will detect him right away. G-d said that the whole earth is his masjid. His mosque. "al'ard hi masjid Allah" The earth is the mosque of G-d. So says Allah in the Quran. We know this is a beautiful place. Makes us feel very nice and comfortable to be here, but never think of your mosque are there mosques in these limited confines.
Allah says the earth is the mosque of G-d. "al'ard hi masjid Allah" What is the Earth essentially? Land, water, air, fire. Those are the same things that move in us as individuals and as people or as a society. Elements that has demands, that has what you call cohesiveness. It adheres. It holds together. Water that's fluid, it runs, it moves about. Air that fills the space, the void, above. Fire for warmth and many other benefits. These elements, when they come together in a good way, we see growth, beauty.
G-d has pointed out for us a house in the desert. Not a place of beauty, riches, wealth and all. A barren place. There, out there in the desert, is a house. G-d tells us that that house is the first house built to the worship of the one G-d by Abraham and his son, Ishmael. Peace be upon them. Lebi Becca, Awwal bayt the first house is the one at Mecca. Bakkah is the old name for Mecca, ancient name called Mecca in later history.
The desert is not a place of foliage and cultivation. It's a barren place. People don't go there in great numbers because there's scarcity there, not plenty. Scarcity. There's not a sign of cultural development, civilization, industry. It's a sign of want, but there is where the house is established. There's a sign that before civilization, before cultural development, before civilization, there was pure devotion to G-d.
It was the same people in a situation like that. It was the same. As we know, Abraham's descendants was left to construct that place, the barren place. His wife Hagar and the boy, Ishmael in the Bible. They didn't perish. In that barren place, they were provided for. The life of the African-American and the poor are being dictated just like Hagar and her child.
The only thing that can keep us is faith in G-d. Without faith in G-d, we're destroyed. We are destroyed. We have nothing without faith in G-d. We don't have great wealth, great power, we don't have command over resources, we don't have political might, we don't own the industries. We are weak and powerless. If we forget G-d, lose faith, then we become nothing but materials for destruction.
We would destroy ourselves and be destroyed by others. The great sign in that house, that simple, lonely house it seems way out there in the desert, the great sign that there our house is still standing in a situation of poverty and warmth. What has kept it up? Faith in G-d. It's still there. Really it's not such a lonely house. It's visited by millions from all over the world. They come there to that house. It's only lonely when we look at it. The material environment of the geography there, but if we think of the people that devote themselves to the pilgrimage, to G-d and to the pilgrimage, that this is not a lonely house at all. It's a well-attended house. Allah hu Akbar.
Faith is the beginning of it. Faith. We must have faith. Faith makes us want to put ourselves in the best order. Those who believe in G-d, they want to be presentable before G-d. They don't like to see their life deteriorate morally or any other way. Faith generates a desire for excellence when that faith is in the G-d. Almighty G-d.
If we don't have faith in G-d, we're going have faith still. We have faith in something. We have faith in our slave masters. Yes. You're going to be a slave one way or another. Either the slave of Allah or the slave of some other idea or being. Yes. People want to be the slave of something. It's your nature to be a slave of something.
G-d said that he has not made neither Jinn nor men for any purpose other than to worship Him. The word "worship" is from slave. It means to give service to G-d as a completely helpless being. That's a slave. Many of us have faith. I know you do because I see you. I recognize it myself. A man of faith recognizes himself. Yes. When he sees a person of faith, he sees himself because that's him in that particular context.
We appeal to the people of faith to hold on to your faith. Be comfortable in your faith. Don't let the ignorant world chain you out of your faith, but don't be non-productive. Act out your faith. Act out your religion. For the prophet has said, peace and blessings be upon him, "The weakest of faith is just to hold it in the heart. The strongest of faith is to do a physical act or physical deed."
Next to strength, to that strength, is to use your tongue and speak out. Promote that that is right, so says the Father. The weakest, is to just carry it in your heart. Good opportunity for use. Great opportunity for us. In this space here, specifically, but in the whole world today. Yes, in the whole world.
Audience: That's right.
The whole world has undergone a shaking that has cast things for them upside down. Many people who used to be well-established and felt that they were in control forever feel themselves now insecure. They're looking for new foundations to start all over again. You have come to a time wherein you are no worse situation than most of the people of this earth. In fact, you may be better situated than most of the people who lived, but you have to do something.
You have to get up and take advantage of the new time and the new opportunities. We have to work some everyday. If you feel bad inside, most likely, that's the cause. You didn't work any today. Work makes you feel good. Work some everyday. You don't need an employer for that. You employ yourself. That's the difference between the poor and the rich. The rich employ themselves. The poor, control is out. Yes. Your resources. If they say labor resources. Right?
Labor resources. You have to employ your own resources. Not that you shouldn't work for somebody else, but even if you work for somebody else, you know in your own heart that you're also employed by yourself. Yes. You don't go to a job because you have to go. "I'm going to a job because I have to go." What do you mean, "You have to go?" You go to your job because it's your choice. Because you choose to go, but they make work seem so bad and ugly.
The average ignorant person they buy the idea of work that they're given. They still say, "Well, I have to go to work." No. You don't have to go to work. You're going to work because that's your choice. You could have made a different choice. Be faithful. Be people of faith and be faithful. "Be faithful." is another way of saying, "Be loyal."
The Imam from soledad yesterday. He left us two principles. He says that he repeats them. Faith and loyalty. Faith and faithfulness is another way of saying faith and loyalty.
Faith and faithfulness. Aladhinah Aamanu Amilu Salihaat. Those who have faith can do good work or righteous work. Righteous work we know cover all the activities that are possible for the human being. Allah says in the Quran, "And He has treated you that you should grow." That is be productive. Faith and productive life. That's what makes people happy. That combination. Faith and productive lives.
Faith and just sitting at home just waiting on something to happen. Stupid. Makes you miserable. The prophet, when he was presented to the person for that person's excellence in religion, he was told that that person kept all the devotions, praise, and faith, and prayer, and fast, character, but they didn't tell the prophet anything about his productive work, his livelihood. Only his spiritual devotion, and religious experience.
The prophet said, "Who takes care of him?" They said, "We do oh messenger of G-d. He said, "Then you are better than he is." The people who are responsible for life supports, the means of survival, the means of life, food, clothes, shelter, transportation, et cetera, those people are more useful to society and are more beautiful in the eyes of G-d than those who just devote themselves to spiritual discipline.
Be faithful and productive. I really plead to this community because we are not getting younger. We're getting older. I'm 51 years old. I thank Allah I've lived this long. Many people die before 51. I would like to see another 51, but you can't expect it. I expect to go like my relatives go. They go around 70 years or so. Some of them live longer, but if I live longer than that, I'll still be going as far as you're concerned. I'll be retired. Unless a miracle does happen in my life that I don't know anything about.
Our people have to stop this sitting-and-waiting for something to happen stupidly. Those who have abilities, go ahead. Move out. Do something. Show something. You're one of those that have better qualification, then you'll help a smaller person. You all will share in the blessing. Have more than just mere faith. A spirit, but have production. Have establishment. That's what makes the people feel good when they can look at their establishment.
This particular facility here represents an establishment. An establishment of a pretty good size. If the believers own this, they will be a source of inspiration, strength. Encouragement for those that we can't reach with mere da’wah. Yes, very much necessary. As the way man feels he's very much correct, even under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad were all of his positive teachings for the black man, nothing happened for 30 years or more in terms of real material progress.
I was born to my father and mother under this name we call now Muslims. It wasn't a religion as it's supposed to be, but it was what we called ourselves. Muslims. I can't recall the early '30s. I can go pretty far back though. I can't recall the early '30s. I can go pretty far back though. I can recall things that happened in the '30s.
The '40s? Pretty clear. Pretty vivid to me from '41 on. The whole history. Nothing happened in the '40s. It was the early '50s when something started to happen a little bit. It wasn't until late '50s and the early '60s that they'd really caught on. When it caught on. So-called Nation of Islam were owners of property. Businesses, handling money and business. Then it wasn't so hard to get somebody to say, "I'll take out a letter. I'll join."
The ministers stopped going to the Island of Patmos [laughs] in the Aegean Sea, they get a convert. They just said, "Look at the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's blueprint. Economic plan. All they have to do, people just got to come here and said, yeah, I would like to join.
