06/08/1975
IWDM Study Library
Adam and Eve Begin Society

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam Mohammed: Thank you brother minister Naim Akbar. I really enjoy listening to the few words that I have heard while I was here in the back there from minister Naim Akbar. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, Most Merciful, peace and blessings be upon His servants and His messengers forever, Amen. Dear brothers and sisters, we greet you with the greetings of peace, the greetings of all the prophets from Abraham to Muhammad, As salaam alaikum.
Congregation: Wa alaikum as-salaam.
Imam Mohammed: I'm very happy to be here this afternoon again on a very beautiful day. I'm not going to hold you long today but it is important that we come out. Today, we want to go through the Holy Quran and read on Adam and Eve and quickly point out the true definition of Adam and Eve in the Bible and in Holy Quran. First I'll just read the verses as they appear here.
This is section 7 of the Holy Quran verse, chapter 20 beginning with verse 116. It reads, "When We said to the angels, 'Prostrate yourselves to Adam, they prostrated themselves, but not Iblis, he refused." Now this Iblis, we read it "Ab-lis." The correct pronunciation is "Iblis," is another name for the devil, the archenemy of man. Says he refused.
Verse 117 says, "Then We said, 'O Adam. Verily, this is an enemy to you and your wife, so let him not get you both out of the Garden so that you are landed in misery.'' "There is therein enough provision for you not to go hungry, not to go naked. Not to suffer from thirst, not from the sun's heat. But Satan whispered evil to him, he said, 'Oh Adam, shall I lead you to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?'" Now we read through verse 116 to 120, on Adam and chapter 20 of the Holy Quran and here, you see here a similar reading to that that you find in the Genesis, the early part of Genesis, of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the Forbidden Tree, and the devil who came up to him. The only thing here you see that the snake is not used here, only the term enemy, archenemy of man is used, not the snake and there's a few things said about the devil's promise that helps us understand what promise he was making. Says, " Shall I lead you to the Tree of Eternity, to a kingdom that never decays?"
In the Bible, the snake promises Adam and Eve eternal life, but here in the Holy Quran the thing that is identified here is not so much life in the individual but it's a kingdom that never decays. The Holy Quran is clearing up the hazy or hard to understand reading that you find in Genesis. Let us quickly point out exactly what we're talking about here. First, G-d says, "This is a new being that G-d had created called Adam, and this Adam is the person, the inner body, not the physical body but the inner body. They're going to differ one from another by what's inside the physical body, and men differ from animals, from apes by what's inside the physical body.
Here, the scripture is telling us that it was the will of G-d to create in the physical body, a divine being, a divinely made creature called Adam. This refers to your mind, your thinking mind. The object here of the divine Creator is to make a thinking mind that grows in divine characteristics. If something should influence this mind to take it out of that desire to grow in divine characteristics, then the mind will begin to die. That is, die out of the form that G-d intended for you, not that it would die physically. You know in the Bible, Adam ate the fruit of the Forbidden Tree that was given to him by Eve, but they both went on living according to the Bible, Genesis, is that correct?
They didn't die physically, they continued to live but they had been warned beforehand that in the day that you eat of that fruit, you will surely die. They had been told that in the day that they ate of that fruit, they will surely die. So how come the Book didn't say, and they died. The book doesn't say that. Why? Because it's not talking about physical body. It's talking about the mind and the righteous disposition of that mind. When we started listening to evil whispers of the devil, people who are outside of the righteous body or righteous family of people, started taking their thoughts and living their ways of life, then they begin to die as a divinely created being.
Let's continue now so you can clear us up here. Now we come to Eve here, his wife, Eve. In Bible interpretation, we find Eve refers to the passion that is the desires in your physical body for food, clothes, shelter, or a mate to mate with, that is sex life. Sometimes these things can be turned into ugly or vicious desires, appetites. If we don't get what we want, many times it will drive us to madness and we will forget all of our fine human principles and characteristics, and we'll come out raving like an animal and we'll begin to destroy and do anything we can to satisfy the urges of our physical body. Is that right?
