12/21/2006
IWDM Study Library
IWDM LECTURE

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:Asalaam Aleikum.
All praises due to Allah, the guardian, evolver, the sustainer, keeper and cherisher of all the world. We pray that he bless us with his protection so that we stay on the right path, we ask peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad and his descendants upon the righteous servants of G-d, all of them, and upon us here in America and all over the world.
Today, fellow Muslims, I'm very pleased that I'm here in Chicago today to be able to address the World community of Al-Islam in the West over the national hook-up.
I will like to begin with the words of the Qur’an, that is the words of Almighty G-d to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, regarding the fall of the human being or the fall of man. Allah tells us that in the Qur’an that the devil caused Adam and his wife to take off the clothes they had been wearing. Now we know in the Christian language, we are told that the man and the woman were naked and they became aware of their nakedness and started to make themselves clothes to wear to hide their nakedness.
In the words of the Bible, Genesis, G-d said, "Who told you you were naked?" And they replied that they had been beguiled, they had been tricked by the devil. Or they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. So Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad these words that give us a better understanding of what is meant in Genesis; man and woman being naked and being deceived by the devil.
G-d said that Satan caused them to take off the clothes, to strip off their clothes that they had been wearing. Allah says in the Qur’an and in very plain language so that there is no question left, as to what the clothes really mean. He says the best of clothing is righteousness, so what does Satan take away from Adam, or cause a man and his wife to take off or the man and woman to leave off? It was their righteousness.
Salih means righteousness and Taqwah is the reverence, fear of the almighty G-d- love, worship and fear of the almighty G-d- or the awareness that Allah is ever present, that no matter how hid we may be, we're never hid from G-d.
Then the desire in the person to always please G-d, knowing that G-d sees him all the time. Desire to see G-d. So this is Taqwah. Taqwah is an Arabic word meaning righteousness. 
This is what the devil caused Adam and his wife to take off their righteousness and fear of G-d. Has that changed today? Not at all. It is still the devil that tempts the human being and leadership in society, the leaders and those that follow, to strip off the fear of G-d and leave off righteousness.
The fear of G-d and righteousness go together. Where there is no fear of G-d, there is every opportunity for evil to grow or corruption to grow. Where there is a fear of G-d, there is consciousness, moral consciousness. A spiritual awareness of what man should be, a decent life that he should live. These things go hand in hand, righteousness and the fear of G-d.
In religion we cannot separate righteousness from the fear of G-d.*
Righteousness without fear of G-d is no righteousness in Al- Islam, It is just a self profit kind of philosophy, self-worship. Many people live very sick lives when it comes to rational and moral discipline, but those people don't have the fear of G-d so they become oppressors when they get power. They become oppressors, they enslave people, they will turn people into a field of exploit, for human exploit.
They exploit the weaknesses of the people, and these claim to be righteous people. What is wrong with their righteousness? There is no fear of G-d in them. So we see that fear of G-d and righteousness goes hand in hand, we cannot separate them, and this is the precious dress of the Muslim. The Muslim must cloth himself, because clothing is what it's for- Clothing is to protect us. In cold weather we need heavy clothing, but in hot weather we still need clothing because we have shyness.
We don't like to show all our intimate and private matters to the public. So the Muslims cloth themselves whether it's hot or cold, whether it's for protection against the physical environment or protection against moral corruption. He clothes himself, so the cloth is a protection, and to get the right protection we must fear G-d and accept righteousness.
We seek of the path of G-d because we are free as human beings with human intelligence to conceive many methods ,many ways for human progress, to come up with these philosophies, these ideologies with this description and that description for human progress.
The human being's mind is free and has intelligence. He is able to devise ways of achieving his ends of accomplishing what he wants. G-d says to us in the Qur’an that there is one way, that is salvation, that all of us have, leads the human being astray. Only one path leads to human beings to true success, to true progress, a lasting progress. The path of success is the path of G-d, Allah says to us, "Do not follow other ways and be led astray from the right way," and the path of G-d is the path of faith.
To follow G-d we must have faith, to follow yourself you don't have to have anything, but to follow G-d you have to have faith. Why? Because G-d is so much above you that he will lead you in directions that you have any knowledge of. G-d is so much above you he will give you directions that you have no knowledge on. So to follow G-d you have to have faith, and to follow yourself you don't have to have anything because you are always equal to yourself, you are never above yourself. The path of G-d is the path of faith, path of faith, and the Muslim is the one who have faith who believes in G-d. We have knowledge, certainly we have knowledge, but that's not enough. We also have faith. And shouldn’t knowledge increase faith? Knowledge increases the faith of the believer. Faith earns the believer the reward of knowledge, if he gives his whole heart and mind to the Almighty G-d, if he comes with complete faith, then G-d will reward that with knowledge, he will gain knowledge.
If he follows the knowledge, obedience to the knowledge will earn him greater faith. The Muslim has to believe in G-d, Allah, Almighty. He has to believe that this G-d is his Creator. They says, "Do you believe in your personal savior, do you believe in the personal savior?" What savior is more personal to me than the one who created me. You can't get more personal than that, the G-d that made me, that created me not only my physical being but he created my senses.
