03/10/1996
IWDM Study Library 
Meadowlands Speech and Interview
Newark.NJ

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Dear, Muslims, faithful supporters of this religion, and the Muslim community. I want to begin by, I would say doing a review or restating what Islam is. And I think we should do this often because in the busy world that we live in, busy life, busy life or busy lives that we have, we sometimes get away from what we have taken for granted. And that is the teachings of Islam. The teaching of Islam can be given in about five minutes so that we know clearly what Islam is from what Islam is not. And Islam is first of all to worship One G-d, the One G-d who created everything. The One G-d is the Lord of all people and the Lord of all the worlds. In the Arabic language or the Qur'anic Arabic language, the name is Allah, the same as it is in common Arabic, the common spoken Arabic language for Muslims and for non-Muslims. The name is Allah.
It is translated, G-d. But actually, when we study the name Allah in Arabic, we learn that there is a word for G-d in Arabic and there's a word for G-d proper in Arabic. And G-d in the common usage, that is non- Muslims or even non-Christians, or non-Jews can use a name from the Arabic language for their G-d or for their G-d or their G-ds. G-ds that perhaps Jews, Christians and Muslims wouldn't recognize as being G-d. They can use the name in Arabic and it's a different name. It's ilah. It's ilah. And we have as a statement of our strong belief in the G-d, the One G-d, the true G-d, the expression, "La Ilaha Il Allah," there is no elah, no G-d except Allah. Now these words are not the same. It's not like English. I say there is no G-d except the G-d. I use the same words both times for both references.
No G-d except the G-d. But in Arabic we don't use the same word. We use a different word. We say "La Ilaha Il Allah", except Allah. Ilaha and Allah, the two words. Elah means G-d as people commonly may use it and it can refer even to G-d that is not G-d, a false G-d. But Allah is the proper word. And those authorities on the Arabic language, grammar, Arabic usage, word usage, they say that Allah must have come from a combination of two words. El meaning the, and Elah meaning G-d. And when you combine them together, you get Allah, meaning the G-d, the G-d. I don't know if that's fact or not, but I tend to believe there's a lot of truth to that, that originally Allah might have been made from two words, one meaning G-d in the common usage, and the other one meaning the, and when you put them together it distinguished that G-d from all other G-ds to become Allah. And Allah, by the way, cannot be used for feminine and it cannot be used for masculine. Allah.
Allah can have no gender. Allah, the term Allah has no gender. There's no way to give gender to the term Allah in Arabic like we can give gender to the term Ilah. It can be made Ilaha, Ilahu feminine and it can be made alahu, which means the plural, Gods. But there's no way to take the term Allah, the word Allah and make it grammatically say G-d female or G-d male. If you can't say G-d female with it, then there's no G-d male with it. So, G-d, in Arabic is not supposed to be seen as a female or as a male. Also Allah, the term Allah, also it's important to know that there is no way to say more than one G-d and use the term Allah. No way. You can't say the term Allah in Arabic. You can't say two Allahs. Two Allahs. You can't say it in Arabic. There's no way to say many Allahs in Arabic.
There's no way to say it. So Arabic, the Arabic term for G-d, Allah is a fixed F-I-X-E-D-, a fixed term. It cannot be changed into gender, male or female. It cannot be changed into many, two or many plural. No dual, no plural for the term. This term was not used by the worshippers of Mecca. The people who worshiped G-ds in Mecca during the time of our Prophet. It was not used. It was known. They knew it but they did not use it. They used the term elah. It's feminine and masculine use, and it's dual and plural usage. They use the term elah. They didn't use the term Allah. But when Muhammed mentioned the name Allah, some of their more learned, educated people, or some of those that were closer to the Ka'aba. They had knowledge of this G-d. The Christian, those who followed Christianity and Judaism, they knew the term Allah. Because their G-d also was One G-d considered to be the only G-d for all the universe and for all people. So, they knew of the term Allah. But the Meccans who worshiped idols, they didn't. Very few of them knew of this term. So, Muhammad the Prophet, chosen by G-d to be the last Prophet and the Messenger to the worlds, he reintroduced the term Allah to the Meccan or Arab people and they became the ones to promote the term Allah for G-d eventually with other Muslims of Africa and Asia and all over. Now in America, we are the ones promoting the usage of this term Allah for G-d.
So, we say that Islam is built upon five structures or five essentials. They're also called five pillars. Pillars like structures that hold up a great building, a great material structure. The five pillars or five principles or five essential supports or structures. The very first one is what we've been discussing or talking about is Allah, the belief in Allah. And with it because we are Muslims and we know the religion, the creed of faith in G-d, combines also faith in the mortal human Messenger of G-d, mortal human Messenger of G-d. So, we witness that G-d is one and should be worshipped only worshipped and no other G-d worshipped beside Him. And we witness that Muhammed is the mortal human Messenger of G-d. That's the first structure, the first pillar, the first essential in our religion. And Muhammad, when he was asked, the Prophet himself, Prayers and peace be on him, when he was asked what is Islam, he gave what I'm giving you right now. And he said, it is to worship G-d as though you see Him because if you don't see Him, He's seeing you. To know for sure that if you don't see Him, He is definitely looking or seeing you. Looking on or looking at or seeing you. So, Muslims are to worship G-d with a firm belief that this G-d is ever present and is aware of us all the time, have us in His sight all the time, all the time. This is the belief of the Muslim concerning the G-d. And Muhammad also stressed, Prayers and peace be on him, that the one, the person who says and believes that Allah is his Lord, he will have paradise, he will have the paradise. One who says and believe and he says or she said, Allah is my Lord. They will have the paradise. G-d will eventually put them in heaven, in the paradise.
