5/23/2003
IWDM Study Library
Memorial Day Chicago

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam WD Mohammed:
Inshallah, with G-d's permission. We began always Bismillah Arahma nir Rahim, which is translated In the name of G-d or in G-d's name the Beneficent, the Merciful, but also with G-d's name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer. Let’s say this first before getting into my short address, hopefully short. I didn't expect to find a fashion show when I came.
It was a great pleasure. I was delighted. I said, wow, this is really nice and they prepared it well. That's the way it should be. I shouldn't have to worry about these things and many other things. I shouldn't have to worry. We have plenty good people who can do things and many times they should not stop doing those things because they don't think they have the authorization or acceptance. We want more and more of you all to come forward. You know you have resources. You know what you can do. Please come forward and make this community bigger and better. Praise be to Allah. We welcome our friends and our guests among us today and I want you to know that our concern is not so small or so narrow that it doesn't also welcome you.
When we are planning our future, we are also planning what we believe will be appreciated by good Christians and good citizens whoever they are or whatever faith or persuasion they belong to. We believe that what we are doing will be appreciated by all citizens and all the citizens will benefit in small measure or big measures from what we are doing. This is the way of the true Muslims, the true followers of Muhammad who receive the revelation, the guidance called the holy book called Holy Qur'an or Qur'an from G-d over 14 centuries ago. And this is his way we follow his way. And if I am doing good it's because I follow his way. If I am to be praised or admired for anything it's because I follow his way.
He is my model, my leader, my guide, and that's what he is for all Muslims. And G-d says of him in our holy book that certainly you'll find in him, that is Muhammad of 1400 years ago, you will find in him an excellent model for any who believes in G-d and believes in the last day and are doers of good. This is what we believe and we follow him. We want no recognition for ourselves. We don't want you to look at us, we want you to look at what we are inviting you to. And we are not inviting you to ourselves. We are inviting you to the goodness, to the great goodness and benefits that we have found following this path. We thank G-d and we witness that He is one, the Cherisher of the heavens and the earth who cares about all of His creatures, the smallest and the biggest.
We'll be speaking on the community, the spirit for community life, the spirit for community life establishment. G-d promises us in our holy book and I'm a student also of the Bible for a long time. I'm a good student of the Bible. G-d promised us in our Holy book, good establishments. Many people forget what religion is all about. Religion is not all about what kind of headpiece you wear or what kind of dress you got on. Religion is not all about that. Religion is not about the songs you like to sing or hear or the music you prefer.
It is not all about that. Religion is not all about your ethnic food, the kind of beans or rice or meat or greens et cetera, that you like. Religion is not all about that. When people were asking about such things, G-d told Muhammad the Prophet and it's in our holy book. If that's all you want, go to any city. Praise be to Allah. Religion is all about having human life in the best condition. That's what religion is all about, having human life in the best condition and not cheating the human life. When you give somebody a perception of their life that is no bigger than the three or four blocks that they walk around in, some people live on three or four blocks for the whole of their life, then you're cheating them. If you give them a perception or picture of their lives that does not include that skies and the earth, you're cheating them. G-d created not only a little piece of ground for human beings to have, G-d created the whole ground, all the earth, all the land for human beings to have and G-d did not have in mind a particular race when He did that. G-d did not have in His mind a particular sex that He did that. He created it for male and female and for all of us.
And when we look at the sky, you have to realize that G-d created that for every human soul living or existing, and those that are to come and all of those that are to come. When you walk out of your house, you should feel like the pious believers in G-d that when you look at that sky, you're looking at the sky G-d made for you. And when you look at the ground and the distances before you, the clouds and everything, you should feel like the pious worshppers of G-d from different nationalities and from different persuasions. They all believe the same when they are enlightened. They believe that all of this G-d has created for them. No wonder the faith of the ignorant people is so weak. It is weak because the world has cheated them out of a full perception, a picture of their own values. And that's what this is about. Awakening people to your great value, the great value that G-d gave all of us when He created us human.
 In scripture, you find G-d saying that He gave all human beings the breath of life. Now we know a lot of this air we breathe is the breath of pollution, not the breath of life, not the pure air that was here before industry polluted It. They trying to clean it up now and it's costing billions and billions, costing as much as they pay to do it the wrong way. It is costing them more to get it back, to get the right way back. But they're paying the bill, the governments good governments are forcing them to pay the bill and stop poisoning or polluting the air we breath. But this breath of life G-d is talking about or G-d is painting us with with scripture is more than this breath that our newborn babies, sons and daughters breathe and their mind comes on. You know before the baby breathe it is not hearing, it is not seeing, it can't speak.