He created my human faculties, the faculty of reasoning, he created all of these, the faculty of compassion- for this is a faculty too- Of sympathy, of compassion for people. G-d has created all of these, the faculties of the heart, and the faculties of the brain. G-d has created it, he has created me. No one was together with Him when He created me. No one took part in His creation of me, He did it by Himself.
And this is Judaism, this is Christianity, and this is in Al- Islam- As when G-d created the world, He did it by Himself. He made the whole world in six days, so they say, and completed it all, human beings and every thing. And then He decided He'll start all over again according to the Bible and He said "Let us make man."
Let us make man in our own image and likeness. He has already made the whole world, human beings, men and women, male and female, according to Genesis, After He had made the world. Everything. Then He said, "Now, let Us make man in our own image and likeness". They reason that G-d, when He said that, He was addressing the angels, He was telling the angels, "now let us make man in our own image and likeness." This is Christianity and Judaism, this is not Al- Islam.
It says in the Qur’an that He is the creator of everything and , the creator of everything. Nothing created anything else. Not only is he the Creator of everything, He is the one who gave everything, this creation, His partner, His mate and then gave us His guidance. He's not only the One who created us, He's also the One who gave us our guidance.
So if the people who follow the Bible, if they want to say that G-d when he said, "Let us make man in His own image and likeness, was making man a new man, the ideal man- that with creation changes common man. And when G-d said "Let us make man" to the angels, He was talking about making the ideal man, the Qur’an says that Allah is a creator of both, the common man and the prophets- the common man and the ideal man, He creates them both.
He gave the man His creation and everything else he's created, and He gives them His guidance. He is the G-d, He's the Author of both. This is the path of G-d, this is the way of Al- Islam. It differs from many other ways. Some say there is one G-d, but they say that one G-d does different jobs, gives different jobs to different people. That one G-d creates the creation but then when it comes to making the man right, that has to be done by some other associates, a partner G-d with Him.
Or they say there is one G-d, but they say there are two, they're two creations. Where there are two creations, there are two creators. In Islam we don't accept but one Creator. G-d is G-d, and to be creator you have to be G-d. Who can create anything? I was looking at television and then they say that the scientists have found a way to create a life- A form of life from a cell.
They have created this form of life and it eats protein, they think they can design a the form of life that eats oil. So when the danger of oil spills into the sea that hurts the life of the sea, the lake, river, they can have this created. Obviously, He created life in there so it will eat it up, eat the oil slip away. We don't know it if they can do this or not, but we do know one thing, they cannot create anything.
They might call it creation but that's their proud term. That's their proud term that they gave to it- That's their proud language. If you study what they did, they didn't create anything. They only follow the direction of the Creator. And they use His creation and His method, His knowledge, His creation and His way of doing things and they come up with something instead of giving G-d credit, they say we are the maker. We are the creator.
They create nothing. My wife she has asked me what if that happens? Then what wouldn't that change things? I say it wouldn't change anything. So what do you think about that? I said I think it's good, it's good that man is finding a way to improve our life. How has G-d improved on our lives? He has improved on our lives by fixing changes in man, in the society, in the environment, in every thing, that's how He improves on our life.
If G-d had wanted it perfect, He would have made it perfect. He want it so that it could grow more and more, and satisfy us more and more. So that it can be enhanced by human efforts, He wanted it that way. If He had wanted it perfect, He could have made it perfect. He could have made it so man couldn't imagine any improvement, but man fear managing improvement.
Man doesn't like to see the human being suffering someone's disease that comes every spring, or one that comes every winter. This bothers man, so he wants to find a cure, so that disease when it comes it won't hurt the human being. If he finds a way to stop this germ he has made an improvement, hasn't he? Yes, so G-d wants that improvement, and what does Allah say again? Says if G-d had wanted people believing all the things, He has to made them that way.
So if Allah wanted to establish truth plain and clear, so that no one will have a doubt, no one will be guided astray G-d says "I could have done it that way, if I had wanted to." So He could have made the creation perfect so there would be no room for imagining an improvement, He could have made faith so clear, faith so perfect to all of us, that there would be no room for any doubt, that everybody would be going on in the same place living exactly the same.
He said He could have done that if He had wanted to, but if he had done that would there be any opportunities for us to grow? Would there be any opportunities for us to see something and feel an achievement? No. G-d made the creation so that man can find some room to enhance, some room for improvement and G-d has made faith so that people will have to earn G-d's blessings.
If He had fixed it perfect, there would be no room for earning His blessings, but He made it so you have to earn it, you have to come wandering, doubting at some point. And the more you believe the more he rewards your faith with knowledge, and pretty soon you come to a point where you do not have doubt but could you get that by looking at the religion and saying, "I am convinced," no, you look at it and say yes it's got a lot of truth in it, I believe it's good, I believe it's right for me. And when He says "come!" You say, "I don't know." And then there is another one when it says come I don't know but I have a strong belief that G-d is G-d and His truth has been revealed. So while doubting, they doubt, too, while doubting and fearing, maybe they might be wrong or maybe it won't happen like I think it will happen. They go on trusting G-d.
