04/26/1981
IWDM Study Library
Interview Fayetteville NC

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Interviewer: We are here with Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, the leader and president of the American Muslim Mission. We thank Imam Mohammed for granting us the opportunity to interview. 
Imam Mohammed, with the transformation of the American Muslim Mission from the Nation of Islam, some factions within the African-American community expressed feelings that the American Muslim Mission has lost some of its relevance, with regards to the freedom movement of the African American people. Would you care to comment on that? Is there any truth to that statement at all?
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed: I see reasons for some of the outer community, especially African-Americans, to have concern because the community was a very vocal community under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and its promotions activity was set. It always kept some activities going on out in the streets, that is, with the Bilalian News---it was the Muhammed Speaks then---Muhammad Speaks newspaper sellers and fishing---we call them fishing programs; people were going out to bring people in. People in the street, African American people in the street were constantly being approached by members of the Nation of Islam to come and see what the Nation of Islam offered to black in people in America or if it was not that. There was some news of us because of our strong visibility, at that time. Since my leadership, we have been somewhat a low-key, low-profile organization. But that is quite deceiving. We have not retreated or back-stepped from anything that was positive and good for us.
And we believe that we are still in the process, as a people, we are still in the process of building or establishing identity. We were separated from African identity. We believe that our leaders from the earliest ones, Frederick Douglas---even before Frederick Douglass---that all of them were about the job of establishing dignified human identity; respectable identity for the Bilalian or African-American people.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was about that too, but his---as you know, his philosophy was quite different. It gave him a kind of a racist image, many of his critics in African American leadership used to frighten the system, the establishment, by telling them that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad represented the reverse of the KKK. Which was not true at all, but that was somewhat justified too by people who had not looked on the inside of the Nation of Islam.
We have inherited from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's leadership a commitment to continue that movement or that process for dignifying the whole people and establishing a really definitive identity for our lives.
Interviewer: I'd like to ask you brother Imam, do you feel like your leadership has enhanced or diminished the economic program of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that he started for the Nation of Islam.
Imam Mohammed: That was a temporary period, the period of readjustment simply because of great change in policy. I would say the practice of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad for increasing business growth in the African-American people was one that was designed to get the most out of the person, as soon as possible. It was not done with respect for the Islamic ethics.
Therefore, when I came in, being a person who was more, I would say, more morally orientated than materially orientated, I began to question some of the policies and practices in the light of what is ethics in Al-Islam. When I did that, I had to then instruct the staff to change the quotas of newspapers, to change the contribution quotas, dues. And also to stop pressure tactics, stop the use or implementation of pressure tactics to get increased contributions.
Interviewer: So in essence then, with your leadership, you have legitimized the economic program of the Nation of Islam at that time?
Imam Mohammed: In the light of what our religion requires of us, yes. That is an accurate statement. In changing the policy, we expected that there would be a period of economic difficulty, financial difficulty for us, because most of the real work, real effort and results that we were realizing came by the old program you see. And the new program then caused us to have a sudden slowdown or almost a stoppage of cash, dollars, flow of cash, you see. That created a real problem, but at the same time we were trying to all out do our best to motivate the community into the times of kind of thinking and business attitude that Muslims should have. And that is that any Muslim with an interest in business is free to go into business, and he should get the support of his brothers and sisters in his community if he is a good business man.
So we encouraged individual business, the decentralizing of business and motivating individuals to go into business and to think big, think national. And to organize, to go into big corporations, et cetera, so that the same business reputation that we had under centralized program would be realized, and even be realized more so under the decentralized program, where individuals are encouraged to go into business, with the support of their brothers and sisters.
Interviewer: Thank you. Imam Mohammed, it has been stated by numerous sources that you were especially prepared for the leadership role that you now assume. If this is so, would you explain how?
Imam Mohammed: I believe that I am, first, a product of a certain kind of fear that was put into me as a baby---fear of G’d. We called Allah in the person of Fard Muhammad at that time; it was not quite what it should be. Even with the incorrect theology, based on what Qur’aan says, there was a great sincerity; there was a pure faith so to speak.
I believe strongly in G’d, and obeying G’d. I believe that if I did that, I had nothing to worry about; G’d would take care of me. I believe that if I did not do that, then I was throwing myself to the wilds, to anything, to the destruction. That I inherited from my home life; my mother, instilling into me the teachings of my father.
Something else I inherit that worked so well, so much in my favor, was a kind of mystic air. The teacher of my father, his name is W.F. Mohammed, he is called. Another common name that he gave us of himself is W.D. Fard. When I was born, they tell me that this mystic teacher wrote my name in chalk---before I was born, pardon me, he wrote my name in chalk on the door of my father's house, one of the doors in the house.
All of them wondered why he wrote that name so large on the door. As it came obvious that my mother was pregnant, and everything, they began to suspect that was a name maybe he intended for the new baby. When I was born, he sent a telegram to my mother, who was in Detroit, where I was born. He was here at that time, in Chicago. It was in the early 30s' and my father was also here with him working to build a mission here in Chicago.
So when my mother notified them of the baby had been born, a boy, then he sent a telegram back---this mystic W.F. Mohammed or W.D. Fard---he sends a telegram back saying name “the new arrival”, he called me the “new arrival”, name “the new arrival” W.D. or Wallace D. Mohammed. And later I was told that my mother said that he named me after himself, and she would always stress that anytime she thought I was kind of taken to the fellows out in the street.
She said maybe the people the boys out on the street might be good taking him out of the role that he is destined for. I imagine that is what she was saying in her mind, and then she reminds me. She would say, "You're not like other boys". She would tell me that, saying, "You're not like other boys". And she said, "My savior told me to take good care of you". She said, "You know you wear his name?" That is what she would tell me.
I guess that did have a way of influencing me to come into the ministry of the Nation of Islam but the thing that really kicked it off was my friend Leroy---the boy who knows most of my sins because we grew up together. He said I'm going up to talk tonight. It was a free night, Wednesday night. Every Wednesday night was a free night for the brothers to get up and talk if they wanted to aspire for ministry. So Leroy said, "I'm calling to get up there, talk tonight."
He said, "Why do you not get up?" So I did not say anything, I did not reply, and at that time, he was on the spot. He had already indicated that he wanted to get up. So he gets on up, and he got a lot of things spoken. He returned to his seat after he made a short talk, and he looked at me as if he was bragging.
Interviewer: Oh, I see.