But when it breathes this air that G-d made for us to support our life, for us to breathe, that newborn baby becomes awake in it's body. Now to me this is a miracle. And how many poets have spoken of life, the birth of life as a miracle. And many of us don't think deep and think seriously as the poets think. So we don't understand fully what the poet is sensing or feeling when the poet says the birth of life is a miracle. You breathe air, you here you're living, the body is living. It was in it's mother living and it is out here now. It's living, it is not dead. But it has to take in this breath of life, this breath, air, before its mind can come on. This is no new situation for me. I remember preaching and I was only in my early twenties or younger and a lot of noise came by and I said, well just be patient. I can't speak over that noise.
Speaker 2:
My voice is not as loud as those things. I wait till it pass by. Now it's gone. Yes. So you breathe this light, this breath and the new baby breathe the breath and become conscious. It become conscious. Now it smells with its nose and it sees the desire, it feels with it's flesh and it is also thinking. Again thinking right away, thinking. And nothing was done, it just took in breath. It was already living. It wasn't dead, but it wasn't living as a conscious creation. It was living as an unconscious creation. Until this air, this air we take for granted was taken into its lungs, then it's mind was awakened. Now, G-d has given that to us as a sign of another awakening. Many of us live in this air, breathing this air with our mind seemingly alive, and our spirit and heart, soul seemingly alive, but many of us are not alive. We are dead. So when G-d speaks of the dead in scripture, don't think He's talking about the dead under the ground. Very seldom is G-d speaking of the dead that's buried under the ground. He's speaking of the dead that's dead in their purpose, dead to their purpose. They're dead to their purpose for their existence. G-d created you very differently and very valuable above all the living things He created.
Now, you are not to live like those things beneath you in creation like a cow, like a rabbit, like a lion, like a dog, like a snake, like a buzzard, a vulture. But we find as one philosopher said in the human race, you'll find all the creatures of the wilderness of philosophers once said that. Great philosopher, yes. So we know that many are in those forms in terms of how they think and live and are not in the human form. So that's disgraceful. That's shameful for such a valuable creation as a human being. A man or a woman is limited to that low life that's very much beneath the excellent value of the human person. Religion is all about awakening used to this. That's what a religion is all about. Awakening to you, to your value, to your special creation and a special value. And once you are a awakened to that, then you become a human being. You're not truly a human being if you're not awakened to that. You can have human feelings but also those feelings you call human feelings. We find them among the animals.
Oh, I'm a human being. I care about another person. Well there are birds that fly into my backyard and find food that I leave out there for them. And they share not only with the birds of their own family, but many of them share it with the birds of other families. So they care about each other too. They care about their own family and they care about strangers. So we start talking about just sentimental, sentimental values, we will find animals that are beneath us in creation, having the same sentimental values, caring about each other. I have read of animals that some animals have died of heart failure. Why? Because the mate they were with for so long suddenly was killed. And later, just a few days later, the mate of that animal also died of heart failure. So we don't have much to boast about if we are just talking about what we call human sentimental things, sentimental nature, sentimental valuing. How is a human being above these other creatures?
We are above these other creatures in terms of what we can do with our life. And the reason why we can do so much more with our life than they can do with their lives is because of the higher intelligence that G-d created us with. Not only religion but also science tells us that the human being is distinguished above other life because we are homo sapiens. Homo sapiens means thinking creature, thinking human being or thinking creature. We have the ability to think and the ability to think is an ability to think freely and to think without restrictions or boundaries to hold our thinking in it. I believe science won't say this, but I know a dog's face. I look at his face, I can tell he's thinking. I can see in his eyes he thinks. Yeah, other things think, they think like we do. I went to see a big ape in the zoo once. Bushman, when I was young after he died, may he have peace at his grave or wherever he's going at his bushman heaven, wherever he's going. But anyway, I looked at his eyes and right away I knew he was thinking and he didn't have any good thoughts.
He was looking at me and made me feel so uncomfortable. He was looking at me like how come you free out there and I'm all locked up in here. See you another one of those human dirty dogs. Got me locked up in here and you free out there. You ought to be ashamed of yourself looking at me behind bars and I can't go anywhere and you free to go about and eat popcorn and juking at me and having a good time. He made me feel so bad. Well I know they can think but they can't think out of the boundaries for their life, for their physical life. Man can think out of the boundaries for his physical life. He think into spiritual dimensions. He think into abstract dimensions. And not only can he think, he can also think and then reproduce pictures of his mind in the environment that ain't real.
He can think and picture something and then show it to you in a form. So he's also a creator, isn't he? Yes, he's a creator. That's why G-d says in scripture G-d is the best of creators. He didn't say that there are no other creators. He just said He is the best of creators and you can create nothing except by the will of G-d. G-d has willed that you have this ability, otherwise you couldn't be creators. And what you use, you must go to G-d's creation for it. Whatever man as creator use or benefits by he has to go to G-d's creation to get it. So this is what you should understand. The human person is very valuable, the human person because of this high, value you are expected to be producing more than monkeys, cows, chickens and things like that. You expected to be producing more.
