00/00/2000
IWDM Study Library 
At Temple Univ. - Philadelphia PA

Speaker 1:
Imam WD Mohammed, the Muslim American spokesman for human salvation. Imam WD Mohammed speaks.
IWDM:
Thank you. As-Salaam Alaykum. Praise be to Allah. We witness that there is only one G-d. And we witness that Muhammad is the last Prophet to whom the Quran was revealed. And we wish peace and the blessings, mercy and blessing of G-d be with you all and with us. We trust the one Lord Creator with our efforts and we know that our efforts will not produce the results that we want if those efforts are not favored by the One Lord, Allah.
So I have been asked to address the topic Islam, it's past, present, and future. I would like to first, before going into my presentation, I would like to first again, acknowledge the warm welcome, the genuine hospitality, and the great compliments that are very encouraging to us. Our spirit has been lifted because of the way we have been received here on this campus, Temple University, by the Department of Religion and now also by the Vice President, Dr. White.
When we think of Islam past, present, and future in America, the question of its treatment in America and its progress... the progress of its activities... in America come...comes before us. There are many things that we would like to say about the history of Islam in America, how Islam has developed here and how Islam has fared in America. I recall during the very early years of our awareness of Islam in America. Later on, I may say Al-Islam. In our texts of our Holy Book, it's Al-Islam, but Islam is a...is a way, popular way, the common way, of referring to the religion so I'm saying Islam. Al-Islam just makes it more definite, what we're talking about. The "Al" makes it more definite (laughing) what we are talking about.

I recall, the, I would say, the treatment of Islam. I'm going to keep with that expression. I recall the treatment of Islam but really it was the treatment of Muslims more than the treatment of Islam in the very early years that I'm entertaining right now or looking at right now. I recall us being looked upon as strange, very strange people and I recall the treatment of Muslims in literature, the treatment of Muslims in the entertainment media, movies, cartoons that appeared in the newspapers, and I can, I can tell you that we were not liked in America. Muslims were not liked in America. And during those early years when I was young boy, and even during my teenage years, there was no such thing as any Islam...Islamic presence in America except as it was seen and as it was happening inside of that group that later came to be called Black Muslims. When we, when we look for the presence of Islam outside of that group that came to be called Black Muslims, during my childhood and even during my teenage years, you can't hardly find it.

We know Islam did have a presence here because we know there was a migration to this country from Muslim lands and there was nationalized citizens here of...of Arab, of the Arab people and other nationalities. But their presence was not known. The atmosphere, the treatment, of Islam, I guess, frightened them from, from, making themselves visible in the American society. So occasionally, we would meet a Muslim who was an Arab, or who was an African or an Asian, and they would acknowledge to us that they were Muslims. But most of the time they would acknowledge it in a way that would tell us, "Keep it quiet. Be quiet. You know, keep it quiet. Bless you, brother. Bless you, brother. See you later." They would be on their way.

There was a group that was active, but again, their presence was not visible in the United States. That group was called the Ahmadi Muslims. Ahmadi Muslims. They began, in a place called Qadian in, what was then India. I don't know whether Qadian is still a part of India or a part of Pakistan. The Muslims won a state, as you know, many of you know, in 1947, I believe. The...they won statood. And many Indians that were Muslims now are no more called Indians, they're called Pakistanis; the state... the state was named Pakistan, Pakistan.

That group of Qadianees, got their start from a man that the Qadianees believed to be a prophet...to be a prophet. His name is Ghulam Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. His group, from my understanding... and when I say from my understanding, I mean an understanding that I have arrived at upon study and contact with those people... from my understanding his group is divided in mainly two, two sections. One of those groups, the extreme group, is the extreme group that claimed that Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet and they see him as a prophet and it... It means big trouble for...for the Muslim community when it comes to us accepting them. We can't accept them.

The other...the other group, most the Muslims did not accept them either because they don't say...they in fact, they say he's not a prophet. They say Ghulam Ahmad is not a prophet. He was not a prophet and they claim he never said he was a prophet, but I have seen his...his works, I have seen his literature. He did give the people that idea that he was a prophet. He definitely did that. But so, but they don't like to say that. I think in their hearts they want to be straight Muslims and many of them recently... when I say recently, I mean in the last 10 to 15 years...many of them have really stopped even identifying themselves of Ahmadis. I'm saying this because I do have a sensitivity for them, because they were active in America, in the African American community, or in the ghetto of the "Blacks"...quote, "Black" in quotations... they were active when nobody else was, when nobody else was. They were active. And they were trying to convert to...convert us to Islam. But their efforts were, they're efforts didn't spread. Their efforts didn't grow that much so their presence was not known.

And again, our group, we like to refer to our group now as a group, as association, an association and not as an organization or something like that. It was once that, but now we are not an organization. The organization is the International Body of Muslims. That's the organization I belong to. I belong to the organization of one billion people. I do have some small organizations that I belong within that great organizations, but they are not organizations that are separate from that. They're only instruments in that big body, such as Rabita and a few other World Muslim League and a few others, you know. That's the only organizations that I belong to.