I'm not saying you have to have a physical attraction. We get people, we know you don't have to have that, but you'll have to have a healthy, sane, practical outlook on life. You can't just preach people holiness and expect them to flock to you in great numbers. Those that are looking for only holiness are angels. [unintelligible 00:36:49] along with people.
What I mean by holiness, that's a spiritual thing. We have an idea that's really foreign to Islam. An idea of holiness that's foreign to all religions. We think holiness is different with the Western world think holiness is being other than real. To work hard, to improve this condition of your family is holiness in this religion. Yes. When you carry out the full responsibility, that's holiness.
If you can devote yourself to spiritual matters then neglect your obligation to your family, and to the society, then you won't be called "Holy" in the holy judgment. You'll be called, "Wicked."
[silence]
There was a reverend I watched on television. I've watched him two or three times since coming I've been out here in the West coast. I think he got his church in Inglewood. Dr. Frederick K. C. Price they call it. I have to take down his words today because he says. I'm quoting him now, "It makes no difference how often you have failed. G-d's mercy is new every morning."
Isn't that beautiful? That's beautiful. It made me recall the saying of a prophet. He gives it and it is a long hadith. A certain man had a tendency to sin, but he had a conscience also. He would sin, and he would remember that he has the Lord that forgives sin." He would turn to Allah, his lord. 
The prophet says that Allah says, "I forgive you. You have sinned and you have remembered that you have a Lord that forgives sins. I forgive you."
This man kept coming back to G-d like that until at one point, G-d said to him, "Go on your own recognizance. I think there's an ending for. You're recognizance. The judge said, "Go on your own recognizance. The judge tell you, "Go on. I'm telling recognizance. It means he trusts you on your own. That's what I told this believer after he has shown that he had a natural tendency to come to his Lord whenever he got in trouble, though he got in trouble often. Over and over again, G-d never turned him down, and after he did it for so long, G-d said, "Go on, you're on your own." Meaning that he had shown his faith and his righteousness, though he was a sinner. His righteousness was stronger than his tendency to sin, so whenever he sinned, he would call to G-d, and he went to G-d asking for forgiveness.
Doing that so much makes it become your nature to do it, then when it becomes your nature, G-d can trust you on your own. I wanted to tell the reverend, I had to holler through the television-
Audience: [laughter]
He couldn't hear me. I said, "That's beautiful, reverend," but you just can't keep committing sin without remembering G-d. If you do, don't think you're going to be-there won't be no other morning. You keep committing sin without remembering Allah and you won't have another morning. G-d's mercy is new every morning, that's right, for the one who recalls his Lord every time he commits sin.
That who goes on committing sin without remembering that he has to pay for it, he has a duty and a obligation, he has to be accountable before Allah, G-d. There's no new morning for him. He's just falling far away from the light, deeper and deeper in sin. Finally, there's no hope for him. He's dead. I read the bible, it says, that to sin is death. You give yourself to it, you reach a point where you become dead. Then nothing can reach you.
There are people that are like that in these big cities. Dead in sin, nothing can reach their conscious. Taqwa, that precious word in the Quran, Taqwa, Taqullah, "and none will be guided except the Muttaqeen, and those who have Taqwa." To have right behavior, that's the most serious concern in our lives, that's Taqwa. Where I'm living constantly with a sense of how I should behave. That's Taqwa. At any moment if something invites me to go wrong, my Taqwa alerts me.
We say conscious, some say G-d conscious, that's our Taqwa. That alone is not enough for progress in the world. It is the beginning, it is the necessary condition for starting out, for making a good life on earth, but the soul has to grow, has to grow in knowledge and understanding. It has to grow until it becomes an enlightened soul. Then it can be strong, productive and established in the world.
We were on a plane in-we were getting on the plane, pardon me, we were already seated down, and the plane was filling up, they told us they were going to make room, they wanted to get everybody on the plane, they were going to fill the plane up. We don't like to sit all sandwiched in, so I had moved over and gotten myself in a nice seat, and the stewardess said, "You know possession is nine-tenths of the law-" I said, "Very good, I was in this seat, that's possession."
[laughter]
She said, "You know possession is nine-tenth of the law, so don't move around, just stay where you are." I said, "that's very good, thank you very much." To myself I said, "Well I'm in a good situation here."
[laughter]
I said, "nine-tenths of the law, that other one-tenth is Taqwa." If a man comes in and tells me, "that's my seat," and he shows me his ticket, no matter what the stewardess says, I could get up and give him his seat. A sense of right behavior. The spiritual and moral foundation. The most essential, it's the most important, it is the most important of foundations. If you build on that, you could count on a future.
Look at what G-d says of the mosque. It says of that mosque that was built on Taqwa, it is the true mosque. The mosque that is not built on Taqwa, G-d says don't even stand in it to pray. So that tells us what is the most precious thing for our mosques, it's Taqwa. Doesn't matter how many whores they can get into it. Taqwa. I don’t mean physical whores. I mean corruption. They sell out the precious life of the people for the quick thing.
People have been crushed by rejection, social rejection, classified as black and inferior, bushmen, apes in heat, etc., For centuries, for generations, and I've even witnessed a classification of them put into law, put into textbooks, and established as fact. They need more than just to say, "You're okay now." They need re-educating. They need re-education. They need to be shown in the same convincing way and even a more convincing way, the truth.
That’s a powerful way to present a lie. Capture a people, put them in a helpless situation, and then classify them scientifically as sub-human new and draw all the nations and powers and institutions behind you.
That's a powerful condition for taking away from the person the belief in themselves, the belief in their own worth. You can’t just change that by saying, "You're free now, you're equal, G-d loves you just like he loves us." That's not the way you establish that. You didn’t even establish it by saying, " You're unequal, G-d does not love you like He loves us."
They went and thought to fabricate scientific information to establish that the African person, the African descendant was inferior. Even as late as 10 years ago, they've had so-called wise leaders of their own kind, on television, promoting that idea that the blacks are genetically inferior, inherently inferior. You can't correct that by just saying, "You're equal now," and they know it. I'm talking about the wise ones among them that are guilty. They know it, they know they can talk all this beautiful talk and you're still going to be productive because they have established the belief in your soul.
You believe in your soul that you are not a white man and not equal to him. That he's got something that you haven't got. You believe in your soul that you can't compete with him, and they know it because they have conditioned you to believe that. No matter how much you say you're equal, they know it's nothing but talk. Until you are re-educated. It is just a few of us that have been re-educated, a few of us have been re-educated. The great majority walk in the dark.
A chapter in the Quran that G-d says “Glorified be the name of your lord most high, who created and then, fasawa. This word fasawa is translated in different ways. To get an understanding of a word, you have to see it in its many ways of performance. See how it performs in different ways, in different contexts. The word suggests balance, equality, and proportion design. What do we mean by proportion design? Balanced design, that's what it means.
When an artist draws something and it has balance, we say that's a beautiful drawing. But if he draws something, no matter how abstract it is, if he leaves it without balance, there is something wrong with it. He has to find some way, those who know art know what I'm talking about. He has to find some way to do something with his drawing to balance.
He can put something hanging out here on the side, a heavy thing hanging out here on this side but if he doesn't put something, it can be small, it can be so small you can hardly see it but it will be enough to balance whatever thing is. Yes. Fasawa. The one who created then gave balance.
Another place in the Quran Allah says, through Moses, the prophet Moses, who was debating Pharaoh or replying to Pharaoh's questions. Pharaoh says, "Who is this, who is the Lord of the world?" He asked about Moses' G-d who sent Moses there. Moses said that "Allah," he say, "Who's Allah?" "Allah is the Lord of the world," he says, "Who is this Lord of the world?" Moses was given the words from G-d saying, “The one who gave everything its creation and thereafter its guidance."
Khalaqa Fasawa. He created and thereafter he gave balance or thereafter, there was a balance, equality. Those who are blessed with philosophical insights, they understand this to also allude to or apply to the quality of man. Man is one creation; therefore, man is equal with man. No white is superior to a black, no black is superior to a white because G-d has established equality in the likeness or the sameness of our creation. We are the same creation; therefore we're equals.
Allah most high says in the Quran, “He is the one that has created the heavens and the earth.” Then again He says that “He brought out from it, its water,” speaking of the earth. It's water, the water belongs to the earth. As he mentioned the earlier four, the essential forces, comprising the makeup of the earth environment, land, water, air and fire. Water is one of them and brought out of it its water, and also its produce, its plant life.