There was a time when man build a little cheap grass hut, that was his house. He'd take mud, build a little house, that's his house. Mix some mud with straw and it dries. That's his house. But that was not enough for him because the bird builds a house of mud and straw. And he throw together a few pieces of wood and he builds a cheap looking house. But that's not the end of his aspiration. He wants more than that because beavers also will cut wood and build a house, a wooden house on the water. Beavers. And bees build such lovely houses, such lovely houses. But man is not limited there, man is given the ability much beyond that. So man eventually makes houses air conditioned, heated in the winter, cooled in the summer, skyscrapers, houses so elaborate. He builds the best of houses. Now coming near to what we are going to present to you today, Muhammad the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him. One of his predictions are saying, go like this. That a sign of the end of time will be when the poor people, poor men, will be competing in the building of skyscrapers. Isn't this something? Listen to what it is saying. A sign in the end of time will be when the poor man is competing in the field of construction to build skyscrapers. To build skyscrapers. But it's been a long time now, two decades ago, long time, and we have a very successful, excellent model of industry in the Chicago area, African-American people, Mr. John Johnson.
He couldn't get all the way downtown but he came close. And he couldn't build his building as big as others down there downtown. But he built it high, high enough for you to see it, a long ways off. It's the Ebony building, Jet and Ebony building on Michigan Avenue, on Michigan Avenue. Well where did he come from? He came from the poor, came from the south to the north and came from the poor and he made progress up here. Enough progress for him to compete in the building of tall structures. Yes. And now he's able to do much more than that. He can do much more than that I'm sure. He probably got buildings taller than that, I don't know. But most likely he got some buildings taller than that now. He's very successful. But getting back to the Prophet's saying. The Prophet is telling us and that one day poor people will not be satisfied to have nothing, poor people are going to compete for what the rich man has.
Why is G-d telling us through Muhammad the Prophet that poor people will one day compete to have what the rich has? To tell us that we have equal value. That G-d didn't make a rich man in a different way that He made a poor man. When G-d made man He made man. And circumstances, situations make some poor and some rich. But He made all people to be productive and to get the full benefit from His creation that He made, this material creation. G-d says to us in our scripture, and it is in the Bible too. I told you I'm a good student of the Bible. I know what the Bible says too. Seek with the means that G-d has made possible for you the better life, the hereafter when all this is finished. But don't forget your share of this world. G-d tells us, don't forget our share of this world.
Don't forget your share of this world. All of us, by virtue of us being the same creation of G-d. All of us are entitled to a share of this material world. And if you don't want to share this material world, then you are going to be punished because G-d created you for a share of this material world. And just like you neglect to brush your teeth, you're going to be punished. You're going to get some pain in that mouth sooner or later. And if you don't forget your share, I mean if you choose to forget your share of this material world, you going to be punished sooner or later. And what is the punishment for those who don't care about having their share of this material world? To be a slave to those that don't care about you. Yeah, and don't say slavery is over. They're are plenty slaves. They slave right here in Markham, my town and I love this town too. They're slaves right here in Markham. They're slaves to drugs, they're slaves to alcohol and the drug dealer. If you a slave to what he's selling you his slave.
So slavery hasn't stopped, they're still slaves, they're slaves to many other things. But we don't have time to list all those things. Take us two hours to list all the things that we are slaves to. So slavery hasn't ended and Allah sent Muhammad and those before him, the righteous figures, He sent them to awaken our conscience that He created us for. See, when you are living you have a mind, but maybe it's not the mind that G-d created you for. You have a mind that your experiences or your environment gave you, but it might not be the mind that G-d created you for. When you have the mind that G-d created you for, then you become truly conscious as a human being and you become productive and you'll be in heaven while yet in a flesh body. You'll be in heaven while yet in a flesh body.
Now I told you I'm a student of the Bible too. What I'm saying is supported by the Bible too. When I invite Christians and you are invited. You are my friend, our guest. We love you like we love ourselves, we want for you the same thing we want for ourselves. Yes. And we don't want to change you from your religion. If you happy in your religion, we want you right there because if you change, you might be a worse person later than you were before. Yes. Because your changing might not be for the right reasons. You may change for the wrong reasons and we'll have a worst person in a Muslim name than we had before in a Christian name. So understand that. And G-d is the one to change our faith. We can't change faith without G-d's permission. Yes. Now getting back to this. I am speaking from scripture. I'm a follower of scripture. I speak from scripture and what I say to you will stand up beside scripture. It won't fall. It'll stand up beside scripture and it will stand up strong besides scripture what I say to you. I'm not going to say anything to you that won't stand up besides scripture. No breath of life, no life.
Human life is learned. You don't become a human being just because you were born flesh. You become a human being because you learn the life of human beings. There have been students of anthropology, et cetera, studying how human life comes into existence and they have shown proof that you can take a perfect human body and put it in an animal environment and that human being will never become human. It will bark like an animal or holler like animals. It will run around like animals. It will be animal. So human life only is not just created but human life is learned. L-E-A-R-N-E-D. Human life is learned.