Those are the ones that G-d rewards with the great blessings. So G-d tells us as Muslims we have to believe in Almighty G-d, that He is the creator of everything, He has no partner, no equals, no associates. He needs no help, He needs help from no angels and he needs no help for any human being. He is independent, needing nothing. Allah says, "He does not his creatures to see Him. He needs nothing from his creatures. He does not sleep, He does not slumber, He does not get tired.
Time does not affect Him in any way. Time affects creation, creation grows old, creation wears out, but Allah says that time affects him in no way. He tells us that he cannot be influenced by the creation in any way. You get real sad, you think you can make Allah sad? No. You do a great good, you think you make Allah happy? No. "Oh, but brother we are told to please G-d," "yes, to please G-d." "But we are told also that Allah cannot be influenced by the creation.
And aren't you creation? Do you think you influence G-d to change His decisions? Do you think you can stand and pray for 50 hours and that would influence G-d to change his decisions? No. The decision has already been established by G-d, you can't influence G-d to change the decision, the decision has already been fixed before you were born. This is the teachings of G-d and the teachings of his prophet and especially his last prophet, Muhammad.
You pray and you pray but it has already been decided. When the results come you say, "Oh Allah, have mercy on me." He had mercy on you before you were created. How come we are taught to pray like this? Because it is established in creation. His way, His law is established in creation and you are creation. The more you pray and do good, the more His will, His judgment, His law in creation stays with you.
The less faith you show, and the less work you do, the less you are favored by his law and will in creation. But G-d is no G-d that sit up somewhere sad because you're acting bad and when you start acting good, he starts getting happy, No, that's the G-d of the Old Testament. One who gets sad when the people are doing wrong, he gets so sad that sometimes he doesn't even rise up.
"Oh G-d, why slumber's thou? Rise up out of your sleep." Allah neither slumber's nor sleeps, fatigue's nor worry touches Him , no way, Say Allah is Independent of everything and does not allow anything to make a donation to Him or a contribution to Him, this is wisdom. Should G-d would allow us to give Him something that helps him in some kind of way.
Eventually we could influence the shape of G-d. Certainly we could, we will learn what He likes best. and keeps giving Him what He likes best. and pretty soon he'll be in our hands. You don't have to wait G-d, just straighten up and we'll give you some more of what you like. That's human nature, that's not G-d's nature. So G-d says we have to believe in the Almighty G-d, we have to believe also in Revelation.
We have to believe in the books of G-d. G-d has revealed to human beings, G-d has blessed the human being to see on a level that he was not able to see on without divine guidance or divine inspiration. So we as human beings, believing in G-d, we have to believe also in G-d's power to reveal to the human being. We have to believe in the messengers of G-d that they received it. We find their books, people say these books were revealed by almighty G-d, the creator, to a man.
So this is great knowledge, some of this is good some of this I don't know. No, the Muslim has to say, "Yes, G-d has the power to reveal knowledge to the human being. We have to also believe in the angels. We have to believe that there are medium or agents that are beyond human ability to comprehend fully in matter. We have to believe in this. This is the way of almighty G-d, this is the path of the almighty G-d. We have to believe in His angels, how do the angels come?
We are told that the angels come in different ways, sometimes you don't see any visible appearance at all. We've also been told that sometimes the angels appear in every respect as a human being. The angel looks, in every respect, to be a human being. How do we understand this? Some people say the angels had the power to take on whatever sort of form he needs to perform their role.
The angels has no power to take on any form. I'm not speaking from my knowledge, I have no knowledge. I'm speaking from the revealed knowledge that G-d blessed the prophet Muhammed with. The angels has no power to do anything, except the power given to the angel by G-d. The angel has no power to get himself out of a predicament. If he has to deliver a message on Michigan Avenue North, and he's already on Michigan Avenue North, and something happens on the street and blocks the street, he can't go north.
The angels has no knowledge to go around and come back to Michigan Avenue and deliver His message. The angel has no knowledge, except for G-d's gift to him. The human being has knowledge and the human being has no knowledge except for the knowledge G-d gave to him. The human being has freedom. Freedom to choose other routes, to choose other ways, to take other steps.
The angel has no freedom to make different decisions. The angel can only holler orders given to him, has no freedom of thought to question or to make different decisions. Now you see why Allah says to the Prophet Muhammad, he has made human beings a degree above the angels. The angel is not equal with us, we're above angels. The angels serve the human beings, and the angel does not have the potentials that the human beings has. The human being has the great potential given to us and this freedom. The angel does not have it. We have to believe in the angels. Can you be convinced to believe in angels if you've never had experience? No, you have to have some experience or you have to have faith in G-d. Either experience or faith in G-d. Many of us have experience but we don't know how to identify it. 