That is if the man is not mature, if the man is not morally mature. If he is not morally matured, then he is subject to be given to the forces of his own physical body and those forces will turn him into something less than the man that he is created to be. You understand? Now let's continue to read. "But Satan whispered evil to him." Now, who is this Satan? The religious people have been spooked up in the churches, and in the synagogues and mosques too, many times they spook the people up making them think that Satan is some invisible ghost that sneaks around and hovers around waiting for an opportunity to come into your life, and take it over, or to lead you to do something bad. There is no Satan outside of your body, unless that Satan is inside somebody else's body. When you speak of a devil inside of another person's body, you're not talking about something that has independent existence outside of that person. If there is a devil in me, then that devil has grown in me. It has come to birth on something that started within me. Lies, weak ideas, wrong thinking. This begins to grow a particular disposition in me. Pretty soon, my disposition is one of evil and wickedness. If that continues to grow, then I will take the form of a devil.
When we speak of men and women as physical bodies, we refer to them as male and female. When we speak of men and women as persons, we refer to them as men and women or ladies and gentlemen, is that right? Likewise for the devil. When we are speaking of a devil, we are not talking about something physical. We are talking about the person within the physical body. How can you destroy a devil? You destroy a devil by destroying that mind that that person has come into. If you can destroy that mind, you will destroy that devil. As long as that person keeps the same mind, they will be the same devil.
Now, you may say, "Well, it must be more than that for the destruction of a devil." Would you agree with me the devil should be destroyed just as human beings are destroyed? I would say yes. How do you destroy a human being? By killing him physically? No. If a human being has become powerful as a human being, you can't kill him by killing him physically. Many people who grew powerful as human beings, that means as a mind, as an influence on the world. They were killed physically, but they lived on mentally and historically in the world to rule the world even after they had been killed physically.
We know you can kill, stop the person from moving in his physical body by killing that physical body, but that person, if he has reached others, if his influence is in the world, you have to kill his mind before the world. If you kill his mind before the world, the world will have to give up his mind. Is that right? Let's quickly now reflect on the Bible speaking about the killing of a devil. The Bible never told us that the devil is going to be killed by any physical destruction. The book says that the beast shall be taken and without hands. You don't have to put your hands on it. The book says also that the devil shall be destroyed or that Satan will go down in a lake of fire.
When you learn the true interpretation of lake of fire, we learn that lake from reading the Bible, we learn that lake refers to a body of people that are not like sea water or salt water, but sweet water body of people. Lake is what we call sweet water. Ocean is what we call salty water. Seas are salty waters. The church people are distinguished from the Synagogue people in the term sweet water. Jesus called the Jews, dead letter people. The Bible history teaches us that the Jew was called a sea people, a salty people. The use of salt is still in their religious rituals and ceremonies, is that right? They use a kosher salt to kosher their meat.
They are people who have gotten in a ritualistic practice that involves using the salt, but still identify them as those people that were called the salt water people. Salt water means materialistic. Salt, when you let the water dry out, or boil the water out, you'll find the salt there as solid, right? You see them when you put the salt in, it's solid right? The water makes it break up and it dissolves and you can't see it in there, but what it actually means- to make it short, we're trying to round this up here in about 30 minutes if we can. It means that these people have mixed in with their religious thinking for the development, for the building up and development of the person that's in, that is the mind.
They have mixed in material things, material interest. Material interest is good as an outside thing. If we want material wealth for clothes, for shelter, for cities, for transportation, for banks and strong society, that's good. If we want material wealth to satisfy a human appetite to replace the thing that that human appetite naturally call for, and that's human elevation, then we become unnatural. I hope you can follow what I'm saying. We become unnatural. Some people, they get their mind and their hearts so fixed on getting something material, that they dream about the material thing. They fall in love with the material thing.
It becomes something dearer to them than life, than children, than truth, than anything else. Well now, this material thing has come into his mental and spiritual makeup, is that right? The material thing is materializing the mind, and morality, and spirit of the person. Can you understand what I'm saying? When the person becomes materialized, they call it materialistic, is that right? A materialistic person. Well the word materialistic, that term is not hard enough. That's why I use the expression "materialized". Many people are materialistic, but they are not materialized. When you become materialized, then according to the scripture, you're dead.
Let's continue the reading here now. Satan says, "Can I lead you to the tree of eternity?" Now the commentator, He gives his commentary on what the tree means, this term "tree" means. You read another commentator and he will give you his commentary. You read Bible preachers, they give you theirs. All of them have some truth. Exactly what the tree is talking about, - people. People have long, long [unintelligible 01:11:48] back into time, have been referred to as trees. Today we refer to people as races to distinguish one from another. Ancient people referred to them as trees.
