12/19/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Review: What is Islam, The Qur’an, and The Prophet

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
We are not yet having the Taqwa you should have, Brothers. Too many of us don't have strong Taqwa. If you have strong Taqwa, G-d is first in your life all the time. G-d is the most important in your life all the time, if you have Taqwa. And your love for G-d is greater than your love for anybody else or anything else all the time. Much greater than it is for anybody or anything else, your love for G-d.
So, when you give charity, don't give charity to impress somebody. Don't give charity to be a savior for somebody. Give charity because Allah says give charity. And resist that feeling in yourself to say, "I'm helping this person." Resist that, it's natural to be like that. Allah's raising us from the levels of form to higher levels of form. So, it's natural for you to be in that form on that level.
That was your natural human form. But Allah's going to raise you to higher levels of human form. There are higher levels of human forms. He wants to raise you from that level to higher level of human form where your ego is not always in play. And you're not doing this charity with awareness that you are helping somebody. You're doing this charity with awareness that G-d has made it possible for you to give this charity. And I love G-d and He says give it.
See if we get like this, if we become strong in Taqwa, we don't have to worry about us attracting people, the numbers of Muslims will increase greatly. The people will see us, and they will love us. They will identify us as the righteous. They will love us, and they will just come into Islam in great numbers. So, we must first have the people that call them in the correct forms, to spend out of your substance, out of love for Him with capital "H" there, out of love for G-d. See how close we are to Christians? The love of G-d.
Love all love. For your kin or on your kin, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer. And it means the homeless, the person out of doors. There are people of the road "Whanasabill" means "People of the road". But the term that's used is not shariah, it's not a road that means a common name for road. So that tells us this is not only for the person who's physically out of doors, who's physically without a home or place to stay, but it's also for the person who's mentally out of doors and mentally without a home in which he can live and have peace and protection and security and privacy and reproduction.
They're mentally out of doors, they're mentally homeless. When they brought us from Africa and made us slaves here and cut us off from our past, they made all of us people mentally homeless, mentally out of doors. Fard called us, "the mentally dead". The mentally dead. May G-d forgive him his sins and give him Paradise.
For those who ask. For those who ask. Like the ones we meet all the time in the community and out in the street, "Can you spare car fare? Can you give me money for the bus? Or can you help me with some food?" And you say, "Well, he wants a drink." We don't come to that conclusion. Even though you feel positive sure in your heart, in your mind that this person wants to go get a drink, don't come to that conclusion. If you really think he's going to do that, give him some help if you can afford it. And then tell him, say, "Be good to yourself. Don't hurt yourself."
Don't deny him the help, help him. Help him with the money. And also help him with advice. Give him good advice. Pull him back from the wrong. But when you turn him down, give him no money and walk away cold, you didn't even register his problem. You make him a worse drunk. You're contributing to his problem rather than helping him solve it. And maybe that's why he is out there because people cold. So, give to those who ask.
And for the ransom of slaves, to free slaves, pay that price and be steadfast in prayer and practice regular charity. Practice regular charity. And the Zakat is translated "regular charity." See, it begins using...it didn't use Zakat the first time. It just used give, wait. Let me go back here. And spend, "Atta...Atta, Attalmala," And your spend wealth, your wealth". The word is "Attaa", which is just give, to give. Common, common language. Common word. But here is a term, Quranic term, Quranic term, Zakat. Zakat was not always a term with Arabs. They knew this. They didn't know the word Zakat. This is a new word.
See. So, we say this is an Arabic Quran, yes is Arabic Quran. But the Arabs themselves didn't know many of these words in this Quran, until it was revealed to Muhammad. They didn't have these...many of these words were not in their language until it was revealed to Muhammad. That's why the average Arab on the streets now who have not studied Islam, he reads the Quran, he doesn't know anything. The Quran is very difficult for him to read.
And to fulfill contracts which you have made, this is righteousness. So, Brothers, Sisters, you make an agreement with somebody, you have to carry that out. You can't back off from it. And start giving them all kind of excuses. Looking for loopholes or some out to keep from you, answering your part of the deal of the bargain. You can't do that and be a good Muslim. And fulfill the contracts that you have made.
And to be firm and patient in pain or suffering and adversity. So, the sign of a righteous person, a Believer, and a righteous person when trouble comes, is that the trouble doesn't take them over. Trouble comes but the trouble doesn't take them over. When you see people panicking, "Aaah, Aaah," their faith was not there and certainly their righteousness was not there.
Because we are never supposed to be disturbed like that if we have the strong Taqwa. When you have faith in Allah, you know that no matter how bad the situation looks, Allah is always in charge, always in charge. And we are only to do the best we can and Allah have not made us angels, or super creatures. So, what we can't handle, we feel satisfied that we have done our best and we are at peace, our peace is not disturbed.
Even if our mother is tormented on her death bed and squirming in pain, that shouldn't make us squirm in pain. It shouldn't. No matter how good she was to us, no matter how much we love her, it shouldn't make us squirm in pain. It might draw a tear. Tears fall from a peaceful soul, not only from disturbed souls. And be firm and patient in pain or suffering and adversity. So, this is the, it concludes over here on the other page for this book. And throughout all periods of panic, which we've already addressed, panic, such are the people of truth, the G-d fearing, such are the people of truth, the G-d fearing.
Now many of us could be innocently going on in religion, but truth has not yet been discovered as a very powerful part of our life and a very, very high value in the scale of our values. Some of us haven't discovered that. So, it says, "And when the spirit of truth has come, He will lead you into all truth". But this righteous concludes with, "Such are people of truth". (I got it. Thank you).