And, yeah, now for our group, too, we, we remain kind of out of sight but because, I'm a member, I'm a former member of that group called the Lost Foundation of Islam, Nation of Islam, I'm aware of great activities. To me, we had a great presence, even during the '40s, up during, up to the middle '50s when we had no visibility. There was no visibility for us. People only knew us who the,,, who were in our immediate... immediate surroundings. You know, they only knew about us. They said, "Yeah, those Muslims." And many time our people were more afraid of us than the whites. Our own African American brothers and sisters were often more afraid of us than the...than the white devils. We called them white devils, you know, back then.

I remember my mother walking out in the public with me, I was a young boy. She would take me on the trolley. We would take the trolley and go shopping. She would take me shopping, sometime all the way downtown. And, I would notice how she was looked at. They would be looking at her as though she was a strange thing from outer space or something or from the deep recesses of the earth, you know. Then we were not too much aware of outer space, you know. That actually came from the deep recesses of the earth or something and popped up all of a sudden. They would be looking at her so strangely and when they learned that she had a different name, right away I saw dislike on their faces, and I mean our own people as well as the whites.

So, this is the past. I'm talking about the, the past now; past, present, and future. Insha'Allah, we'd talk about that. I'm talking about the past. That was the past for us and that past... I mentioned the Crusades in the very beginning. To me, that past, that treatment of Islam, that treatment of Muslims... because Islam had not yet become visible, had not yet become an expression or a concern in the public's mind. The treatment of Muslims was brought about by the Crusades, and you who have some knowledge of world history, I'm sure you're aware of the Crusades, wars that were repeated for centuries to give dominance to one or the other, either to the Muslims or Muslim world or to the Christian world. Many times, it wasn't the whole Muslim world that was responsible for the... for...for their part the, in the...in the battle or the struggle. It was just a part of the Muslim world. But because a part of the Muslim world got involved, the rest of the Muslim world had to come to the side of the, of that Muslim nation or that particular Muslim element that initiated the war, initiated the war.

The Muslims were never... When you study the whole Crusades, the Muslims were never the aggressors. Muslims were never the aggressors. The Muslims were attacked first. Their war was retaliation. But later you know, always there...there causes other than the pure cause and people come in under those other causes and it's identified with the pure cause or original cause, you see. So, you will find that Muslims had political problems, political issues, and all of that is disguised under the Crusades: supposed to be the war between the cross and the crescent. But all of that wasn't a problem of the cross and the crescent, or Islam and Christianity. Much of it was just political wars, wars for material dominance, wars for...for material conquest, brought on by fear that they would lose power, lose wealth, lose resources, lose commercial opportunities, etc., etc., but it was always done in the name of jihad, holy war, crusade, the Crusades.

The name crusade is not a Muslim name. Muslims never called the wars crusade. That name is given by the Christians, the Christian side. That tells you right there, the name alone tells you that there was a commitment by the Christians to fight Muslims, "crusade", to fight Muslims. The fear came about because Islam spread so fast, during the lifetime of the Prophet and after. Spread so fast it reached into Spain and a great, great civilization emerged in Spain and the Spanish people on the whole welcomed it. It couldn't have stayed there for 500, really for 700... for 700 years. That's a long time. We have only been a nation on this continent for a little over 200 years. We have been present here for many more years than that, for, for, for more centuries than that, but we have only been a nation here... United States of America, has only been here for a little over 200 years. We talking about five centuries of progress for Muslims with non-Muslims, Christians, and even Jews. The Jews write themselves that there...that there were progress and good opportunities for the Jews under the Muslims of Spain. They worked together. They cooperated together and great progress was made. That's the best side of it and that's the important side of it (laughing).

Now let's come back to the United States because we're talking about America. We're come back to America now. Something happened to bring Muslims visible... to make Muslims visible in American public. No one can deny that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his supporters were responsible for Muslim visibility in America. No one can deny that. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad returned from prison. He refused the draft and his followers also refused the draft. He was, he was given five years... five years sentence. He served about four years of that sentence, count...counting the time he spent in local jails and the time that he spent in Milan, Michigan Federal Correction, Federal Correction Institution. He spent about four years in prison. While he was in prison, I guess he had time to really look at his works and look at his followers and he decided that he was going to come out with a new emphasis, new emphasis. Not a changed message. He didn't change the message, but he came out with a new emphasis. The emphasis up until the time... I'm talking about he was released around 1947, I believe, 1947. He was imprisoned in '41. He was released in '47, early '47, it was I believed, when he, when he released. He started serving his, his prison term, I believe, in late '41 or early '42.

Yeah, so he returned, when he returned, he was anxious and very excited and he was impatient with the leaders in his organization, or in the Nation of Islam, and he told them, he said, "We can't stay locked up in these small places anymore." He said, "We have to make our, our brothers Muslim, the Black brothers and sisters, the Christians, we have to let them know that we're here." He said, "So we want to get better places to teach in." Up to that time we didn't own any of the places we had our meetings in. They were not owned by us, they were rented, and most of time no one would rent to the Muslims other than Masons, Shiners. They would rent their halls to us. So, most of the time we had the meetings in their halls. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said we have to change all that.