Are people who differed sharply where we can distinguish the difference in their livelihood and in their way of life, their culture and whatnot from another people, they were called tree. Families and trees. The family of this man who led them into that way of life are the tree of this particular way of life. Here, we have here the word tree referring to a body of people, and it includes all people who worship material accumulation. In ancient days, they were called fertility worshiper. They worship the abundance, the power in the physical Earth to create abundance of life. Right today in this present day world, we have still the practice of fertility worship and the Easter. Easter holiday ritual or celebration.
Led by a little rabbit, chocolate rabbit and Easter eggs, right? The egg is a symbol of fertility. The rabbit is a symbol of fertility. Rabbits produce abundantly. They are what they call fast breeders. Rabbits are very fast breeders. The rabbit there is still in the Easter preserved are kept from ancient times, in the time when the people of this certain tree worship the powers in the physical world to produce abundant fruit, abundant Life. They were what we call materialist of ancient times. The Holy Quran and Bible tell us that these pagans are ancient materialist people would remain on earth. They influence what remained. They would grow stronger and stronger and stronger. These people would come into the religion and gain control over the religion. They will be sitting in the houses of religion, preaching religion to the people but they would still be, in reality pagans or materialistic people.
The Forbidden tree is nothing but the body of people that were at that time fertility worshipers who cared more about eating a lot physically than about eating a lot mentally, morally and spiritually. The Bible says that the tree bore the fruit of good and evil, is that right? Now, we know that people can do both good and evil. When we study the knowledge of a people, we find both good and evil in their knowledge, is that correct? No matter how evil the knowledge of a people is, you always can find some good in that knowledge, right? Well, this is the fruit of the people. The fruit of a people is the knowledge of that people. Are you following me?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: I hope you are. Okay, so people that bear fruit, they bear knowledge and that knowledge exists in that book and is preserved in their history, in what we call the history of that people. Now for Adam here, this man the Godly people were told not to go to these idol worshipers, not to mix with them. Don't associate with them. Don't go to them for guidance. Don't eat of their fruit. Don't eat of their knowledge product because if the day you start eating from their knowledge, you will become like them because their knowledge is the printed form or the verbal form of something that was in them. It's in them ruling them and making them what they are. If you take on that knowledge, it will come into you and rule you and make you what they are.
Does that make sense and I hope you understand. All I want to say is this book, Bible and Holy Quran are plain-speaking books. They're talking about plain truth, plain simple truth. Facts that no one can dispute with, once the true meaning is given to them. Don't think they are books of magic tricks with miracles. No, they're talking about real things. Both books are talking about real life.
Okay, let's continue here now. This tree, Satan says, this tree would never decay. The Holy Quran mentions many times the materialistic life as a life that people think will never go away. They think that this is forever. Rich people think they are rich forever. You don't believe it, go and talk to rich people. Most of the rich people, they just are rested in their riches and they think that this is forever. The Holy Quran refers to it as eternal life. They think that their riches will give them eternal life.
The Wall Street Crash came. Look what happened to those rich people. They start jumping out windows. Some of them are right up there on Madison Street right now. Skid row, encourage able alcoholics. This shows you how much you can be affected by outside influence. In fact in biology, they tell you that something that belongs outside of the creature, if you put it in, it will destroy him. Excretion is something that the body naturally pushes out. If you don't have a poison for a creature, just feed him his own excretion. Then you will kill it you see.
Now the material world is something that naturally belongs outside of us. If you feed that into your personal makeup, it's going to destroy you. I'm not speaking against the wealth. I'm giving you the proper understanding of yourself.
START 1:19:23
Let's read here. It says here and He said to the angels, prostrate yourself to Adam. The Holy Quran begins here by saying the angels were made to bow to Adam. Then Adam turned around and listened to the devil. Why should a being that was made so superior that even the angels bow to him, why should that being now listen to a devil who speaks to him from a low position? The devil never speaks to a man from a high position. The devil, in the Bible and Holy Quran never says I am in heaven and man if you want to come up here, I'll show you the way.
The devil is always speaking like this in the Bible and Holy Quran. I'm in hell and you're in hell but I'll show you how to get in heaven [chuckles]. He's always featured as a creature that's on a low plane, on a low level. No evil person, no totally evil person gets started from above. He always gets started on a low level.
He never comes to you and appeal to your higher sense of respect, dignity and your heart. He never calls upon your moral strength. He never speaks to your highest principles. He always speaks to your weakness in order to get you to accept some evil intent or to help him get some evil over, is that right?