Imam Mohammed: And that made me get up, so I raise my hand, and I went up. And I went up when I gave my talk that Wednesday night. And I'm telling you when I got up there and turned around and faced the audience, I was almost paralyzed with fear. Yes. I was very much stage frighten.
I was paralyzed almost with fear and I begin to try to go to the formal procedure that they would go through the common language that the ministers would use, and I was looking at the people. And I began to think of the people and I forgot myself. I forgot the fear and everything. From then on I have been a minister. [Laughs] from that night on I have been a ministry.
Interviewer: Was there any specific religious training that you understand that you speak and understand the Arabic language.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, at that time, we had - when I was in school, the high school, we had a very good teacher here who from Jerusalem. My father had hired him to teach here in Chicago. He taught the Arabic language. He taught Arabic language, science, and some business math. His name was Jamil Diab, he was from Jerusalem. I was a student under him, my brother Akbar was a student after him who progressed so wonderfully, he went from here straight to Al Ahzar where they do not provide any course in English and he was able to continue his studies there at Azhar and he studied there for many years. Imam Darnell Karriem, perhaps you've met him?
Interviewer: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: He is the one who gives that the adhan so beautifully. He excelled all of us in that particular chanting it is called chanting of the Qur’aan. The professor said Darnell “was best in the chanting of Qur’aan”. He had a beautiful voice, and Akbar was the best overall. I was best in translation and translating from language to another language, but I would say I did not get any special training because I know we are talking now to a broad audience.
If we are talking to a small to the Nation of Islam, I would say I did get special training. But to the broad audience, I think it would be misguiding them to say that I received a special training. A special training, I would believe that would be taken to mean that the Honorable Elijah Muhammed gave me some special attention himself or that I was sent to special people to get some special, no, not at all. If anybody received special attention it was Akbar. Yes. [Chuckles]
Interviewer: I'd like to ask you now brother Imam about our community, the American-Muslim mission, which has undergone many changes and one of which is the name change. Originally the community was known as the “Lost Foundation of Islam in America”, then it was changed to the “World Community of Al-Islam in the West”, and now it is the “American-Muslim Mission”. What is the significance of the name change?
Imam Mohammed: A desire to free ourselves, to operate freely and productively in the American society that is what motivated the changes. The original name identified us too much as a nationalistic separatist group, and it affected us within too in that way because we were thinking of ourselves as building a separate nation; whereas the term in its Islamic context does not suggest a separate nation as such. What it suggests is a community of people who live, basically, one spiritual-social life, and they are all one community in the sense that they follow the dictates of that religion.
The holy prophet, peace be on him, he established a government in Madinah. It was a government in Madinah. However, since him, there have been many governmental centers, and he himself did not undermine government in his lifetime.
So the community, the political--- think of the Nation of Islam, that term ummah nation in English to mean that we must have a governmental structure, separate from other governments is incorrect. The governmental structure of the Islamic community or Ummah is seen in the context of the do's and don’ts of our religion and wherever we have that.
Interviewer: Yes, Imam, brother Imam, would you please outline for us some of the priorities of the American-Muslim Mission?
Imam Mohammed: The number one priority for this community is education. We believe, and we base it on Qur’aanic teachings, as well as on our life experiences, that is the total experiences of our people here in America, that most of our problems are problems of mis-education. And are you familiar with that term?
Mis-education and misinformation, yes, and we feel that we need independent leadership in the field of education in order to overcome this. We do not think we can meet with the success that is due us if we depend upon the public school system totally for education.
We believe that private schools have a way of influencing the public school system toward improvement, and we believe that we can benefit from each other. Private schools can benefit from the public school system, and the public school system can benefit from the existence of private schools. And we strongly believe that the black colleges, such as Morehouse College and all these others, that they represent a response to that need in us as a people, to establish leadership in the field of education.
Dr. Benjamin Mays is on record---recently within the last year, I believe---stressing before a dignified audience the need for Bilalians or African-Americans to continue to serve the education, the need for education in the African-American people.
I am a firm believer in that the Nation of Islam took that position too, that the oppressor cannot cure or heal the person that he has made sick. [Laughs] So the Nation of Islam took that position, and I still go along with that idea. I think that there is a lot of internal problems that we have and not only problem, that there are a lot of internal tools for production that we have that can best be brought out under our own attention.
Interviewer: Yes. I'd like to ask you in light of that in a relationship to that. One of the hottest racial issues is the busing issue. What is your position on solving the busing issue as a means of solving the problem of inferior education, amongst African-American people?
Imam Mohammed: I take the position with the---I believe majority---that busing in itself is no solution, and I think that it has more drawbacks than it has promises and success. Personally, I would not like having my young children bused out of a neighborhood, or out of a community that I was pleased with into one that I was not pleased with. Even if it meant maybe better education, facilities, better school facilities.
I would not favor that because sometimes environment can be of such negative effect on the person that the concrete, the facilities, the facilities of the school for a better education would be nullified by the adverse effect of that environment on that person.
So many cases that I have heard aired on the television on the news, I have sympathized with those persons who did not want their children bused in there. And in some I saw that there were no real grounds for them to reject.
I think that we have to accept that there will be some need for busing children, and that we shouldn't be so rigid in our position that we turn out to be just fanatically against all busing. That would not be good, but at the same time I think some of this opposition is healthy for this issue. Because what it does, it forces the government, and it forces the local administrators to do more, to find other ways of improving education and improving conditions in schools for those who are deprived, who are short-changed.
Interviewer: Back to the priorities of the American-Muslim Mission, and the main priority being education, we read recently that the American-Muslim Mission has purchased a 40 acre site in North Carolina, and which would be a boarding high school as well as a teacher college. And we see that you are well on the way to fulfilling those - that are number-one priority of education.
Imam Mohammed: Yes. Well, we have some good people who have really raised my hopes and expectations because of their hard, and continuous labor here in recent months to see that those objectives become realities for us.
I do not like to praise certain people you know who do not want praise, and what I'm going to say is that Imam Hamidullah, he is the Imam here, he has really been instrumental in getting our application down to Springfield, and following up on our visit to Greenville, North Carolina, the Palmer Institute facilities there. I am really proud of our progress so far. Our contributions are coming in, and we wish, brother, they would come in a little faster, but I think everything's okay.
Interviewer: I would like to ask you at this time, brother Imam, what would you say has been the most significant accomplishment of the community under your leadership? How can this benefit the broader community?