Before he was even released, he insisted that he have a home, not stay in apartment. Up to that time we were staying in apartment houses. He insisted that he have a home. His followers were few but they were very, very strong as they are, as they are now bind me. They're still strong like that. In no time they had less than a year, they had saved up enough money to buy him a home. That's a big deal back there for poor people. I mean, poor people, most of them didn't even have decent factory jobs. No, they didn't. Most of them were domestic workers. They were mopping floors for white folks, cleaning a house for white folks, doing things of the domestic nature, doing jobs of domestic nature or they were selling rags, junk. Yes. There were junk men. We called them junk men. Junk men were popular back then, very popular. You could hear the junk man coming through the neighborhood. He'd call out, "Rags! Rags here!" You know, so it was very popular. Just like he hollered, "Rags! Rags!" You bring your junk out to him. Well, many of those brothers that made it possible for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's family to be taken care of, and believe me, we were taken care of but we ate just like the poorest of the Muslims.

I remember eating meat, and that was only chicken, once a week. That was on Sunday. And we ate fish once a week. That was Friday or Saturday. All the other days of the week we didn't expect anything unless it was some gravy or some something or some juice that was left off the meat of the, off the last weekend, that we had on the weekend. Maybe the flavor of it would be in the greens or on the rice or something. Yeah, and... and that's the way, that's the way we lived and we were happy. We were happy. See, if you pleased, if you pleased with your state of mind, your body can suffer a lot and it won't take away your happiness. So that...that...that's, we fared very well. We didn't think, I don't see that as a bad time. (Laughing) It was a bad time, you know, in certain respects, but bad time for my soul? No. For my soul, I see it was a good time. Yeah.

So, when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad came out and changed the emphasis from secrecy, secrecy. That's what it was. It was really secrecy. We would meet in the Temples, or in the Fruit, on Fruit night, the MGT, the women would meet on MGT night, Muslim Girl Training night, and they would read the secret lessons, read the secret lessons. Often, we were meeting in houses. Couldn't even have a place to meet in homes, homes of a person. It'd be 25 people, sometimes 30, 40 people, inside of a home, and I mean a small home. Sometimes you couldn't hardly see. I remember a home on Vernon, the light was by kerosene light. Can you believe that? In Chicago when I was boy, kerosene light. I guess you can believe because they still had horse-drawn, milk wagons (laughing), and a horse dung up and down the streets. That's right. You see, you know, we see, we look at the modern city now we think that's way back there. Believe me, I saw that. That was, that was Chicago when I was a boy, and I mean a big boy because I was 12 years old or so, at least 12 years old. That was the condition.

So, we would meet in the, this dark places, dark homes, a lot of us, and hear the teachings, hear the lessons, and we had to memorize the lessons, we recite the lessons, had to show you knew those lessons by reciting them from memory. And, and the Minister would teach, about the end of the world coming, the white man's world is finished, it's doomed, and tell us all about the Buck Rogers light ship that's going to come called a "Mother Ship" space, outer space and get us and rescue us. The whole of America was going to be set on fire and burn for centuries you know, and take a few more centuries to cool off. And, and hear some things that would stretch our imagination, man, and hold us until we came to the next meeting. You know, something like the Earth weights six sextillion tons, you know, and the square inches of the Earth; 190,208,581,824,000,000, and run it all down until the end, you know. I say, good G-d almighty. You know, and the new converts, only names they heard was Joe Smith and John Brown and that and Ted and that, and then they learned the name, the Muslim name, "Khala Mullah". Thirteen letters he'd have to work with even to spell it, you know. So, it's stretching our imagination, really stretching our imagination, and entertaining our, our thoughts 24 hours a day.

So, because of that, the gravity to pull on us was so strong we remained there. It wasn't only because of the sense of pride that was given to us. It was also the fascination with great numbers and big complicated ideas and thoughts. Yes, that held us. But I think during the '60s... well, late '50s and '60s... a new mind came about and it was because of the changed emphasis, the emphasis on material progress, material progress. ... I remember the first business that was opened by the Nation of Islam in Chicago on a street called Wentworth, Wentworth Avenue. Still there. 31st and Wentworth. Store was opened up and then right next door a restaurant was opened up, and I'm talking about 1949, 1949, '48 perhaps. There was a '48. Store and a restaurant were opened up.

Soon we had our own place on 824, 824 East 43rd Street in Chicago. Our own building. Do you know what that building was before it was made a Temple? To let you know how Muslims were welcomed. Now you know we would've found a better place if we could have. It was a, a, a dog, animal welfare house. Dogs, dogs were kept in that building. And the brothers had to go in there and clean that place and clean and clean and clean until the dog smell was out of there. And they painted it up nice. It became so nice. We had our meetings there and we began to progress, grow and progress.

Began to get more numbers and make progress with the restaurant and the grocery and the plan for more businesses and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad insisting that the Ministers get out of, get off the rostrum and get out there and talk to the people. Up until that time, they thought all they were supposed to do is stay at home and then time come to have the meeting, the Minister would come out with a Bible and a Holy Quran on his left arm. Two big books on his left arm. He would walk up to the speaker stand and he open the meeting, he would give his talk, he would close it, go back home until the next meeting. That was it. He was not visible out in the public... a public. Didn't want visibility out there. They would meet privately, or secretly almost, with a non-Muslim to tell him about Islam, what we were calling Islam.

Now , I don't know if we...we accept this, but Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, he's talking about us in his late book and he says, to describe what we were back then, he says, calls it, ...pardon me, calls it, ... "PROTO", P-R-O-T-O, "Proto-Islamic Black Nationalism." Proto-Islamic Black Nationalism. Now I don't know where he got that idea from. He could've got it from some teachings of Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Or...or something that he heard from the Muslims might've given him that, that expression. ...but I know I refer to it as, ... a Black Nationalist, "Black Nationalist", a Black Nationalist group, whose spirit and soul was religion. And it was given the name Islam and they were made to feel a...a...an identity with Muslims. And much of this language was from Islam. But to say it was Islam, I know some of you all don't, won't like to hear that. We didn't have Islam. We did not have Islam and that's what we have to accept.