So if you keep people in ignorance, the level of their belief will show they are beneath human life. So if you rob people of the intelligence they need and of the interaction they need to become intelligent human beings with other human beings who have learned. So that's why G-d says He taught Adam. Say He taught Adam. So many people who read scripture, they'll never get it when they read that G-d taught Adam. He created a man and then He taught that man. They won't get it. But the revelation came again to make it even clearer and plainer. Allah says to Muhammad, and it is in the chapter of the holy book called Ar Rahman. He says the merciful G-d Rahman, the Merciful G-d taught the Qur'an to Muhammad and created the human first.
So without the learning, you don't have the high life, the great life, the great valuable life that G-d created you for. Human life is learned, are discovered. Your experiences with your brain and your sensitivities discovers more and more of the life G-d wants to be you, in you and to become you. The birth place for human life is community. This story I read, I think it was by Margaret Mead, an anthropologist. This story I read of them finding a boy among animals who was not human, just living like an animal, imitating the animals. It is the story of a boy that never had the opportunity to live and develop in a human group or in a human family or in a human community. After all, no matter how small your family is, your family is also a community. The family itself is a community, a family community. Yes. So this child didn't have opportunity to grow up in a human community. It grew up with animals and thought itself one of the animals and had no more than animal existence or animal life.
Community concerns have moved certain special individuals, Prophets, Messengers of G-d, certain special individuals to go up or to ascend the mountain, to climb a mountain like Moses did, like Muhammad did also. As you go up in the mountain, also Jesus Christ went up in the mountain. Isn't that something? I read the Bible. Jesus Christ also went up the mountain. Why go up in the mountain? To get a more complete picture and a clearer picture of the community that they belong to. We're not blessed with wings like eagles. We can't just pick up our way up and go across town like an airplane. So we never get to see, get a good full picture of the place we are living. A aerial photograph, or shot is much better than the one we snapping down here.
You get on a plane, you go up on a helicopter, you go up high and then you can get an aerial shot, and you can shoot down here with the wide lens camera and you can see much better how we look down here than us down here just seeing from this level on the ground. So those that go up into the mountain, they want to see better the whole picture. But just like G-d has made it possible for you to send physical heights and get a better physical picture, G-d has also made that a sign of the possibility that He is giving you also to ascend spiritual heights and get a better spiritual picture or human picture of the spiritual life of the people and come back down and feed that life with a much bigger and better picture of it, therefore a much higher appreciation for it too. Yes. Alright, so thank G-d for those special thinkers among us.
Like Moses, like Jesus Christ, like Muhammad peace be on them. Some of our mothers, they helped us out a lot. They picked the language from the language environment of their time that they thought would best get us to go forward and to stay right, stay right. I used to hear mothers say, you don't hardly hear it anymore. Some of our mothers push us and they would say to us, "Boy, set your mind on something worthwhile." We need that again. We need you mother to start telling our boys that again. Son, set your mind on something worthwhile. It means something of importance, something of permanence, not something that's here today and gone tomorrow.
The reason for most of you being here with me today under this beautiful tent, isn't it beautiful? We got this from a Christian preacher. He was moving on to bigger things so he didn't need a tent anymore. So we are following him. Can you hear me? We are following him. And right now we enjoying this beautiful tent and on this American holiday it is white, red, and blue. We didn't go looking for no red, white and blue tent. We ain't that sentimental about being an American citizen, but this is the tent he had for us. We bought it. This is only one he had and he gave us a great bargain. Great bargain.
You are here on this Sunday Sun-day and thank G-d for sunshine. I'm looking at it out there. Sunshine. And on this Memorial Day event of CPC, Collective Purchasing Conference, LLC, Limited Liability Company Property. These properties belong to our company. How many of you all own this company? Raise your hand. What? Really? Oh this is really a CPC gathering. Now you know what I mean. I don't mean you only because your brother will love for you what he love for himself. I don't mean that. Now if you raised your hand because you believe what's my brothers is mine depend on your character. You don't share with a Muslim brother if his character is too bad. I'm going to ask again. Don't you jive me. I want to see the hands of those who put some money and got a share in CPC. Wonderful. Let me give you a hand.
Your Imam didn't do what he did before praying many prayers to G-d, asking Him to guide to that that hHe approves of. Cause if you don't get what G-d approves of, you're going to lose it sooner or later. And no matter how long it be coming, you going to lose. Yes, you'll lose. So your Imam prayed many prayers for this before investing one penny or 1 cent of money into it from his pocket or from your pockets. I prayed much for this. I have faith in G-d. I know that that I prayed for and G-d blessed me with what I asked for. If I remain dutiful and don't change and spoil my own nature, G-d is also my protector for that.