I have said this so often because I feel that it's very easily understood, to explain or to illustrate the angels. The evidence of the existence of the angels. Some of us have experienced aide coming to us via a medium or an individual that had no knowledge of us needing that aide: no knowledge of the need, no knowledge of the time, no knowledge of our location, but they suddenly appeared and they say, "Hey, you know I've been looking for you,
hadn't seen you maybe in two years. Didn't know where you lived," "Hey I've been looking for you, say man you know I borrowed $10 from you?". "Yes I remember." "I've been looking for you to give it back." "Yes I appreciate that." "I'll give you your $10 back." Didn't know he was going to see you, didn't know you were in the same town, but you needed $10. That's exactly what you needed, $10, and he so happened to be there at that time to give you $10.
Now at that time wasn't he an angel? Yes. I don't care if he committed adultery 50 times, theft 100 times. I don't care if he just murdered an innocent man, at that time he was an angel. Where was the angel? The angel was fixed. G-d had fixed the angel, and this human being was just a vessel, a medium, that's all. The angel was working through that individual, and the individual had no power over what G-d wanted him to do. No knowledge of what G-d wanted him to do. No power to influence the decision at all.
He was helpless, caught in a force that he had no knowledge of. When he knew that thing that he was doing to G-d, that G-d wanted him to do, he goes away. He says, "Man, I ran into so and so. I hadn't seen him in two years. You know but it's been on my mind, I didn't want that dude to think I had cheated him. I seen him, I gave him $10". He's still talking about it, he goes on talking about it maybe for 10 years, never knowing that he was an angel.
Yes, he doesn't know he was an angel and many times the person who got the deed through that individual never knows that he was an angel. We say thank G-d, Allah helped me. A Christian might say, "Christ helped me. G-d saved me." We don't think that the person, the medium, by which we got the aid was an angel. We don't think of it that way. But that's exactly what it is, he's an angel. He served you without his own knowledge or influence.
It cannot help but just obey G-d. Don't we all belong to Allah? The creation, the angels. Everything belongs to Allah. So if Allah wants to use us without our knowledge, he can use us without our knowledge. If Allah used me without my knowledge at that time, I'm in the role of an angel without my knowledge. I haven't stopped being a human being, I'm still a human being. The person is at the same time, human being and angel.
He is human being in his own true form, but in his role he is angel. He hasn't changed his nature, he hasn't changed his life. I said, he could be a sinner, but at that time he has no power over the role that is given to him or forced on him by G-d, so he becomes an angel. That's so clever that G-d would take a sinner and use him like an angel. G-d usually takes a good person but believe me I've had angels come to me in the bodies of sinners.
G-d has helped me with angels that came to me in the bodies of sinners. The sinner came with one intention, but the angel came with a different mission. I don't say anything to you until first I see it verified or supported by Qur’an and Hadith. If I don't see it getting support from that I don't even express it. What is better than self-experience to prove the faith, so that the faith will be really solid in Allah and in His messenger Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
We have to believe in the angels, that G-d can reach us through medium, through agents, and in such a way that the human intelligence cannot completely understand or master it. We cannot influence it. No one can interfere with an angel. You think you can interfere with an angel, impossible. The angel can't interfere with you. He can only do his job. You can't interfere with an angel. They are completely separated: the human being and an angel.
Some people say the human being can become an angel. The human being cannot become an angel. The human being stays a human being. He never changes from human being to angel. Allah can use you for whatever He wants to use you for, but you can't change. Even while you're being used, you're still what G-d made you. You're a human being.
You know G-d can use some people as stones, some people as a whip.
You know G-d whip us with people? Yes. Our G-d beat us with people. You take up a whip and at that time the man is being used as a whip, to whip you. As far as the man's own knowledge and nature's concern, has the man changed? He's still a man. The function at that particular time in its relationship with you and your problem is that of a whip.
G-d says also that we have to believe in His messengers, in His prophets. Why is this necessary? I believe in G-d, I believe in His angels. I am told that G-d never comes to a man direct.
Isn't that what we are told? That G-d never comes to a man direct. He always reaches a man by revelation. Either through an angel, through visions, or through some medium.
What about Moses? He met G-d face to face. Yes that's right. He met G-d face to face. He didn't see a face until he got a message from a bush.
There was a medium bringing him face to face. First he noticed the fire and he said, "What is that there?". He got curious and he went pursuing the fire to wonder, "How come that fire is burning in that mountain there?". So he went following his curiosity and then saw a fire and a burning bush. The fire was burning the bush and the bush was not being consumed by the fire. The bush was remaining as it was, unchanged, and the fire was burning in the bush. So this was enough to make Moses see something face to face. 

What is the good of seeing G-d face to face? Do those things help you see him? Face to face. The things that has the identity, things that are symbolic of their identity you can see a lot of bodies but the best part of the body for identification is the face. You see a person's hand, that looks like G-d's hand but the strongest identifying feature is the face features. Is that right?
So I found it symbolic in scriptures. Seeing G-d face to face, meaning that we are going to see the strong identity, strong signs of G-d's identity, that's all. Seeing him face to face meaning that he will also see your best identity. He will see the promise marks of your identity you will not be hiding anything from him and he will not be hiding anything from you.