So that tells us that some people obviously are not saying Allah is their Lord. They have other than Allah for their Lord. So, it is important for Muslims to remember that we are to always know that Allah is our Lord. The term Lord in the Qur'anic Arabic, or in the Arabic language is R-A-B-B, two B's. Rabb. Now this brings me to discuss something else at this point and that is community life. Community life. It is important for Muslims to understand before I go to the next structure, to the next essential pillar of Islam that tells us what Islam is, it's important for Muslims to understand that our religion is a religion that requires of its believers or its adherents that they accept it as an obligation to be a community. To be a community. A community means to have a public. Muslims must have a Muslim public. We cannot just have our religion in our private homes. Our religion is not to be seen only in our private homes. Our religion is to be established in the public. We are to have a community Muslim life. We'll get to that more in detail as we go. Now the second structure.
Giving them in the order that they were given by the Prophet is prayer, prayer, prayer in the Islamic terminology and we have to say Islamic terminology because before Islam there was no such word as Salat for prayer. It was after Prophet Muhammad was missioned and the Qur'an was revealed to him and the term came from G-d, Salat. Salat is not this (hands together), Salat is not this (open hands). Salat is reading and reciting the Holy book revealed to Muhammed for all of us. Reading and reciting that and following the steps and discipline that was established by Muhammad the Prophet for us to follow as we are reading and reciting the Qur'an. The Qur'an is always recited in the standing position. Ayats or some prayers from it may be recited when we are in the sitting position, or in the bending position with our hands on our knees. But in the standing position the Qur'an is recited. So actually, the Muslims prayer or the Muslims Salat is really the communication of and the commemorating of Qur'an, the Holy book Qur'an. It is recorded that Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and peace be upon him. In one of the night's of Ramadan, finished the whole Qur'an in one standing. That's what has been recorded. Now that took some long standing.
But that's what is reported, that in the one night he completed the whole of the Qur'an. And I guess that was to put it on the record, that Muhammad was also the first hafiz, the first one who memorized the whole of the Qur'an. And the evidence was given that they witnessed his recital in one standing. Prayer being our second pillar or the second essential structure in Islam says to us many things. The word says purity, purification, the word says also elevation or being elevated, lifted up. The word Salat. It says being purified, it says being lifted up and it also says being educated, being illuminated. This is the most essential meaning in the word Salat. The third pillar of this faith, only five of them that are given to show us what Islam is, is charity. Zakat. The third one is Zakat, charity. And charity in Islam is not only given to someone else but it is also given to yourself. And we will get to this more in detail as we progress with this topic or this subject. The charity in its strict sense is giving 2%, some say 2.4, 2.5, but most will say 2% giving 2% of your capital earnings after all your needs have been taken care of in a reasonable way.
That if you have not been extravagant, you have not given yourself luxuries or too much, you've taken care of your essential needs yourself and whoever your dependents are, you've taken care of all that. You have your property taken care of, you've taken care of all your obligations, financial obligations, and then you have some money. What we call in America savings or money that we can use for investment, is money over our needs, investment capital. So that money that you have in excess of your needs is taxed at the end of the year. 2% of it goes to Zakat. This is the strictest meaning of charity and that money is mainly for those who serve the religion full time and are poor. They can't support themselves. They're not rich or they don't have enough income to support themselves from any other source. So, they're supported by Zakat. They're Imams, they're teachers or whatever. They're supported by Zakat. They assist the Imam, they assist the school or the teachers, or they assist the community in some way and their service is needed and they're good for that particular job. So, they get the Zakat. But they can't be having income sufficient to take care of their needs and also get the Zakat. They should get the Zakat only if they don't have income sufficient to take care of their needs.
The Zakat is for the poor, poor needy person. Poor and the needy. There are two descriptions of them. One is poor, just poor. The other one is misfortunate. A misfortune has fallen upon them. They are misfortunate people. They're people who suffered a bad fortune. So, they might have been well off last year, they might have been well off last night, but suddenly they don't have any money to put themselves up in a home or they don't have money to buy a meal. We are to give them help from Zakat if they qualify. And believe me, there's a lot to qualifying. One is that you should be a Muslim, you should be sincere. Doesn't mean you have to be sinless because I don't know a Muslim that's sinless.
You don't have to be sinless, but you have to be having the desire in your heart to be a good Muslim. And you have to be supportive of your religion and your Muslim society, your Muslim community. Those are first qualifications. Also, another qualification is that you have to be in your condition because you can't help it. If you can work and earn a living and everybody knows that you don't qualify. If you are not looking for a job, you're not interested in work, you don't qualify. So, there's other qualifications. I haven't given them all, but I've given a good picture of what the qualifications are. Now there is other charity. And Zakat in a general sense or in a less sense that's not as strict would be anything that we did for the sake of G-d, for G-d's pleasure. So, you don't have to give it in the form of money all the time. If you have a service or skill or knowledge and you give that as a Muslim so that others will benefit, you have given charity, you are giving in charity. If you devote time improving your own education, going to school to improve your own education, and this is no easy thing for you, it is hard for you to get enough money to do this and you're doing it. You are giving in charity though you are spending on yourself, you are still giving in charity because you're doing it for the pleasure of your G-d, Allah and is going to benefit not only you. A person who does something for G-d's pleasure, they're not going to benefit just themselves. They're going to benefit relatives and friends and needy people. They're going to benefit society at large. So, when they spend on themselves, they're investing not only in themselves but they're investing in a better future for their families, for their neighbors, for their society. So, this is charity spent on yourself. And Allah says that lost is the person who does not spend on his own self. Lost is the person who will not spend on his or her own self. There is much to say about charity, but I'll conclude with this: That a Muslim society is to be built upon the principles of Islamic charity. Its economic concept, its economic policies, its financing. Everything should be built upon the concept of Zakat in Islam.
So, this tells us, or at least suggests to us that there is other aspects or other features of Zakat that we have not yet discussed. There is the economic feature of Zakat that we are not discussing at this particular time, but we are just recognizing it. We are acknowledging that the economy is supposed to be conceived and structured upon the principle of Zakat in Islam. After Zakat, which is the third pillar of Islam or the third essential structure of Islam comes fasting. Fasting is restraining the strongest created appetites in us. Or we may say appetites of the flesh, the strongest appetites of the flesh. It includes even restraining our anger. Anger. Now who would think that anger had something to do with the appetites of the flesh, but it does. It includes restraining our affections, our sexual affections during the fast month. The days of the fast month, I cannot give my wife a sexual kiss. I would be breaking the fast. I can give her a non sexual kiss on the cheek or somewhere, but if I get sexy with it, I break the fast. So the fasting is not just fasting from breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in between and from the drinks we take during the day normally or whatever. It is also restraint, fasting, or denying every appetite that is an appetite of the flesh.