So this is not depending only on Imam WD Mohammed to protect it and on you investors to protect it, it is in G-d's charge. This is His charge. He will protect it and He will give us assistance in many ways and from many places and persons that we are not even aware of. You are here because you are for individuals and families getting and keeping a life that is worthwhile. Yes. See we can put religious meanings and religious interests in many kinds of expressions, but when you get to the heart of the matter, this is what we want and G-d promises just that. A good life and a productive life. That's what G-d promises the sincere ones. In Christianity, in Judaism, in Islam, G-d promises the sincere ones, if they will do the right thing and have faith in Him, faith and good works. He promises them life and a good life and a productive life, and a productive life.
You didn't come here to have somebody invite you to what's causing the people of these towns and America and other places to shed tears. Have them fearing tomorrow. Will tomorrow be worse than today. You didn't come here to have that. You are here because you are a community having a life that says it is a livable life and tomorrow will be better and bigger. And believe me, if I didn't have that hope and that belief in me, you wouldn't see me today. There are a lot of other things I can be doing that would satisfy and please me. I don't have to be out here talking to you under this tent. No. The purpose that brings me here is much bigger than this tent, much bigger than this audience I'm looking, at much bigger than Markham, the town I've grown to love since I've been here. Much bigger than Chicago, the city of my life, the city I lived most of my life in. Much bigger than the United States of America. The plan that G-d has blessed us with that we call CPC, Comtrust, Grace Line, it will live if we will stay with it even if America falls and is no more existing. This that we have is capable of surviving the death or fall of America because it comes from the G-d that's bigger than the whole creation He made, and it comes from a plan that G-d gave man, His Messengers, His servants that is bigger than the plan for any nation existence and future. It is bigger than the plan for any nation and that nation's future.
Let me tell you something about your government, the United States of America and your government leaders who are wise in the government. They don't want you to just be conscious of the government as the living conditions or the protectors for the living conditions that you want. They want you to be conscious of your religion. They want you to be conscious of your Bible. They want Muslims to be conscious of our holy book, the Qur'an. Because they themselves are in something bigger than the political idea we call the life of the United States of America. They also are Christian and some Jews and some Muslims and the numbers are growing. The numbers of Muslims are growing in government, in the government of the United States. The number of Muslims from outside this country and the number of Muslims that were in here for now over three centuries. Yes as people, as citizens or as subjects in this land, the number is growing. We are getting more and more numbers from Muslims, both indigenous us, African Americans and also those who changed their citizenship, left their nation and took up citizenship here in the United States of America. The numbers are growing and very impressive numbers in government, in the government of the United States of America. Very important significant positions are being held by Muslims in the government of the United States of America. And I mean no area is left out.
Business, politics, money, financing, whatever. Sciences, everything. Muslims are growing in the leadership of the American people and the structure we call the government, the government. A new day. Certainly this is a new day. Continuing now the spiritual community life establishment. We are very different from most people on this planet area. I'm not talking about Africans, I'm talking about African Americans. Not African, African Americans. We are very different from most people living on this planet. We are, as I said when I was a young man in my early twenties preaching for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad my father. We are a new people on this earth. We are new people on this earth before our coming to life as a people in the new world, there were no people existing exactly like us. We may look like Africans in our physical picture like many Indians look like Indians. They're Native Americans.
So we might look like Africans in our physical picture but we are a new people. I told you the human being cannot be human until the human being learns how to be human. And you can't be a people until you learn how to be a people. Scripture speak of a people that are no people. I'm giving you the exact words in scripture. A people that are no people, like saying a man that is no man. It's just that I like a little humor sometimes. I'm sure some of you right here in this audience right now, you got a man that is no man.
Please don't identify yourself. Don't bear witness too loud. We don't want to know you. But I know anytime you find this many together, there's some female with a man that's no man. Slavery, that peculiar institution of slavery that brother Daniel Mujahid, and thank you brother Daniel Mujahid for your great support, your great spirit, your great words motivating us to have faith and do more. Thank you brother Daniel Mujahid. Great man in the corporate world. Big man in the corporate world and we are blessed to have him as a member of our society. Isn't that wonderful? Allahu Akbar.
Yes. So a people, if they are separated from the traditions, separated from their history, separated from their culture, separated from the language even that they spoke before they were separated by slavery. Those people can be so thoroughly cut off from their previous learning environment that they become again no people. Now we know man in his savagery or man in his primitive life during the primitive times of man existence on the planet, man was no people. Though he had the body of a man, he had the pattern, the physical pattern for the growth of the development of a man, he was not a man because he was not yet enlightened. He had not yet learned the life that he's supposed to have yet. So we became no people, we were just slaves. And a few of us remained human because we had some contact with good human influences coming from individuals.