He may be a PhD, a doctor of some science but he won't appeal to you from the strength of his science. If he wants to lead you into corruption, he appeals to you from a low level. He has to first get you to accept or get you to become interested in being weak before he can sell you his evil product. Now Eve in the book, in the Hebrew language is called Hava, in Arabic language is Hawwah. It means hot or active lively air, lively air. This is a poetic word. The poets use this kind of description to identify the desires in us for material things, the flesh desires.
The Bible says, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. It's not that the flesh itself is weak. The flesh is not weak but will power when it gives itself to the forces of flesh become weak. There's nothing wrong with flesh. G-d made flesh right. He made it strong and right. It's good. It does its job. It's not here to lead you, you're made to lead it. Now, if you start letting it lead you, don't blame the flesh. Don't say the flesh is bad. You're silly and foolish. Our great ruler put into the flesh body and let the flesh rule here. The sin is in the person, not in the flesh.
Some people look at animals and start following animals. This is a fact. There have been cases reported where men have sat and watched certain animals then began to go out and try to imitate those animals. We know that men are superior to animals, men have put animals in cages is that right? Have turned jungles into cities, but still there are men who will watch the animals and imitate that animal. He will watch an ape and he will want to be like the ape. He will watch a dog and then practice dog ways. I'm telling you what is recorded that people have observed and it has been recorded.
You don't have to go outside of yourself always to find something that you'll worship and follow that will lead you down hill. Your own self is the biggest threat to you, that's why we were talking the very early days of the Nation of Islam, first, know yourself, but most of us I would say we have been so thoroughly robbed of all understanding of how the world is built. We couldn't read most of us, we couldn't even write, someone else had to read to us.
I'm talking about the membership of the nation of Islam. In the early 30's there weren't many who could read and write that's why the writing of that letter was so important. It was to train them and get them in the habit, force them to try to write. I have a man over here to bear witness to me who was back then those days, the brother of the Honorable Elijah Mohamed may peace be upon him is right over here and I can hear him, there he is, Minister John. He says that's right, I've got a living witness right here.
[applause]
We weren't educated enough to be told things in civilized language. We had to be told it in mathematical language, a language that would work on our mind scientifically and mathematically to bring our mind slowly out of darkness and backwardness into light and progress. Let's continue here now I want to go to another I believe I have it marked off here, yes here it is. I'll read this verse here now to show you that the Bible uses the same expression as as the Holy Koran uses same as the Bible use for these forms or developing influences in the person, in the natural make up of the person that can cause problems if that, that is meant to be king, ruler or head in the person closes his eye and let the inferior part of the person take over.
I won' t read all of this what we want is just one word here, what is it he said just then to such are men whose heart G-d has sealed and who follow their own lust. The word lust here in Arabic language is shahwa meant their own lust shahwa. The singular form of this word shahwa is hawa and hawa is the same word the Bible use called Hawa. The Jews pronounce the WA, VA, V, so the Jews say Hava and we say in Arabic Hawwah, it means a poetic name for the forces in the person that arises from physical needs.
There are forces in you that rises from spiritual needs, they use the expression, spiritual, moral righteousness, justice, all of these forces arise from a different part of you. You don't have to be hungry or full to start thinking of moral excellence. You can be hungry and you can be caught up into a hunger or you can be physically hungry and you can be overtaken by a hunger for moral excellence is that right? You can be physically full, have everything you want physically and you can still be caught up in the hunger for moral excellence is that right?
This particular moral development, mental, moral and spiritual thing that develops in us that really makes the person, this does not look for it's food from the same sources that the physical body looks for it's food from. The physical body looks for it's food from the physical world because the physical body is nothing but the physical world in this form. It has to look for it's food from the physical world from the earth, and from the air and from water is that right? The person within the body, the light now that has manifested in that body is not of the physical earth.
It is as the Holy Quran says, it is another creation. The Bible and the Holy Quran teaches us that this creation has it's origin in the originator himself. It is not truly a creation in the sense that the physical world is creation, it is something divine. All right, we can talk for a long time but we want to keep moving. Brothers and sisters, I don't know how many of you still hold on to the belief that Eve means a real physical flesh and blood woman.
If there are some of you that still hold on to that, I want to tell you the that you're holding on to something that is primitive, something that is unreal, stupid and harmful to all women on the face of the earth. If Eve was a physical flesh and blood woman, then we should be afraid of women. Brothers we should keep a gun on women, because the Bible tells us that man didn't start to go wrong until Eve got him to do what she wanted him to do [laughs]. The Bible tell us that the first enemy of man was Eve. The devil couldn't reach the man, but he could reach Eve according to the Bible and he reached Eve and then seduced Eve and Eve, she put one over Adam, seduced Adam and he fell.