And He speaks of this word again, where G-d says, Fasawa hunna ssamiwaati saba. speaking of the skies or the heavens and he proportioned them seven heavens. He proportioned them seven heavens it says. If we look at this with philosophical insight, then we would come to understand that those heavens are also equal though one is above the earth. They have an equality that they share.
The prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, the last and most complete of G-d's creatures or the complete one of G-d's creatures with the completed revelation, the Quran. He is seen in the vision or the ascension in the Mi?r?j. Visiting the levels, the seven levels. On the first, the first man our father Adam is formed; and on the second, Jesus and John the Baptist; on the third, Joseph and Yusuf; on the fourth, he brings Idris some say Ezekiel; on the fifth, Aaron, Harun or Aaron; on the sixth, Moses, Musa, or Moses; and on the seventh, father Abraham or Ibrahim and Islam.
G-d says, "And in you are a like number, seven above you and in you, there are a like number." What is G-d saying? He is saying that whatever has been described or revealed in that vision that is above us, is also in us. We are man, and whatever has come out of man was in man. No man has lost what was in him. No. This is what you call philosophical study, reflection, insight.
How are we existing today and in the world? Because that line or lineage has survived. What is existing in us and in the world? Whatever was before. We are the living proof of its continuation. Whatever the first man had in him, I got it. I'm speaking scientifically, as well as philosophically. Whatever the first man had in him, I got it. Whatever Adam had in him I got it, and all of those men came out of Adam. There is an equality of man. We even bear an equality with the prophets. Yes. We get the rest, the wheel stop turning.
[laughter]
Yes, we bear an equality with the prophets. In our human essence, we bear an equality with the prophets. They were no more than human beings. And if they were our leaders, then they were leading us to follow them. If someone tells me, "Follow him," then I expect that I have the ability and the capacity to do that. That's why G-d says, "If there were angels on earth, he would have sent an angel down here to lead us." But it's not rational, it's not logical to send something that is not of your same make, form, capacity to be your leader.
If I was supernatural, how can I be your leader? You can only follow me so far. Are we to follow Prophet Muhammad so far and then stop? We have to follow Prophet Muhammad all the way. He didn't give us any limit to how far we should come behind him or follow him, we had to follow him all the way. He became a man bearing responsibilities for the whole life, the whole society of man. Right? Not just for his moral or spiritual needs, but his economic needs, his political needs, all of his needs. Defense of the land and everything else.
That was a mortal man and all of the rest of them were and we bear an essence that is the same as theirs. That innate, human form that G-d created. It is the same for all of us, no difference. That's why G-d says in the Quran, "Tell them oh Muhammad, I am a common mortal man just like you. No angel, no supernatural person, no spirit without human nature, no same, as you."
This is the education that you need to come out of your own crazy idea of your own self that this wicked enslaving world gave us. Stop believing what they told you, about black people, the inferiority and all that stuff and accept what G-d has said that you are an essence no different from any other human being and that G-d has placed in you a potential for excellence, the same that he placed in every other human being. The possibility for any man is the possibility for every man. And better than scientific proof for believers, is that G-d's word is the strongest.
For what G-d has said can be presented to the wise in the world and they won't argue with it. Nothing but the fool will argue with. "Why? They won't argue with it, they respect it." They take their hats off to it. They submit to it. They stand humbly before the word of G-d. Especially when it is presented by a sober-minded person. 
"And he made them seven heavens." In another place, it says, "And he established them seven strong firmaments." Seven strong firmaments. They're telling us that we have a possibility for development, for growth into excellence that represents strength, great foundation and they're all within us if we would just give our spirits to the fear of G-d. To become rational in our minds, and not crazy.
To believe in the prophets is to believe that G-d communicates. It is to believe that that or HE that is different from us and from creation. Unlike us, unlike creation, before creation, needing us not, needing not creation, that he exists and he communicates his will, his message to human beings like ourselves. That's what it is to believe in prophecy. It is to believe that that, that is beyond our poor rational grasp. We can't see him completely. We can't understand him completely. We can't know him thoroughly.
We sense and believe upon faith and spiritual experience. We can't know him directly as our faith can only see him from behind the partition. We cannot see him directly. It is to believe that that one communicates clearly to the intellect of man. That's what it means to believe in the Prophets. 
And G-d requires us to believe in G-d and we believe in the prophets. Right?
If the Muslims perceive these fundamentals in faith correctly, these fundamentals in faith give him a greater sense of worth and purpose on this earth. Gives him a greater sense of worth and purpose on this earth. It makes possible for him a greater life and a more productive life. He is no small-thinking person. His vision is big! His path of progress is long. Are we good doing all right on this 747 or DC10? I don’t what it is (he is speaking about the airplanes flying in the skies).
[laughter]
If you're going high enough, when you come back down all this would be manageable.
[laughter]
Yes. Yes. There are bigger things up there than down here. I hope you know that. You may be fine with flea wings or butterfly wings, or mosquito wings I don't know, but if you're flying with the right wings, you will know that there are greater things up there than down here because He is the one who sees us both from heaven and earth. Ain't that wonderful?
Yes. He is the one who sees you from both heaven and earth. Now we come to the principle of faith. Faith cause us to believe in G-d, believe in his messengers, believe in the books that they brought, et cetera. We are concerned right now with belief in the messenger, belief in the man. The messenger is a man that G-d sent just like you, not different. Not of a different makeup, the same human beings just like you are. The scriptures that came before, those scriptures spoke of one that will be called faithful and true.
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him. He was known by the name Al Amin, the trustworthy one. Al Amin. There's a verse in Qur'an it speaks for of a town called baladil-amin. It means a Town of Trust. 
It gives us the progression. The progressive growth of man into excellence, the excellence of conscience and responsibility. Give the two of them as a symbol, wa teeni, wa zaytun, by the fig and the olive. Wa turisineen, and mount Sinai. And the fourth, wa hadha baladil-amin, And this town made safe.
What it means is this town of trust. We are a people of distrust. How far can we go? We have to become a people of trust. Whatever we establish for people to support themselves by or upon, there should be proof that that is trustworthy. In our religion, we have to understand the progression of trust. The logical growth of trust. Who do we trust first? G-d. Nothing has to teach that to us. We were born with the nature to trust G-d. Those who don't trust G-d is because men have lied to them in the name of G-d for so much and so long that they have disappointed those people.
G-d did not disappoint them, but they've had liars that sung beautiful songs and they committed the sin of listening too long.
First, it's trust in G-d and then trust in his messenger. Now we know that angels and others can come between them. Because the messenger, he is a mortal man like us. We know G-d does not come directly but by revelation. We have to believe and accept that there's a medium between. The angels, right? The angel is a medium of revelation or a messenger of revelation or the light.
Between G-d and man or acting on behalf for G-d and behalf of man bringing him the light. Only as a medium, not as a rational being for the angel has no rational ability. This is in Islamic science as well as in revelation. Don't think that was Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s interpretation. It is not. See the fools will say anything because they know nothing.
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Really, they can even be blamed for what they say. We just excuse him as Allah says in the Qur’an. “Say, Peace, and keep going.” Don't engage the fools. Yes, that's what our religion teaches us, "Don't engage the fools." 
If a man utters something stupid out of his mouth, don't engage him. Don't try to convince him, get into an argument with him. The fool ain't willing to listen, you keep going. Teach him, but don't engage him in an argument. Because, that belittles you, right? Yeah. If they engage by their ignorance, they say, "Peace." They don't try to establish no logic before a fool.
Faith is established first in G-d. Secondly, in that that G-d established or revealed. G-d has established that he revealed to men, common mortal like me, that think like me, that hunger like me, that have my weaknesses and have my strengths, live and die, born ignorant, have to be educated, just like me. G-d established such person, that spokesman, to convey his message to men. Yeah. With the knowledge given in his message to establish their society, that it should be greater, more progressive than anything on the Earth. That's right. Now, any other category of faith must be qualified. Can I come out here and tell you all to trust me without qualifying it? No. You ain't supposed to trust me unless you see in me that my foundation is faith in G-d. Then, you're supposed to trust me. But, if you detect in me that my foundation is not trusting G-d, you shouldn't trust me.
Uh-oh, I knocked the prop. The prop just got through falling apart. Devil has nothing to stand on now. Look. I believe most of you know and G-d certainly knows that I am committed first of all to doing his will. I didn't come into this because I wanted to find a new dimension for my soul or for my mind. I came into this because I was with you. I wanted to find a better life for us.