Imam Mohammed: Yes, the most significant accomplishment is the saving of the faith of the people. Many times when people are told that what they were believing was wrong, they then give up hope in it and in following anything. But with this community, a great majority, a few stepped aside and say, "No, I do not want to be a part of it". There are sso few and so really I do not think they should be counted. The great majority agree that we should continue to be Muslims, but not in the old---ah the Christian bed that we were once in that said everybody had to weigh 150 pounds no matter what your height was. So they agree that we should come to what is basically our religion, and the Qur’aan was the authority for that.
And that we should accept that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was a human being, and we should rate him as a human being, and not as a supernatural being; or a mystery, he was no mystery. We should rate him as a human being and we should judge him also on the basis of what is in the Qur’aan. They accepted that.
To me that was a miracle for this community, and considering the great numbers that went along with that, and continued to live good lives, G’d-fearing life, and their faith now is being increased. It was mere change in theology, in terminology of theology, and their faith now is continuing to grow and continuing to increase, and they are becoming better and better people while the heaven made an about face so to speak from a shrine that they used to worship.
Interviewer: I like to ask you now, brother Imam, what is the relationship of the American Muslim Mission with the Muslims abroad?
Imam Mohammed: Our relation is this: We accept that Muslims all over the world are one community, and we encourage the building of brotherly sentiments between ourselves and all other Muslims. But we stress building this distinction, this ethnic distinction that we want because our religion is not one that seeks to bring about change in a people through the process of acculturation where the whole visible life of the people has been erased for another life. That is not required in our religion. In fact, our religion is against that.
All over the world where you find where the message of Islam has gone, the people have been left with the roots of it, I would say, the pattern of their culture. The pattern of their culture was left intact. Only those developments in their culture that were unintelligent, immoral, an affront to the dignity of the person, only those things were discarded and the people were left.
So you go to Ghana you will find a man who looks like a man from Ghana saying, "I am a Muslim, as-salaam alaykum". But he looks like he is from Ghana. And when he talks and walks with his friends you can tell that he, his personality is one of his own people you see, and that is what we want to preserve for our people. Too many of us have thought that once we become Muslims we have to talk like Arabs, we have to look like Arabs, we have to be Arabs, that is wrong.
Interviewer: As the leader of the American Muslim Mission, is there any official relationship that you have with Muslims abroad, and in particular, the Muslims in the Middle East?
Imam Mohammed: We do have relations. Yes, we do. We have affiliations with two universities now, ah, pardon me, correspondence with two Universities, and with plans to have affiliation with those two universities in Saudi Arabia, King Faisal University and Mohammed Ibn Saud University in Saudi Arabia.
There is also a third one; that we intend to have an affiliation or some kind of association with in Madinah. And there are others outside Saudi Arabia that we are thinking about, in Pakistan and in Africa.
We have communications, good lines of communications with one of the biggest, and perhaps one of the most reputable, respected organizations and Muslims in the world. It is the World called Rabitat, Muslim World League; I am in direct communication with their national leader who is Sheikh Harakhan in Saudi Arabia.
We have had, and still I think have association, that is communication with Muslim Student Association also big national, well---international group of Muslim students who normally in residence, and they return to their homes. We do not encourage a strong affiliation with such bodies simply because we are not a mission in that sense. We do not have Arab problems as our priority, all right. We do not have political nationalistic issues as our priority.
But you will find most of these organizations, they have formed as result of Arab problems and nationalistic problems, you see. Where we have formed quite differently, we form as a result of a desire to survive and free ourselves from social misguidance, social misguidance, you see.
So we have a social reform movement more so than an issue program movement. See, issues do not decide our course. Issues do not decide our course, issues have not formed us. What decide our course is our personal lives, and if that can be made the issue then that is the one issue that decides our course; the course that we take in life as a movement or as a group of people. We do not encourage strong ties with such groups only in the general interest of all Muslims, only in the general interest of all Muslims.
I cannot say what the future will bring. In the future, there might be persons in our community who may lend their support and may dedicate their time and their life to dealing with the issues of political prices in the Islamic world or the need for education in the Islamic world.
But right now, I think how we can best serve the general community of Muslims throughout the world is by showing how this religion has brought about almost complete change in our lives and have given us the courage to present ourselves as a voice of moral leadership in the world, a voice of human justice, human dignity, human justice, and a kind of, I would say, liberating force for the dignity of man and also woman.
I think that we should be appreciated in that light, and I think we would be really stepping down to start giving ourselves to political issues that would eventually typeset us and give us a new face, a new image in the world. I think the best one we can have is the best one we have. I know some issues that I could jump on right now, but I do not think they could offer me as much dignity, as much hope for my own good future as what we are doing right now.
Interviewer: I would like to move briefly to the domestic scene, and at one time, this community was an antagonist of the American government. And I would like to know now, what kind of reception has your leadership in the growing Muslim community received from the American government?
Imam Mohammed: We have received more and more recognition from persons in the local government and also the national government. I think more should be---we should have even more---but really I did not expect that we would get as much good, I would say, good response from people in government as we have received.
It is not uncommon or surprising for us to receive invitation from the White House or State Department or the Mayor’s office, the Governor’s office or from some outstanding person in our local government; Chief of Police, Captain of the Police Department or in the Human Relations Department of the Police Department, so we --
Interviewer: Widely accepted.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, we are accepted and I think that alone is enough for us to really believe that local and national government approves, and really applaud the changes that have taken place.
Interviewer: You have been internationally regarded as or referred to as the Mujaddid, which I understand to mean "Reviver of Religion," is that correct?
Imam Mohammed: Yes.
Interviewer: Does this merely mean the reviver of the Muslim faith or does it have a broader meaning?
Imam Mohammed: Yes, when I use the term Mujaddid, I was using it really in a kind of a loose, a general sense. Because the Idea of Mujaddid that some people in the Islamic world subscribe to, perhaps, I would not even subscribe to it. So I was using it in general, very loose and general sense, meaning a person who has the insight, the vision to bring about changes in the life of a people, belonging to a religion, that would advance them in that religion to a position where their own leadership would be established.
So reviver, to me really means one who has the insight to charge his community, motivate his community to excel in their religion to such degree that they establish their own leadership and are not subordinate.
Interviewer: I would like to ask you now about your push for inter-faith cooperation. You have been the initiator and a strong supporter of inter-faith unity; you have also addressed churches and synagogues in this effort. Now I would like to ask you, Imam Mohammed, what do you hope to accomplish through this? And what do you feel has been accomplished this far?