When you say a man is G-d, you don't have Islam. When you say somebody else is the prophet of the Quran and not the real Prophet of history, Muhammad. Muhammad is no myth. Prayers and Peace be Upon Prophet Muhammad. He's no myth. He's no fiction. He is real in the history of... of all people. He is real. For all historians, he's real. He's real for Muslim historians. He's real for non-Muslim historians. This is fact of history. So, and, , people who say a man is G-d and, , somebody else other than Muhammad is the Prophet and, , the Holy... the Holy Book is written by man every 25,000 years, both Quran and Bible, we can't...that's not Islam. That's farther from Islam than the... than the teachings that you'll hear in a church from a Christian minister. That's farther from Islam than the teaching you will hear in a church from Christians ministers.

So, I know no matter how sentimental we are about that, I'm sentimental too. Don't you know I'm the son of the leader? I'm the son of Elijah Muhammad? And I owe my whole life and my, and my, and my growth and my, , presence now and support that I'm getting with you, I owe that to that past history. So, don't you think I'm sentimental too? You got a cancer, you be crying. Cut it out. Take it out, doc. Bad tooth? Abscess. You be crying. Take it out, doc. Yeah. So, when you find something that's killing you, it's bad for you, it's not what you want, you have to separate from it. You be shedding tears. Don't think I didn't boo-hoo. I boo-hooed some. Some of you all haven't even cried and you dislike me telling the truth. I have cried while I had to face the truth, shed tears, real tears, because I had to face the truth and do what I had to do and I knew it was going to hurt many people even in my family and others, you know. But you have to do what you have to do to save your life and that's what that was about, saving our life.

Now, , so we got a new visibility. The next thing that happened in our, in our experience here to give presence to Muslims in America, was the coming of Malcolm Little, who changed, whose name was changed to Malcolm X, and later he came to be called Malcolm Shabazz. He heard about the teachings from his brother, who was, who was either the principal of the school in, , the University of Islam, the elementary and high school in, , in , Detroit. If he wasn't the principal of the school there, he was the Minister, but he started... he started... he started out first as a principal. He joined the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's following. Later he became a principal of that school in Detroit and then after that he became Minister of the Temple in Detroit. I don't know if he was still the principal or if he had become the Minister, but he went and talked to his brother, Brother Wilfred, Minister Wilfred, Brother Wilfred. Went and talked to his brother, Malcolm, who was doing his, serving his time in prison. And he told him about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm became so excited. Wilfred came to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he told him about Malcolm, how excited he was over this teaching. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was thrilled to know that his brother was so excited about the teaching and Wilfred told him, say, "He's got a sharp mind, he's got a sharp mind and he's full of energy."

, so , the Honorable Elijah Muhammad invited him, upon his release, to come to him. When he came to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he impressed Honorable Elijah Muhammad so much. He had studied in prison and he already knew more about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad than most Ministers. He knew more about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's work than most Ministers and he, he had a way of... of a... of a...of a relating what he saw as the greatness of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to others that was different from the way that other Muslims had been given the message of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad or relating that message to other people. So right away, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad made him Minister. He... he didn't come from...from prison and jump... No, he came right from prison and it was in no time he was Minister. He was made Minister.

He brought something new to us. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was encouraging that among his Ministers but he wasn't getting... wasn't getting the results he wanted. He was encouraging the Ministers to get out and face the African American people and introduce them to the religion and bring them to the Temple. He was telling them that and to do things in a bigger way, said, "Don't...don't be afraid to... to..., face this world head on." Say, "We got the superior message." Well, that young man, Malcolm, he believed it. He came down... he came, I mean, he had faith in himself that he could represent the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in that way. Not that the other Ministers didn't believe, I believe they all were sincere. Practically every Minister was sincere. Malcolm came out and , his message was, "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is our Moses. He's a man like Moses. The white world is the Pharaoh... the Pharaoh and Honorable Elijah Muhammad is our Moses." That was his message and he would preach that and he could do an excellent job.

, soon the membership began to swell. More and more people were attracted to, to the... to the membership. , he was very active in getting a Ministers team of...team of Ministers together, so as he began to increase the numbers on the east coast, right there in New York, in Harlem, he brought about a desire in Detroit, Chicago, other places, to, to meet his challenge. He would challenge everybody. He would challenge the Ministers; say, "Look, I'm going to have a bigger Fruit than you. I'll have a bigger Fruit than you." Fruit" means men: F.O.I. Fruit of Islam, that's what the men were called...called. He said, "I'm going to have a bigger Fruit than you." He would challenge them and he would challenge, he challenged them to produce for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and for the Nation of Islam. That was his interest. He wasn't challenging them so that he would prove himself superior to them, or more effective than them. No. He was challenging them to increase the works, the progress, the message, and the works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He was very skillful. He had his own kind of a... a brilliant mind, a brilliant way of dealing with things, and...and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad soon realized a much greater following, a much greater following, because of that.