All whites weren't devils during the time of the south mistreatment of us. All of them weren't devils. Some of them didn't like what their own people were doing it. So some of us were fortunate to have contact with good human influences from individuals and also from writings. And it helped us stay in touch with our human spirit. So though we were not establishing the human life, we were still having the human spirit. And many of us just had the tenacity of willpower, the tenacity of will to resist all attempts to make us ignorant and inhuman. And though we did not have learning, we were ignorant, but we had respect for our human life and we held on to it in spite of those cruel centuries that were designed to make animals of all of us. Yes. Whether intentionally done or not, that existence in it's raw and in it's worst form was designed to make animals of all of us.
But G-d gave us a human soul and we who kept the human spirit to live the life of our human soul, we kept our humanity though we could not have it as a people. Today we are free to congregate. And I was telling the Muslims here in Chicago. I was telling them there on our weekly day, Jumu'ah day. I was telling him there of how we have been cheated out of a life and cheated out of a job, a life that G-d created us for and a job that G-d created us for, a big job. A job that requires numbers from different families, not just one little small group, but it requires numbers from families to get together and help establish and plan a future for all the people. So we were deprived of that and we have to awaken. We have to be awakened to that. American, African-American people. Now this going to maybe not set so well for some of you all. It is not pleasant for me it is painful for me and many of you feel the same way I do. But a lot of you will be hurt by what I'm going to say. We are still no people.
We are no people. If we were a people we would have property like people have, we would have our life in our own hands like people have their lives in their own hands. Chinese won't let you take the life of Chinese life out of their hands. The Irish people are not going to let you take the Irish life out of their hands. But we never had it in our hands and we don't know that now we are free to get our life in our own hands. And we are still letting other people have our life in their hands. That's shameful. Especially when you are awakened. And we are not sleeping anymore, we are awake. And it pains us to see a whole people's life in other people's hands. We going to change that. My father was determined to change that and before him he was influenced by other African American leaders who were determined to change that.
And his son is just as determined as he was to change that. And G-d is the one that has fired us up to change it. We can't give it up even if we want to. Sometime I get so much trouble in my personal life I think of just throwing my hands up, oh this is too much. I'm too burdened to take on all this other responsibility. But I can't do it. I can't give it up. That's just a flashing thought. It is in like lightning and gone, then the sun comes on and it doesn't flash. Just stays there. Praise be to Allah.
The spirit for community establishment. That's what we have and we are not going to give it up. We are new people and we are new people on the job site, on the job site of building community life, and we want our job back. We were once a great people in Africa. And we had that land and that land gave us a job, a job for developing it and establishing our life on the continent of Africa. We want our job back. As citizens of the United States of America, we want complete freedom to choose a place like this and many other places in this United States of America and even outside because our community also is in other places outside of the United States. Wherever we are, we want the landholders, the landowners, the bosses to know that the day or the end of time has come.
And the poor man is competing with the rich man to build skyscrapers. That's what we want them to know. And he wants his full freedom to do that. Full freedom to do that. I was invited to speak to some powerfully rich, rich people. They are so proud of their philosophy, their ideas that have made them rich that they don't say or admit their Capitalists. They publish their Capitalists. They have a magazine that publish them, the Capitalists. They have an airplane, on the airplane, the Capitalists. I went as their guest to their location and there was a big sign out there, the Capitalists. And they were rich. They all rich. I'm not going to tell you their name. You'll know 'em right away if I told you their name.
They're very rich people and they are investors. They invest in many things. Mostly gold and money and stuff like that. They're investors. Anyway, they invited me to speak to them. They wanted to know about Elijah Muhammad, this man from his son. They wanted to hear about him from his son. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is very significant, very important, significant means important. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is very significant in the minds of many big people of the world, not just the United States of America, of the world. Why? Because he did something that was unexpected of any man in these United States. Not to mention of a black man without formal education. He did things that were not expected of any man in these United States. He did those things and got the attention of the learned world. Yes he did.
The Readers Digest in the time of Elijah Muhammad's life, they put on their cover once: Elijah Muhammad, the most significant black man in America. That's what they said. Readers Digest. Not Jet. Readers Digest. Okay. Said the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the most significant black man in America. I'm not sure if Ralph Bunch might've still been alive at that time. I know there was some big people alive, still alive at that time when they said the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was the most significant black man in America. So they invited me to be their guest and they gave me money. I didn't go there to rich people to talk to rich people and knew they would not be converted without coming back with something in my pocket.
They promised me a good pay for my time and they gave me even a better pay than I expected for my time. But getting to the point. When they gave me a chance to speak, I told them, I say, we have come to believe what many of you all already know. That you can be no bigger than your awareness. And what you are aware of you cannot benefit from if you don't claim it. And we are aware of ourselves as citizens in these United States. And the land belongs to us as well as it belong to anybody else and we are determined to qualify to have responsibility for some land of our own.
Yes. And I told them that I'm telling my people what G-d says to us and G-d says He is the owner of the whole earth. That's right. And G-d has said to us that He made this earth and whatever's in the skies to benefit us. So we want our share in the benefits And G-d said that He made every human being to be responsible in the earth, responsible in the earth. So we also want and are determined to have our share and the responsibility for these things. I said, all we want is that you all, you don't have to help us. I said, we're not asking for charity. I told those big shots that. And I didn't tell them with macho attitude.