And actually, what it says, "Such are the people who have been certified as truthful people." "Sadaqu," their life as they have lived it, it has established that they're truthful. They have met the requirement to be called the truthful, "El Atheena Sadaqu". And you know it from charity too, isn't it? See Sidqeen is truth. Sidqun is truth. But Sadaqu also means charity, to give in charity.
And I mentioned to you in the Bible, that piece in the Bible I gave you yesterday. Yesterday, wasn't it? Yes. Of how these people had not truthfully told or acknowledged how much they had. And they gave some in charity, but it was deceitful. They wouldn't acknowledge that they had much more that they could give. And when they went back home, the floors start shaking or walls start shaking, things start falling off the shelves and tables start turning over. And they got so scared, so afraid. And they remembered that they had told that lie about what they had. (Laughing).
So, you see here, panic...panic and truthfulness and charity is all in this about righteousness. "Ulaay ekalatheena sadaqu wa Ulaay ekan whomul mutaqun." Taqwa. "Wa Ulaay ekan whomul mutaqun." And it says, "And they are the G-d fearing." Taqwa, having Taqwa, strong Taqwa. So, we conclude then that righteousness and Taqwa goes together. And you can't have righteousness without Taqwa and you can't have Taqwa without righteousness.
So, the righteous in Islam are not people who practice some kind of spiritual discipline to get close to G-d or get close to the superior nature or the superior reality and they become saintly in their life and devoted only to spiritual matters and not caring about sex and all this, you know. That's not our righteousness. Our righteousness is doing just what this verse says righteousness is. Caring for people in our society, wanting to take misery out of the society. Wanting to bring help to the people who want help, want to assist those who are weak and can't manage for themselves. This is our righteousness. And that's the righteousness of the Prophet in the Bible. He said, "My fast is to..." and one day you'll come upon it if you read the Bible. And when he describes his fast, you'll see resemblance of his description of his fast to this verse on what is righteousness, our righteousness. Allahu Akbar. Sadaqalahu atheen".
Getting close to 12. So, it won't be too long. But we have that time, we want about 20 minutes for comments and questions, expressions, whatever you would like to say that won't cause you to be hurt or put out of here. (Laughing) I had no thought of my own self and my security. You might say something vulgar and we might have to put you out here.
Speaker 1:
Brother Imam, it's this question right here, he had his hand up first right here.
IWDM:
How you know that? Did you see everybody at once? I'm not taking his hand, I'm not taking his hand because you said. No, he cut you out. He cut you out. The Brother on the wall with the fez, the beautiful cap. Can you...Those who are on the back, the far back, we got time. Walk up to the center, walk up at least halfway, halfway the room. And keep your voice up, keep your voice at a volume to reach my ear.
Brother Esa:
As Salaamu Alaikum there Brother Imam.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Brother Esa:
I'm Brother Esa from [...] member of this community-
IWDM:
What city?
Brother Esa:
He's from [...] Akbar but [...] is my name.
IWDM:
No, I heard that. What city? What city are you from?
Brother Esa:
From Cleveland.
IWDM:
From Cleveland?
Brother Esa:
From Cleveland, Lorain So I'm a member of Masjid Bilal and the community in Lorain, Ohio.
IWDM:
Thank you. Thank you.
Brother Esa:
So, what my concern is Imam W. D. Mohammed is that I find there's another group using our name Muslim American Society. And I called this number myself while we were going through changing with the name. And I got a Brother named Abu Bakr. And what I see here is a possible legal problem.
IWDM:
Yeah.
Brother Esa:
It could be possible. I don't know. But I'd like for someone in our group to check it out and make sure that this is a... no conflict.
IWDM:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. That is a big... that is serious.
Brother Esa:
Who should I give this to?
IWDM:
Imam Plemon, the Convener of the Shura. Imam Plemon El Amin.
Brother Esa:
Okay. As Salaam Alaikum.
IWDM:
Thank you very much. Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Brother Esa:
I enjoyed the session.
IWDM:
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3:
Oh no, it's not on there.
IWDM:
It's not on, no.
Speaker 1:
[...].
IWDM:
We're going to go on this side and then we go back to the left side. I see a Brother with... Yes. Yes. Brother Imam from Minnesota.
Minnesota Imam:
As Salaam Alaikum.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam. This a young Imam, and he's doing a great job in his city. (Allahu Akbar).
Minnesota Imam:
Can you give some clarity on the term of usury and the interest you make [...].
IWDM:
On?
Minnesota Imam:
Usury.
IWDM:
Usury? On Usury?
Minnesota Imam:
Yes.
IWDM:
Yes, yes. The expression in the Quran is not interest, its interest multiplied. That's what the question is. The expression is interest, interest multiplied, and it means a high, unreasonable cost for the service that's rendered. In English language is called usury. Any exorbitant price you pay for something is a sin in Islam. Like if we get these garments that we are selling, CPC are selling and we put the price way up, way up, we can reach a level for our price where we'd be guilty of this same thing though it's not interest. It's making the people pay too much for what you are offering them or giving them. Unreasonable costs placed on something.
But money changing was a big sin and it was certain people engaging in this. I don't think I have to name them. I think a lot of you know the people. Certain people who would making the big business on this. And this is what this warning is aimed at. It's aimed at stopping that and it was stopped. The Prophet was ordered to stop it and he stopped it, didn't allow it.
Yes, yes. We're going to go this side now. I'm going to go from right to left. Yes Brother Imam in the back. Brother Imam Fareed. Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Imam Fareed:
My question is about Jesus. My question is concerning Jesus.