That following had been influenced by a Minister of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that identified with the youth. He identified with all the members but he identified more with the youth and he was excited to know what are the young brothers, He was...he was curious to know, "What are young brothers doing?' Say, "How come you are not helping the Honorable Elijah Muhammad?" See, and we never had Ministers talk to us that way. Ministers just came out and did the teaching and preached the message but they never showed any personal, real personal interest in us as a... as an age group, as teenagers, and young men. Malcolm did that. Pretty soon Honorable Elijah Muhammad had hundreds and soon thousands of Brothers out on the streets in the public, visible, selling the Muhammad Speaks, the newspaper called "Muhammad Speaks".

Umm, , that, that was one thing that gave us visibility, but I don't think we would've ever been given the visibility that we got, the, the exposure that we got where a whole nation knew about us, the whole Nation of America came to know about us. , if it wasn't for the Civil Rights Movement, the "Civil Rights Movement". That activity during the '60s of the Civil Rights Movement that had America in a lot of trouble, made them want to give visibility to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Nation of Islam, in hopes that the ranks of the aggressive African American would be, would be divided. This is my interpretation of that.

So, they were successful. They gave visibility to the Nation of Islam to show that all Blacks or all Negroes, because you know, as Dr. C. Eric Lincoln also says in his new book, it's because of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, Malcolm, that we were no longer called the Negroes but were called Black. And that's a fact. We were called Negroes and even when we weren't, we weren't called Black we never referred to each other as Negroes. We would say "so-called negro". That's what we had in our language, our lessons, "so-called Negroes". We never accepted to be Negroes, "so-called negro" and later Black. And, we were called Black in the lessons, the "Original Black Man," "Original Black Man". So that language came to us in the very beginning of the, organization or the movement called Black Muslims. Came to us in the very beginning. We are the "Original Black Man". That's what we were told, yeah.

Now, with the civil rights upheavals, we were no longer invisible in the United States. And I believe Mike Wallace was the first one to give us visibility in the United States. And he... he put it the right way. He said, "The hate that hate produced." In other words, he was saying, "These people are reacting to something real in America," and that is hate for Blacks or hate for Negroes. Yeah, so he said, "that hate that hate produced." And um, we didn't like that expression but, as I've... as I've grown and thought about it, I said to myself, "He was, he was putting us in the right way and he was, we...we...we should, we should, like...like him for that... that he put it that way. We should like him for that. I think the Honorable Elijah Muhammad liked him. I know my father; I knew my father. I'm his son. You know, I was his son, I am his son, so I knew him. And I knew that all the time that he was expressing anger and bitterness he was not always really feeling it in his heart. He was creating an effect that he wanted to create. "That Mike Wallace! Ha. That Mike Wallace! Ha. Mike Wallace, my Allah, have something for you." (Laughing) But you know, I knew my father and I could tell that really he was, he was happy that Mike Wallace had introduced him to the world (laughing) and made it... made it a little softer than he could've, than he could've made it by saying the hate that hate produced, you know.

But the difficulties we had with that, with that expression, "the hate that hate produced", we didn't see ourselves as haters. We didn't see ourselves as people hating anybody. We didn't even hate the devil. We hated his works, his deeds, but we didn't really hate him. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was very skillful to make us see white people as the devil but not hate them individually. Many of us had to work for white folks and we did work for white folks. We worked for white folks and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "Give them an honest day's work. Don't cheat 'em". And he said, "Don't... don't, mistreat them and become like them. Don't steal from them. They robbed you, don't rob them." So, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the way he carefully dealt with that problem... and it was a problem, it was a very serious problem, very explosive thing. The way he dealt with it; he didn't make us hate whites. He made us hate the devil in whites and made us hate the white race, or dis-reject the white race. We didn't even hate the white race. He made us reject the white race because of them being devils but not to mistreat individuals among them. No, but to treat them according to their treatment of us, how they treated us.

So though that language was very dangerous, very explosive, and very dangerous language, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the way he dealt with it, didn't create a people full of hate. We were not full of hate. That angry image of ours in the '60s, especially during the middle '60s, that angry image of ours was faked! It was faked so that the world would look at us. We wanted the world to look at us and know that we, that we ain't going to take no more stuff. So, the Captains were mostly responsible for making the Fruit have the expression that said, "We ain't going to take no more of that. You ain't dealing with a boy any more. You're dealing with an angry man." So, they would, they would work up that expression on their brothers and carefully use a psychology on them to disarm them as they left (laughing). They would sit out in the street and they didn't have their weapons any more. Their weapons were taken off before they went out of the door, you know. We talking about something that's, that's amazing. What the Honorable Elijah Muhammad achieved with the help of Malcolm X and Ministers before him, and there were other Ministers, too, that did a wonderful, great job... and the Captains and the Officials, the Secretary staff, what was accomplished is an amazing thing. Very amazing thing.
Now you notice I haven't talked about Fard, Fard. I've talked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Why, for this presentation, I haven't talked Fard? Because under Fard we had no visibility. When we would talk about Islam in America; we can't talk about Fard. We have to talk about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his works. That's what gave visibility to Muslims in America.
I'm coming now from the '60s, no, no, no, pardon me. I'm not coming from the '60s. I'm coming from those developments that I've referred to and brought it up to the '60s the end of, '60's during the '60s, through the '60s. But now I will refer to another development that I believe is greatly responsible for change, change in the treatment, change in the treatment of Islam and Muslims in America and also responsible for the growth of Islam in the African American following, and in the, ... the ... citizens the , population, the citizens of America, or in the membership, , the population of America. That is the emergence of independent, or new Muslim state. It's very significant in understand the growth of ... Islam and Muslims in the awareness of the American people.