When he fell, he lost his position as a great creature in the world, he lost his divinity, he lost his rule over the garden, he lost his rule over his wife and his descendants, his children turned against him, is that right? The man lost everything. Now we believe that the woman is a weak creature for the devil to come up to and suggest some evil to her and bring us down then I say we have the wrong idea of women and as long as we keep this idea of women, we can never respect women. We're taught in the Nation of Islam that we must respect our women. When all of us respect our women, we have to first get rid of all these old disrespectful notion or ideas out of Christian religion that we have accepted.
[applause]
I used to sit and watch TV, women's lib, and I hear the women liberators talking about what they've got to do to liberate women, I said to myself, “Fool you found everything but the biggest thing that enslaves you and that is that the Bible teaching that you're some partner with the devil working against men". Be at the convention next Sunday and we're going to bring out some surprising things.
[applause]
As much that we haven't said on this subject but of Adam and Eve, the tree, but continue to come and as you come, you'll learn more and more about these characters that are no more than description of the life forces that develops in every human being. That's why Genesis in the fifth chapter I believe of Genesis, the term Adam is used to name males and females it says, in the day that He created them, and named them Adam. Adam is using the singular form in Genesis five I believe it is. It is used to name both sexes male and female. Now if G-d had promised the kingdom to Adam, Adam the man that He made, if He had promised him rule in the creation, promise to make him the crown of creation this is the teaching in theology. If Jesus now the completion out of perfection of that man called Christ, if he is the one to rule the world and he's called second Adam. If that doesn't include woman then woman you ought to knock on the door of heaven and say, "I'll like to speak to that G-d".
I've been bearing all his little divine sons wiping their fannies and worrying with him for nine months in my belly and for years after he come out, get them fit so that they can do something for G-d. Now you tell me that I'm just an accomplice with the devil and the only divine is this man that you cleaned up as a baby? I would like to take a look at that G-d that would do something like that and see what of a.
Congregation: [applause].
Imam Mohammed: You expect to see if some spiritual gate or door could be opened and you can look in heaven and see G-d on the throne. If he was really that type of G-d, you'd expect to see some overgrown baby, weighing about 5,000 pounds with a diaper on or one of those pampers pinned up. Saying,"Yes that's my decree. It stays like that no change in my words." "Give me my phone." Yes, it's a baby religion. That's why in the Nation of Islam the whole knowledge of this world is called the knowledge out of the mind of a six years old child.
I want to quickly sum this up to show you how important it is that you realize just what is your true identity. Your true identity is not in that that you see in a glass mirror. Your true identity is that that you see in your mind, in your conscience. When you are thinking about yourself, when you are reflecting on the strength of yourself morally, spiritually and intellectually. That's when you've seen yourself.
When you look in the mirror you're looking at something that carries you or bares you. You're looking at a medium that enables you to communicate with other earthly or material things. It's necessary just as a mic is necessary to carry my voice to you. It's necessary just as a car is necessary to take you across country and the heater is necessary in it to keep you warm if it's winter time. A roof over that car is necessary to keep rain and whatnot from falling on you.
If a car is something that's carrying you, its something that you're in, it's serving as a means of carriage or transport and it's serving as a means of protection. It even serves as a means of comfort you put a heater in it and you put a radio in it.
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: Some fools start thinking that the car is them. His wife is at home laying up there in the house moaning and groaning. She can't get a decent pair of shoes to wear. Can't get decent clothes to put on. Can't get decent food for her children. The rent is way behind and she's worried sick thinking maybe next week they are going to sit out on the street and that fool is out there rubbing up his Eldorado. He's wiping away on he's pretty Eldorado.
Congregation: [applause].
Imam Mohammed: Now, in summing this up let's quickly go and reflect upon our history as slaves and how we were made slaves? What did they do to make us slaves? They took us from our own history, culture, and tradition, is that right? Then look at the development now or the progress, how we progressed into slavery. I use the word progress to refer to the progression into slavery. We were taken from the land and then put in the hulls of ships. In the hulls of these ships, we were crammed in like sardines.
No effort was made to give you anything that would make you think that you are human or are you going to be treated or respected as a human being. You were put in a hull of a ship, crammed in like sardines, whatever you had to do you did it right there. You couldn't say " Master may I use the washroom." If you wanted to use it, you use it right there. Now, what was this designed to do? This was designed to break up and destroy that true life within the body. Treat you as body, treat you as flesh. Disregard you as persons within the flesh.