IWDM:
Yes sir.
Imam Fareed:
It seems to be a play on the word... is it Bethlehem, Jesus was born in Bethlehem?
IWDM:
Yeah.
Imam Fareed:
It seems to be a play on Baytul al lahu and is that's correct?
IWDM:
On what is that? Play on?
Imam Fareed:
Bay al lahu.
IWDM:
Oh, yes, yes.
Imam Fareed:
And if that's correct, is it saying that, that the word, what protects us is the Word of G-d?
IWDM:
Yes. But the "Lahaim" means life. Life. It is not just meat, flesh. It has a reference to flesh. But it means the House of Life. And no, no, that's not the end of it. So what you were saying that, ask your question again.
Imam Fareed:
I'm asking did it mean protection? Did it mean, is it saying that Jesus represented the Word G-d? Is it saying that what protects us, the house or the environment that protects us is the Word of G-d?
IWDM:
Bethlehem? The expression?
Imam Fareed:
Right.
IWDM:
Bethlehem?
Imam Fareed:
Is that equivalent to the saying Baytallah, Bethlehem.
IWDM:
I don't think so. I don't think we could translate that Bayt, Bayt alah. I don't think so. Because the word means life, though it has a reference to flesh. Because flesh has life, but it means life. The House of Life. The House of Life. And it has a reference to also light, purity and light.
Imam Fareed:
Thank you, Imam.
IWDM:
Yes. I have to go this way and then I'll come back to you. Yes, now the one that got cut out. (Laughing).
Omar Shaheed:
As Salaamu Alaikum Brother Imam.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Omar Shaheed:
Omar Sheed from South Carolina. There's a reference that Allah says to the angels, that I'm going to [...] a Khaleefa. Then there's another reference, when you sa,y you're going to make Basheer, man. Then Iblis says that [...], then Allah says, "When I have fashioned him in due proportion and breathe into him of My Spirit". Now, the connection, I'm looking for the connection here with Basheer when Iblis said he would not submit to any, he would never submit to Basheer. And the balance, when Allah said He's going to balance him. He says, "And I have balanced him in due proportion". Now Prophet Muhammad is called Basheer.
IWDM:
Yeah.
Omar Shaheed:
Then you mentioned that the Uswah is connected with that Hawwa, balance?
IWDM:
Yeah, yes. Uswah is from the word Seewah, yes.
Omar Shaheed:
So, the Prophet Muhammad connect back with this Basheer and balance that Allah was talking about.
IWDM:
Yes, yes. There are many terms for the human person. He says He's making a Khaeefa in the earth, Khaleefa. Khaleefa is addressing the person in the role of responsibility. G-d has given him certain responsibilities, He didn't give angels. Not even the angels He didn't give the responsibility, this certain, this particular responsibility.
So, Khaleefa is addressing the creature in his role as a responsible creature, special creature with special responsibility given to him by G-d. Even higher than the responsibility, higher than that, that the angels had carried. In the world of mankind, in the world of human beings. Bashar refers to the mortal nature of this creature, this creature is a mortal. And you who have looked up the term mortal you know it's talking about, it has direct reference to human sensitivities. He's mortal, he can be hurt, he can be sad, he fears dangers.
He fears death. He could be killed, but he wants eternal life. He could be corrupt, but he wants purity. So, when, Bashar, when you say Bashar, all this, all the mortal nature, the man, the person, it is mortal nature comes to mind when you say Bashar. Bashar.
Now, originally this meaning, this Bashar, this meaning originally addressed human sensitivities, like the skin, the skin of the person. Our skin is sensitive. Now, skin is sensitive, and they say, "He wears his skin on his sleeves" Something like that. What's that expression? (Feelings) Feelings. He wears his feelings on his sleeves. Means he's very sensitive. Very sensitive.
So, Bashar means this sensitive creature. The intellectuals, who are obsessed with their intellectual pursuits, they despise one of their own kind who will show those kinds of sensitivities. They will hate him. They despise him. They wanted him to get out. They can't stand to look at him. And Iblis, is characteristic of those who are obsessed with his own intellectual pursuits. So, when G-d is saying, "I'm going to make a sensitive...You're not sensitive up here. You're leading these angels and you're not sensitive up here, Iblis and your followers, the angels. So, I'm going to make a sensitive creature on the earth, down there". And then G-d goes on to say what He's going to do for him, and when He have completed His Favor on him, He would accept him, willingly or unwillingly.
See and they all accepted, except Iblis. "Aatha wastagbarah". He refused. He resented it. He resisted it. "Aatha". He refused and resented it and resisted it. "Was tagbarah". And became proud of his own creation. Bloated in pride of his own creation. "I'll never accept this Bashar You are making from stinky earth fashioned into shape".
"See, that's all he is, this Bashar, this sensitive skin creature you're talking about. He's nothing but stinky earth fashioned into the shape of a man. Not a real man". But look, from that that you don't like is going to come the Messenger to you all and I'm going to keep that term that you don't like in his title. This Bashar shall become a Basheer. Messenger of human sensitivities. Messenger bringing human sensitivities to the world. That, that you don't like. That, that you look down on. That, that you despise. I'm going to make it loud in the land. It's going to be the trumpet blowing and the bell ringing and the voice yelling "Come to human sensitivities". (Laughing). Praise be to Allah. (Takbeer. Allahu Akbar.)
Imam Fareed, you a bad man.
Was that some help? (Laughing) I'm going this way. I'll be back. I'll get in the middle of next time. I'm going over here to the left now.
Yes, yes. Brother Imam.