I believe Pakistan was one of the first states to gain independence, Muslim states. Egypt was not, not long before Egypt gained its independence. See we're not talking about something be...out of our time. This happened during my lifetime. I was a young man, when, I was a Fruit, I was a solider in the Temple, in the Nation of Islam, when Egypt got its independence and I know how we were so impressed with Abdel Nasser, who was the President of Egypt. And he was a strong man. He wasn't a weak man. He was a strong man. ... he came out from under colonial domination and, before long he was even, , starting to build his own cars. Egypt was working on their cars, having their own automobiles. ... he was challenging the West, challenging Israel and the West. He had the...had courage to actually fight Israel...Israel in, I think, two wars or more. Two wars. I know two. Two wars.

, that impressed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and it impressed the members of the Nation of Islam. It impressed us that here is a Muslim man, on the Continent of Africa...with his own Nation making progress and having a voice in the world, or at least in the news of the world. That impressed us. Honorable Elijah Muhammad was so impressed he actually visited President Nasser in Egypt. He was given an audience with President Nasser in Egypt. So, when he came back, when our leader came back, Elijah Muhammad, born in Sandersville, Georgia, never got no more than three years or more elementary education, was not taught to read, write, work...do math, and etcetera. Learned it all on his own. He had a brilliant mind. He learned it on his own. He learned how to read on his own. He learned all, everything on his own. That man, our leader, with a following that you hardly could find a college graduate, during that time you couldn't hardly find them anywhere. I... We had only a very few college graduates. Very few. Most of them were just maybe, the average level was maybe, seventh grade, elementary school. That was the average level. And very few gone above high school. Very, very few.

Now, that man comes from back, from Egypt, from the Continent of Africa. See, we thought Nasser as an African, from the Continent of Africa, come back, and he is an African... he was an African, he was. He identified as that. They are Africans. But you know, when we say Africans, we mean a Black man like us, you know, not an Arab. We didn't see him as an Arab. We saw him as a Black man. So, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad comes back now from having an audience and being welcomed as an honored guest by the President of Egypt, Abdel Nasser, the strong man. We didn't talk much about it but you can imagine what kind of vibrates went through us.

So, the presence, the emergence of independent states had a lot to do with the growth of Islam in America. Had a lot to do with it. It made us feel freer and have more courage to come out in the public and deal with the problems. Nasser and a few others, but not only Muslim, also some non-Muslims. Their coming into independence also made us feel very proud, feel... feel... feel confident that we can do and achieve what we want. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's message was becoming, for us, something that we didn't have to keep quiet about or keep a secret, but something that we could bring out and meet the world with it, come out and meet the world with it. And that's what, exactly what happened. Don't think some of the sharp Ministers didn't capitalize on the emergence of new, independent Muslim states. Some of the Ministers, we had a lot of sharp Ministers and they would capitalize on that (laughing). Well, he made us very proud. And, ..., I'm not going to name all of them but, ... you...you know the, the ones that came forward and got recognized.

Pretty soon, in time, in a matter of years, in a matter of a few years, we were seen on television, the United Nations session, and all those Muslim nations represented there. They had a great impact on us and is responsible, and, ... and, ...and, and in real significant measure, responsible for the growth of Islam in America. So that's when Islam began to have a presence in America. It was during the, , '60s. It was first got its presence from the, from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his supporters, from their work, , and later the emerging Nations of Islam, the, , Muslims, gave ... , presence to Islam... Muslims, Muslims is not Islam. To Muslims in the conscience or in the awareness of American people.

..., now is, something, something else happened very recently and that, that is what has brought Islam to have a presence in America. Only very recently. What is that? ... the death of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the... and the rise of his son, I like to speak of him as though he's somebody else now, his son, WD Mohammed into the Leadership. When I came, yes. When I came into the Leadership with your support, I never would've gotten there without you. When I came into the Leadership with your support, then Islam began to have a presence in America because we went from putting emphasis on the dress of a Muslim, to putting emphasis on the substance of the Muslim life. We went to the Quran, made the Quran supreme in our lectures, in our propagation efforts and everything, and we went to Muhammad and identified Muhammad as the Prophet, the last Prophet, and the Prophet of the Quran.

And we did something that, again, made tears come on the cheek. We brought the Honorable Elijah Muhammad down from where he never should've been, from prophet of Islam to a terrific, social reform man. A man that did wonders with us as a social reform man, reforming our social life, reforming how we look at each other, reforming how we act with each other, how we... how we act with each other, reforming how we behave with each other, reforming how we ..., died with each other, (laughing). Reforming how we have fun with each other. He reformed us socially, reforming how we look at ourselves, and each other, bringing about respect for us , to our women and respect from our women to us, you know, and making us feel that we don't have any identity crisis any more, that we a social unit with dignity, equal to the dignity of any other people or better. So, he was a... he was a... he was a great, great social reform teacher, he was successful in doing that.