As a man is with his friend, man don't hide anything from his friend, he opens up to his friend. Is that right? And his friend opens up to him, meaning that G-d will not hide his identity from his messenger and his messenger would be pure-hearted. It wouldn't be coming with sin, with wicked intentions, hiding some of his intentions so far. No, it would be open before each other like friends- face to face. That's simple understanding, you want foolishness? Go on and get it, there’s plenty of it out there.
We have to believe in G-d's messengers. Shouldn’t it be enough just to believe that G-d is G-d and he has power to reach us by any means or by any medium he chooses, could that be enough? Why does G-d want us to believe also in his messengers? The messenger say, "Look, don't you believe in G-d?" I say, "Yes, I believe in G-d." Then G-d revealed it, don't you believe that G-d has the power to reach me through means, through mediums, through angels?
"Yes I do believe it." Shouldn't that be enough? But you also have to believe in the messenger. Looks like that’s some strong support to me, if I believe in G-d and I believe that G-d reveals on a level that human beings can totally grasp, I believe that he reveals to man, I have to believe in the messenger. I have to believe that a human being. It is not enough to believe in G-d and in revelation and in angels.
What has been our mistake in the past when the human beings received revelations from G-d, we make them something above a human being with, "Oh, he is a deity, he is a divine." Is that right? Or he is the witch, he has some supernatural power he is different from human beings. So that's why it is necessary to believe in G-d's messengers. No, he's no witch, he's no divine, he is no deity, he is nothing supernatural, he is the same common mortal human being.
And that's what the Muslim has to accept. Believing in the messenger of G-d as a Muslim means to believe that the Almighty G-d, the eternal divine the holy divine. The only eternal G-d, the only eternal being, we have to believe that great being above human comprehension.
Althentic human vision frustrating human the human sight and vision to comprehend that powerful being reached a common mortal, a common human being. He doesn't have to go to no trans , meditate himself out of his form, G-d comes to him in his own common natural form. When you believe in the messenger of G-d you have the best belief in the dignity of man, don't you know that?
To believe that G-d missioned a messenger who is a common human being, not an angel, not a witch-doctor not a magic worker- a common human being- that G-d has made that human being his messenger. He has even blessed him to be the receiver of revelation on its highest plane. To believe that is to believe in human dignity. What greater image do we have of human dignity than that?
The almighty G-d has chosen a common mortal, a human being, to receive revelation from the highest plane. He has chosen the common human being to be the greatest tool for divine work. Greatest tool for the divine work. Has G-d aided creatures any more than he aided human being through a prophet? No. The other creatures their blessings, their creation and even their social order was established and fixed, they hardly to get out of it, they stay in it, sometimes for millions of years.
Same social order- having babies and mating and doing everything in the same way. No change in the way they live, the way they build houses or the way they do anything, they the same way all the time. Wear one dress all the time, the roach has been wearing his roach color garments for millions of years. Look at you, you just change your clothes, you just do anything you want to do.
The human being, G-d has favored him with the greatest reward, but has put a responsibility on you. It is the heaviest of all responsibilities, and that's responsibility for your own actions. Freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom to think out of the pattern that G-d put you in and going to other patterns, if you like, that is a heavy responsibility. Allah was about to create the world, it says in the Qur’an that he offered the responsibility of custodian.
Responsibility of keeping the order for every creature and no creature came up and accepted the offer, except man. The human being went up, "Yes G-d, I accept it." He speaks for his greatness and also for his weakness, human being is quick to rush up and say, "I'll do it," no matter how hard and impossible the job looks to be. "I'll do it," without thinking. His weakness is not giving enough thought to serious matters, that is his weakness.
His greatness is his courage. He has great courage, great faith that he can do almost anything, that's a human being. We have to believe in the messenger of G-d, we also have to believe in the promise of G-d. We have to believe in the judgement. As a Muslim I can't leave everything else and say "Oh, the judgment has passed us by." No, I have to believe in the judgment.
Not only the judgment or the physical matters of my life or the present matters of my life for I am a living creature in this physical form, but also judgment after this physical form has passed away and even the earth and all methane have passed away. I have to believe in the judgment.
Why? Because it is a requirement, a necessity for justice. We are told by G-d in the Holy Qur’an, the message of G-d to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, that it is not only a promise but it is a necessity that G-d raise you up to tell them that they are bones or something less, if they have become some dried bones or something less than that. Dust or something less, they shall be raised. They shall be raised. It has meaning both in this life and in the life after physical creation. Has meaning both and both. The Jewish people and other religious people, they have used language in a symbolically, to hide the real knowledge. They make comparison between the spiritual life and the promises that G-d made to us, and the physical or the material world and the promise that Satan made to us.
They say, "Oh yes, the bones shall be raised." For they are many of them that don't believe that when a human being dies physically that G-d can restore him to life. Or that G-d can give him a higher creation. No, they won't believe it. When they say that G-d who raised the bones up, they're not talking about human bones, they're talking about the lost structure of their faith. The Law structures that of the hold up society. Law structures that hold up the society. They're talking about old bones that going to be raised up again. When they say there are going to be clothed with flesh, they're not talking about this flesh, they're talking about the flesh of knowledge. That the fundamental principles will be erected again and that will be knowledge teaching to the bring back education to the society.