Imam WD Mohammed:
I said, We just want our share. I said, and we are not begging anybody. I said, our Prophet told us the hand that puts something in the poor hand is better, more valuable than the hand that's receiving something. I said. So we are not coming here to beg or ask you for anything. All we want is for you not to hinder us or not to get in our way or make trouble for us and cause us to be defeated. We don't want our effort hurt by you all who have the power and the ability to get in our way or hurt what we are doing. That's what I told them. All we want is you don't get in our way. You just don't get in our way. I'm not begging you for anything. Didn't come here to ask you for a dime, but just don't get in our way. Don't make trouble for us with all your power in the media and all your power in our neighborhood and our culture and in our lives with all your power. Don't get in our way or hurt what we trying to do. Now, that's how I talk to you. I didn't talk to them bigshots like that.
And let me tell you what the big boy said when I finished. And they didn't let the moderator say this. They had the big man, I mean the big man come up there and he said, "Mr. Mohammed, we will not get in your way." That's what he told me. He said that. "Mr. Mohammed, if there is any way we can help you we will." That's what he told me. See I was an ambassador for you a long time ago, for us. Alright, we want to hurry up and try to finish this. A new people. We have to realize we are a new people.
A new people bringing their numbers. To be with any company of doers of good, to be with others in the common life for good works. To be in the company of persons who want their minds to be set to something worthwhile, to be with people wanting to learn more. As the saying goes, nothing ventured nothing gained. To be the ones who have will, a will to die to all sin before they will accept the spirit of shameful living, which is really dying in a culture of death. Now I have quotes for this culture of death because it was the Pope John Paul the second who used this language during one of his addresses that he made. He called the culture of the west that have gone all around the world now the culture of death. He doesn't mean the beautiful culture, he means the culture of drugs. He spells it out in one of his speeches. The culture of drugs.
The culture of corruption, yes. To be connected to human life. In the original form, the form it was in before its innocence was spoiled. And the scripture tells us how that innocence was spoiled. Although people from different other religions or beliefs, they may not have this story as we have it, but we have it for Jews, Christians, and Muslim. We have the same story. It was the Satan, the Shaitan, we say in Islam, or the Satan in Christian Church, that seduced, tricked our father and mother to come out of the culture or out of the life that they were in before it became corrupt.
Allah says, "And he caused them to take off the clothing or to leave the clothing that they were in." And Allah says the clothing of righteousness. He caused them to take off the clothing and lead the clothing of righteousness. And we know a culture with no respect for high human values is a culture of corruption and death. The spirit for community life of new people we're continuing. History is the place to go to find the pieces to the puzzle. The puzzle in human minds that are lost from the life that they want for their own self, for themselves. Loss from a life of wholeness and hits loss from a functional community life. Until you become whole, complete in your human thinking that Allah, G-d the creator intended for then you can never have a whole life within and certainly not a whole life without.
You can't have a functional life within and you can't have a functional community without. Allah made what is within us as to be connected with and engage that that is outside of us. Human beings cannot exist with just soul or just spirit. The human mind, intelligence, soul and spirit must engage the material environment. When we engage the material environment, then not only do we grow the environment, but the environment is like reciprocal. It is interacting with us and we also grow ourselves. So that's why G-d says that He has made us like a plant. The Bible also describes human life like a plant. And made us like a plant. Once you are put in the material environment, you can have your growth and you may start at something so small like a mustard seed, a small seed of an olive or something. But once you get into the material environment and you get sensitivities like water give sensitivities to that, you get your sensitivity, your human sensitivity, then you begin to open up and let out the light that's locked up in that little small dead looking seed.
That's your human life. That's a picture of what can happen for your human life, for your soul, for your spirit, for your mind, for your intelligence. The same thing can happen for your intelligence if you just place your intelligence in the material environment G-d created and let Him respond to and engage the material life that G-d created and keep the good sensitivities there. That's like the water of life. Keep those good innocent human sensitivities in you and you'll begin to experience not only growth for your environment, but growth for your intelligence, growth for your sensitivities, growth for your whole life. Growth for your appetite for beauty, for beauty. Look how man has beautified his environment with beautiful cultural works, pictures, statues, all kind of beautiful things. Structures that appeal to our appetite for beauty.
Yes. Look how much can come to us. So we are a life that has to be turned on by intelligence. And you can't turn that life on that's intelligent life until you embrace this logical world that G-d has put together. It is a world of logic, this material world. It is a world of logic. It is not a world of guesswork. It is not a world of accidents. It's a world of logic. And if you engage with your life, then it will feed your life and you will give back to it like a woman you married. Good woman, a good human woman, with good human sense. You give her your love, she give you her all and you produce a beautiful house for you to live in. And she produced for you beautiful children, produced from your and her body, beautiful children. And pretty soon you got a beautiful home and a beautiful life and you are so happy and proud of it.