Imam Mohammed: I recall as a student in the University of Islam under the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, reading some books about the crusades. And I came to really see that the spirit of the crusade was a thing plaguing our society. My personal experience on a Catholic school playground and other experiences that I have had with certain misinformed Christians just helped to give more substance to that belief I had that the American people could not see straight because of the crusade spirit in them.
When I learned of movements to bring the great religions together in some healthy dialogue, I was so happy to hear that, especially because at that time I was free from old Nation of Islam strait-jacket limitation, and that is regarding our mixing with other races or with other religions. So I welcomed that, and I told the officials here, I said, Yes, I said let us encourage that. Let us see if we can meet with other preachers who were interested in that. So we began to meet with certain local preachers here, and it caught on nationally, and Imams and ministers---our ministers are Imams now---began to encourage that nationally.
As a result of that, we have Imams now who set on prestigious bodies with ministers of Christian religion, the Christian faith. And I know of some who set with Jews also with Rabbis. And they all sat together. Our Imams, the Christian preachers, the ministers and the rabbis all sit together in a healthy dialogue to bring people together, to fight the common ills of the society.
We encourage that. It is working well, and I hope that soon we will have more contact with international groups. The World Conference on Religion and Peace, a prestigious world body. We support them; we are supporting them with that body. The council of Churches, Christian Council of Churches, we have correspondence with them, we support their efforts, and I am sure more and more will come.
I think that one way of bringing about the kind of healthy social change in the religious people of the United States is for us who are leaders to come together, and show that all creatures of one G’d, and all fighting the same kind of evil. And we respect each other, and we want to work together.
If we can show the common masses of religious people that in the United States, I think, we will do a great service because many of them, I know because I was one of the, many of them do not like the burden, the crusade burden. They do not like to carry across a crescent, and a war against their fellow man.
Interviewer: Imam Mohammed, you have been tirelessly moving in and outside of this country, delivering messages to a wide cross-section of people, all races, theologians, inmates, politicians, students, scholars, business people, not to mention your own community. I would like to know, what has been the central theme of your message to such a wide variety of people.
Imam Mohammed: The central theme has been we are needlessly separated from each other, and we are needlessly at war with each other. And the problem is bad communication. That is what I always stress, the need for better communication.
When I say communication, I mean, even the common terminology we have. We read the Bible, and read about what the Jewish religion is, what the Christian religion is, and we do not know that the terminology in the Bible has grades of understanding. My understanding might be just on elementary level; the Bishop's and the Pope’s understanding will be on the higher level. And maybe the Bishop will say, "That is no reason for justification for you all to be at odds with each other."
But the man on the lower level, he will see it as a justification for him to be at odds with the person who is outside of his faith, his immediate faith. I think there is a great need for communication. I think that there is a need to liberate people from the burden of language; I think that there is scriptural language not only in Muslims and Christians, but Muslims and Christians and Jewish society; there is a scriptural language that carries the burden of ancient mythology. And for the modern man, this is oppressive. It depresses us. It hurts you. Because you cannot understand it, you cannot communicate it rightly. I have heard people tell me they are ashamed to express, the quote their scripture when they were asked to give an explanation to something, and they knew what the scripture said. They say it, but they were afraid of said, to quote the scripture because it will make them look like a fool, now that shouldn't be, that shouldn't be.
It is just a problem of understanding, and you need to understand it. If we understand the terminology, we need to understand the---we cannot ask---we cannot limit the man of 1980 or 1981 as he was limited in 1481, or 881. The people’s language needs to be brought up to date, and as the mind expands, that mind has to be respected. The level of the mind has to be respected.
The American people, the modern world has reached a level of communication that just does not justify us talking anymore about the---talking in mythology to people. You cannot speak the language of mythology.
Interviewer: One final question that we would like to ask. Using the media as a gauge one could conclude that America is moving toward a race war with all of the violent attacks on African-American people, and the violent attacks upon the Atlanta children, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and what appears to be an upsurge of the Ku Klux Klan, and resurgence of the Nazi Party. One could also conclude from the media that the American economy is about to collapse.
What do you see as the major problems confronting the American people and how do you feel those problems can be solved?
Imam Mohammed: The major problem confronting the American people is the same problem that confronts us which is the need for more education, economic education. When you are suffering financially or economically, it can overflow and run over into your spiritual life. I have seen myself, people who seem to be fairly healthy spiritually, suddenly become a spiritual monster. And it was because the agonies of the physical circumstances back-rolled into their spiritual life.
I think the problem for us is to raise the level of education, economic education---number one. People should not think that because they are citizens that they are entitled to be fed, clothed and everything with no effort on their own part to earn their living.
I think the welfare mentality is one of the worst problems that we have, but at the same time there are those who because of their frustration; there are those who had high image of the American people and what it could do, what this country could do, the super country and they are disappointed now. Those people have been disillusioned, and some of those people do not understand that disillusionment, so what they do is take out their frustration on other people.
I believe that a lot of this clamor on our over Klan activity, young European-Americans wanted to get into the Klan, become part of Klan activity, I think it is frustration. They are frustrated. A lot of them are frustrated, there are a few old hardcore demons, but most of the people are not like that, most of the people---even in the Klan, the majority of them are not like that. I think they are people who just cannot see how to handle their own frustration. They have been disappointed by their country.
And what they should do is, themselves, seek a way to raise a level of their own intellect, so that they can become more effective from an intellectual fortification rather than from this emotional thing.
Interviewer: What about the Atlanta situation?
Imam Mohammed: I have been worried and concerned very much ever since the news of that came to us. I just suspected since there was so many murders following each other, I suspected that there was a deranged person behind it who perhaps was trying to express something that he himself does not understand well enough to articulate it but nevertheless is bothering him, it is bothering his soul.
I thought that there was someone trying to tell us that we need to do more for our children that we need to accept parental responsibility. That is what I thought of this, and this was just a notion, or a suspicion on my part, I suspected that someone was trying to give a message.
And usually, and these are all kind of these odd or weird kind of killings, there is someone who is sick, and who wants to express himself, someone who wants to throw out a burden on the society. He wants to tell the society what is burdening his heart and his soul. And then he cannot find a way to express it intelligently, to express it in the normal avenues, so he goes and does something to create alarm, to get local or national attention.