Whatever it is that they invite us to destiny, to trusting, to give us our support, we must first verify, first know or prove, that what we about to give ourselves to is itself worthy. It can't be worthy upon its own merits. It must be upon worthy upon its faith, its faith in G-d. What has hurt us more than anything else is this tendency to put all our faith in a person. That's what the wicked rulers want for the masses, that you put all your faith in a person. They know this person ain't going to live forever. They going out to get that person, build him up real great, until you really believe in him, get all of you to believe in him, raise you up for a great letdown.
It is the ignorant, uncultured man that builds an idol from among his family tribe and put his whole faith in that particular idol, that particular person. When the person dies, you worship his spirit and wait on him to come back from the grave. Right? Now, how can we be really sincere in helping our lot and not fight these great evil influences that have been responsible for us failing generation after generation?
You have to have patience. You have to appreciate what we're talking about now, register it deeply into your heart and soul, and be alert from hereafter. That's right. Be alert. Detect when somebody's presenting you a man to worship. Don't think that the wise white man worship Jesus. The wise white man acts in the place of Jesus. Jesus is dead. He's alive in the wise white man. We don't buy that for their ideals. We don't buy their religion. We know Allahu Akbar. It was proven once. It can be proven again. Hey, is Allah really Akbar? Convince me and the white man going to the moon and the Arabs in the desert still riding camels. How can you convince me? There were great empires, Persia, Rome, and et cetera, et cetera, and the little man, Muhammad said, "Allahu Akbar," and shook them off their butts. Yeah. They said, "Hey." They got up.
Who is this man Muhammad? You know the story about him, that says on the day Muhammad was born, he said the people went out as usual, but they saw the devils standing with their heads hung. They say, "What happened that the devils all have their head hung this morning?" Said, "Muhammad was born this morning." Muhammad was big trouble in their minds. Wasn't because he had infantry. He didn't have it. He didn't have a great army. No. He had the truth. He had the understanding. He had the knowledge. He had that that you could give the masses, turn them into a formidable force, something to give you all the hell you want.
He didn't have great numbers. Small numbers. Sometimes, his forces were outnumbered 100 times. But, when they got ready, he would look at the enemy from a distance, "Allahu Akbar." He would say, "You're bigger than us, but Allah is bigger than you." We have history that proves it. We have history to testify that it worked. Defeated the great empires. Those that weren't defeated by battle and physical battle, they just gave up on their own. Yeah. They were much more prepared for war in the eyes of the world than Muhammad the Prophet, peace be upon him. Oh, yes. And when his numbers got big, they just gave up. They just, "No, no. We don't want none of that."
But, there's no need for us to go to physical war with nobody. We have a war with ourselves. We have a war with the absence of hope, the absence of faith. We have to war against lies that have been told to us of our own worth as people. That's what we have the war against. It's the war against the exaggerated picture of the white man we have in our minds. Well, I know a lot of you all are tired, you ready to leave. We have to turn this life around from one of distrusting people like us and trusting people like us, but we can't trust anybody just on them saying they should be trusted. We have to see the proof that they themselves are well founded, well grounded, faith in G-d number one. Decency and honor and truthfulness must be in them.
What and whom should we believe? Allah, and whoever convinces us by their deeds, their actions, and their life that they have that faith as their foundation. You can trust them too. Another big problem for us, that we looking for just one answer for all of our questions and all of our problems. One answer. Is there one answer? Yes, but that answer just puts you in a situation to do something. The one answer is trust G-d. Yes. That's the one answer. Trust G-d. But, that just put you in a situation to do something. Now, how are you going to do something? You a human being. You can't perform as a spirit only. You a human being. You must perform as a human being. There ain't no one way for you to perform. G-d has made you so varied in your makeup, so complex in your makeup, you have many ways to perform.
We're looking for just one road, one road yes, and one road facing G-d. One road. Obedience to G-d, one road. Obedience to truth, one road. Application, many roads. G-d warns us against following many ways, and then he speaks of his ways as being many ways. Yeah. He says one way, but he also speak of the many ways. Then, again, he says there's a great sign for men of knowledge in Joseph and his brethren. What was the instruction to them? Do not enter the city by one way, but by different various ways. We want just one way. "Imam, can't we salaat it all the way?" No, you can't salaat it all the way. I don't want too much on my mind. Can't I just do salaat and dhikr? No, no. That ain't enough. Prophet Muhammad condemned the person for just doing salaat and dhikr and prayer, praying and fasting. You must do much more.
Those are great foundations. Those are the foundations. That's what gives us stable security, sense of security, faith in G-d and commitment to the devotion, the religious devotion. But, we have to be workers in the world, productive in the world. We got jobs to do. This great responsibility has to be executed in many...
This great responsibility has to be executed in many avenues. And the prophet has told us, who does a law for work worship his G-d. Oh yes, if he's a banker and he is doing it with a conscience, he's doing it in an honorable way, he's worshiping G-d with his work. He's an industrialist, scientist, or whatever. In fact, the scientists has been given a place next to the prophets. Yes, in our religion, that is the case. So get out of that tendency in you to just try to find one door, one answer for everything. It's the Western world that says Jesus is the door.
That's just one door, there's a whole lot of doors. Maybe that's the door for the poor, huh? Yeah, that's what they say, Jesus, he's the Lord for the poor. So maybe that one door is the door for the poor, you see. It's a good door, even the rich should go through it. But you won't get rich if that's the only door you got.
Dear beloved Muslims, we make a big mistake again in asking too much of each other. Some of us can't be comfortable in a position of authority over somebody until that somebody accepts our absolute authority. No human being should ever be given absolute authority.
That's only for Allah. We want total from the person, total. You love me, love me totally. That's too much. If I'm your leader, obey me, totally. That's too much. Total of anything belongs only to Allah. Total trust, only for Allah, total obedience, only for our Allah. Total sacrifice, only for Allah. Tell nobody to give you they all, I'll give you some. I need something for some other things. Total is only for Allah. So this is mainly for the leaders, not for you. I'm mainly speaking to those who have positions of leadership.
You destroy yourself, you destroy your character, destroy the hope for your own salvation when you demand total from the people. Leave them with dignity, don't ask total nothing from them. And G-d, most times says in the Quran, and he taught Adam the names, all of it. And then he exposed it before the angels, and he said to the angels, "Tell me the names, if you know. And they said, "We have no knowledge except what you have given us." Then he said to Adam, "Tell them their names." You know who that is that G-d gave that great station, that great position to? You, me. Adam is a type of a common essence of man.
And G-d has made man a little above the angels. And the possibilities for work, look how man has done so much more work than angels. If we would stop on this earth and turn the work over to the angels, it'll go back to the garden, uncultivated, unworked. Right? And they all submitted when G-d said, "And submit to Adam." They all submitted, G-d says, but not Iblis, he was self important, became puffed up with pride and rebellious. And he said, "I will not worship this that you made from mud, fashion in the shape."
What is mud? Land and water brought together. Spiritual life and material life brought together. That's the trouble with this world, it won't recognize the unity, the workableness, the compatibility, the functional wholeness, our unity for matter and spirit, for spiritual life and material life. It has brought this nation to separate to this day. And to try to take G-d out of the secular life, right? But for the Muslim, that's disobedience. Obedience is to see the workable wholeness of the two, and live them together as one life. For man human made of the earth, but inspired by the will of G-d or driven by the will of G-d.
He must live in the world, find his function, his role, his destiny, in the world. Oh yes. Then he earns a place in the paradise of the hereafter. So he saw that as inferior to him, the man that G-d made from the mud, and he wouldn't accept G-d's command or order that he submit to him. Instead he became G-d's advisor. Iblis, the fallen angel, they call him. He said, "Well, G-d, since you have embarrassed me like this before my admirers." Because G-d was talking to him the right before to his own supporters, and all his supporters all them submitted to G-d, but he didn't. "Now since you have embarrassed me like this, I'm going out... I'm going to step out and use my best. I'm going get my best weapon, my strongest deceit. And I'm going to show you that your man made a mud. Ain't no match for me."
That's what he did. And look, in his own heart he was deceived, even as to his own position. He thought he was doing something for G-d. While at one time, recognizing G-d as the superior, he was at the same time putting himself on an equal plane with G-d. Like we are two partners up here and my partner and I disagree with me, I'm going to prove my partner wrong. Yes, and then he's bold enough to even tell G-d what he's going to do. He said, "Look, I'm going to put this man of yours in the cross."