We fast for the whole month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar for a period of about 30 days on the average, sometimes 29 days. This brings us to the last of these structures or pillars that give us the picture, clear picture of what Islam is. The last of these, the fifth one is Pilgrimage to the house or to the Sacred Mosque. Masjid or Mosque in venerated Mecca or some say sacred Mecca. The house built there is called Ka'aba, the Ka'aba. And it is a point for us directing us in our prayer. No matter where we are on this earth, we are to turn toward that point, the point of the Ka'aba. Actually, we not turning to Mecca in prayer. It so happens that the Ka'aba built by Abraham and his son, Peace be upon the two Prophets is in Mecca and that's why we turn toward Mecca. We are actually turning toward that house, that Masjid, that Mosque not towards Mecca. Now that house is also called the first house built for all people. Buneya len Nas. Built for all people. And it's called again Al Bait Ateeq.
The most ancient house. The most ancient house. Meaning the same thing, that it is the first of the houses, places of worship built for the worship of One G-d and built for all people. Not for blacks only, not for whites only, not for Asians, but for all people. We make that visit at least once in our lifetime. If we can afford it, that means we have to have the physical ability to afford to do it or we have to have the means to pay for our physical bodies being taken there and for our physical body being carried around the Ka'aba, the house. And carried between the two hills. And every step that we have to go, if we have to have someone to carry us and we have to pay for it ourselves, or we have to be in good health to do it ourselves. In the health to do it ourselves. And we have to have the mental state to do that, the mental state to do that.
So, our minds have to be healthy enough to do that and we have to have the physical strength and the money that is required in order for us to make that great Pilgrimage once in a lifetime. But Muslims, and I think most Muslims, would like to visit every year. Every year. And there are a surprising number of Muslims not only from Arabia but from around the world that make the visit just about or almost every year. You'd be surprised to know that we have a few members in our community that have made the visit over the period of about 20 years. They have made the visit at least one third of those years. And in the last I would say fourth of that 20th year period, the last five years, I know of a couple that have made the visit. They're making it, they're making it this time, they're going to make Hajj this time, which will be coming up in about two months or so. They would've made it three years out of five. And they're not rich but they have the means to do it and they love to do it. They enjoy it so they do it. They go, they make the Hajj.
So, if someone asks us what is Islam, we have to give what was given to this audience because that's what Prophet Muhammad gave when he was asked what is Islam? We must say Islam is built upon five essential structures, very important necessary structures. The first is to worship G-d and G-d alone. And the second is to make the five prayers that Muslims make. Doesn't mean you're going to do them all the time but you're committed to make them, you want to make them, you're striving to make them. And we need a community life that will support us making them. We need a community establishment with Muslims living there next door, with Muslim employment within two or three blocks, a mile or so. We need all of this. We need to realize the establishment of Muslim community life so that it will make it easier for us to do our five daily prayers. It's too hard without an established Muslim community life.
Yes, it is. It's too hard on the individual Muslim without Muslims living next door, without his neighbors and his Mosques being within his hearing range. His Masjid, the voice of the muezzin that calls to prayer should be within his hearing. It's hard if you don't have that. It's easy when you do it together. We fast together. It's easy to fast together, it's hard to fast by yourself. And we should be able to pray with more convenience than we have. Our facilities that we work in should accommodate our prayers, the time for prayers and then it'll be easier. Prophet Muhammad wasn't ordered by Allah to institute the five daily prayers until after their situation had been realized for the establishment of Muslim community life. It was in Medina with the environment and the neighbors and thousands of people gathered there forming a neighborhood, a big neighborhood, a big community setting. It was with that event that the Prophet was ordered to have the Muslims establish five daily prayers. And the call was made five times a day. Before that it was not done. So don't wear yourself out, punish yourself. Wait, be good to yourself. Don't make yourself miserable. Pray as often as you can and as much as you can, but wait until we have community establishment, Muslim neighborhoods. And it's going to be much easier for you and your children to keep up the five daily prayers.
Allahu Akbar. G-d is greater. Yes, now. So, we have to give that and we have to tell the people when they ask us what is Islam we have to tell them Islam is to give in charity, to even be charitable for your own good and for your own good future, for the good future of your children. Spend charity on yourself and on your children, your household. We have to tell them that. And we have to tell them that Islam is to fast during the of Ramadan, the month in which the Qur'an was revealed, the month that Allah gave the Qur'an, the Holy book of Muslims to Muhammad. It was in Ramadan in the night of that month of Ramadan, to tell them that. And to tell them that Islam is to make a visit to the house in Mecca, the Ka'aba at least one time in their life and to know what that means.
Now if that's all it takes, if Islam is only those five statements, then those five statements must be awful rich in meaning. And they are. We could write spiritual books, moral books, books on ethics, books on community ethics, community morality. We could write books on financing the community. We could write books on Muslim government. We could write many, many books from those five points of focus. Many, many books. We could supply our community with all that we need just by addressing those five statements and those five points of focus for our minds, our eyes and our intelligence. We could write volumes of books to serve the whole life of our community or if we were independent political body, the whole life of our political nation could be served by those five statements. Now when the Prophet was asked what is Islam, you notice that he didn't say or he didn't give the articles of faith or the articles of belief. He gave those five statements and he said they are structures, or structures in a building that represents the structure we call Islam. So those are statements of not only faith but more importantly they are statements of action.