When they will say, "Oh G-d is all that breathe into him the breath of life." They have a double meaning. G-d is-- yes, they're going to be given desire again. They're going to be given inspiration, to do things, to get the work again for the better men of the society. We have inspiration and inspiration. Is that right? We inspired by the world and we're inspired by G-d, inspiration and inspiration. Human being taught in these two things, and they talk on this two different levels. Using symbolic language but it's very clear in Allah's book The Qur’an, that yes, you are right. But you only talking about the sign that point to a higher reality.
The Muslim has to also believed in the signs of G-d. The promise of G-d, what G-d hints to us, what He promise us. And they're hints in all His creation that suggest to us that their is something existing on a higher level than this. And what does Allah say of this creation, the whole creation? it is nothing but a mirage. Mirage. The real reality is not what you're looking at, the real reality is somewhere else. And what the Prophet Muhammad says, and blessing be upon him, say of this whole life, he say, " while I’m in this life, I mean in this life I am a traveler." This whole life is nothing but a trip and a journey. It's not home, it's not the destination, if this wasn't right that there was some different way to interpret this? Like the old Jacobite Jew says, "That no, there's no resurrection. The only resurrection is social resurrection. The only resurrection is political resurrection. The only resurrection is moral resurrection. There is no resurrection from physical death once you've come to physical death." That's the end of it.
That kind of belief keeps Jew performing two jobs at the same time. He worked as a missionary for G-d, and he worked as Satan at the same time. Because he thinks that once he died, that's the end of it. But with the Muslims that's not so, that's not the end of it. Allah-u Akbar. In the words of Allah in the Qur’an, "Says now truth has come. As plain as seen with the eye." That's the seeing, with the eyes. Oh, I’m going to see my Savior one of these days. Believe in the Qur’an and you'll see your Savior, right today. Oh I'm going to see G-d one of these days. Because scripture say they're going to see Him, every eyes shall see Him. Believe the Qur’an you will have the opportunity in this night, right now to see our Allah.
Seeing the Allah is not seeing something biological, Allah is not biological. Allah created the biology. The words in the Qur’an tell us that now, Allah said, "Now the message the truth has come. As clear, as plain, as seen with eye." Tell those Jews and those Christians who have confused the people, and have them thinking that you are going to see G-d face to face like a human being, tell them no that's not the way. The best seeing is not to see with the physical eye. The best seeing is seen with the spiritual eye. The spiritual eye of faith in G-d. Well balanced. While not in a state of drunkenness, a man when he's in his drunk state, can't see with his eyes so well. Yes, the eyes can be looking at the objects, but if the man is in a drunk state, you don't know whether he will report what he saw or not. Is that right?
Likewise, the spiritual sight. You can see G-d, but if your balance-- you're out of balance, you've been taught to believe in unseen that are not real. You’re superstitious. You're not connected with the rational knowledge. You’re spooky and superstitious. When you look for G-d, you still can't see because your eye is under the influence of intoxication. The intoxication of sorcerers, of superstition, lies. But if you follow G-d's guidance, that have been designed to bring out the best in man's rational understanding, the best in His complete form, the knowledge has been designed to bring the best of the man out, whether it be rational or spiritual.
If you stand on that particular ground that is rational as well as spiritual, and follow the words of G-d in the Qur’an, you will come to see G-d plainly. Seeing G-d is being able to distinguish the workings of G-d from the workings of devil. Yes, when we can distinguish the presence of G-d in our lives, from the presence of the devil in our lives, when we are able to distinguish the blessings of G-d from that-- what do you call it, the pride of the devil. We're seeing G-d, when we're able to know that this is revelation and this is false revelation, that G-d is in this book and the terror is in this book, we're seeing G-d. When self-righteousness becoming evil before our eye, and we know that all the good works counts for nothing, when the heart isn’t right, you're seeing G-d.
Seeing G-d means being straight. Seeing G-d means being right. Seeing G-d means being in that nature, in that form, in that mind and that particular mental disposition. That enables you to recognize truth without the cognition of spiritual and mental drunkenness. Without being upset by our passion. Sometimes the low desires the lust, for the base things of life. Power of the vision. I would say, "Oh I would believe in that, if I could understand it." How can you understand it if you're drunk with passion? Does the drunk go to the college, and say teach me? The drunk get sober first, then go to the college and says teach me. The drunk know we can't be taught in the college if it's under the influence of alcohol, or some other numbing, intoxicating things?
How do we expect G-d to guide us while we have given ourselves to drunken lust of the world. Parts of superstition. Imagine that all these other evils that makes us drunk. Some of us are so proud of our own knowledge, In our drunken foolishness, we laugh at the message and the messenger of G-d. If you only open your eyes, you'll see how foolish you are. Yes, we believe in the judgment, we believe in the resurrection, not only in this life but also after this life. G-d says do not follow other paths because they will lead you astray from the path of G-d.
Often in the Qur’an, we'll find that G-d says, "Ask the people of the Book." Why does G-d say ask the people of the Book? These are words revealed to Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Muhammad was speaking to the people, in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. He was inspired to say, "Ask the people of the Book."