And through the design of his crime or criminal act, he is communicating his frustration to the society. I thought perhaps there might have been that deranged person or mentally oppressed person behind those killings. But I learned now that the force is saying that they think that there are several killers not one. But still that could be the case for either, for a number of those killings. I think that because Atlanta now is in the national spotlight more is coming out than really is related to the original, to the original issue. For example, if they would spotlight in on Chicago, on the Milwaukee and any city and be very much active to investigate every crime, every killing we would have a lot of confusion coming out of many of these cities.
IWDM lecturing in Chicago Masjid.
G’d alone and Mohamed is the messenger of G’d, dear beloved people, I want to read from Qur’aan just a verse that guides us to the proper understanding of our self and how it is our self that challenges us. Lan tanaloo albirra hatta tunfiqoo mimma tuhibboona [Q 3:92] in English translation this verse reads, “by no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give freely of that which you love”. Here is an eye opener to aid us along the path of personal struggle against the opposition that comes to us from our own selves. You will not attain righteousness before giving up of the things you love.
Again the most high says, "It is not the eyes that are blind but the hearts that are in their breasts." The prophet said, Peace be on him, “The best Jihad is Hajj, the Hajj." How are we to understand that, the best Jihad is the Hajj? How are we to understand that, what is Hajj? Hajj is one of the five basic obligations in our religion. We are obligated to pray to Allah, we are obligated to fast the month of Ramadan, we are obligated to be charitable, we are obligated to make Hajj; and the first of the obligations is to testify to the existence of one and one Allah only; and to the fact that he commissioned a mortal human being to be messenger to the world.
Hajj, then is a personal obligation on believers who are able to carry out that responsibility, that is who would help to do it, who have means to do it, they are obligated to do it at least once in their lifetime. Muslims like to have to their credit that they have made several Hajjs. Well, the obligation is only one in the lifetime of a person. Recalling the saying of our prophet that we should understand that Hajj is a struggle against the rebellion in ourselves. We may describe it in many ways but I am talking about the essential, the essential nature of the Hajj and significance of the Hajj.
It is essentially a struggle taken on by the individual to carry out hard tasks, so to speak, against the desire in his own make up to give that a way or to put that aside. When the Muslim makes Hajj, he most likely leaves his---all of his cherished possessions behind him. He leaves his own home, his family, his wealth and he goes out to make the pilgrimage of Hajj. When he arrive there he expect no conveniences, he expects hardship; he expects no privacy, he expects to live in a community setting with people from all over the world, small and great, rich and poor, wise and ignorant, cultured and uncultured, the worst and the best meet there.
It gives us a good picture of what the world is that we belong to; it let us see the state of our world and it puts us right in their midst, right in the thick of what is existing in and among all of us. You have to give up your privacy. See when the man is at home if he does not like a situation he could walk away from it. 
[Video break]
Maybe your victory was not my victory but everyone who makes the Hajj with an ounce of sense in their head comes back victorious. Why? Because you have been thrown helplessly into a challenge with yourself and the outcome is always appreciated. Although it did not satisfy you completely, the outcome is appreciated because you know that you managed to advance your ability to handle your own self during that Hajj. Isn't that what we need in this world?
G’d said that he created us in the most excellent design. The human being is no cheap creation. The human being is an excellent creation. As much as the science and scientists know about the human being now, it still amazes them when they meditate, or reflect on the great machinery we call the human person. His biology, his psychological makeup, his emotional makeup with G’d, all of this really marvels the men of science brings wonder to their lives, even after they've accumulated so many volumes of scientific data after observing this wondrous machine that G’d created.
So we are talking about a wonderful thing, talking about the best model for a creature in creation. Who are we talking about? You men, you, yes you sister. So I heard the Imam say last week said, "Nobody is really poor, who is aware of the blessings of Allah and them who have faith and is aware of the blessing of Allah in them," The Imam said, "None of those people can be poor," And that is true, they are rich. That is how somebody can be thrown in the same situation with the non-faithful people and in a few months, a few years, the non-faithful are marching to the headshrinker and the faithful are still heading on like no trouble ever came into their lives.
This is one of those days when I just feel very good inside. And when I feel this way I am inclined to talk very slow.
See a thing at peace is a thing is thing in order. A thing out of peace, is a thing out of order. Sometimes this world have been so jittery, so upset that we just want to release, we want to get out, we want to throw out the burden that is on us and then there are times when we are very much settled within ourselves, peaceful and well contained and we do not have to just rant and rave, we just want to have a sober conversation, that is good too, isn’t it?
Praise be to Allah. Let's read the Qur’aan where G’d says, "Oh children of Adam, we have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you but the raiment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the signs of Allah that they may receive admonition. Oh you children of Adam let not Satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the garden, stripping them of their raiment to expose their shame for he and his try tribe watch you from a position where you cannot see them. We made the evil ones friends only to those without faith," 
And Allah says again in his Qur’aan that “Satan has no power over you, he only invites and you ask for his invitation, but he has no power over you the limit of his power is to invite, then you wronged yourself by answering his invitation”. How can we manage-- what is that, some exercise that I can do to improve my ability, to resist Satan? Yes, remember Allah, the remembrance of Allah is the greatest power on earth and that is the word of G’d and it was written long time ago. All right, yes.
We want to know how we are going to survive in this world that is given itself more and more to corruption, to blind self-destruction. going to survive with the guidance and help of Allah and those who refuse his guidance and disrespect his help, they are doomed already. Yes, and this is no new thing, this has been the way of the world since it was made. Praise be to Allah. Dear beloved people, this is salvation. What am I talking about? This membership in Al Islam, this is salvation. There are degrees of dignity, degrees of knowledge and we all represent some place in the scale, but the worst off of us is saved; the worst of us is saved if they keep in the membership of this community for this community itself is salvation.
How is it salvation? Is salvation because it is a unique entity, it is salvation because it is itself salvation because it has its own distinct makeup. If the boat is good for getting across the water, the no-good person on the boat has a good chance of getting across the water.
This is better than a boat, this move on land too. It can get up and go in all four directions, move like the mother ship; stop and backup, it is not bothered by friction or inertia, be traveling at a billion miles per second and stop suddenly, jet out in the other direction without stripping a gear, this is better than a boat. Is it good? Oh is it good?
It is good to be with people that share your life and your hopes or aspirations. Why, that itself is a paradise, yes. “You will not attain righteousness until you give up what you love”. Haven't we said very often to remind ourselves that a man lives and dies because of the state of his own heart and if we can put our heart in the right state, we have salvation? Until we can manage to be true within our heart, there is no hope for us. How do I know? Because Allah has said: “He does not change the state of a person or people until they first change the state of their heart”. Allah is not going to make a life pleasant for you until you first take the right disposition in your own heart and why should he, it is not justice?