Raheem:
As Salaamu Alaikum.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Raheem:
[...] Raheem from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
IWDM:
Yes, sir.
Raheem:
Brother Imam, last year you gave us a focus for the Eid. Have you thought about it this year? You know, what we should focus on?
IWDM:
For the Eid?
Raheem:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
Well, you know we're having the Eid al-Fitr or the first and then three months later we have either the Ramadan I mean, El Adha. For the Ramadan celebration of our successful fast into the month of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, I think it'd be a good idea for us to concentrate on the virtues of fasting and Ramadan. And what are these virtues mainly? Bodily and spiritual purity. Bodily and spiritual purity. And, on the other hand, the virtue is compassion for those suffering and doing worse than we are. Worse off than we are. So that we will work hard to make the society free of unnecessary suffering and misery and ignorance, and to extend charity to them. The fasting is mainly to bring us closer to Allah, to G-d.
But the benefit in the society is that it makes us more aware of the need to help those who are less fortunate than we are. So, I think that would be the concentration if we can.
So let me go in the middle now.
In the far rear, our Brother with the sweater and the glasses. Yes, I know your name. But I can't recall it right now.
Michigan Imam:
Imam [...] from Lansing, Michigan.
IWDM:
Lansing, Michigan. Yes.
Michigan Imam:
Brother Imam, could you [...] the year 2000[...] explain something about Y2K and how we can handle that?
IWDM:
Something about...
Michigan Imam:
Y2K.
IWDM:
Oh, oh. Yes, yes. Yes. Well, we should have done everything by now. (Laughing). But my advice to you is to read what they're saying are the possible bad things that can happen, problems that can occur and take preventive steps yourself right away.
Banks won't be excused. If they mess up your account or anything. The government won't excuse them because they are supposed to take the proper steps, too. So don't worry about your money in the banks and all that.
But it is possible, we don't know what the system has planned. See, and the system might see a chance to excuse, not the whole system. I mean the system, any part of the system may see a chance to do something to better the system and do it under the cover of Y2K problems.
So, we may face some difficulty. We may face some difficulties, so we have to prepare for it. I advise you to have water in your house. Bottle water, put you a supply of bottled water at least to last year week. Shouldn't be any problem for more than a day a few days or so. But who knows. So, get you some water, put some water in your house. And be sure you have something to survive on as food. Stable food. Like rice, beans, non-perishable food. Canned goods. Not frozen food. Don't store up on frozen food. The refrigerator may go out, electricity my go off.
The system may do something. So, let's not be unaware that sometimes these systems need changing. And they may say, "well here's the time, we can cut this off. We can we can stop this for a while. Let's improve this [...]. Let's find this problem. Let's do this."
Because the electricity is taxed too much. Providing electricity to cities and towns now is a big, big problem. And they got to solve that. They may take advantage of this problem. And maybe all the electricity may go down. And they'll put workers on it or technicians on it and they might try to correct problems so they can have a better system once they start it back up. These are possibilities, you see.
So don't trust the refrigerator. Don't trust the lights in your house. Get you some candles. Don't trust the heat, get you a space heater. No, not the space heater. There's a space heater, but not electricity.
Yeah, yes, kerosene. Yeah, it's a pure...Yeah, and it will keep your house warm if the electricity goes off. You should have that anyway. Because we never know what's gonna happen, you know?
I just say take the due precaution so that you don't be suffering, if something should happen.
Okay, we're going to go in the center again because we didn't do in the center.
Yes, sir. Brother right here with the gray sweater.
Abdur:
As Salaamu Alaikum Brother Imam.
Abdur:
IWDM
Abdur:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Abdur Raheem from Cleveland.
IWDM:
[...]
Abdur:
I like, read about Islamic Reformers [...]
Abdur:
IWDM
Abdur:
About?
Reformers of [...] or Reformers of Islam
Abdur:
IWDM
Abdur:
Reformers, yes. Reformers.
Do you know much about Ibn Al Araby [...], Al Majaby
IWDM:
Yes, so many of [...]. And even in our time, there were Reformers. I think Maulana Maududi was a great Reformer of our time. He's a Pakistani scholar, died some years ago. I remember being on Hajj and he was on the Hajj the same year and he was in his tent.
I was invited to come meet him and I did. I have already been affected by some of his writings. He wrote a book, Islam and Focus. And he wrote a book on the Prophet, the Prophet of Islam. He wrote a book on the Prophet Muhammad. [...] and it was just so touching, what he was saying about Prophet Muhammad. He was just telling about his life, how he lived.
This was something that made me just want to help Muhammad the Prophet [...] with all my life, if I could. So, I love that man. And I had a chance to meet him. And you know what he said? He told me... I sat down by him in his tent, [...], many followers, he's got many followers. And he said [...] to him, he said, "One thing I want you all to know", said, "don't go to America and try to lead the Muslims there. He said, "Leave them be. Assist them, but don't try to lead them." [...]. (Allahu Akbar).
He was a great a scholar, Maulana Maududi.
So, we have many scholars, they are not all Reformers. But I think Maulana Maududi was part of a reform movement. See sometimes a reformer, the reformer is not the individual but the time period. And what happens in that time period because of several leaders following each other. Some of the reform starts with one helped by another. Not always passed to another one. The next one had no connection [...] with it at all. But he comes up and he addressed the problem with that time to and together they make a powerful revelation and we have to see the reformer not as one person.
I am part of the reform. But I don't want you to call me Mujaddid I don't want you to call me the Mujaddid. I don't want you to call me that but I'm part of this new reform.