And we know that the scriptures that came before to the Jews and to the Christians emphasized that faith or belief without action is a dead letter. It counts for nothing. So, Islam doesn't place importance on just faith or belief. It places importance, the real importance on commitment to act upon what you believe, to carry it out, to practice that and establish it as a conduct of your life. Islam again is a religion that addresses the need for progress in our lives. And how does Islam situate us to progress? It does it by telling us that we have to be conscious all the time of the things that come in twos. Of the things that come in twos. We have been created to be spiritual beings and also to be social beings. To live with each other, to support each other's lives. So, we have been created to be spiritual beings but we are also created to be earthly, earthly beings, living with each other and helping each other to realize good life on this earth. And G-d says to us to seek the hereafter by the means that G-d has made possible for us.
But don't forget our share in this material world. Dunya- means the material world. It says, but don't forget our share in this material world. So that's addressing two concerns, right? Concern for the spiritual life, the spiritual reality of our creation and concern for the material reality, the social life on this earth in this material circumstance. So, these are two focuses. Two focuses. One to focus on the spiritual need, other focusing on the social that is materially based, materially based. Now also G-d want us to focus on past and future, past and future. And if we notice in the Qur'an I'm addressing how Islam situates us to make progress at this particular time in my presentation. You notice that G-d often tells us in the Qur'an, He tells us, don't forget your past. Man who is proud, all wrapped up in yourself thinking that you make the lights come on and you turn them off, that you make the world move and you make it stand still. Man in your proud position or in your proud state. Remember when you were helpless. A little baby weak and one that wouldn't have survived If someone hadn't cared for you. To remember that.
But at the same time it says go for the future. Muslims are to look for the Yaumal Ahkir, the last day. We should be working and living on this earth so that we will be approved when the records are read on the final day. So the Muslim is to always be oriented toward the future. Toward the future. That helps us to progress not in a selfish way but in a community way, in a social community way. We are to look for a better future for ourselves individually, for our families, our personal families, but also for our neighbors, our Muslim community, our nation, our globe, the whole world. We are committed to work for the good future of the whole Earth, of the whole world. And they're telling us now, those who are trying to keep us in touch with the economic trends. They're telling us now that we are living in the time of globalism, globalism and the economy and everything else is influenced by this strong need for man to improve the life and state of the whole globe.
The whole globe, meaning the whole earth. Citizens of the different nations, they cannot any longer work for the future of their nation without taking into consideration the right of other citizens to work for the future of their nations. For the whole globe. This international community of nations are being urged to respect each other, to care about each other, to work for the good future of mankind on this earth, to all make sacrifices and make contributions to the living space of the whole earth so that this living space for all nations and all citizens will become better and better as time marches on. This is the urgent message of today that is given in the term globalism. Globalism.
Let us not be ignorant of that. Because any community of people or any race of people or ethnic group that is not in tune with this, they're going to be behind, they're going to be behind. And those that are most aware of this and most in tune with this movement, with this new trend for the whole world, they're going to be the ones keeping up and stepping out front. And believe me, I don't want to just keep up, I want to step out front and I believe that Allah has given us the Qur'an and Muhammad to equip us to step out front. So, this tells us that being a Muslim is no small concern. Being a Muslim is a big concern. It begins with my own personal life and it extends outwardly and outwardly and outwardly until it embraces the whole life of mankind on the whole earth.
Among us should be those trying to qualify to not just be leaders at home or leaders for Muslims. There should be those among us trying to qualify to be leaders for this city of Newark, to be leaders for this state of New Jersey, to be leaders for this nation, the United States of America. To be leaders for this World community called the International community of Nations, earth itself.
I feel very proud. I feel very fortunate to be a member in the religion of Islam because my own soul is greatly pleased, gratified and greatly pleased by this the demand on me to qualify myself to lead not only Wallace and his family but to lead humanity on this earth.
Now, I may not qualify, I may not make it, but I'm happy to know that G-d has opened the door and G-d has opened the road and G-d has shown the light on the path. Say, Wallace, if you want you can go all the way and be leader for all mankind on earth. Allahu Akbar.
So, we are our people who supposed to believe in progress. And G-d has given us the two major concerns to keep in mind if we are to progress. Keep in mind where we came from and keep in mind where Allah, G-d, want us to go. Now isn't that simple? Don't forget where we came from and keep before your eyes where Allah want us to go and we are guaranteed progress. We want a future for this community. That means a future for our schools. We want a future for our Mosque, our Masjids. We want a future for our cultural life.
Christians, Muslims. We are not to live on the boat of this world's culture. We are supposed to have our own culture. If you are a good Christian, you should want to know what is good Christian approved cultural life.
And a good Muslim should want to know what is good Muslim approved cultural life. We are not supposed to be opening our ears to any music that's played out there in the world. We are not supposed to be singing any songs that make a hit. We are not supposed to be doing any dance that we see on television or hear about. We supposed to be very, very selective. We supposed to be turning down a lot of songs. We supposed to be turning down a lot of music. We supposed to be refusing to do a lot of dances. We are supposed to be highly selective. We are supposed to have Muslim taste, we are supposed to have Muslim lifestyle. We are supposed to have Muslim folk ways. We are supposed to have a Muslim culture and a Muslim identity as an ethnic racial body. And we are going to have to work hard for it because the influences of the popular culture are very strong. They take our babies before our babies learn to talk and walk. They take our babies and have our babies moving and shaking to the music and to the songs or to the indecencies of this world. So we have to work very hard to establish an environment where our babies will know the sound of Islamic approved music before they know the sound of worldly destructive music. It is going take some hard work. We are going to have to put more responsibility on our artists, on our singers, on our music writers, on our dancers, on our theater performers. We are going to have to put more pressure on them to conform to the principles, to the beauty and morality and purity of Islam and let nothing come out of your mouth or shake from your body unless it's approved in the light of what it is Islam.
Then we'll realize life in America and G-d will then favor us and G-d will love us and G-d will help us establish schools and Mosques and social centers and theaters for Muslims and ball fields for Muslims. Sports for Muslims and everything that we need. Transportation lines for Muslims. Shipping lines for Muslims, International trade for Muslims, political leaders for Muslims presiding over a Muslim town, over a majority Muslim constituency. This is what we'll realize if we just accept what G-d wants of us. And that is for us not to come just with our spirit, don't come just with our feelings, don't come just with our rhythms, come with our intelligence and come with our behavior and make our intelligence and our actions conform to what G-d wants and G-d will make us a strong people and G-d will make us a community established in America for everybody to see and admire. To realize that kind of neighborhood, that kind of environment, we are going to have to plan for it. I mentioned this recently, other ethnic groups are doing it and we need to do it. Let's let people move where they want to. We can't stop that. We believe in democracy, freedom.