You have not really truthfully identified yourself and you are asking for somebody, "Who is that? I got to know who to give it to." You are asking for somebody and you haven't truly identified yourself. Identify yourself; "I am a sinner Lord, I am a liar Lord, I am a weakling Lord, I follow lust, I give in to fear that is not the fear of you." Then the Lord says, "I know”. Not another one in creation spoke like that. Maybe they spoke but each individual sends off his own individual vibrations and my story is different from yours, though they have looked very much alike to the eyes of the spectators.
I know my story is not yours, all right? Yes, because I am a creature of sensation, a creature of sensitivities and we just do not register the same, no two people are the same. So when I confess to G’d and pour out the sentiments of my heart to G’d and confess my life before G’d, then I have a chance to be helped, but as long as I am denying the fact of my own shortcomings and trying to put myself off as something that I am not, I do not have no chance with G’d. I have to first be truthful with G’d then G’d will come to my aid. I do not have to be perfect, I do not have to be perfect, I do not have to be George Washington who never told a lie. I do not have to be an angel, I can be a big sinner with a cross of sin as big as the Earth and according to the words of this sacred book, G’d will forgive me. 
In fact in this religion we are told that every time the Muslim, the believer offers before Allah sincere repentance the sins behind him are gone and he is accountable from that point for no more than what he will do at that point or after. Sometimes we think we know the goodness of G’d, believe me we do not. We just know a little bit of the goodness of Allah. He is so good until if you really could see him in his goodness, it will make you speechless, you won't be able to keep or contain yourself, that is right.
Now, listen to that, here I am, a man, in my religion that has lied, who has done wrong or injustice to other people, and I turn to G’d with a sincere heart and I repent with pure sincerity. G’d then wipe out everything I did behind me and it is from that point on that I will be judged for my wrong. Haven't we been told many times that once you declare yourself a Muslim, everything you did before that time is behind you and you are not charged with it? Why? Because the time prior to that conversion, you were not in a good situation to really be accountable for your actions.
When you understood the message of Al Islam and was converted to it or maybe you did not understand it but something reached your soul and you understood in the depths of your being that this was right for you and that you had an obligation to declare yourself before us and before G’d as a Muslim. At that time, your heart took a courageous stand. At that time, your heart, if not your interact, your heart took a courageous stand and G’d rewarded you for the deed of your heart with the blotting out of all the charges in your past and no one had to submerge you in the water, no one had to sprinkle you down, you were submerged into your heart by something convincing that came from G’d.
So you were submerged in your heart and you gave up saying “I am not going to fight any more, Allah, I want to be with you, Allah I want to be on the side of righteous, I think that they going to get rid of this shyness of mine that I will tell the Imam, I want to come up declare my faith”. And they walk up, sometime they walk up like they are carrying a million pounds on their shoulders, then sometime they come forward like they have been locked up for a million years and the door was just open. Yes, sometimes they come up here like they broke out of jail, then sometimes they come up like they are carrying a million pound load on their backs; but most of them when they get there, they have the courage.
I have seen some break down in tears, sobbing while they were saying it. They say, “I know that Allah is G’d and Mohammed is his messenger." You know prophet Mohammed used to require, especially of women, we know to be recorded, that when they came to declare themselves to be Muslim, he would also get them to pledge that they would not give themselves to past wickedness, past corruption and many were invited to testify that Jesus is a Prophet of G’d and one of his righteous servant. Though not asked to do that, knowing-- that from Christian experience, Christian ideas we should at least in our heart say to Allah I bear witness that Jesus is a prophet and one of the righteous servants.
Yes, that is what we should do. Self accountability knowing that we are accountable before our creator who sees and knows everything and who has the power to do whatsoever He wills; accountability to ourselves and to our Creator. Isn’t it wonderful that Allah has created a creature that He has given more dignity to that He gave to any other creature? Do you think that the sparrow? The lion, the snake, the dog, the fish do you think these creatures are accountable for their life? Do you think they are accountable for the management of their lives? No. G’d have kept charge over their life. They sleep intelligently. They awake intelligently. They live intelligently. Show me an animal that is a fool. And I'll show you an animal that you've been messing with.
Animal's are not fools, a big bad dog rushed up to my cat and my cat just sat down just to cry like that big bad dog came to put on a show for her.
She just sit down that is a quiet and when he saw he rushed up there. When he saw her sit down so quietly, he stopped in his tracks. Stop there is like a charging bull with front brakes. He got stooped like that. He looked at the cat and he started approaching a little bit and he stopped and the hair began to rise up behind his neck. Something was deep on his mind.
He made a few short steps backwards and forwards to see if she will get up. She did not. He walked away. Look like to me it took him look like five minutes for that hair to go down on his back of the neck. He was upset for a long time. That was an intelligent dog.
But we have been given the freedom to violate the natural rules of intelligence that G’d give us from birth. Yes. And we sometime know we are violating the rules of natural intelligence and we even know that we are going to get bad consequences. Since the consequences are not as close to us as the thing that we are hungry for you know. The mouth is watering right now, we take the chance we go on and we grab it. If the consequences were as quick as the burn that we get from sticking the hand in the fire, oh, most of us would be Saints.
But since the consequences are sometimes so far into the future, we take that chance. It is not pressing on us. You see that what is going to be the consequences are not really demanding at that moment---“pay up” So you know how it is; you pay later. And pretty soon you have a debt so bad you wish you had managed your life better. “Boy I wish I had started out with this sense that I got now a little earlier”. [Laughs] Yes, He has dignified us by giving us charge of ourselves. Allah says in his Qur’aan that he made Adam a Khalifa. What is a Khalifa? A ruler in the earth; a custodian for G’d in the creation.
One with the potential to look out after the welfare of not only himself but the creative things that G’d have made. One who is capable, who have the potential to be the keeper the watchman and the superintendent or the supervisor in the creation; one with the potential to go and explore the mysteries of his environment. Bring out the hidden thing and be an instrument for improving upon that that Allah made. Not as an independent, as a servant of his G’d as a Khalifa. Do you know what Khalifa means? It means, it comes from the word which means behind. Not in front---behind. G’d made the man to do what? Come behind.