Maulana Maududi made great contributions to it. And there's a few others. And there's some rising now that we don't even know. We'll know them soon. They're working hard. They're doing great work. Everyday. Right now in different lands, different parts of the world and some of them quietly work. They don't want visibility.
So, they know how to set claims that are easily invisible, coming to the forefront. They're like the angel. And they are doing great work. This is definitely a major reform period. From 19...about 1960 our area but definitely from 1960 to the present time, a major reform period. And the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had a lot to do with it.
He sent shock waves through there. And believe me a lot of Muslim [...] Muslim countries. They never [...]Elijah Muhammad. Woke them up.
That doesn't mean he woke them up with Islam, but he woke them up to the seriousness of the time. Because it was happening on the [...] He woke them up.
If he taught of this [...] you bet.
What was he?
I don't know, maybe he was a big Jinn but Allah said He would cause the Jinn [...]to help.
All I know is he was big something. He sure wasn't a small something. Big, big something.
[...] confused, his teacher calls him to put darkness and confusion into [...] They all resulted in a group [...] affect that had positive benefits further [...]. Yes, sir. And I wouldn't be the man I am if it wasn't for me coming from my father. Ain't no way I could be this person if I hadn't come from my father.
That's the life, that's the [...] time and the life and the circumstances that produced me. And I still have the best of that life in me right now. And Elijah is here, just working so hard. And you're happier than you've ever been. I ain't spooking you up, no, no.
Brother Imam I see your fingers but your head [...] but I see your face. Can you stand with the white shirt and tie on, right there. That's right.
Sorry, your name? I can't hear you.
Jihad:
Jihad from Detroit, Michigan.
IWDM:
Jihad? From Detroit, Michigan. Thank you very much.
Jihad:
I had a comment and also I wanted to ask a question. The question is you mentioned the sun would rise from the West and then it would go down. Are you suggesting that there is a [...] or a barrier between Islam [...] understand what that means? is that what you meant by that [...
IWDM:
Yes, yes. Exactly. We have to rise from the West, but there are some things that human beings just can't perceive in totality. So, it will continue...
[...] And he's bragging. He's bragging to the saints who have insight. He's bragging to them. And you got your righteousness, here's your righteousness on this bar. And look at my followers coming to take a drink of my righteousness. Yes. Yes. That's better. Yes. Yes.
Shamsudeen:
Imam [...] Shamsudeen, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My comment to Imam Wartih D. Mohammed. Praises due to Allah for you. [...]. My comment [...] is Dawah. My comment is [...] We've had you on TV for well over 8 years now...
IWDM:
What is that?
Shamsudeen:
We had you on TV, the TV program Al Islam...
IWDM:
TV?
Shamsudeen:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
Alhumdullilah.
IWDM:
Big congratulations to you. And a big, big wish for your success, or else more success and that G-d rewards you with good from all goodness. Jazakhalahirum minhiree qulee.
Shamsudeen:
The concern is that there are others that would like for ourselves to be on TV, but I myself don't like the ego problems that comes with that. And I know that we should also be doing some dawah in terms of us being on TV. But I don't know of a more clearer voice for Al-Islam So, I just want to know if you have any comments in regards to that.
How would we improve [...]
IWDM:
Let me give my office that information. And insha'Allah if you leave your...a number for your work, where we can reach you, with me today... You can leave it right here on the table, right here, I'm sitting at this table. If you leave it right on that table, with a name and a number where we can contact you, [...] I'll have the office contact you and I would like to come to the [...]. And I may bring a staff person with me, and we're going to sit down and see what we can do.
Thank you very much. (Allahu Akbar).
Yes, Sister Maryum Key.
Sister Maryum:
As Salaamu Alaikum.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Sister Maryum:
Maryum Keys Muhammad from Detroit. Brother Imam, here recently [...] in Detroit I'm working on a lecture that you gave there and I want it to be accurate you know that. You said in this lecture or part of it, you said that Allah is Rabil Alameen, He's of course the Lord of all the Worlds. So you said the meaning of the word Alameen. That's what I want to [...] the root meaning of that word, Alameen.
IWDM:
Is "Alm", knowledge. Science, knowledge.
Sister Maryum:
I got the knowledge just fine so far. You said it was "Alm" how would that be with knowledge? The root meaning? How would I spell that out? That's where I'm stuck at.
IWDM:
In the Arabic?
Sister Maryum:
No, [...].
IWDM:
The root meaning is science, pure science and knowledge.
Sister Maryum:
The word, 'Alm, How would I write that?
Sister Maryum:
Speaker 13
Sister Maryum:
Let him talk. Let him talk.
I'm talking to Imam.
And I was very glad you [...] because I was confused and I do not like to take your comments, I mean your lectures out of context.
IWDM:
I see. Are you [...] writing them down?
Sister Maryum:
Yeah.
IWDM:
What to write down?
Sister Maryum:
Okay.
IWDM:
Write down exactly what I said.
Sister Maryum:
Yes, word for word.
IWDM:
Word for word what I said, yes.
Sister Maryum:
[...] I don't want to put what I think you said or what someone else thinks. I recall you saying the word Alameen, the root meaning of that word, just like you said 'Alm, Right?
IWDM:
Right, 'Alm.
Sister Maryum:
How would I...
IWDM:
It means knowledge, Allama from Allama which means to learn or to be taught.
Sister Maryum:
Yes. I got those meanings. But how would I spell the root meaning?
IWDM:
In the transliteration?
Sister Maryum:
Yes. In the...'Alm.
IWDM:
I-L-M.
Sister Maryum:
Okay. I just wanted to be clear because that's what I have.