"See, I'm going to come at him from behind him, from before him, from his left, and from his right. And when I put him on the cross, you'll find he won't be no match for me." G-d says, "It is my responsibility to keep my way straight, go on and do as you please, I'm going to feel hell with you and those that follow you." G-d let him know, he wasn't no partner. You ain't no match for me, you little sucker, you go on and... Disobedient sucker, you. The angels had no ability to appreciate the wonders and greatness of G-d and his creation with their ration, with rational properties, they weren't given that. But the man, he was blessed with rational faculty to appreciate that, he could see the logic in it and reasoning. Reasoning power he had. And Iblis, he had a tendency to use wisdom, science, great intelligence, but he too was not rational. Though he had been given the power to be rational, he was not rational because he had conceived himself to be super, Superman.
So G-d says to Iblis, rightly so because Iblis was given also the faculty of reason by G-d, by his maker. G-d says, "Why is it that you don't submit to him that I have made with both my hands?" I know G-d doesn't have hands like this. When we say handle him, we mean handle him but when we say turn the handle of the machine, don't look for a man's hand there. It simply means a control, so hand simply means a control. So why have you not submitted to this one that I have made with both my control? The world hasn't changed much, still the same old world.
Now overly fat and saturated or fascinated pardon me, by their own image, obsessed with their own narrow ideas. And when the man come and says, "G-d has motivated me, G-d has moved me, G-d has aided me, G-d has brought me to see these things." They say, "Okay, put him over there. He's not supposed to be with us. We are rational people, we are intelligent people, we are practical people, put him over there." But they have been made only with one of G-d's hands, and they're rejecting the whole man that's been made with both G-d's hands.
And G-d says, "When I have breath into him of my spirit, then submit to him. So what G-d is saying? And doesn't obligate a rational man, a learned man, a scholarly person to submit to a fool who has great faith in G-d. "But when I have put into him my spirit and he began to be motivated, rationally, taught my science and my truth. Then you shall be obligated to submit to him." Isn't that wonderful, how G-d is? Even though the man has great faith and he's holy, he's holy as he can be, he's angelic, G-d won't require the learned to submit to him.
But when I have inspired him and his intellect dawned, has opened up, and he began to perceive then what you can't perceive in your realm of conscience, then you accept him, submit to him and you'll be due punishment then for rejecting him, because you know your own realm. Who became the leader of the scientific realm? The followers of the prophet. Oh yes. The world was in darkness, it was a sleeping world. Scientifically speaking, culturally speaking. I read in their own books, how even during the Crusades, they learned from the Muslims, and were made a much better people because of their contact with Muslims on battlefields.
I have a book right now at home, history book, and this resting writer is saying, quoting those who were back there in those days, documented. Says that they became very shamed of themselves when they met Muslims and battle that didn't stink. Muslims in battles that had trimmed their beards, shaven and clean. And they said to themselves, they said to themselves, "why is it that the heathen..." They called the Muslim heathen. "Why is it that heathen can fight a war and be away from home and bathe and shave, and dress well, and we come out like savages?" That's documented by them, they wrote this.
And you know the picture they show you in the movies of them, supposed to Christian, looking like crazy savages, brutal beasts. Yeah, well it's hard to raise the dead in Hollywood. To achieve spiritual balance means success in life. Yes, spiritual balance. Plus this society, what topples society, what toppled great nation? The loss of spiritual balance. They may have great wealth and great armies, look at America, we don't have to look far away, look at this country. 50 years ago it had a much greater image of presence and power in the international world. Whoa, well just 30 years ago, 20, 30 years ago? Yes, but look at it today.
Did it stop producing great weapons, did it stop raising up skyscrapers? No, skyscrapers kept going up, kept on re-improving and getting bigger and greater and more powerful. Science is multiplying and growing and becoming more numerous, right? But something was happening spiritually in America. It lost it's sense of spiritual balance, and as a result, the concrete structure starts deteriorating. See the sap goes down out of the tree and then the tree starts dying. It didn't lose no wood, it lost some sap. Look at Medina, the city of the prophet. The prophet went to that town with balance, spiritual life and material life had found its agreement.
And when they find their agreement, then the conduct must be ethical. Hmm, ethical. Not just moral, moral is for a man without science. But ethics discipline the science. He went to that town and what happened? He became responsible for agriculture, not just for salaat, and zakaat, et cetera. But for agriculture, they would come to him and ask him, how we know? We got documented. They would come and tell prophet Muhammad the problem they were having with the farming, and in one case he gave him advice and they didn't see the double logic in it. So they came back to him and they said, "This is not what..." He said, "Well go and do what you were doing before." Because they didn't know he was speaking to them at two planes at the same time. So he told them don't dung the plant, don't put manure on the plant. So they obeyed without knowing that he was not talking about that plant growth, but your own plant growth. Don't put in you, corruption, to get more growth.
But they didn't understand that. So when they came back to him and say, "We have done what you said, but it's getting there." He said, "Well do it as you've been doing it before." And the ignorant say, that's the proof that prophet Muhammad made mistakes in many things, G-d gave him spiritual knowledge, but [he was not very good with material knowledge]. Look at the construction, he came there already a city built up, but did he stop? No, he improved the construction. There's a recorded history of them building new houses and new buildings, new models, et cetera, et cetera. Yes. Not only that, economics, he strengthened economics. Took off of them the burden of usury, high interest multiplied and multiplied over and over again, brought ethics to the operations of the society, whereas everything was under G-d's will. Everything had to obey G-d's law.
Did it fail? No, it was successful. Government regulations and everything came under him. Great wealth was brought to him. You read history, it's written prophet Muhammad died and then he had nothing, no money. He said, "Who I owe, I got to any debt to anybody? Let me pay off my debts." Peace be upon the prophet. Says there, few people said you actually owed them something, something like a few nickels or something. So he said, "Pay them, make sure they get it." He didn't want to die with any debt on his mind. And the clothes he wore and the mat he slept on all was the situation of the poor, you see? So some of us think that he was not a man of wealth. You forget to read the history, the hadith, the tradition, where he set and distributed great wealth to people that needed it. Well, how was he distributing if he didn't have nothing?
Prophet Muhammad said, everything belongs to G-d. And we are given it as a trust while we live. And we should not abuse the trust. So until my society go up, I will live like the average man in my society. But if Prophet Muhammad had lived for 500 years, he would have been able to ride camels and live in plush tents and sleep on plush beds. Because his principle, his policy, his society would have in 500 years or less brought the average person up to that level. Yes. He had great wealth at his disposal.
So you think it was something that I showed, you a bank book last night with about $92,000 plus in it. It's still here. That's nothing, you all should say, "Brother Imam, that's nice but we pray today you will tell us you have 92 billion dollars. That should be your heart. Or G-d is my witness, if I had 92 billion, I will take care of it with the same care that I'm taking care of this 92,000. I will look for the economy flight, I will not waste it. Why? Because it's not for me, it's for us. And that's the only reason why it should be in my truck. If I wasn't a person like that, it should be taken away from me, even if you had to come here and knock my teeth out to get it. That's right.
So faith is very great for us, but we had can't live just on faith. Faith is the beginning, it's the foundation. We have to elevate to other foundations while not losing that one because that's essential to the life of man and society. But then we have to perform and perform productively, come into our responsibilities. Idabaad, faith and duties. And then Fiqh, insights, philosophical insights, scientific insight, psychological insight, et cetera, et cetera. Until you become a man of the sciences. Maybe not one man, but the community. We should hope that our community will have in it men to represent the sciences, women to represent the sciences, understand sister, you are not shut out of the knowledge.
Then the Imam should be a man, but the town can be ran by a woman. Sure, they can. Nothing in our religion that says a woman can't be mayor, a woman can't be governor. Nothing in our religion that says that. And the prophet, he never said that, "I regret my former life, I used to work for my wife." No, never. Oh, he just... He praised his wife and stay with her until she died. Only one, he had only Khadija until she passed. And the new ones, he told them, said, "Look, no, no don't please. Don't speak that way of Khadija, you're no match for her."
Yeah. He corrected them when they would speak of her lightly. Yes, he valued her and he worked for her as a servant. Now a sister is going to go back home and then she going to try to work her husband like a servant. No, let him work for you like a servant and you respect him like a man. Don't you see no servant, you see a man. And that'll make him a better man. Then after fiqh, which is insight. Insight into the working of things. See, we look at this mic and we don't know that mic is working. Oh, I know you mean is working sound, I ain't talking about that. The metal itself is working, the metal itself is working.