G’d created the world and rested the world. Rested the world in what sense? He rested it in the evolution in the process of evolution. He bore the world and rested its evolution, or rested its growth. You were not acquainted with this kind of language. You will understand everything rose to his fullness and then rest. We find that some things grow to their fullness and they get a new life, new challenge to their survival. Bring out powers for adaptation. And they begin to come into a new life to suit the new challenge. Science tells us that the frog once was always a little fish like thing but by him being forced to come out of the water he develop the nature to metamorphize; to be transformed.
The Frog is transformed in his development from a fish like thing, what do they call that thing---tadpole into a frog. Now you know if you did not--
did not know this, you had never seen or heard of this, and you still had your same mind the world gave you. And if the Imam would stand up here, and show you a fish looking thing and a frog, and tell you this thing is this thing. "You (would say) you can’t fool me. I would never buy that lie." Because that is a miraculous thing; that is a very marvelous thing that a fish like thing have become a thing walking on the land. Is it not wonderful that Allah left the pattern what you call it when you still the picture? He started the animation, and looks like it is stilled there, be static, be static. I want to hold you in that pose, so my later creatures can observe you.
Do you not know that all the creatures evolved from simpler forms to more complex and more excellent forms, but Allah did not leave behind all the creatures the evidence of their transformation, but only for certain creatures, he left evidence of their transformation.
We can observe it in our own lifetime; we do not have to wait for the clock of evolution. We do not have to go back, and turn the film, and recall all that took place over those millions of years. We have---I do not know what they call that, but---it is just captured right there, a still picture, a still picture set in time where we can take a look and see the wonders of our creator.
Yes. Now, dear beloved people, we are told that everything in creation is a sign of Allah. A sign of Allah's knowledge, a sign of Allah's plan, a sign of what Allah is doing in you. You are a fish too. Allah says in the Qur’aan, and he began everything out of water. Did not say “except the man”, oh, yes. He began everything out of water. Now, dear beloved people, we must understand that we at one time were more simple creatures, a more simple creature. Now let us come to the wisdom of the nations.
The creature is susceptible to the influences in his life, and he is exposed to those influences that will take him backwards into time. We can go backwards into time to improve the present. And we can go backwards into time blindly, and lose the present, yes.
What am I talking about? I am talking about your genetic makeup. The “shrinker” (psychiatrist) sits you down---there is no telling what he does today because most of them have become perverts---they might ask you to allow him to intercourse your mind, yes, of course your mind. “Will you submit to an intercourse of your mind”, and you say, "I am brave. Go on. Go on, baby" That is if you are a victim of this world.
Now, dear beloved people, it is scientifically proven that the past is clocked into the present. The past and the present live together in your genetic makeup. That is why the headshrinker can put you under the hypnosis, and tell you to think backwards. And you think yourself all way back into childhood, all the way back into infancy, all the way back into the womb that bore you. This is no joke, this is actual facts.
For those who are familiar with the Christian terminology in that religion, “I am He who was before the world was”. Now we know that can be put in different contexts, but let's look at it in a scientific context where it is true.
What is the world? This order as we understand it, this history of man as we know it that is the world. Now, if I would speak to you today right this moment, and tell you I am before the world was, you would think I am crazy. “Oh that man is weird he is a nut, a spiritual weirdo”.
And you might be criticizing a wise scientist who can prove scientifically what he says. How come I am not before the world was? This body that you see here, where did it come from? You say it came from Elijah and Clara, that is right, and where did it come from before it got into Elijah and Clara? Oh, yes it came from William and Marie and where did it come from before it got into William and Marie? Now you are on to what we are talking about. (Laughs)
When we end up, we are going to be in a place where the world was not. Is that true? Yes. Then you say, "Oh, but how is that you?" Do I not resemble my father? Do I not resemble his father? Well then, that tells you that I came from a way back there.(Chuckles)
Yes, that tells you that biologically speaking I came from way back there. I resemble my father, I resemble my mother, I resemble his parents, I resemble her parents. So that is proof that I might resemble Adam.
How sweet it is, yes. By reasoning with our intelligence, we come to the conclusion that that thing does not stop until it goes back to Adam who is called our Father in this Qur’aan. So my father's genes are in me. He is my father. His genes are in me. Adam's genes are in me. Oh, yes.
Then if Adam's genes are in me, let us go beyond Adam now. Where did that come from Adam? It says “Allah created him dust”. It is said “Allah created him from clay. Allah created him from water, and breathed into him of His spirit. And he became a living soul”.
Genetically speaking, my existence goes back when there was no man, was no woman, and was no fire, no fish, and no creature. “Oh, I do not believe that. That is too much”. And you saw Alternate States, and did not say that was too much. You came back and trying to explain it to other people. That was one of those weird science fiction movies, “Alternate States”.
You see how he went back? You see what the movie writer is trying to tell you? Not to go back, go forward. You do not want to go back to what G’d brought you from. You want to go forward to what G’d is leading you to. If I go back I am going to find a tadpole. And pretty soon I am going to find the clay, and the dust, and the water needing the breath of life, right?
Yes, you got tricked. You thought I was going back to divinity. No, you go back to simple creation. Allah made us from the simplest creation, and then guided us with His law into this excellence that we are in now. We used to have an idea too, that the past is greater than the present. Say, "Who am I?" "I am the original man, the Asiatic black man."
Did not want any problems, do not say “African black man”. That is a big problem because we already have a preconceived idea of the inferiority of the African people. We could not make testimony like that. We said “I am the original man Asiatic black man, owner, maker, cream of the planted earth. Father of civilization and G’d of the universe”. We used to say “before the stars were, I am. Me and my father hung the sun and the moon, and decorated the canopy with stars”.
We used to say that. Yes, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he wanted to find really some clarity. He was looking for crystal-clear picture of that, and the best he could do before he passed was that “long before all of this was made, you were an atom in darkness, black carbon atom in dark. And you just had a desire, and your desire caused that atom to start rotating on it is own axis and it spun itself into light and into worlds”.
That is what he said. Now, you might say “the man lied”. From your point of view, he lied. From my point of view, he told the truth. How is that possible? If I clock my genetic being to the first man, and then to the material world that G’d created before life was created, shouldn't I keep on clocking it back? So if I keep on going back, I find the beginning of this creation -–[the recording skips]
That was the knowledge of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The thing that is wrong with it is, it does not have a connection with the truth or with the reality as we know it. That is all that is wrong with it. We know that the world was set on its own movement or velocity, inertia whatever you want to call it. The world was set upon its own. It was created and given to its own force. Is that right? Its own force, the nature and the force and which was created began to operate to force the creation to growth and to completion. Is this not a fact of creation?