That's not taking anything, anything away from Fard, who was his... who was the person who conceived, Fard conceived the idea for the Nation of Islam, for the University of Islam, for the FOI, for the MGT, for the strategy to bring Blacks to that teaching. Fard is the one who came with the concept. He conceived the idea and gave the concept and also worked for about three years with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, other Ministers, and other Officers of the Nation of Islam, all converted from African American community, African American ghetto in Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. He also went to Milwaukee. The man went to three cities while he was with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Yeah, so, not to take anything away from him... away from him, but it's a fact that we did not have visibility as people, as members, as Muslim, , until the Honorable Elijah Muhammad came out with new emphasis. He took the emphasis from secrecy, from learning the lessons, from being excited about this new world of knowledge. He took the emphasis from that to really making some material progress for ourselves in America and reaching, being more effective in reaching more of our brothers and sisters in attracting them to the message. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad did that, and so he gave us visibility, so he established the Nation of Islam himself. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his work established the Nation of Islam.

Now, so much for that part. Let's come back to where we are now and that is Islam having visibility. What has enabled us now, since I brought us away from the show of a Muslim, the dress of a Muslim, not that we didn't have... the nature of a Muslim and the love of a Muslim. We had that. We had the nature of a Muslim, we had the love of a Muslim, but we didn't have the practices, the concepts, and the practices of a Muslim. We didn't have it.

So, what helped us? What helped my time? I don't even like to say my Leadership. It's our Leadership. What hap...what helped my time? What helped my time, too, were developments outside of us; developments in the outer, in the outer circle helped me. Egypt, again, it's President, but not the strong man who was meeting the West and clashing with the West, but it was a moderate man: Sadat. He helped us. How did he help us? He made America like him. He made America like him. America liked Sadat. ... we don't know it but Morocco has always been a quiet friend of the United States of America, ever since it got its independence. So, Morocco had a good political relation with the United States. They had agreements together, and, but we didn't know about that. But when Egypt, Sadat, came on the scene and he was willing to go and meet with the Israel leaders and try to work out peace with them with America as the mediator, moderator, a moderator, so that made America like Sadat. And you saw Sadat on the, on the TV and he wasn't a bad guy. They had Sadat on the TV as a good guy. And Sadat's wife, she's on the TV as a good Muslim. So, this helped changed the way American's look at Muslims.

And lastly, and I think the biggest factor, Saudi Arabia. This happened very recently. Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, being...being, coming into oil and then coming into the control of their own oil from Aram...what, what was that, that Aramco? From Aramco. They came into control of their own oil. The contract they had with Aramco ran out so they got complete control of their own oil resources and the, and the oil business. Soon Saudi Arabia was very powerful, rich country and very important to any Nation. Very important to any Nation. It, too, had, ... ..., was in a good situation to have a partnership with the United States, or... or good relationship with the United States, because it's President, it's King, pardon me, it's King also had diplomatic relations with this government. The first King, King Saud, he had good relationship with the United States government. I remember, that's another thing. Even when there was no press we knew, we would hear that the king of...of Saudi Arabia, King Saud, would come and visit America occasionally and you would see his great entourage and all of his fine Cadillacs, you know. They would show all of those big Cadillacs he'd have. Just a... just a... what they'd call, a train of Cadillacs.

So, ... because of that relationship that was open early in the history, and from the very beginning almost, of Saudi Arabia the Saudi Arabians were in a good situation to form a kind of partnership with the United States for their own, and benefit economically. ... not economically, pardon me, industrially. Not that America's the only, or was or is, the only partner in the industrialization of Saudi Arabia, but I believe the United States was and still is the main partner in the industrialization of the United States, I mean the industrialization of Saudi Arabia. So, that put us in a good situation. The Saudi Arabians have, as you know, ...Islamic commitment. They don't see themselves as just a Nation, they see themselves as custodians of the two sacred places, the two most sacred places for us, the Ka'bah, the Haram in Mecca, and the Mosque of the Prophet, Prayers and the Peace be on him, in Medina. So, they see themselves as the custodian. That's what they are. They are the custodians with the permission of the International Muslim, the Board of the International Muslim Body. They are custodian of the Holy place; they are the custodians of the Holy places. And they don't see their role as much as a political entity as a religious or spiritual entity.

Because of that, it makes it possible for us to have these high-level meetings and contacts and, and cooperation with Saudi Arabia, with its government, and with its institutions of education, with its charitable institutions. Many of us are not even aware of the charitable institutions of Saudi Arabia. They are giving big, big, big help not only to the Muslim world but also to the suffering people of the non-Muslim world. Saudi Arabia, through its big, big institutions for giving charity and assistance to hungering people, to ignorant, to, to people who need help with education, schools, whatever. They're, they're helping in so many, many, many, many, many ways. ... so, because of that, , relationship with the United States and because of their economic, their coming into economic, great economic wealth, great financial wealth, ..., we too, benefited as Muslims in America. They accepted me as a Muslim brother with them and admired what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam the members of...and his following had achieved.
The first to really visit us were Turks, the Turks and the Egyptians. They sent big people, very big people, to visit us upon me coming into Leadership. Within months after I came into Leadership they came and visited us in Chicago, they extended the hand of brotherly... brotherly... brotherly hand to us, and wanted to... They offered us scholarships to come to, to study in their prestigious institutions, ...Azhar University, ...and the, the Turks did the same thing. And we right away, we had a relationship with the high-level, high-level people in Turkey and also in Egypt. Pakistan also contacted us, extended us the same hand, the same hand of friendship and brotherly support, and offered us scholarships.