IWDM:
Good. All right.
Sister Maryum:
[...]
IWDM:
All right.
Sister Maryum:
Thank you very much.
IWDM:
You're welcome.
Okay, it's time for us to make prayer. So, we'll have one more, Sister Erika Aisha
Sister Aisha:
As Salaamu Alaikum. The year 2000, how much importance can we put on the calendar [...] the year 2000 as opposed to the Muslim calendar? And the [...].
IWDM:
Yes. The coming of the millennium 2000, it takes us into the third millennium. Is very, very significant for all people on this earth because Western rule and Christian presence have been so great. Since the time of Islamic civilization with the Turkish government giving up on the struggle with the West. So, the West has had such a great presence and have advanced the civilization and sciences, exact sciences so much so, you notice I said "exact sciences" have advanced exact sciences so much so that the whole world is living in the world of the West. And if this millennium means a lot to the citizens of the West, all Christians, or mostly Christians, then we should be interested to know what do they expect for this millennium. This coming millennium.
What are they expecting? Because for the very [...] some effect on the whole world, on all of us. And if they're expecting something good, we want to celebrate this with them. We want to be in the spirit, at least, of the celebration of righteousness. That's what the Christian world is doing, they're celebrating righteousness. And they want to see righteousness come back strong in the world. The want to see a more morally conscious public everywhere, in all nations. And they want to see an ethical rule, more ethical rule by governments and institutions. They want to see more ethical life. And I know because I'm among them, I belong to them. I'm a Muslim, but I work with them. I work with these people. With these institutions, and these bodies, these big world bodies.
That's what they want to see. So, G-d knows, in my heart, I am working with them and I'm celebrating with them. It ain't my millennium, it's their millennium. But it effects all of us. If they're ready to make this world more righteous after they have made it so wicked, I want to be their friend now.
I didn't want to be their friend back then. I didn't want to be their friend in 1950. I was not their friend, I didn't want to be their friend. And if you could take me back to 1950 by some magic, I won't be their friend in 1950. But I'm their friend in 1999. Although, I know a lot of devils are still around. They're everywhere, not just in the church or in the Christian society.
Is that satisfactory? So, we want to acknowledge that we too have an interest in the Jubillennium, the celebration of the millennium. We have an interest in it, though we come from Islamic spirit, not from Christian spirit. We embrace all good, acknowledge all good, embrace all good, assist all good.
Sister Aisha:
I guess what I'm trying to find out are there parallels on the Muslim calendar somewhere?
IWDM:
No. No, the Islamic calendar is completely different. So, we're not having... No. They're not celebrating even a century, they are not celebrating a new century at that time. The calendars are different. But something is occurring that makes calendars bigger than the calendar. And what is that? A phenomenal, major, worldwide change that's occurring now. And it's occurring for the people of the great faith. If we study Islam, our Islam seems to have lost its vitality. And how it has now begun to show its vitality, and how Judaism seems to have been secret or, at least, aloof, separate from the world. Now it's having a presence. It's having a presence. Jews are bringing Judaism forward, to the forefront. It's having a presence.
And how Christianity has really been oppressive. Be it predator, oppressive egotistical, [...], but now it's mellowing out. But all of these wonderful [...] changes are occurring at the same time, for Judaism, for Christianity and for Islam. This is no accident. That's why I say today is the Day of Religion.
So really, this time is the time, like I said, it's a time of great Reformers. From [...] to great reform for Islam, for the Muslim society of the world. And at the same time, it's a time for reform in Christianity, at least in Christian society, and it's a time for reform in the society of the Jews, of Judaism. So, the reform is occurring at the same time. Is that not an accurate observation? I think that's an accurate observation, that reform is occurring at the same time. G-d is the best calendar. G-d is the [...]calendar, G-d is bigger than calendars. So, seeing that this Jubillennium, this new millennium, like the Christians are celebrating, is also a time of celebration for Jews and Muslims as well.
But we can not celebrate in that spirit, we celebrate in the spirit of the Islam. We recognize the time, that this is a time of our revival. It doesn't start in the year 2,000, it started long... I said, 1950 at least. Earlier than that, but we started to feel something different around 1950. 1960, definitely there was a different vibe from the era that was causing people to look at themselves again and wondering what was going on. And mostly of because of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, call the white man a devil. Yeah, mainly because of him.
So, I don't know, we can meet at... back home, Sister Aisha and discuss this more if you are not comfortable. I know you want to know what should be put in the Journal and what role should the Journal have. So, I think you can do a good job. But if you need to talk to me further, I'll be back there in your area. (Laughing).
So, we don't have time for any more questions. We have gone beyond the time of prayer. Let's just pray and then come back. Yes. [...] But this is not a talk, this is [...] talk. This is study, this is study, isn't it? Aren't we studying?
Now again, As Salamu Alaykum. (Wa Alakium As Salaam). Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. We're going to quickly go over some questions we had when we began the sessions after Magrib, Friday Jumu'ah day. And we covered a lot of territory, but we had some questions too. So, let's go over these questions. We asked the question, "What is Islam?" We said, "What is Al-Islam?" We put "Al" there because, in the Quran it is Al-Islam in Arabic. "What is Al-Islam?" we said.
But we said that since Islam, the religion of Islam, Al-Islam is popular in the minds and on the tongues of people as just Islam, there's nothing wrong with us saying Islam. But when we are teaching, inviting people to Islam, we should be sure that the audience is aware that the full name is Al-Islam and it means "The peaceful submission to the Will of G-d in accordance with the best of human nature". That's what it means. It's a natural surrender. It's a natural submission. It's a natural urge in us for peace in our souls that G-d put there. G-d put that desire in our souls when he made us. He put that need in our souls for the peace that only He can give us, a complete peace.