The right to have your own life as you want it, but there are a number of us that are soldiers, men, women and children. Don't think we don't have some soldiers among our children. I know them. I can name some of them to you right now. So, we have some of us that are soldiers, and we know that we are at war. We are at war with Satan, shaitan and his influences. We are at war with the mighty schemes of the shaitan himself. We know we are at war, and we know the job of being a Muslim and sustaining a Muslim life and realizing Muslim neighborhoods is going to require jihad. Really jihad, real strong jihad. That means we are going to have to plan our neighborhoods. We can't just let it happen accidentally. Let us organize a development group who will plan housing for Muslims. I'm not speaking just to Newark, I'm speaking to the Muslims of America. Let us have a development group who will plan housing for Muslims and let us start to select 15 to 30 people, 30 or 60 people who are willing to put their money into an account, for the purchase of one or two apartment buildings.
Find land with room to grow. Get one or two of these apartment buildings, own those buildings together. You will have collective ownership of those buildings. Respect each owner as equal. As equal. Every owner is entitled to whatever any owner is entitled to Give every owner the same benefit. If 30 people can buy this building and realize good apartment life in that building, paying only $300 a month, then don't charge one more than the other Every, all 30, pay no more than $300 a month. And if anything is saved at the end of the year, let it be saved for all that 30 to have a say so how it is spent or who it's going to go to. Let them have equal say so in it. This can easily be done, easily be done. And you get enough area so that you can expand and realize a small neighborhood or medium sized neighborhood or maybe a big neighborhood of nothing but Muslims. Now you know, there'll be some non Muslims who will like it and say we want to live here too. That's okay, but the Muslims will be in the great majority. The Muslims will be the property owners. Others will own just a small percentage of the property. Therefore, the Muslims will have a neighborhood like the Irish have in Chicago. Or like the Polish have in Chicago. They will have a neighborhood that they dominate, a neighborhood that the politicians have to respect as a Muslim neighborhood. We can realize that but we'll never realize it unless we plan for it. That can be done, it can be done soon.
Once you get a couple apartment buildings, pretty soon you'll have enough buildings to bring your income in. You can then start building some private homes too. Now I know you have a building plan already on the way here. I've seen, I visited the homes, I saw them. That's good but the effort is not big enough. Need a bigger effort and you need better planning. You need plans to plan so that you know have room to expand. You map out your whole neighborhood. You say we going to have a neighborhood of five mile radius. Are we going to have a neighborhood of one mile radius. And you plan for it. You find that much land, seek to acquire it and then start building. And eventually you'll have that Muslim neighborhood. You don't have to do it right in the ghetto, right in the slums of these cities. You can go out from these cities. It doesn't have to be in Newark, it can be out from Newark. You get strong enough out from Newark, then you can come into Newark and do the same thing in the heart of Newark. So, this is jihad. This is the kind of jihad we need now.
And you need the appreciation for what you labored for that will make you not permit anybody to violate any of your rights. If they violate your rights or take advantage of you and try to crook you out of what you got or do damage to your property that you have acquired. You have to have the appreciation for what you have labored for to go to court, to pursue them. Stay on their case until you win. And you also have to have the courage to even die and shed your blood if you have to because sometimes it's too expensive to go to court. You have to settle outside of court. And I know what I'm saying. I gave it plenty of thought. Then people respect you and they won't walk over you and they won't take advantage of you. They won't treat you like you are of no count. And we got the muscle here to carry it out. I don't have it. My back is bad. But we got it. Now you know, when people say jihad, the first thing they think of is swords rattling, huh? Or guns, firing weapons, firing automatic weapons or something, Jihad. We don't need that kind of jihad. We're in a civilized country, we're in the United States of America and we're in 1996. In this year of 1996, Muslims are not only recognized, but Muslims are being hosted by the First lady of the United States of America on the day of Ramadan fast.
For anybody think they have to pick up weapons and fight the country or fight the Newark Police Department- And that doesn't take anything from your demonstration that you have here. I'm with your demonstration, but it should be a peaceful demonstration. Because we believe that this country will give us justice. We believe that Newark will give us justice. We believe that the courts of Newark will give us justice and that the Police Department will clean up its act if its act is not clean. We believe that and we have to believe that because we believe that Allah created man in the best of molds. So, Islam has more emphasis on peaceful jihad than it has on violent jihad. The emphasis is on peaceful jihad. And the Prophet, Prayers and peace be upon Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, the last of the Prophets. He said the greater jihad is really the conquest of self. When you conquer your own self and bring your own self into peace for Allah's sake, you have succeeded to carry out the greatest jihad. Allahu Akbar. This doesn't mean that we are not supposed to be prepared to go to war, physical war and fight and lose life and limb or shed blood if that's necessary.
But that's not what will establish a good life, a good community for Muslims. You only do that because you are forced to. A Muslim is never supposed to go the route of violence or killing if there is a peaceful way out. He's always supposed to be looking for the peaceful way out. His very name says that he's a peacemaker, a peacekeeper and a peace lover. A man that has chosen for himself the state of peace and it's called Muslim. And Muslimah for the woman. Yes, this is a Muslim. In his greetings all the time is peace. "Asalaam Alaikum. Asalaam Alaikum." His greeting is peace. And G-d has revealed to him, the words to Muhammad that one day He's going to bless him though he be lost, physically lost in the perishable nature of this world or with the perishable nature of this world. That G-d is going to give him another life. G-d is going to produce him over again just as he was before. Isn't that wonderful? G-d says it. When you wake up in that new state or open your eyes and become conscious in that new state, you are going to say, this looks like what we had before.
