08/18/1995
IWDM Study Library 
Jumuah Harvey IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
We worship none but G-d, the Lord Creator of everything. We witness that He's One and has no partner assisting Him in the rule of the heaven and the earth. That the rule is for Him alone. The command as well is for G-d. We witness that Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed 1,415 or so years ago is the last Prophet, the seal of the Prophets mentioned in the scriptures that came before, the Torah and the Injeel or the Gospel. We accept him as G-d's Messenger and as the leader and a guide and a model for us. G-d has said of him that whoever desires, has faith, whoever has faith and desires the Hereafter will certainly find in Muhammad a model of excellence, a model of excellence. And we are told by Allah in His book for to obey G-d and obey His Messenger. And G-d Most High in the Qur'an says to us, "Is there anyone, any soul believing that it has no protector over it? So, G-d tells us with His holy book and with His words that every soul, every individual has a protector over it. We are to believe what G-d has revealed- that we are never left alone. There are angels assigned to every human being at the time of birth by G-d to watch over you, to record our deeds. Those deeds that are good and those deeds that are bad. An angel going before and behind us. And we are told that G-d Himself watches over us as well as His angels. That G-d Himself watches over us. Though He watches over us through His angels, He watches over us directly also. No soul is left alone, no individual is left alone. G-d also says "For G-d is the creation." And this most of us acknowledge who have religion or who have faith. We'll acknowledge that, that G-d created all of the things we see in the sky, all the world untouched by man below. That G-d created all these things. And by reasoning we also include that G-d created even what man has created because G-d created man to do that as man creates computers to do things for him and the computers are never given the credit, man is given the credit. Not that G-d doesn't give us credit, G-d is appreciative. This is one of the names of G-d, the one who appreciates what good we do, whether it's small or great, appreciates every bit of good that we do.
G-d says for Him "Is there not for Him who created also the command over that creation?"
We as Muslim we are to always be aware that G-d is the boss. The command belongs to G-d. None of us should take assumed authority for anything before we say Bismillah and trust G-d for the result, for the responsibility that we are accepting. We begin in the morning with Bismillah. We begin with prayer, washing and making wudu, preparation for prayer and we begin with prayer before we even start our day. G-d, we recognize G-d as being the one responsible for everything in our life. All the good that we get. And the Prophet says, "Surely G-d is good and He accepts only good. Allah, G-d is good and He accepts only good. This is what our Prophet said, Prayers and Peace be on him, Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam. Yes.
And G-d is saying that man should never assume that he has powers and authority on his own or by himself. Whatever power or authority he has, it has been because G-d has made it possible for him. So, G-d is the absolute authority. G-d is absolute boss. G-d is the Absolute of it all. G-d is the absolute authority and we should not try to handle things without respect for G-d's intent. How did G-d intend for this to be handled? We should not assume any position of responsibility without considering how G-d intended for this responsibility to be carried out. What G-d wants for this responsibility, no matter how big it is or how small. If it is the king of a nation, the king of a nation, President of a nation, our President Bill Clinton. He's the President. If he's a Muslim, then he should not be running this country only with his advisors and with the laws and the history that he has. He should also be running this country with faith and obedience in G-d, faith and obedience to G-d.
And that goes for us, especially as a Muslim, we should not assume any responsibility whether it be as the teacher of a school, the school teacher or the head of the department of education in our community or director of the education program for our school program, or as the Imam of the Mosque or as the owner of a business, a proprietor of a business or a board. Whatever position we have. Our Chief of Police. No matter what position it is, if you are Muslim, you are obligated to beg G-d, not just to seek G-d, to beg G-d for His assistance, His guidance and His help so that you carry out that authority and responsibility as you believe G-d wants you to carry out. This is the Muslim, this is how the Muslim behaves, yes. And G-d says, "And obey G-d and obey His Messenger, obey G-d and obey His Messenger."
Also, G-d says over everyone who possess knowledge is G-d the all Knowing. Over everyone who possess knowledge is G-d. The all Knowing. I give you that in this Khutbah in connection with the saying I've already given you where G-d says, "Is there not for the One who created also the command over that creation?" G-d the Creator is the boss and has the right to be respected in authority over His creation, everything. Including man and everything that takes up man, his mind, his heart, his sentiment, everything. Now I've given you that. Now I repeat, the saying also of G-d is that "There over everyone possessing knowledge is G-d the All Knowing."
This is to tell us that none of our ideas should be formed for anybody to obey for ourselves or for others. We shouldn't present ideas for people to accept and live by without respecting the G-d who is more knowledgeable than we are. For our knowledge, our sciences, our theories, everything that we produce is to be submitted to G-d's authority. And if it does not stand up or does not qualify under what G-d wants for it and for us then we're to reject it.
We seek G-d's guidance always. We beg Him to forgive our sins, forgive us our shortcomings grant us Mercy and guidance always, Ameen. Praise be to G-d the Lord Sustainer of all the World. We seek Him for guidance. We turn to Him for forgiveness. We put our faith in Him and we do not distrust G-d. We witness that He is One and one alone and we witness that Muhammad is the seal of the Prophets, the last Prophet of G-d, His servant and His Messenger. Prayers and the peace be on him. The Prophet has said whenever there is a task for any of us to carry out, if it involves more than one person, then make one person responsible for it. One person is to be made responsible for it. That is we are to have leadership in any matter involving more than one of us. If two of us accept to do a thing, one has to beat the boss and the other one his assistant. They can be partners, but one has the last word, one is boss.