Eventually, what would happen if you survived this, the person within the flesh will die and the flesh will become stronger than the person within the flesh. Let's continue to listen now, believe it or not, we have all the answers.
Congregation: Amen [applause].
Imam Mohammed: Hold up. Listen up. Now, I want you to follow this here just see how it happened. Okay, first thing they broke your spirit, they made you accept to be handled like flesh. Just like animals, just like flesh. Then they took you and gradually let you have a little physical freedom. At the same time while they were gradually letting you have a little more of physical freedom they were putting ideas into your mind that would take over the job of building the physical and keeping the inward person dead.
They were working on this Bible, on Christian religion. They were training special Uncle Tom preachers to preach you into a physical thing out of a spiritual thing. "You say all right, no Siree." I can understand that. The church made us spiritual. You think it made you spiritual. It made you physical. It told you that you didn't have any opportunity in this world. That your hope was in a world to come. It told you that you were spiritual and that you have future life as a spiritual being. But it didn't tell you that you had an opportunity right now to come into heaven spiritually. You have to wait until you die physically to come into heaven spiritually.
What did this do for you in effect? It made you satisfied to give up on any human elevation and live with whatever the world put on you. What was your pleasure then? Your pleasure was eating, sleeping. Your pleasures were reduced to animal pleasures. I know my brother there understand me. He's a doctor of psychology he understands what I'm saying and maybe one day he will write it up so that you can better understand it. I hope he will because I'm not a teacher. I'm not a doctor of any field of study, but I have been blessed by G-d to see the problem.
All right let me go on to explain to you now, here is what happened. Since you can't develop that the human excellence in you, you have to wait until you die physically to come into a real human world you give up hope on it. Your pleasure becomes the pleasures of the lowest animal.
In fact, even less than the lowest animals because the lowest of animals have some sense of animal dignity. They have some sense of an animal spirituality if you can understand my use of the term spirituality. They have a social life. They have pleasure. They have recreation, but none of this was in the slave's life.
All he could hope for is that he would have a good supper after he's worked hard and then come in hungry. He was hoping that he'd have enough old cheap food to fill him up. Enough water to drink and quench his thirst. A place where he can rest his wearied body. If you listen to the spiritual songs in those ancient days, long time, not ancient days the early days of slavery. Those songs were songs that were asking for the physical things of life.
They sang for golden slipper, white robe, golden crown, sweet milk and honey, a harp to play on. These are physical things. "I want to walk down that golden street." "I want to wash in the river Jordan," because that old plantation didn't provide any running water for you to wash up in. You had to work sunup to sundown and get up funky and start right back to work again. Those slaves cried for some clean running water. They were reduced to creatures of physical desires and aspirations.
Even the heavens, though it was called spiritual, the heaven that they hoped for was a physical heaven. But look what the Holy Quran says. It says, the Bible too, that in neglecting the real cultivation of the real life within us, not only does that higher form within the physical body die and suffer, but even the physical body falls under a curse. Our people, the slaves, they began to neglect themselves physically. They loved to eat, enjoyed eating but they grow all out of shape.
They didn't care much about keeping clean, go around filthy and stinking. They'd bath once a week maybe, wash up a little bit. They neglected themselves. Didn't have the desire to keep their hair nice. White man come up with some old fast chemical to conk your hair, a brother bought it. A hot iron to straighten sister's hair, she bought it, because that's faster. Burn it straight then I don't have to worry about it for three or four days.
We grew out of the human life into an animal life, even less than an animal. Hoping for a physical material heaven completely materialized. Made physical, not materialized. That's too high a word. Made physical, physicalized. Can we use the word like that? What is that?
Doctor: Physicalized.
Imam Mohammed: Physicalized. I have to check with the doctor over there. [applause] He knows the language of the book too. Physicalized, we have been physicalized to even dream of a heaven that was physical. In becoming physicalized, there's nothing in the physical person to rule over and lift up the physical body. The physical body fell down because it has no strong person or body in it to care for its upliftment. Do you follow what I'm saying? All right let's quickly go on. We're going to sum it up. You'll be out of here by four o'clock I think.
After cramping up in physical condition, that served to break down the real human in the body and make it just give up hope. Then they put ideas into our minds, that would feed us in a psychological way in a very deceitful way, would feed our minds with physical chains that would come in the form of words, but would be more stronger as chains thrown on to keep us in that kind of enslavement than anything you can imagine.