Saudi Arabia came and not only offered it but followed it up. They followed it up on their own, followed up their offer. And, we soon were receiving Qurans from Rabita, World Muslim League. It's based in, in Mecca. And we were receiving, scholarships, invitation to come over there and free, have education free, boarding, everything, medicine, everything paid for free. We were...we were given that opportunity by them. And when the war broke out, even before the war broke out, we were invited as I would say the invitation that we were given, ... was, it resembled the same invitation that would be given high level people from another government. High level people from another government. We're not, we weren't a government. We were just people, religious people here, trying to propagate Islam in the best way we know how. We weren't a government, although you know we thought ourselves a government, you know. We not...you know. I you know, I'm not ignorant here and I'm not forgetting anything. Don't think that. ... you know. So, they invited us and extended us that, that kind of welcome. Very high-level welcome even before the war broke out.

But, when the war broke out, now, understand, too, we made Hajj over there and we took, 300 people with us. And they, they financed the whole Hajj. They financed the Hajj of American Muslims. They did it themselves. I must add that Hajj, the following Hajj, if not the following one, it wasn't but a couple years later, my brother, who was still a bit wealthy back then... He was called Herbert Muhammad back then. My brother Herbert Jabir, his name now. Jabir Muhammad. He also financed a good number of senior citizens, pioneers from our community, to make their Hajj. He and Muhammad Ali paid for their Hajj.

So, the result of this emergence of Muslim states and the presence of the good guys from the Muslim world, Sadat and Saudi Arabia, and the King of Saudi Arabia, although we know what they say about Saudi Arabia society, you know. We know we hear. But that's not coming from Bush (laughing) That's coming from the American media and from others, you know. That's not Bush. Bush wouldn't dare talk that kind of talk. He has too much to risk and all of it, it's moolah, moolah, you know. So, he's not going to talk that kind of talk. And then he has, I think he respect the old partnership. I know he has to. He's a President of the United States. He has to respect that good relationship, the political relationship, that has been there for America, the United States and Saudi Arabia, for a long time: since Saud, the first King Saud himself, you see.

So, I'm going to wrap this up now. I didn't intend to go this long. I'm going to finish this now. I'm going to conclude it by saying that our past, as Muslims, has to be seen in the works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, his helpers, and the Nation of Islam. That's the past in America. And it was a time when we were not treated well. We were looked upon as anti-Christ, heathens, troublemakers. That...that's the way Christian public looked upon us. That's the way they looked upon the history of the life and history of our religion; the anti-Christ, heathens, people that we are to fear and not accept but...but, alert everybody to them. "They are no good. They are heathens. Anti-Christ." That was the, that was the America back then. And it was the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who made Muslims visible and, made it, easy for immigrant Muslims to come out gradually. They came out gradually and make their presence known in America. It was the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his works, the works of the followers following, the support of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
Now, as for the presence of Islam, and its better treatment, I have explained that that was because of me coming into the Leadership and I couldn't have gotten there without help from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from my brothers and sisters in my family and the family of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and from the senior members of the Nation of Islam, then the Nation of Islam, and from the top people in the staff of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and one of them is sitting right here. That's my strong supporter, Captain Yusuf Shah. Yes. I couldn't have made it without them. I came into the Leadership, I introduced the Quran, and gradually over a period of I wish I could've said it was nine years. I wish I could've said nine months in the womb and we were nine years in womb, but it was 10 or better we were in the dark womb. But we came out and everybody saw us and the Muslim world began to like us. And now I think you won't find too many American Muslims more liked than your Imam, WD Mohammed, by the Muslim world. And that's a wonderful thing. That's a wonderful thing that we all feel very good about.

Not that we were working to make people like us; we were working to do the right thing. We survived because we wanted to do the right thing. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us a lot of things that were strange and very different from the Quran says, but one thing he did tell us that stuck; you are supposed to be a righteous Muslim and do not let yourself be found other than righteous. So, he attracted people, yes, to something strange, but he sure attracted sincere people. Sincere people. And with our sincerity, our innocence and sincerity, we have survived and the strand of our innocence and sincerity has been continuous and consistent. And because of that we are at home now and we have a great future, a great future. The future of Islam will be a future showing the potency of Islam to not to only raise Muslim life up to help...but to help America raise itself up. Thank you very much. As Salaamu Alaykum. (Clapping)
Speaker 4:
" I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Satan". "Bismillallah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem". "In the name of G-d the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious." On behalf of the Muslim Student Society of Temple University, I'd like to say welcome to the Imam and, welcome to the brothers and sisters who are here today with us. It gives us a great pleasure and it marks the beginning of the regeneration of the Muslim student activities on Temple University campus. So, join us, invite us, in all what Muslim students, Muslim community are doing and insha’Allah, we shall be there. Please, the Imam, we welcome you and we appreciate your valuable time and please accept our warmest regard and highest consideration, and this little token of a halal mug from the Muslim Student Society. To you, sir.
Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Please give my salaams to all the members.
Speaker 4:
Alhumdullilah
IWDM:
May Allah reward you all with all good. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4:
Salaam Alaikum.
Speaker 1:
Imam WD Muhammad, the Muslim American spokesman for human salvation. Imam WD Muhammad speaks.