Oh, that's wonderful to look at my wife and she looking just like she did before. Look at my children and they look just like they did before. Look at my food. It looks just it did before. Look at my accommodations, my car. My home. Look just like it did before. Look at myself. I look just like I did before.
Oh, I got head and eyes and mouth, tongue and all that. Hands and legs and feet, stomach and digestive system, heart and all that, lungs and sex organ just like it was before. Oh man, I'm ready to go to that new life. It's going to be without all these troubles. It's going to be a new life, where we are going to have all the good things we had before. Isn't that wonderful? Yes, that's wonderful. That's something to work for and we should work to establish it on this earth and G-d will measure our work on this earth and reward us according to our work on this earth. Peace. Peace. We should be at peace, should want to stay in a state of peace and we should want to promote peace. And we should want as our goal, as our destiny, the state of peace. That means a peaceful nation. A peaceful international community, a peaceful society of men and women on this earth. And we should promote the standards of excellence that have been tested and approved down through the ages. The standards of excellence. G-d says to us "wa'mil bil ma'ruth" to command, order, instruct upon what? The known standards of excellence, bil maroof. The known standards of excellence for human beings.
Now if there are any other people, be they in a different political party, or a different race or a different ethnicity.
Or be they of a different nation. If they are trying to promote the standards of excellence, the known and tested standards of excellence tested over the long train of history, over the long ride of history, they have been tested and have been proven to stand up to hold up the life, the best life of man, family and nation. Then we should be also allies of those people. We should consider them our friends and our allies and we should work for their good future and for their good state, for their good future and they should also see us as their friend and allies and care about our present life, our present conditions and work for our good state and our good future. If a world develops like this brothers, we can defeat shaitan on this earth and that's what Allah wants for us. To defeat shaitan himself on this earth, defeat him on this earth. Allah says "And fight the schemes and machinations of shaitan. For surely his schemes, his plots, his schemes are weak, weak, not strong, weak." So, Allah, our G-d who made us and made the jinn that the shaitan came from. Yes, He made the jinn that the shaitan came from and He made us. He knows what we are capable of. He knows what the jinn shaitan is capable of. He knows both. And He tells us, don't underestimate what I made you. I have made you stronger than the shaitan. Fight his schemes for his schemes are weak.
His deceptions are mighty, his deceptions are powerful. The deceptions of shaitan are mighty, powerful. Yes, they are, but only if you don't see his deception in some kind of order or in some kind of formation. If you can put his deception in some kind of orderly arrangement, you will come up with his scheme, his plot, his scheming and his plot. His scheming is weak. Weak. Then you can meet him on the battlefield and you can defeat his scheme. Don't look for him. He's too elusive. He won't be there. You think he's there, you go to strike him there and you might strike your own brother or your own sister or your mother or your aunt or your grandfather. No, don't fight in that way. Don't look for him in his person. Look for him in his actions. Look for him in his influences. Look for him in his plots and his schemes. And fight his plots. Fight his schemes. Get him out of your neighborhood. Get him off your television. Establish a Muslim community and he won't have any place of comfort there I guarantee.
Now this brings us to another need. That is a need to share our professionalism with those who don't have it. We see an uneducated, industrious, hardworking Muslim woman or man, we see them struggling and trying. If we have professional knowledge and skills, let us organize a small service group that will give these skills, this knowledge and these skills to those who qualify among us that don't have them free of charge, free of charge. Don't charge them nothing. Say when you make plenty money and you start realizing some capital for investment, then remember your school, your Muslim school. Remember the poor children that need tuition. Donate something back to your school. Donate something back to the poor of your community. Help another brother like we helped you, help another sister like we helped you. But there should be men who will make enough money and are doing well enough to give in charity some of their time if it's no more than one hour a week. To have persons who need professional help come to them at their door or at the Masjid, or the school. The Imam will help you. The Imam will give you a place for this, some room somewhere so you can have this activity. Let them come there and get some professional help so they'll be more successful in their endeavors.
Also, an obligation is on us to work to get ourselves in a financial position where we can finance more of our own needs. We need fire insurance, we need auto insurance, we need loans. We need to be able to make loans to our people. We need health insurance for our teachers. Yes, we need a health plan for our Imams. Let us begin right with the staff of the schools and the staff of the Masjid. And let us ask the parents to come into the plan, all the parents that have their children in the school, all the parents of the community and the congregation that support the Imam and the Masjid. We want them all to come into the plan and let us see do we have enough people who are ready to participate in a healthcare plan to make it financially acceptable or feasible for us. Many church congregations, they're taking care of all the burial needs of their congregation. They're taking care of other financial needs of that congregation. Here we are Muslims with the stronger emphasis on charity, good business, sound business, investing and being responsible for your financial future. We have more emphasis on those concerns in our religion than you can find in any Bible or any other religious book.
How come we are not doing this more than they are? It's because we're ignorant and slow to move. Let's not be ignorant of what our religion ask of us and let's not be slow to move. Let us put faith in each other. Let's hold each other accountable and let's penalize each other for betraying the trust and we'll be successful and Allah will make us great. Our number one task today should be to give strong support to all our good business people who have proven that they care about the Mosque, they care about the Masajid, they care about the schools. They want our children to be educated, especially those who are in the young years and Muslim schools. Let us commit ourselves from the Imam on down to the least thought of person in the congregation, to support our good business people. That means you don't buy what he's selling from somebody else if he's selling it. You don't go to the other person for a service that this sister's offering. I know a sister in this area has got a nice dental plan. If I was here, I'd go have a look at my teeth just to look at her again and ask my wife to excuse me.
Now you ought to find beautiful people in business among you that you'd like to look at. Go give them your support.