So, we believe in the Oneness Of G-d and we believe that we should respect that and what that idea suggests for our practical life. Man does not have two heads on his body and G-d says that if there was more than one G-d in the heavens controlling this world, we would see conflict in it. And if we have more than one boss, you'll see conflict there. The only way you have more than one boss, then one boss has to submit the authority of a better boss. There may be two bosses, but one boss has more authority than another. Always. We are not absolute equals at any time. One always has more than another. And if we do think that we are Siamese twins and we think we can perform perfectly together as equal, then it's still better to have one appointed as the authority so that you don't have confusion. Shoot, I thought you were going to do that.
I thought that was your responsibility. Let's not think about it. Let's have a responsibility on one and the rest of us assist that one. That's the way it's supposed to be. And it doesn't mean that we are any lower or any less dignified or less respectable. It means that we respect intelligence and we respect the guidance of G-d and we want to have things done in the best way. That's all it means. And remember this too, that the Prophet has said. That we don't accept people coming up volunteering for positions because the devil will come up and volunteer for position. The Prophet said, responsibility for positions is given. We appoint people to that responsibility. We do not volunteer for it. We appoint them to it. And if we study the history of our Prophet, Prayers and Peace be Upon him, you'll see that the Prophet never himself like to take on sole responsibility for putting somebody in a position.
That's why in the Prophet's time on this earth, there was no clear word from him who was supposed to be the leader after the Prophet. The people had to decide who was going to be their leader after the Prophet. This is the true Islamic democracy. This is how Islam operates as a government or as a system or rule. We are not to have people come to us and say, I want that position and we give it to them. The people are to recognize the qualified one and the people are to indicate by their support the person that should be in that position. This is true democracy. The best and the wiser and more experienced, more qualified people. They should be the one to look out for him or point out this person. The people love that person. He has good character, he has good Muslim character, he has good Muslim behavior.
He qualifies for this position. He has knowledge. He has the ability to handle this responsibility. The good learned people in our community, the better educated and the better character in our community. You all should be looking for good people to put in these positions of responsibility and you should respect the support that is given to those persons from the community. If those persons look very good in your eyes, but they're not getting good support from the community, that tells us that they lack something for the position. For the position. Because if they are liked by the community, that's the indication that they're respecting these people. Sometimes the person will have all the qualifications for a position but won't have the qualifications for a one-on-one relationship. They'll be cruel and ignorant and mistreat individuals. that kind of person will always be recognized by the majority of the people.
The people just won't give that kind of person their support. So, we have to respect the people, also respect the Shura. The Shura, the consultative body of learned people in the community. Learned in Al Islam as well as in the world. And most of all learned in Al-Islam and in the teachings and ways of our Prophet, the Prayers and the Peace be Upon him. G-d says "Obey G-d and obey His Messenger." And G-d says, "Obey those in authority." This is what G-d says. Again "And obey those that be charged with authority." If you charge somebody with authority, you give that authority to them by the consensus or by the support of the people of the community, then respect those persons in those positions of authority. Respect them. Don't put them in position of authority and then don't give them any respect and cripple them so they can't do the job that they're doing. Show them respect so people will respect them and those working with them respect them, those working under them will respect them and then everything will work very well.
This is the teachings that G-d has given us. We know that we find similar teachings in the business world, but this is the teachings that G-d gives us and G-d gives us the best. So, I conclude this Khutbah with my own comments to you. We are happy to see the Muslims in the Chicago area taking their religion more serious. We are happy to see the Imams trying hard to improve their own performance, studying the Islamic religion, studying the Qur'an and the teachings of our Prophet and the good books by good authors, good people in the history of Islam. We are happy to see that you are studying that now and you should continue to study more and more and more so that your qualification improve more and more. We are always students in Islam. All of us are always students in Islam. I've been a student all my life and I'll die a student in Islam with G-d's blessing.
I'll never change. Praise be to Allah. So, this is the way we should go and I hope that you'll continue to work for education, work for private schools and support the persons in our society who are trying to give more support to vouchers for families, parents so that they can get tax benefit, the benefit of their tax dollars to support their private schools. We are very much in support of that, so be aware of that and support it. One Muslim brother, a very learned brother too, in Islam and an Imam. I learned from him, just talking with him that he didn't support that. He said, well, if we have that situation then we won't be able to select our students like we want to. So, I told him I understood his concern, but I still disagreed with him that we should support the voucher system. I still kept my position because once that's done there's going to be great financial resources to people that don't have it.
And we have people with great teacher qualifications, but the system is just so confused and so burdensome now they don't care to teach. But there are many excellent teachers around that just are not, they're not attracted to the job anymore because there's so many problems, so much confusion and trouble. Once you have money to support private schools, persons with great qualification will be found and they will be going into the business of education independently. They'll be operating schools, private schools, and the private schools will grow and they'll have excellent private schools because of funding being available. Also, if we have everybody coming, it doesn't mean that you don't have the authority to create situations for everybody. So, for those who have behavioral problems, you create a situation for them, where they don't hurt those who don't have those problems. So, it won't be any problems. We'll just have to take more responsibility and deal with more people who need our help and that will be good for us too.
So, on a whole, I think the idea is excellent. Never thought, in my opinion, the government should have ever taken over school and taken over the education of poor people because poor people need an opportunity to be responsible for their own future. And the only way we're going to be responsible for our future, poor people have to have an opportunity to not just be a part of institutions, but you have to have the opportunity to be responsible for institutions and be running the institutions. And that's what we have done, been doing now for many years since the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and my mother, Sister Clara Muhammad. May G-d forgive both of them their sins and grant them the Paradise. Since that time, we have been having our own private schools and that is a pride that we don't ever want to think that we have to give up. So I congratulate those who are still working hard, Imam Darnell Karim, working in this area here in the Harvey area to have this school, to keep the school open, provide private school and Islamic studies, education and Arabic language for our children in our community. We salute you Imam Darnell Karim. Keep up the good work and hope that you be blessed with more and more good health.