And when we accept Islam, the revealed book of the Muslims, of Islam, the Quran, and Muhammad, the one who received that Book as Revelation from G-d over a period of about 20 years or 22 years, 14 centuries and some years ago, when we accept that, we are Muslims proper, although we are Muslims in our nature as newborn babies when we come from our mother's wombs, we are Muslims by creation. Muhammad said every child is born a Muslim, and it is the circumstances that he's put in or she's put in, that makes that person a Jew, a Monk, a Buddhist... a Jew, pardon me, a Christian or something else, or something else.
So, what is Al-Islam? Al-Islam is a religion of peace, Al-Islam is a religion of obedience to G-d, an obedience that is guaranteed to give us peace. It's a religion of surrender. When we say surrender our soul our will to G-d, we mean obedience. Surrender is just one expression. But that surrender means peaceful surrender, it means obedience, willing obedience. So, Islam is a religion of obedience to G-d, an obedience that brings us into peace, and a total peace, a complete peace.
You look at your information that you got while I was discussing this question for further elaboration or for further discussion of this question. Now, we asked the question, "What is the Quran?" The Quran is Revelation. Revelation, we mean communication to a human being in his excellence that G-d Created him for. It is G-d's Communication to a human being in his excellence that G-d Created him for. So that that communication will reach all other human beings from a mortal, flesh and blood human being. Not an angel, a mortal, flesh and blood human being.
Though he was perfect in his human nature, he was not an angel. He's not an angel. Which means he's subject to make mistakes. Angels make no mistakes. Angels can make no mistakes. They're created by G-d to do exactly what they do, like the sun has been created by G-d to rise and set and you don't see it doing the bump or anything else up there in the sky. It doesn't stop, saying, "It's time to have a party. Let's have a party. Let's do the bump," you don't see it swerving all over the sky, shaking back and forth or nothing like that. It behaves the same way all the time. The sun, its behavior has been decided by its Creator and it obeys that behavior faithfully without erring. And angels are the same.
The angels, Allah says, "And they obey every order from their Lord and they don't swerve from the direction that their Lord sent them in." They never go off track, not one bit, but in perfect obedience to G-d. That's the angels. Human beings doesn’t have that nature. G-d Created us with the nature to feel, to think, to wonder, to question, to be curious and to question. But as a human being, those descriptions of us are descriptions and those descriptions do not make us imperfect as a human being. That's a perfect human being. If you don't sin with those things, you are a perfect human being.
And Muhammad had his human nature, his sensitivity. He laughed, he cried, he smiled. He enjoyed people, children playing. He enjoyed music, tambourine, people playing tambourine. He enjoyed life. He appreciated beauty. He said, "G-d is Beauty," That's what Muhammad said. "And does not love ugliness." Now, if G-d didn't prefer beauty to ugliness, when we look in the sky, we see more evidence in the beauty. When we look at the forest, we see more ugliness than beauty. When we look at the animal kingdom, we see more ugliness than beauty. When we look at human beings, we see more ugliness than beauty.
You know human beings have more ugliness than any other creatures. Few creatures? Few creatures I can find, that have the percentage of ugliness that human beings have. That's to tell us something. We are free to go outside of the mold of behavior G-d wants for us. And it makes... The mark is on us. The mark is on us. (Laughing). Yes, the mark is on us. But many people we call ugly are beautiful. We are prejudiced by culture, by the culture we're in to have our own perception of what is ugly and beautiful. Believe me, most human beings are not ugly. The great majority, 80% or more, maybe 90% or more are not ugly, they are attractive, they're beautiful. What makes you ugly is your ugliness inside, your bad spirit. Your ugly thinking makes you ugly outwardly. It reflects, it shines through your face, through your skin and we see you. We don't like the way you look.
But if you were to just clean up your heart and spirit, and smile, oh, you'll find that woman that you miss, will be looking for you. "He's handsome. I don't know what happened to him." (Laughing). Yes. Yes. No, exaggeration, I'm not pulling your leg, man. G-d is Beautiful and loves beauty and loves beautiful. He's Beauty and he loves the beautiful. G-d.
So, the Quran is the communication from G-d to a mortal human, flesh and blood human being. For all other human... to Muhammad, in the case of Muhammad. For some it was just for their nation, for their local people. Most of the Prophets received communication from G-d for their families and their tribes or their local people. Few received communication for all the world. Abraham did, but it had to take time to get to all the world. G-d says, "I made you a Leader for all the Nations, for all people." And in Christianity and Judaism it's, "I made him a Father to all the people." But G-d says He made him a Leader, which means Father, same thing. The meaning is the same, though the terminology is different.
In Christianity, they call Abraham, Father. And he's Father with us too. But by Leader of all the Nations... I mean, by Father of all the Nations, is meant Leader of all the Nations. Imam is a term that's used. It means Leader in religion, in worship, for all the Nations. And we know that Islam's a religion of peace. Because the very word, the root of the word is aslama, which means to do peacefully, or to do in peace, to act under peace, in peace, peacefully. Surrender peacefully your will to the Will of G-d or our will to the Will of G-d.
And the Quran is also a Book of Guidance, and we made very, very strong emphasis there, when we said, "the Quran is a Book of Guidance". So, refer to your notes for further elaboration on this question... meaning for this question. The Quran is essentially a Book of Guidance, but it is characteristically a Book of Beauty, a Book of Faith, a Book of Purity, a Book of Charity, a Book of Dignity and Honor. Yes, these are attributes of the Quran, a Book of Dignity and Honor.