The Christian religion became a powerful doctrine, a powerful preaching to keep us in that kind of enslavement. Even the G-d, though they called him a spiritual G-d, they give him in a physical form and they taught the slave to trust in that G-d and give themselves wholeheartedly to Jesus, that he was their only salvation. The slaves fell in love, not with G-d the father. They didn't fall in love with G-d the father a spiritual being. They fell in love with G-d the son in the flesh, a physical being.
When they thought about G-d, they thought about the physical Christ on the cross. When they sang the songs of praises for G-d, they were singing songs thinking of a physical man on a cross. They thought of him dying physically. They thought of him suffering physically and dying physically for their sins. Even their G-d became physical. Their G-d became physical and their heaven became physical. There was nothing to elevate the true life within the body. Nothing to feed it and draw it up. Let's keep on and see if we can close this out now.
If we were first taken out of a human environment, out of a human society and crammed into a physical environment to make us physical, to kill our human spirit, then we know that one sure solution to bringing the people back to life is to take them out of being physically cramped. To give then space to overcome the harmful filthy conditions that were brought about by cramming them together. The cramming of our people together in the hulls of the ships forced us to live with our own filth. Do you understand?
Congregation: Yes
Imam Mohammed: If we're going to correct the problem that enslavement brought about in us, then we should start first teaching our people to clean themselves up. Do you understand?
Congregation: Amen
Imam Mohammed: If you want to raise that man back to life, go back and start with the first problem that was created for him and solve that problem. Then bring it on up to the present time and that's a sure solution to the problems of that people. You can guess that solution. You can come up with all kinds of theories. You can work yourself to death and the people can be mental, spiritual and moral bondage for thousands of years waiting for you to theorize. To come up with some powerful theory for their salvation.
The simple thing to do is just identify what has been done to kill them or to destroy them and then start correcting it. Is that right or wrong? Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Of course now. [applause] The first thing that we began doing in the Nation of Islam under the wise guidance of Master Fard Muhammad as it was taught for 40 years by Master Elijah Muhammad. First thing that we began to do is teach our people that you have to clean yourself up.
I remember 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when people come in the door, they were inspected. The sisters couldn't get in if they had dirty shoes, the brothers couldn't get in if they had dirty shoes. Say, "Brother shine your shoe," If the crease weren't in his pants and he's wearing slouchy pants, say, "Brother Press your pants." If his hair wasn't clean and neat, "Brother do something about your hair." I'm talking about olden days. How many people were here around here that was here about 20 or 30, 40 years ago. Raise your hand, 20 years or more ago. All right, see we have witnesses here. You know what I'm talking about.
When you came up the first thing you ran into was somebody inspecting you for personal cleanliness. For hygiene and present-ability, to see if you were presentable. If you weren't physically presentable, if you weren't clean and smelling right, they told you, "Go home and clean up, come back". This is what they did right here in this temple. It wasn't this temple. It was on 43rd Street or 35th Street, but it was still this temple. Not this physical place but this temple.
The first thing that was done in the Nation of Islam was an effort to bring that person out of the tendency to just live and put up with himself in unpresentable form or image. He had to first be made dissatisfied with himself in the condition that the world had designed for him. When he became dissatisfied with his physical uncleanliness, then the teachings gradually began to work another job, and that job was to teach him responsibility. Every member in this temple was given some responsibility.
If he wasn't a minister, he was a captain, or a secretary, or a lieutenant. If he was just a brother in the fruit, he was given some duty. He had to help or clean-up detail or something. He was given some responsibility. This was designed to make the man and woman come back into the sense of responsibility. As slaves, the sense of responsibility was killed in us. We didn't feel any responsibility to ourselves. Everything that a self needed we look to master for it. We had no sense of responsibility to each other. The master was responsible for all of us, you understand?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: If we were doing a job, that job was done under the master. We were only serving or slaving for the master. What the Nation of Islam did was put these people in jobs and say you are doing this and it's not for the white man. You're not even in his world, this is our world. You were doing this for a black man. You better do it like you like it and respect those who are over you.
What we did was gradually kill this old thing in us that we don't recognize no responsibility to ourselves and kind and we don't recognize any justification for us accepting that they tell us what to do. We have no responsibility to care for each other and we have no responsibility to obey each other. You see. This was the old slave attitude. The Nation of Islam had to destroy this in us and we did it by our practice because the mind was not developed enough.