The metal itself is working. It has a workable functionable nature. Its molecular makeup, the energy is there, operating to contain that mic as it is. There is a vision of this mic that you cannot see with these eyes. You can only see it with scientific insight. I mean, that's common sense. There's no spookism there. You know, the dumb person that's never been to school, they are out there on that plane. They'd have gone straight out in the orbit butt naked.
So these are the steps we want to come into. Don't fear to think big. Didn't I tell you, you have in you the biggest person who ever lived? That's Adam. In Islamic mythology, they say he was a huge man. Say his footprint was so big, it takes one man about two, three hours to walk to his toes from his heel. Now that's mythology. They don't mean he actually was that big, but they mean that G-d, the first man, the potential that G-d made it is great. It's great.
All men came out of him, even our prophet Muhammad. And Adam lives to see his destiny as a creature in who? Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him. Yes. See, this is the way you should understand it. Now we are not followers of Adam, not Moses, not Jesus. We are followers of Muhammad. Isn't that wonderful?
See, that's what the wicked world don't want you to know. They would like for you to dismiss Islam, the Quran and Muhammad. They would like for you to become disinterested. They don't want you to be interested in that. Because if it ever gets fresh converts, that will have enough faith, G-d will, again, illuminate their souls and minds. And the West will know it will be on the sunset side again. Yes, it'll be going down again, and the Muslim will be rising up. Oh yes, yes sir. Oh yes.
Because don't think we're the only ones. The situation had been bad for the Islamic world or the nations of the world that are Islamic. But believe me, in all of them almost now, is the same new appetite. New appetite. It won't be long. No, it won't be long. Pakistan is doing great. Sudan has made a turn for the better. And Arabia is doing a lot, a lot of good charity in Africa and many parts of the world. And really, with this wealth doing a lot to help stabilize our economy here in America. See, a lot of these things you don't know. But it's a fact; that's a fact.
And look at the resistance that the Afghanistan fighters have been able to maintain against an overwhelming superpower. Yes. Great forces, great occupation of their land by the Russians. And the youth... Because the youth, they don't understand, meaning they're not grounded in the knowledge. So the Russians come in with their philosophy and they take the youth. And in spite of all that, their own people working for the Russians, look how those brave fighters have been able to hold on so far.
And they're crying now to America, who is supposed to be a freedom-loving nation, against communism, against dictatorship, et cetera, et cetera, to help them. But how much help are they getting? Hypocritical help. Why? Because they are Muslims, and the Russians are white. The average American can't see with the heart of his religion. He sees with the heart of his racism. They are white like me, I help my own. Yes, my own.
Muslims can't think that way. No we can't. Look how Moses is condemned in the Quran for being moved up by passion to defend an Egyptian of his own race... I mean, a Hebrew of his own race against an Egyptian. Though the Egyptians were wrong, he was condemned for letting tribalism and racism influence his judgment and motivate him to act physically against a person. He was condemned. Yes.
And we have a situation now. I've been trying to alarm the community, alert you for seven years or more now. And because of changing trends, the situation is not as bad as it was. But it's not because of you. You haven't done that much. In fact, you give yourself to it. And that is the movement of the masses of blacks and poor people toward socialism without G-d. Socialism with their new made up idea of G-d. Let's form up a G-d for socialism. Yes.
If you would learn from history, learn from the past, learn from history, you'd be in much better situation. But the ignorant people, the masses of people, they are not in touch with history. So they don't learn from it. This thing they got, they call it Marxism, it's been here before, under some other name. Communism has been here before, under some other name.
Our people, they buy it, buy socialism, want to buy communism. Why? Because the white man let's you have it now. Right? That's why you're buying it. You didn't buy it in 1930. You didn't buy it in 1940. You didn't buy it when Paul Robinson bought it. You were against him.
But now how come all of a sudden now, so many blacks, they're socialists? Socialists, underground. You ain't underground. You're on top of the ground. Everybody sees you, but yourself. And those that open up the seasons for socialism among the black and the poor, they want you to think that you're underground. Because they know that you take more pride in your work when it's a secret. That ain't underground.
Whenever a thing becomes unprofitable for the white man, he gives it to the black man. And the black man think he's come into something on his own. You ain't coming into nothing on your own. He decides, he wills. He set up the conditions for you to come into it, to contain you, to keep you out of the new thing that he's bringing about for his class.
These big cities, as they operated a decade or so ago, became obsolete. Who are they starting giving them to? Huh? The mayor of Detroit, the mayor of Los Angeles, the mayor of Gary, the mayor of Cleveland. Started giving them to us, right? Yes. When a neighborhood becomes too much of a financial burden, who they give it to? Us. You think you're taking. You ain't taking nothing. They set up the conditions for you to come into that.
That's what we have not caught on to. We have not caught on to the white man anticipating the future, the conditions, the needs, and then setting everything up to his own advantage. Even you haven't caught on to that yet. So we just move into something. This brings us to another great point in this particular address today. You have to come out of trust, faith, and intuition, guessing, responding to circumstances, into a plan.
See, if you got a plan and you stick to your plan, can't nobody else set you up. How are they going to set you up... I'm going from Chicago to Inglewood, California. I got the roadmap, I know where I'm going. And I got a set purpose. I ain't going to let nothing interfere with me coming from Chicago to Inglewood. The only way to stop me is to kill me or lock me up or something, right? Soon as you let me out, I'm going to get right back on where I stopped. If that was Cleveland, I'm going to get on the road at Cleveland, I'm going to find the road and get right back on it and keep on to Inglewood.
So the only thing going to keep me from going around one of those is death or a handicap or something. You see, even if you detain me, as soon as I get free from your control... I'm just staying there as long as you overpower me. Soon as I'm free, I'm getting right back where... I'll start right where I left off. I'm going to keep on going till I get where I was supposed to go.
Now, if the African-American people, the poor, the Muslims... Because we are not responsible for all people. We're responsible first for Muslim people. If the Muslim community... And I hope the African-American community would do the same. If you can come up with a plan for yourself. A plan, not just in one area of life, but for the whole area of our lives; a plan. A plan for our schools, a plan for dawah, a plan for the schools, a plan for business, a plan for housing, where we say we are going to concentrate our numbers in these areas of United States, and get there, and hold it.
Don't you know there were neighborhoods that the city, the mayor couldn't even get the express way to go through? They had such a foundation. They had such investment there, that they were of such value to the city. They were such support to the city, that they told the mayor, "I know it's convenient, but don't bring that expressway through here." See, if you establish yourself strong enough, you can hold your own.
I know of white people living right in the heart of the black community. They haven't been moved out, and it's been 20, 30 years. Blacks have been complaining and everything. They have not integrated to that community in Chicago, and they will not. Why? Because those Irish say, "This is our home. We have been here for generations. We are not going to give up these blocks, these houses." There ain't nothing to make them give up those houses.
Someone say, "We'll send the express way through that." They say, "You send it through here, you're going to have a whole lot of trouble." So, rather than have all that trouble, they go around this Irish quarter, or put a bridge over the highway or something. Yeah, I respect those people.
I'm not saying that some houses might not have to be moved. But if you have a plan for your whole life... And the responsible people should have that. You should have a plan for your whole life. You shouldn't just move anywhere open and come. You should plan where you want to live. That way, you will be deciding your own fate. You'll be dictating the future circumstances, like the white man has been doing for all these hundreds of years. That's the answer. And I don't know if we're getting that on 747 or DC10 or what, but that's the answer. That's the answer.
Now we come to a situation. We as a community... It's three o'clock, I know. I told you when I come out here, I don't pay no attention to the expected behavior. I don't .... We are a community with property. We still have some property. Never had that great empire that they published us for having. The $80 million empire never existed. But see, the enemy had to exaggerate our accomplishment, so the disappointment would be of greater effect on the people who had faith in the Muslim community, Nation of Islam.
They knew it was nothing above 12 million, but they said $80 million empire. So when the spectators of our own people learn that that's gone, will go, "What? That's a great loss. They had they had an empire, man. The Muslims lost." Well, I could tell you what we lost. We lost a monkey setup. Now, I hate to say that. I hate to talk that, but guess what... Now, I know there were a lot of restaurants doing pretty good. A lot of brothers did pretty good with the fish, selling of the papers, a lot of good in that. But on the whole, we lost nothing but a monkey setup.