Dear beloved people to have a sentence. A sentence represents a thought, a complete thought. If you take part of the sentence away, you don't expect to get the complete thought. Our struggle for spiritual understanding, our struggle for religious understanding is a struggle for complete thought. We want to see the complete thought, we see part but we can't see the whole. To have a complete thought, you have to have a subject, a doer, a speaker. You have to have a verb, something showing action of something being done by the doer, the speaker. And you have to have an object, a predicate, something showing where that's going.
This world has given us subject and verb but no object, no predicate. Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad, the whole sentence, the subject, the verb, and the object. The verb with its object, so we have the whole thing, subject and predicate. Is that right? Yes, that has been our problem.
I have said that to ask the Muslim to be aware when you're reading the Qur’an, that the Qur’an is also speaking to Christians, and Jews, and other people. If you don't understand what this Qur’an is saying to Christians, and Jews, and other people, you still lack valuable, essential understanding.
One of the names of the Qur’an is Al-Bayyan, the Clear Evidence. Allah says, "Now has the clear evidence come.", evidence convincing like the seeing with the eye. This is the message of the Qur’an.Should we knowing this, having this great knowledge, should we preach today like the man preached to the people in primitive time? Should we use the same language, should we compose our text to satisfy the premises, the jinn, and the primitive people? When we live in a society that is enlightened. We live in an enlightened society. The society has the primitive nature. We're caught in the grip of primitive nature but we are an enlightened society.
To bring the man out of his primitiveness, shouldn't you appeal to his strength? You should appeal to his enlightenment. But if he has no enlightenment, you have to appeal to his common sense, to his good nature. For when a man has some enlightenment, shouldn't you appeal to his enlightenment. To shame him, to let him know how has fallen beneath his own standards, has fallen beneath his own doctrines? Yes, some people want me to stand up here and just quote hadith. Some people would like for me to read the Qur’an letter by letter by letter and quote hadith, and not bother referring or comparing the Bible with the Qur’an. They are backward, they are still in primitive days.
They have allowed themselves to lose sight on the key for success. The key for success is to stay in tune with the time, with the nature and demand of time. You don't come and preach the Christians like you preach to a heathen, who've been worshiping sticks and stones. Even if you find a Christian worshiping sticks and stones, you don't want to address him as though he's a heathen worshiping sticks and stones. If you find a man drunk, do you address the man as a drunk or do you address him as a human being with intelligence? Say, "Man you should be ashamed of yourself. Giving yourself to this weakness. Look what you're doing to your wife. Look how you're shaming yourself before your children."
We don't apply the same rules of intelligence in religion that we apply in our daily lives. I'm here to tell you, brothers and sisters, that much of the Qur’an has yet to be understood by the Arabs. In order to understand the predicate and the subject, they need to study the Jewish people and their assistant people more. They need to study with their book and reveal to those people so they can see what problem was the Holy Qur’an addressing, what problems was Allah addressing to his Prophet Muhammad, that were existing in the text of the Jews and in the text of the Christians.
Don’t isolate yourself from this world that G-d was speaking to. G-d was addressing the whole world, Atheist, Christians, Jews, and whatever they are. Allah has blessed the whole world through Prophet Muhammad. Anyone who thinks he can come from Arabia and close his eyes to the whole world and teach us the Qur’an is a blind fool. He cannot understand the Qur’an in any appreciable factor until he first understands the environment that he's in.
When he leaves Arabia and come to America, he is in a drastically different environment. He should stops worrying about the superficial thing, the ritual, the ritualistic thing. He should give up his fear of losing the things that are close to him in his Arabian environment, and he should become conscious of the things that have been allowed from the Jewish environment, from the Christian environment, that G-d intended for him when He revealed the Qur’an to guide us back to the ways, not only a Muslim, Jew, Christian, all of us.
We have to accept that Abraham is our father. Adam is our father, also Abraham is our father. Adam represents the common man, the common man as our father. But also Abraham is our father. We have been raised by a common father and we have been raised by G-d's Prophet. The first father is a common man, the second father is the Prophet of G-d. Isn't that right? G-d says of Abraham "Abi kum, Ibrahim", "Your father, Abraham." Yes, that's our father. Why he didn't say your father Moses? Moses was a prophet. Why He didn't say your father Jesus? Jesus was a prophet. Why He said your father Abraham? Because, Abraham is a prophet who, whose rule was that of a parent, a father responsible for his children.
Abraham was raised up among pagan people, who had lots of ignorance, primitive ignorance. And, Abraham was guided to search for truth with a rational eye. He observed the stars and the sun, and everything, and he saw in the movement a sign, a sign that there's a creator, a planner, a designer, behind all of this. And, that He's not one, two, not three-- pardon me, two, three, and four. He’s not many, He's One. He saw one nation, and one creation, and one pattern, one design, dominating throughout the whole creation. And he says, "There's One G-d. One G-d, and there is no G-d associated with that G-d.” “Everything else is servants. Everything else is creation and servants.” "Only One G-d," Abraham said that. Then Abraham was moved, to even share his own life, the life of his own loins, to serve people.