The white man has destroyed our minds to such an extent that it wasn't developed enough to be taught what to do and we carried it out. Habit had to be built. The people had to be brought through habit that will undo old habits. Nation building habits that will destroy slave making habits. Okay, let's go on a minute now. We're just about wrapping it up. The last thing that the nation had to do was to elevate the intellect of the brothers and sisters in the temple to make them dissatisfied with themselves in ignorance.
The nation had to make our people dissatisfied with themselves in ignorance. They had to take on a love] for knowledge. No matter what kind of knowledge it is. If it's real knowledge, the Nation of Islam promoted that knowledge and told the brothers and sisters that they are to take on the knowledge and grow in knowledge. We didn't care where the knowledge came from. If the knowledge came from China, it was good knowledge if it was knowledge. If it came from Asia, Africa, Europe, or America, all knowledge that was good knowledge, it was promoted here in the Temple of Islam.
Gradually the mind begins to grow higher and higher. This enabled us to really overcome all the setbacks of slavery. Now brothers and sisters, in my conclusion, I'm saying this that if your destruction began with the destruction of your willpower as a human being, then your restoration should begin with the restoration of your willpower as a human being. The first job is to bring about a new growth and development of willpower. Then, after the willpower is developed then the creature can be disciplined. He can be given responsibility and he can be disciplined.
If there's no willpower in a person, there's nothing you can do but slave that people. I repeat that, if there's no willpower in a person, there is nothing you can do to them but slave them. Willpower is what rules in you. If I'm going to give you some responsibility and then walk off and leave you by yourself, you're going to have to have some rule in you. That will guarantee me that you are responsible, that you can do what I told you to do. Do you understand?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: If you don't have no willpower in you, I can't trust you to do anything, unless I got a gun on your head, a threat of death over you or got you locked up in chains, or shackles, or something. First thing with the job we did was restore the willpower. Then, begun disciplining, guiding and directing the person. Teaching them responsibility to self and responsibility to self-rule or self-leadership, that is black leadership.
Then the last thing that we do is, bring the mind out of bondage into freedom. Bring the mind out of darkness into light. Bring the mind out of baby thoughts into grown-up thoughts, that's the last thing we do. Once you do that, you don't have to worry about people anymore. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad say, "This is a baby nation." He as a leader of a baby nation, he has to (unclear) with this nation. He had to blow your nose, change your diaper, tell you how to walk, how to sit down. Is that right?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: You were a baby nation, but we don't want to stop there, brother and sister. He said we were a baby nation, but he never said that we were going to always be a baby nation. We were a baby nation growing into manhood and womanhood. Is that right?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: All right. Now we have to finish the last job of bringing this man and woman back to life. That's the Caucasian world killed. To finish this job, we have to bring that mind into full form. Now, brothers and sisters, don't let me hear anybody around here telling people that Minister Wallace is teaching something that's too hard for us to understand. Supreme Minister, he's too heavy and he's too deep. The Supreme Minister is trying to take us back into spook bag.
If I hear you saying that, I'm going to get you thrown out of here. Let me tell you, I've put up with it long enough. If you continue that, I know you're just a snake in our midst and you hate to see a good thing come to bloom.
Congregation: [applauding]
Imam Mohammed: Nobody ever put in strong emphasis upon your life and death as the physical person. You never heard that kind of talk in this temple. In the whole 43 years that it's been here if you've been here that long. You always heard my father, may peace and blessings be upon him, and you heard the minister, tell you that your death is a mental death and your resurrection is a mental resurrection.
Now, I'm teaching you the same thing but bringing us into more focus, broader focus of just what we have to come into and some of you want to say I'm preaching spookism to you. "Sounds like the church to me". Now, you go to hell, fool.
Congregation: [applauding]
Imam Mohammed: Then another thing some of these old raisin heads, dried up heads, brothers and sisters, got on their mind that's wrong. They think that because the church is wrong that there is no real knowledge in the church. Now you just got the wrong understanding. Jesus brought supreme wisdom just like every other prophet brought supreme wisdom. If you understand what the church is saying, they are saying exactly what we are saying.
Their problem is they can't see the light that's in the teaching that Jesus left with them because the Caucasian world put darkness all around that light, and all over that light to cover that up so they can't get to it. Once we get to it we find exactly what we find in all the Holy Quran. There's only one truth.
As Salaam Alaikum
[02:04:40] [END OF AUDIO]