With that number one task we have to include accumulating enough capital so that we'll be able to finance some of these needs that other people are financing and many times we can't even get them to approve our application. That concludes my talk and I hope that we will realize that great responsibility that's on every Muslim. That it's to not just live for myself personally, I have to make a contribution toward establishing Muslim neighborhoods so that we can realize community public life in its strong establishments. Financial establishments, cultural establishments, educational establishments, all these fine necessary structures of society. We have to prove capable of building them, raising them up and commanding a neighborhood of Muslims ourselves, and having that neighborhood respected not only by Muslims but by all the decent citizens and neighbors around us. Thank you very much. We pray to Allah always to increase our knowledge and understanding, to increase us in faith and in an endurance to make firm our stand for truth and proper worship and to grant us that He has promised to His Prophet, His Messenger and servant Muhammad, and to those who will follow him. Peace be upon you. As Salaam Alaikum.
Host (01:16:34):
As I mentioned earlier, we want to have a cultural fare following the public address. The cultural fair is going to take place right behind us. We certainly hope you all plan to join us for dinner and join all our Imams, including our Imam Wallace D. Mohammed with us. We are going to have Amber and Company perform during the cultural fair. We're going to have some other entertainers, some other persons with some of those experiences that we talked about earlier be with us at the dinner so make sure you get your ticket for that. That is going to take place in about 30 minutes, so we're going to give ourselves about 30 minutes before we start opening up. In the meantime, we're going to have our Imam talk to some of the press who have gathered here today. I want you to keep in mind that the brothers have passed out the survey. That survey is important that you take a few minutes to fill it out. If you would do that, that would give us some greater insights to the businesses and to the business opportunities that we have in our area. Also, we are going to ask that you remain seated for a few minutes as we want to make one more public election. We ask that you support us going forward
Imam WD Mohammed (01:19:06):
By the loss of their homeland and desperation to have a homeland again and to have Israel off their backs. I think they have deep scars. The people of government of Israel seem to me that they are leaving the hard liners behind them and they're bringing a new leadership to the forefront and this new leadership is less scarred by the Holocaust and other things that scarred the psychology of the Israeli people. And I think the Palestinians ought to do the same thing. They ought to bring their people forward who've either been able to rise above the hurt and miseries of their plight or those who have not been scarred so deeply. They should bring them to the forefront and they should give whatever help is needed to reform or at least keep those people who are dangerous from hurting innocent people, whether they be Israelis or anybody else. They should be working hard to deal with the serious problem. I think it's a serious problem of damage to the psychology on both sides.
TV Interviewer (01:20:40):
Is it because the primary focus is on domestic concerns right now that you didn't bring that up or this is something separate that's of a different concern?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:20:48):
Yes it is. It's because we want to not take away from the importance of our call for the local community of Muslims to strengthen their establishment.
TV Interviewer (01:21:10):
Imam, I know you had a plan to visit Israel and I know this particular bombing....
Imam WD Mohammed (01:21:14):
Yes, The situation there forced us to cancel that visit. Well it's not canceled really, it's postponed until circumstances permit us to make the visit.
TV Interviewer (01:21:27):
We were really looking forward to your going there.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:21:30):
Yes. In fact, I had two planned visits to Israel. One was with a big Protestant preacher Dr. Benton, B-E-N-T-O-N of Dallas, Texas and with Rabbi Haboan of Washington DC and myself. The three of us was supposed to go on a peace mission to the area and we were hoping that we would be able to visit the sites that are sacred to each of us. I was really counting on praying in the Mosque of the Dome in Jerusalem. And the other visit I had was a visit to participate in a colloquium on how religion has been used to promote nationalism and how it's misused to support terrorism. I was to participate in a colloquium at the Cultural Center, it's called, the Cultural Center is spelled S-A-P-I-R, I believe S-A-P-I-R. Sapir Center for Culture in Israel.
TV Interviewer (01:23:01):
When were you to have gone there?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:23:05):
Oh, between the 18th and the 20th of this month for three days. We were hoping to extend it to two more days after the 20th, so we would have about five days in Israel. We still hope to make that visit. If not this year, next year perhaps. I do have a plane to catch, so and they want me to go out to the, so if we can make it quick now I can still answer a few questions.
TV Interviewer (01:23:40):
I think you've answered the ones that I needed answered.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:23:43):
Well, thank you. It's good to see you again Sister Wangara. And your husband. Yes, your husband.
TV Interviewer (01:23:58):
Okay, thank you. Would you say that you have a strong base here on the East Coast? That was my next question.
(01:24:06):
Yes, it's very strong. Yes. I think we have overlooked the strength that we have here on the East Coast. We have never had a convention on the East Coast. We are having the first convention in New York. Well, It's in the state of New York. It's near New York City. It's in White Plains, New York.
(01:24:29):
That's in September, right?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:24:30):
That's right. And the following year I hear that there's a strong interest among the leaders to have the next one the following year, that'll be in 97, here in Newark.
TV Interviewer (01:24:46):
I would probably need to ask somebody, I don't know. Is it right to say there's about 800,000 Muslims in New York?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:24:55):
Do you mean active supporters? Yeah, active supporters. I would say it is pretty accurate to say there's about 70,000 active supporters. Right. That mean people who are daily making contributions to our efforts. Yes.
TV Interviewer (01:25:15):
And how about how many would you say were in the South Jersey, Philadelphia area?
Speaker 4 (01:25:20):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but when it comes to those who identify with the Muslims as our members in our association, I would say half of the African-Americans in Newark, at least. Maybe more. but their support here, I'm not sure. The Imam would have to answer that question. Yes.
TV Interviewer (01:25:51):
Thank you.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:25:54):
You're welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (01:25:56):
Always a blessing.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:25:57):
We looking forward to the April gathering.
(01:26:00):
The video is terrific on the business people.Yeah, I was surprised to see.... I didn't know that we had sp many people in business. So the association has been able to pull people together.
TV Interviewer (01:26:26):
Okay. Welcome to Mecca Communication at the International TV series. My name is Abdul Rahman Muhammad. We're here today with Brother Imam.
Camerman (01:27:25):
Sorry, will you start again please? Let's do it one more time.