Abraham is a symbol of charity. He was ready to kill his own son to please G-d, but G-d told him that having the desire was the same as affecting it. That he had not-- G-d didn't want him to kill his son. But, he had strong faith because he was willing to kill his son. That even his own child could be sacrificed. He was going to please G-d. Abraham was moved by two strong influences to search for truth. Rational motivation , faith in G-d, a faith that did not weaken even when his own child's life was at stake. His faith did not weaken, and G-d told him to kill the-- What is it? The ram, the sheep, kill the ram, let that be the sacrifice, and feed it to the people.
He took one of his lambs and shared it with his neighbors, with his people, with Suleiman. Is that all right? Instead of killing his son, he practiced charity. He practiced charity. This brought Abraham to be also the symbol of charity, of charitableness in our religion. He's a great symbol of charity. And, he's a symbol of rational searching for truth, and a symbol of strong faith. He's all of these. Is that right? Isn't that in every human being that really loves G-d sincerely, that really wants to be right with G-d? Aren't those the things that's stirring in him, moving him on. A desire to be right by others? Is that right? A desire to be truthful, a desire to be rational and not stupid or silly.
We're not satisfied with a religion that's mystified, and superstitious. We want reality. The human nature presses us to find reality, to find absolute truth. To find truth unveiled, separated from superstition and mysteries. Is that right? We are moved like that. Abraham is a symbol of that, the symbol that thirst for naked truth. He wouldn't accept any superstition. He wouldn't accept half-truths. He wanted the whole truth, the plain rational truth. What brought him to seek it and not give up? Faith in G-d. The strength of Abraham was his faith in G-d.
This shows you brothers and sisters, what will make the best scientists? The best force to move the scientist to his highest peak, to his greatest glory, is faith in G-d. Right faith in G-d will lead you to truth and you will never give up. You will die on a path of truth. Right faith, in Almighty G-d, yes, right faith in Almighty G-d brings out, the rational man, and brings out the moral man. And, also brings out this charitable person. Because, as long as we are short of truth believing, having faith in G-d, as long as we are short of truth, we are not satisfied. If truth says, "Oh, you still have to go little bit more," say, "Well, what is the next step I have to take truth?" "You have to give up your own son's life." That truth seeker will say, "Son, I'm sorry but there has to be a sacrifice today."
Abraham, he was weeping, but he said, "Son there has to be a sacrifice today, because I know G-d is G-d, and I know that I have been inspired to do this truth." "I'm going to do it, because I believe in truth." He didn't say, "Well this is my son. I can rationalize here." No, if you believe G-d's speaking if, G-d said take the son's life, you have to obey if you're a man of truth.
Yes, it says that Abraham, when he was about to take his son's life, G-d says, "No, Abraham." Says, "The vision that you had, you've already fulfilled it." Meaning that G-d only did this to test you Abraham. G-d was not really that-- was not really wanting your son's life. G-d was wanting to bring out before humanity, the faith of a-- in the human being. The love for G-d and the faith that the human being had in his G-d that he will even slay his most beloved son, if he thinks G-d asked that of him.
Oh, isn't that wonderful? This is not G-d's nature, this is human nature. G-d is showing us the beauty of human nature, that this creature that we laugh at, we call him primitive. We laugh at him, that he carried his children up and sacrifice them to his G-d. He would take his 12-year-old son, and sacrifice him to his false G-d. We look over there and say, "Oh, look at primitive man. How stupid he was.
How he sacrificed his young son to a G-d that he believed in." But, G-d wanted to show us, that in that human being, in that ignorance that you laugh at, is the power of a social salvation. That if a human being could sacrifice the thing most dearest to him, while believing that G-d wants it of him, that same human being can solve all of our social problems and share the wealth of the nation with other people. For G-d’s sake, but he can't do it for his own sake.
We look back in history, and we laughed at the stumbling, the crawling, and the stumbling of human beings, trying to reach their destiny on earth. But, G-d says, "No, that's not anything for you laugh at. That human being sacrificed their son." They believed in the G-d. The stone was not the G-d. The tree was not the G-d. The wind was not the G-d. The lightning was not the G-d. None of those things were the G-d the earth in its fertility, was not the G-d. But, that individual believed that it was the G-d. And, he sacrificed his own child's life, inspired child's life, to please the G-ds.
I find that if you have faith in G-d, there is nothing we can't accomplish, in the area of human problem. Nothing we can't accomplish in the area of human problem. Look how men lead the whole nation astray, corrupt the whole society for love of self, for love of a woman, for love of a spoiled brat. But, look how other human beings sacrifice the most beloved in the family. Sacrifice them for the sake of G-d.
But G-d says he wants not burnt sacrifices, he wants no human sacrifices, the sacrifice he wants is a repentant heart. A heart that regrets, a heart that feels remorse, a heart that cries because it sees its sins and confess. That's what G-d wants of us and look how he showed us that in Abraham, the man was about to kill his own son G-d says, "No, what you asked for in the vision you have already done it, the intention is there Abraham, you had the pure intentions, your intention was to sacrifice your own son's life if it stood in the way of G-d.
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