The same thing can happen with the material world. You can put certain people in the desert where there's nothing growing, the land look like it offers nothing. And they will use their interest, their human interest, and they'll engage that land, that barren land, that barren land with their intelligence and with their hearts and their feelings and their love, they will engage it and they'll find ways to bring water to the desert and begin to cultivate it. And pretty soon there'll be a oasis. Pretty soon there'll be a garden. Pretty soon there'll be a beautiful town in the desert. In the desert. Now America is no desert. Markham is no desert. Chicago is no desert. Los Angeles, no desert. New York City, Harlem is no desert. So if that can be done in a desert, look what we can do to these places we call unsightly places, ghetto, sore spots. We can bring life and beauty to those place just by coming back to the original man we are, the human person G-d created.
History goes back to a time we call prehistory. Before history was written or being made by man and put on paper, human life was evolving before that time, before that beginning. It is incredible but true. There's a way back to man's prehistory, human excellence. The way back is upon the human souls mode of travel. Human history records that this way has been accessible only to a relative few. In the history of the heavenly religions, the names of Christ Jesus and Muhammad as also the name of our first father, Adam, are well known. These three were established in human excellence without schools and without teachers. And in spite of their being born in environments that were for animals or that were inhuman. A world of plants and animals, not people or not peopled. Yet Adam was able to prosper.
Speaker 2:
A baby born in a manger for animals. Yet Christ, Christ Jesus became the teacher and the people who followed him have prospered. Yes. An orphan on the peninsula of Arabia, born in a time of ignorance and a time of bestiality, and yet he prospered. And the people that followed him prospered with him. Muhammad, our model, our leader, our guide. Praise be to Allah. Now identifying our genesis among our neighbors, Jews and Christians will help much if we will only try to know or accept to know the now teachings of Moses and Jesus, promoting sacred respect for virgin nature and for a productive relationship with all matter or with all creation. To know that this is not just for Jews and Christians, this is for Muslims too. And for Muslims, it is our primary and constant interests. We are to indulge the creation, believing that G-d made it for us.
And if we do that, we are on the pathway of obedience to G-d and we are on the pathway to greater and more important possibilities for human life. The master of all creation, G-d himself, our Lord, made those possibilities for us. Now, what is this language, a new people? What is this language a new people? Human life is formed to engage the job human life is naturally having an appetite for. Now, you may be eating greens and your favorite meat, greasy meat, whatever, and French fries, whatever. But as a human being you know want more than that. Your existence may be that is probably not much better than the mice that's in the house. Or the roaches that embarrass you when company come over. But you know, want more than that.
If you are a human, you want much more than that. Sometimes you shed tears just thinking while you're looking at yourself more clearly than it is for any other people in the history of the world. We are in need of human community life. We need to be responsible for building our own communities. We need to be responsible for its guidance, its direction. We shouldn't have to go to another community to have them tell us how to do it. We should be responsible for that. We can do it if we get back to the original human pattern created in the natural world for us by G-d. We'll be able to evolve. Or as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, raise up. You'll be able to evolve or raise up the people and have the people produce wonderful establishments. But we can't do that with the spirit of somebody who can't think any bigger than that small environment or that small life that they live.
You have to have people who are in touch with bigger environments and who sees life bigger than the small life we have in these apartments and rooms and hotels or whatever, motels, places, bad looking places. Somebody have to have freedom beyond that limitation in order to have the feeling and the interest, the concerns and the sensitivity and intelligence .And more important, the knowledge. To take us into the big picture that G-d created us for. History records a theft and the theft, his is the history of religious people, religious communities, Jews, Christians, and now us. History requires a theft and giving you the words of scripture, it says a theft of a whole people. Now we have suffered a theft of our community life.
We need to get that life, get it on, get it going forward, and we need to get on the job, the job of being responsible for that life and do our part in ensuring us and our children a better and bigger future. We can do that, we are on the job. We talked at the last congregation, congregational prayer. We talked about our job and I asked, I knew there was some heavy Imams in the audience. They knew I was going to lead the congregation so some of them had come even from out of town. And some of them I know they're Christian preachers, hiding amongst.
Yes. Oh yes. They change identities. Come among us and hide. They hide because they want to eat at our table, but they don't want to be identified. I welcome them. In fact, if I know a few of them in the audience, I even add some extra food to the table, extra for my guests who had different taste, little different taste than ours. I put some food down there, especially food for them. I say, you didn't know I had your treats, did you? Thank G-d. Anyway, I told them, I asked them, I said, how do you spell job? They hesitated looking at me like I was full of job. I said, seriously? How do you spell job? J-O-B. I said, how do you spell Job the Prophet J-O-B. Thank you very much. Peace.
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