(01:27:27):
Welcome to Mecca Communication. We are here today with Brother Imam, Warith D. Mohammed, National Spokesman for The American Muslim Mission. We'd like to thank you today for tuning in, and today we have Brother Imam, Warith D Mohammed. Brother Imam. Just have a few questions. I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to come on the airways and Mecca Communication to the national TV series. One of the questions that concerns a lot of the Muslims in the area and also concern the Muslims here and abroad is about Muslim unity. Is this something that you might want to expound to the Muslims as well as the non-Muslims on the importance of Muslim unity?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:28:08):
Yes. There's much I would like to say on Muslim unity and how we could realize more Muslim unity, but time won't allow, I think to say that Muslims need to know their religion better, would do more for Muslim unity then anything else I can think of. If we know our religion better, our religion is what brings us together as believers in G-d and followers of Muhammad the Prophet and people who are practicing the faith of the Qur'an, the religion and faith of the Qur'an. If we know more about the Qur'an, the message that G-d gave to Muhammad the Prophet. More about the life of Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and peace be on him, then we would be more conscious of our religion and our dos and don'ts for Muslims. And if we were more conscious of that and knew where the importance should be, I think we could have more unity.
(01:29:12):
But we live in a world as you know, a world that is filled with trouble, political trouble, and in Asia and far East and the Middle East, and we live with many people of America who are torn, pulled in different directions by the trouble that is in Kashmir. The trouble that is in Palestine, the trouble that is in Iraq and Iran and Libya, all these different troubles are really acting on us and kind of pulling us apart. Then we have different people who are Shi'as and some Sunnis and some Ahmadiyas and everything, and these divisions of Muslims also are pulling us apart. The thing that will bring us to realize more unity again, is for us to know better and plainly what is our religion.
TV Interviewer (01:30:05):
Okay. Okay. So what you're basically saying, it's important that we study more, we should try to find out more.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:30:10):
Yes and the obligation should be on our leaders, our religious leaders, to teach us the common teachings of Islam that are found in the Qur'an and in the life of our Prophet.
TV Interviewer (01:30:24):
You mentioned things that are going on abroad such as the situation in Palestine. And we see from the media today that doesn't really give us a very positive outlook in reference to the Muslims. We are being portrayed as terrorists. We're being portrayed as people that are trying to cause an uproar in society today. Can you just expound a little bit about what's going on in Palestine, maybe to some of the people in the audience in reference to what is this that's going on over there.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:30:55):
Yes. Yes. The non-Muslim public, they should be informed better of what developed in the area to bring about this hatred and this dislike for Israel's presence in the Middle East. As you know, since the 1947, Israel has been a state. It was not always a state in that area. It was given support by the European powers and by America to have that established there. But that's a reality now. The Jews always had a presence there and they should have been able to live in peace with each other as neighbors. But it so happened that there was a great number of Jews that were suffering very monstrous cruelties in Europe and Germany and in other places in Poland and other places, and they needed a place that they could go and many were accepted in America. But the idea of having a homeland for themselves in the Middle East and Israel and Jerusalem and in the area there was given support by the European nations and by the United States of America. And that was realized. So if the non-Muslim public have more knowledge of what developed there and how the Palestinians have had to suffer the same that the Jews suffered, that is the loss of their homes, the loss of their farms, the loss of their land, the loss of their nation. When the whole picture is seen, I think we can have more, I would say, sympathy for desperate Palestinians who are driven by madness to do these terrorist acts. I'm not excusing them. They can't be excused. They have to be stopped.
TV Interviewer (01:32:56):
Right, Okay. I understand.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:32:57):
Yes.
TV Interviewer (01:32:58):
That's very enlightening because we see today, like I said earlier, that we're being portrayed in this negative light here. And I would like to thank you for that knowledge there because it is letting our non viewing audiences realize also that there's a need for some of these things that's going on there and there's a purpose behind it. We are here today Alhamduillah at the Meadowlands Convention Center with the Imam, WD Mohammed. I'd like to ask you about the Islamic focus that's coming into this area here. Would you like to expand a little bit about that?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:33:30):
Yes, we are very, I am personally very excited about the future growth potential for the Newark and New York East coast area. You are well aware that during the more exciting days of the Nation of Islam, when Malcolm was representing the HonorableElijah Muhammad and trying to help build the Nation of Islam, that New York was a very, I would say, active part of the country for Islam, for Muslims in Islam. Well, we think that we have done a disservice to really to ourselves by not having a National Convention on the East Coast. They have never been, even in the time of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and Honorable Elijah Muhammad, there was no National Convention on the East Coast despite the fact that most of the members, the great numbers were concentrated on the East Coast. I don't know if that's true today or not. I don't think that's true today, but it was true back then. So now we want to bring the Convention to the New York area. The Convention, National Convention will be in White Plains, New York, and there is a growing interest among the leaders to have the next year, 97, the Convention in Newark. If that happens, I think we can gain a lot what we've lost, a lot of what we lost here on the East Coast.
TV Interviewer (01:35:01):
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. Is there a date or a certain date? Do you have a date yet when this will take place here in this area?
Imam WD Mohammed (01:35:08):
Yes. It will be during the Labor Day weekend. The main days will be the Saturday and Sunday and Monday I believe of that Labor Day weekend. In White Plains, New York.
TV Interviewer (01:35:24):
Good, good.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:35:25):
The environment is beautiful.
TV Interviewer (01:35:27):
Beautiful environment.
Imam WD Mohammed (01:35:28):
Yes, very natural, beautiful, natural environment there in White Plains. Everybody will love it, I'm sure.
TV Interviewer (01:35:33):
So that would help us also, what we talked about earlier with the Muslim unity,
Imam WD Mohammed (01:35:37):
It should help Muslim unity. Whenever Muslims come together, they should present themselves in their best form and that will help Muslim unity.
TV Interviewer (01:35:47):
We'd like to thank Brother Imam, Warith D. Mohammed for being here with us today. I'm your host for today. My name is Abdul Rahman Muhammad. We'd like to pray to Allah that you'll continue to tune in to Mecca Communications International TV series. And we'd like to thank you and continue to watch. Asalaam Alaikum.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam. Thank you.
TV Interviewer:
Great opportunity. Thank you so much Brother Imam.
Imam WD Mohammed:
It's been my pleasure.