Yes. For the material bodies by following the laws of their nature, compelled by the laws of their natures have evolved to what it is today. Is that right? All right, okay, so if I speak of my own essence, shouldn't I also realize that my own essence was in that? And my own essence too evolved under the force of the law of its own form and nature? Yes. Certainly, it had a Creator, but the Creator put it under itself, or under the law and nature of itself, yes.
Now, dear people, if we can understand that, then we should see this creation as a unit. The creation is one unit, and Allah says in the Qur’aan, cannot they see that this creation was one unit before it was separated?
One unit, one whole, our life is not foreign to the tree, to the animal, to the minerals of the earth, to the elements of the space. Our life is akin to that part of that, belonging to that unity. The elements in your being, aren't they the elements of the creation; the calcium, the phosphorus, the iron, whatever? Isn't it the same as that in the creation? If we reduce it down, won't it be exactly what we find in the creation?
Now, dear beloved people, here is a great knowledge. The greater challenge, the matter has had to face the greater ability the matter has.
And if we could really think this big way, big way clearly, then we would understand how we are the best of the creatures Allah created, but at the same time, the worst. What makes us the worst? It is the drunken use of the human potential. If you use your potential sanely, intelligently, soberly, you'll be the best, but if you use it blindly, silly, crazy headed, you will be the worst.
The most powerful vehicle is capable of traveling the best, the fastest, the farthest, but it is also capable of having the worst accident, right? Yes. Potential is potential. And if it is a potential for greatness, it is also a potential for great destruction. Yes.
This explains we should understand ourselves in the scheme of the reality we call the creation. We should understand ourselves in that scheme, and come to accept our great dignity and once we know that, the truth will set us free. Free from what? Free from fear to do what is right, free from the fear of the world before the call to do what is right. Free from where weary, free from fantasy, free from superstitions, spookism, free from blind appetites of destruction. We would have freedom from that. Why? It is because we will have a force operating on our behalf, of our own selves. There will be the strongest motivation possible for us.
What is the problem for those who are charged with advancing society, preserving and advancing society? The greatest problem for them is management of human life. They say “if we manage human life with respect for it innate or inborn dignity, it will get out of our hands. Man is not trustworthy. So we cannot allow him the freedom, his creation deserves”. They have long ago decided that they have to manage you through your genetic machinery; that they have to manage your life through the principle or the theory of your genetic behavior. That is their decision.
The result is you as a majority of people are slaves to the influence of the environment. Your life is not charted on a course with you being the captain of the ship, your life is subject to the changes in the scheme of the influences of the society. Is that true?
So a whole mass of people, a whole neighborhood of people, whole South Chicago is up on the board of some program. They are saying where you will be five years from now. They are saying what your emotional mode will be 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now. They are saying where your mentality will be in the future because they do not trust you with the dignity, the freedom that Allah gave you alright?
What are we getting at? Salvation; salvation has come. Yes, salvation has come. The proof that salvation has come is the fact that I speak the way I speak, and nobody can challenge me. Salvation has come. Yes. The mother ship is mine. I am chief captain, at the wheels. Oh, yes. What am I talking about? I am talking about the mother ship of my own essence; the ship of my own life. That is what I am talking about. It has been brought into my control. It is salvation time. I do not have to wait to see if it is going to be winter, a summer, a fall, a spring. I got my own chart and my own program. I say next year will be winter on the 21st of the month. Want one o’clock sharp. Whenever I want to call a spring, a summer, I just call it. That is what it is going to be because I am the Khalifa. I am not under the Khalifa anymore---I am the Khalifa. Have you not been told that a very precious idea in America is the sacredness of the individual person, the autonomy of the individual?
What does that idea mean? It means Khalifa. Americans just say it in different words. The autonomy of the individual means Khalifa. It means that a person should be accountable to himself for his own behavior, for his own well-being, for his own future. He should be able to take into his hand the forces of his own circumstances and with faith in G’d, chart his own course, chart his own future. Make his life in the mold pleasing to G’d.
Yes. He should be able to do that, but we are not able in America to take control of the circumstances that in. not able to even get decent representation as retail grocery store people. We do not even have a fair share of the retail grocery business in our neighborhoods. We do not have a decent share of the institutions. In fact, we have no share of the institutions. The hospitals, the colleges, the universities, the institutions of culture, the libraries all of those things are in people's charge that are not us.
We are riders, passengers, ticket holders the captain is somebody else. Now, for the first time, a community has come to mushroom, evolved to its senses, has grown up into itself, and have seen itself, and say, "I like you. Long times since we saw each other. I have even forgotten how you looked. They told me a lot of lies about you. They said if you are unattractive, they said if you were inferior, they said if you were black and ugly, how beautiful you are. Sweetheart let us not part again."
Yes, but not the blackness of the skin, the blackness of my originality that had no knowledge to express until G’d freed my intellect. Then my intellect reached into the darkness of my being of the past, and began to speak, and it was wonderful. Ooh Baby, it was wonderful.
Yes. Does a tree speak? Can the rivers talk? Can the birds speak to us? No except as signs from Allah. They cannot speak. My mind has been freed. I have a free conscience. I have a rational mind. My intellect speaks. Speech is the peculiarity of the human creature.
The other creatures they have their language, but their communication is signal. Our communication is both signal and rational. That is why we even alter our own language. The bird speaks today like he did when he was made. He cannot alter his language. But our speech changes, we improve upon our speech. We improve upon our language. You see?
Dear beloved people, we are able to express with the intelligence that was hidden in the dark of our genetic essence. And when we are able to express that, we are wise. No one can get that knowledge except from G’d. You either get it as a blessing or you get it as a robber. Those who get it and abuse it, they are robbers. They stole it because they are not using it for the purpose for it was designed for. You see?
Now, dear beloved people let us go on with this. For the first time in the history of the African descendants, we have salvation. Salvation that is not only seen in faith, but it is seen also in knowledge. For when the people have knowledge, their conditions can be improved greatly. We can be saved, and not yet be restored.
For the mere expression of true faith will save me, but what will restore me? Knowledge, it is knowledge. Dear beloved people, your community is blessed with the knowledge to steer itself, to direct its own course, to live in its own orbit, to enjoy self containment. This is a--