And I'll explain to you what I'm talking about in just two minutes. Pioneer's building, great money, a lot of money paid for that building to be constructed. And there were a lot of ignorant officers of the FOI occupying the great office space in that building, no profit coming to the building, no money coming into the building, nothing but a cost burden on us. I'm telling you what I knew of. All those floors there in that great building, and nothing up there but showoff. Showoff people trying to pretend like they in to something. Making no money, just losing.
So, if we're losing, how come we kept it? Because you were donating 8%, 10%, 20%, 25%, 50% of your earnings. That's how we kept it. It was protected and shored up by donations. Now that's a sin to make a show of material progress on the backs of people who are struggling and don't have nothing. And the thing ain't making a profit, it's not getting money. If we set up structures, business structures, those business structures should get money from the well-to-do. They should get money from the middle class. They should get money from the rich. Then the poor are moving ahead.
But if the poor builds something, and nothing coming to the poor, just going out. And they have a show of progress that's nothing but drain and strain and burden on the poor. It's artificial. And when the test comes and the challenge comes, when burden comes, real burden comes, when you have to be practical, you lose everything, because you had nothing to start with. Now that's the fact. And we don't want that again. In fact, I'll kill before I let that happen. Allah as my witness, I will kill some of you niggas before I let you bring about a situation like that again. Yeah, I will; G-d as my witness. G-d as my witness, I will kill some of you, or you kill me first.
You who say you believe in this religion, and say you are honest and sincere in your heart, you should give us more credit than you give us. We have survived 10 years, with some of the greatest schemes that any mind can devise. And with all kind of help from our own people, working to undermine us and defeat our goals. And in spite of all of that, from the wicked elements in the government, local government, and I believe also from federal government, yes. Wicked elements in the Christian society working to undermine and defeat this. They don't want to see Islam established for the African-American man.
Not all the Christians; majority of them are good people. But there are enough wicked ones to give us all the trouble we can bear. Without G-d's help, we'd be finished. You think they want to see the religion of Islam progress in the African-American community of America? No. They think that means close up shop for the church.
Yes, it could mean that. It happened in Africa. It happened in Ethiopia. And they used to call themselves the Lion of Judah, the protection of Christianity... the protectors of Christianity. And right now in that land, that country, the Muslims are in the majority. Yes. Although they have American support and white people support and western nations support to hinder the progress of that religion in Ethiopia, still that religion has grown to be the most numerous religion in that country. The most numerous in terms of followers in that country. Oh yes.
And they ask us for contributions. And I learned that if you give contributions, that you be very careful, because they take the contribution and make sure that the Christians get the benefit and the Muslims suffer. That's what happening. But don't let that make you become disheartened and lose faith. No indeed. This presence you have right now, don't you know we really have a lot of our enemies upset? Because a lot of them they got more faith in us than we got in ourselves. They say, "Oh, the Muslims, if they put their hand on something, they're going to stay with it. They will do what they say."
That's what the outsiders, majority of them say about us. They ain't like us. We'd look at them and say, you're false. Well, I ain't going to help them. I got to see if he can make it. See, if he can make it, well, when he make it, he don't need you. We just looked at this man until he fall dead. When he fall dead we say, "I didn't think he would make it."
There's much to be said on this subject, but let me get back to the point I was about to make, and that is that we do have assets. The courts have tied up most of our assets. And I do believe, because it's documented, that whether they did it following Hoover's directives or not, it's the same thing. We have read the documented directives of the late Hoover, chief of FBI. His own conceived plan for dismantling and doing away with the Nation of Islam. Converting its membership over to something more acceptable. Making it passive, rather than assertive, aggressive. Making it passive, spiritual, and taking away from it its material assets, so that it will be of no threat in terms of possibility for growth. That the growth would be contained.
The plan is very elaborate. Talks about how they will go in and demoralize the leaders, corrupt the leadership, et cetera, et cetera. Not only to the Muslims did they do this. Look how they charged Dr. King with immoral conduct. Yes. This is Hoover, they documented. They claim to have telephones listening to honorable Elijah Muhammad, and listening to Dr. King.
See, you all are quick to forget things like this. Any nigga here is so quick to forget it. Now, any time an intelligence department as powerful as the FBI... And I would bet my life on it, the FBI was not the only intelligence department working to undermine the community. I'm sure the CIA was in on it. I have no proof, I can't document it, but I'm convinced the police department too. Yes. And the church leaders too. All cooperating together to defeat the community of Muslims in America.
Now, if you accept that and understand that, then you should know that this is no small thing we're doing. If they are willing to spend all that energy, to commit all the citizens' tax dollars to infiltrate our community to the extent that they infiltrated it, and still infiltrate it. To pay for all of the equipment and whatever they need to keep tabs on what's going on, and to hear and listen. If they're willing to spend all that to see that you don't get to where you want to go, you should be willing to spend as much to get where you want to go.
Even if you didn't know that what we have in our destiny is valuable and worthwhile, their opposition should convince you that it is. Their decision to commit money, taxpayers dollars into checking your growth and plotting against you, and whatever, and whatever, that should convince you that what you have is worth holding on to, sacrificing for, and even dying for if you must.
Do they set up that kind of checks, do they spend that kind of money to keep African-Americans and poor people, Hispanics and others, out of dope, out of alcoholism, out of crime, out of gang violence? Understand the bastards then and stand up. They don't care nothing about you. You're working against forces in this society that are wicked, satanic.
They're number one criminal. And you should be so determined to stand up for your life. To stand up for what you represent as Muslims. You should be so determined that you should be praying to G-d, to Allah, let them face us. Let them come out physically from behind their walls, from behind their curtain. Let them come out physically. Give me a chance to die as a Muslim mortal. You should be praying for a confrontation. Please Allah. Bring them out against us physically. Bless me to die trying to take his neck off his head.
Yes, that should be your hope. I'm not alone. Don't think I'm alone. I got some white folks with me too. Good Muslims. Good Muslim white folks. Got a few good Christian white folks with me. Don't you underestimate me, you'll be in serious trouble. That's right. G-d has given me forces that you don't know nothing about. In fact, I know that I can win. I know it. You're the only thing that holds it back, your lack of faith, lack of initiative, you won't get up and do. You won't establish the life for yourself and your home. You won't support the practical work all around you. You just wait, wait, wait, wait.
No, it's because of you. Few folks will stand up and be courageous as this man, take all responsibilities, work for big things. No limit to where we can go within rational boundaries in this society, we call America. No limit, no limit. You don't know, you don't have nothing but a minority working against us. No majority will work against us. A minority of the people, the wicked people. They're the ones that work against us. The great majority of people in this country will love us and appreciate us. In fact, they do. But Allah, he's not going to help you if you don't help yourself. So everywhere I've gone in this community, I've presented the situation in brief for the properties that we have. They don't want us to sell, they want us to die.
So they claim that the court has an obligation to hold certain properties and not allow us to sell them or to notice circumstances until the probate court trial has ended and they can prolong that forever, can't they. They have already prolonged all these years. They can prolong it until I'm dead. That's what I believe that's what they've been trying to do. So I talked to one brother, he thought I was going to be dead. Somebody had made him think I had all kind diseases and I was going to die soon. Well.
Properties at Sedalia, Georgia farms, The Pioneers Building in Chicago, The Cultural Center which used to be the temple or mosque on Sony Island. The school there, the Ridgeland property, which is about a block to itself, The New York property that represents a great burden on the New York Muslim. And I do believe that it's all eaten up now by debt, mortgage, et cetera. Deterioration in it. This is a burden on us. And I need help. I'm your preacher. I am your Imam. I'm supposed to have some help. I should express my wishes and as long as there are sound and get the support of the majority, the majority should hold their leaders accountable and make them carry out the wishes of their leader. Yeah. But we're like sheep led by the wolves. So I dropped this talk in New York, Malcolm tomorrow's message to the believers. Great majority support me, they know that's what I recommend is the best, but will they hold their leader accountable? Will they make him move on it? No. They fear him. They rather stop attending than to stand up. That's no good. No good.
Imam Rafi got a lot of good in him, but it makes them a worse man when they tolerate inaction, he should act. In Chicago, I told brother Mustafa, my secretary. I told him that we have to find a way to sell these properties. The farm in Georgia and all these other assets that are not profitable. Then the money that is free for us to use that is not claimed by the court or held by the court, take that money and invest it in a new situation that has promise for us, that suits our needs. We shouldn't have to fit ourselves into something somebody else got 20 years ago. That's now not practical for us. Well, I can find better things to put that money into.
We don't know the circumstances in Georgia that brought about these transactions. We know the man that the farmers bought from, he seems to be a big crook down there. We don't know what's all involved, but let's say I get out of it. It's ours. We know that. Because we know the community raised money for it and bought it. And if there's anything that went on differently, they can't bring it out. Right? They can't bring it out because to bring it out would expose them. So I stood up to them from day one. I said, no, you can't fight me, you can't intimidate me. This is ours. We claim it, we're going to take it, we're going to sell it. We're going to do what we want to do with it. Now, you may have your boy buy it, but you can't bring that out. Who knows? Maybe CIA, Hoover, anybody could have had that boy make some transactions. Right? But what they did is illegal, they just can't stand up in court.
But what we want is a free, free situation, fresh new situation. One that we don't have to guess and be lurking in the dark or peeping in the dark, trying to understand what happened or what is this. Get the money and reinvest it. Don't trust nobody to do it. Not even in an officer who knows who they are. I will go myself. Right? I will go myself, make the new investment, get the contract. Because right now I've asked all of five years I've asked for deeds and documents. We have some, but so far part to my knowledge, to the best of my knowledge, all of them haven't been produced yet. And if you ask where are they right now, if I die right now, you don't know where the deeds are. Nobody in the community know where to go for the deeds, right? Yes, no, you don't know where to go for the deeds. And it'll be the same situation that I came in.
It just wants charity. It knows how to make charity possible in the world. And that's what we have to do. You have charity, but you have charity supporting jobs. Have charity supporting people who need it also supporting jobs. In fact, I feel more decent as your leader taking a $100,000 of charity and lending it out to responsible individuals that pay it back. And at the same time they increased the business. They employed more people. They made a better business. I feel better doing that than I feel giving it to a brother or a sister out of work.
Yes. So most likely this brother or sister out of work going to be out of work forever if they're getting charity. Charity is no encouragement to go to work. We got the wrong understanding of zakaat. Zakaat brothers, the Zakaat is for the poor brother. I ain't supposed to give no Zakaat. The Zakaat is for the poor, that's our money. They call it the poor dude. He read some around where it was translated, the poor dude. There are many kinds of charities. There's Zakaat. Zakaat was used to sustain the Muslim community.
That's not just the poor, it's institutions, it's transportation, it's sanitation, everything. That was a taxes, like a government tax. And during war there was also another tax, to finance the war 5%, this is Islamic tradition and law. And we think that money is for the poor, for the poor. The only way it can be for the poor is that we have enough to operate the masjid, to operate the schools, to operate the essential things in the Islamic community. And we still have some over. What we have over came from the rich, or the middle class, then we should give it to the poor. There is no justification for giving poor money to another poor. Here's a poor person who strives and works, got more children than you got and donates $10 to us. What the hell do I look like taking that $10 that poor struggling family man, a family woman gave us and giving it to you. You ain't got no children, you're just lazy and out of work.
We got to wisen out. You don't take the poor money and give it to a lazy poor. You can give the rich people money to a lazy poor, that's different. You don't give the poor people money to a lazy poor. That's not justice. You don't help nobody sit around and have babies out of wedlock. Sisters come up to me, you better stop sisters, you ain't getting nothing. Come to me with all, "We thought you were going to be like the prophet. You're supposed to marry us. Because we are women without husbands." I ain't got no money. You looking for a house, your car and better eating and better sleeping and better clothing, I ain't got no money. I ain't got nothing but SAP going down. You stop coming my way, now I don't care who sent you, Dr. Shabazz or Farrakhan.
I don't care who sent you, you tell them stop sending you my way. They can't handle you, you go somewhere else. When I get ready for a wife, I'm going to find her myself. She ain't going to have to look for me. I'm going to tell Shirley now you're number one, Shirley. See if I get a number two she becomes number one. Yeah. (laughter).
Who is it has denied the good things that G-d proved. Yeah. Fantasy is wonderful as long as no demons come into the picture. Just G-d man. When demons started coming into the picture I start looking for a better situation. Yeah. People invite a lot of trouble into their own lives by their own action. Got women ganging up on me in Chicago because they think I ain't treating Shirley right.
They ain't asked how Shirley treats me. They don't want to know. And I told Shirley, I said, "Shirley, you better put your friends down so we can get along." Yeah. You know, you got a lot of wicked women, they don't want to see two people living together in happiness. And they pretend to be the friend of your wife and they put little seeds in your wife's mind and sow suspicion and stuff. Work on it, pretty soon your wife is giving you more hell than anybody else. Yeah. I can't talk to her I'm telling you. I'm innocent, I love my wife. I've been faithful. I haven't committed any act of fornication or adultery and I don't desire it. I'm faithful to my wife. But I ain't going to stand for too much of this accusation and accusing and stabbing me behind my back and looking at me all ugly and carrying on like they've been sucking cinnamons or something.
I ain't guilty or nothing. Right. That's no good. And I'm sure some brothers being treated just like me simply because some woman is miserable and want to make another woman miserable. .... to influence it especially when you can't be with them all the time. But I can't be with my wife all the time. Can't be with her all the time. I got to be in other places. Feed your wife jealousies. "Yeah, your husband. I know you had to worry about him. He got everything he wants. Where is he? He going down the south this side? Where? Where? On the West Coast. He still goes a lot there. Yeah, it's good to get to see the world like he does." So after a while your wife's saying, "All right, have a good time." You're going out sacrificing yourself, denying yourself the family pleasures, the comfort of your home. You're going be lonesome. And you're going out and your wife says, "Have fun." Because somebody been feeding her false ideas. It ain't easy. This ain't easy at all. It's hard, real hard.
Now getting back to the properties. I asked brother Mustafa to talk to a big lawyer firm out there. And there's a man that seems to be helpful. Seems like he's really interested in helping us find a way to manage with the properties. And I told him that he can find managing company that can take over responsibility for the Pioneers Building, which is a big building. Operate it so that we don't lose anything. And we hope we can make something on it.
Brother Mustafa thinks that he's working himself out of the situation, that really is going to be practical to keep even without a management company coming in. But if they should go up on the taxes again or something, then it'll put us back in the same situation. And they go up on the taxes anytime they get ready. And for us, people said, even attorneys say, I ain't never heard of it. I can't understand it. They went up so high on the taxes? And say I never heard of anything like that. You don't have any protection, they can do anything they want to us. Yeah. If you don't fight, give them a whole lot of hell. You have to make them as uncomfortable as they make you. Yeah. Then perhaps you will fair a little better.
Well, anyway. We hope to do that, but I would like for you all to help me. You who are in management, you in real estate, like this man here, he knows about real estate. I'd like for you to come out there and look at the situation in Chicago. In fact, we will pay your expenses, pay your fee if they have to. Come out there and look at the situation, your contribution will maybe be just what we're looking for. Come out, look at the situation, help us go to people and talk to them and get this property in a situation where it's not a burden on the community. Those decisions are long overdue, long overdue. We're losing too much.
We are not the only victim. The African American people are losing real estate at a terrible rate. Especially in the south. Farmland, almost gone. Our people used to have a lot of farms. Now, almost all the farmland gone now. That's a design, that's a plan. That's no accident. Now I'm not a fatalist. I mean you all say, "Well, it has to be our Lord's will." No, I'd rather kill somebody and say that's Allah's will. Yeah. If I have to, I'd rather go kill somebody and say that was Allah's will. I'd die with that better.
I can't understand the people, they'll risk their lives snatching purchase, sticking people up, selling dope, shooting dope, but won't risk their lives for dignity. I can't understand that. Allah's my witness, I take a gun and go and blow the man's brains out. Right? Feel nothing. Don't care what happens. Go right up there to him and say, "Good morning. How are you today? Yes, I've come to see you about the property." Then bam. I just pull a fuse on myself, just hug him and pull a fuse on myself and blow both of us up. Yeah.
But that won't be necessary if you all stand up and use your intelligence and demand your rights, that's all you have to do. That concludes a talk. And I hope to see you again. Maybe next time it won't be so long. Maybe I'll finish my talk in 30 minutes next time. Assalamu Alaikum.