Many other descriptions are given to it. So therefore, it has appeal to all types of persons, all kinds of personalities. The soldier on the battlefield, it has appeal to him. It's a Book of Discipline. It's a Book of Decisiveness. It's a Book of Firmness. It's a Book of Courage. It's a Book of Bravery, Courage. So, it appeals... It's a Book of Strategy, Masterful Strategies. So, it appeals to the general in the army. It appeals to the lover. It's a Book of Love. That's why I said today, Islam is a religion for lovers. It's a Book of Love. And it says, "You cannot get into Paradise without practicing love, love for one another".
Muhammad says... I said, "It says", but I mean, Muhammad said it. Prophet Muhammad said, "Lanta qul Jannah hatta tukhal minneu. Wala tukminu hattaul haabu". "You will not get into the Paradise until you have faith, and you won't really practice faith until you practice loving one another." That's what the Prophet said. So though the love comes after faith, the love is a condition for us to have the faith. Isn't that something? So much for the Quran. As a Book dealing with specifics, and as a Book addressing the whole world and the need for man to come from local thinking into universal thinking. Islam's big beauty and big value is in its universality. In its universality. That is, in its appeal to all people and in its help to all people, and in its work to bring about the thinking in all of our minds that will cause us to broaden our interest, to incorporate the interest of all people on this earth and the needs of all people on this earth. That's the power of the Quran, its universal power, universal appeal. So much for the Quran.
What is the Prophet? We didn't say who is the Prophet but [...] the Prophet, to learn who he is. He's in history. Read the history book. They have a lot of them, big ones, thick ones, big, big, and they're good ones, very excellent ones. And also some condensed ones that are very excellent. So, get you a book... If you don't have one, all of you propagators are interested in yourself being influenced for the correct picture of Islam, get you a good book on the life of Muhammad, the Prophet, and read it so you'll be familiar with the particular details in his life. All of us should know the very particular details in the life of our Prophet. He's our leader, he's our teacher, he's our Imam. He's a mercy to us. He's us. You know the Prophet is us. So that's what we miss. The Prophet is us. G-d chose a common human model without the mind of the world, without education of the world, to show us that He has created all of us for Islam and for the uswah of Muhammad, the Prophet. That uswahtan hasana of the Prophet, that most excellent human model.
So actually, we are being recreated, aren't we? Yes, from Adam we were created the first time. And then with the Milla of Abraham, Hanifa, the hope and order of Abraham, introduced to us by way of the Quran and the Prophet's teachings in life, now we are having the order of Abraham led, established and led by Muhammad, the Prophet, called the community of Muslims, community of Muslim, Ummahtul Islam, the Community of Islam. And in this Community of Al-Islam, we obey the Word of G-d and we follow the tradition of a life example of Muhammad the Prophet. We say sunnah of Muhammad the Prophet. And this brings us into the most excellent form that is possible for each of us as human beings. All of us may not reach the perfection of our own form, but all of us are actually working consciously or unconsciously, we are working on that. We are working on reaching the perfection of our form. And that perfection is the uswah of Muhammad.
Allah didn't [...] Muhammad's uswah to tell us this is the only creature that has this. He pointed us to Muhammad's uswah to tell us that this is the form that I created all of you all for. And all of you have this natural excellence that Muhammad, even before knowing Me, or receiving a communication from Me, appreciated and kept intact. All of you have it. And the proof that all of us have it, G-d hadn't made him a Prophet. Now, we know something mystics, they try to say that before Muhammad was called to be a Prophet, G-d sent angels to do some special operations on him. Like he was made unfit or something and then the angels had to do some special operations on him to make him the perfect man that he was. That's nothing but BS. And forgive me, this is Ramadan, I want to say the words. And it stinks up the religion. No, all that old, crazy stuff, that's nightmare stuff.
Isn't that cruel? A beautiful child. Now G-d sends some angels to take him and disturb his rest, cut his chest open, pull out his vital organs and then put some light in there and then patch it back up. That makes him not worthwhile. If they had to do that, then he wasn't worthwhile. We're not to admire Muhammad if that's true. His excellence was given to him from heaven by way of an operation. Nobody had to operate on me, I think I'm pretty...I'm ain't Muhammad, but I'm a pretty good Black man. Nobody cut my chest. (Laughing) No angel or nothing cut my chest, putting nothing into me. The good just came out, that G-d Created me with.
Same thing for Muhammad, Praise be to Allah for him. So, what is the Prophet? The Prophet is a mortal human being. Allah says just like us. Said to Muhammad, Say "Qul, anna bashiurun mithlucun. I am a mortal, flesh and blood person just like you." And G-d says, when He was giving the Revelation, He says, "If there had been communities of angels on the earth, we would've sent you an angel as a Messenger." But there's a community of human beings on the earth, mortals. "And we have sent you a mortal as a Messenger." Isn't that wonderful? And though the angels are much bigger than us in the universe 'cause they're all throughout the universe.
They're much bigger than us in the universe. Working and serving G-d, to keep the order and peace and unity of matter, and life. Down here on this earth their works are very small in view of what the works of man is. Why? Because we are rational. And G-d Created us to have curiosities. And to look at what He had done and then be creators with G-d. And G-d says, and He is the Best of Creators, but He has made us to be creators with G-d. Nothing else creates like human being. We don't see animals creating anything. Nothing is creating anything, but human beings creates. G-d made creators out of man. But the angels have never created a thing. And they don't even know the Creation. They just serve blindly, obediently without curiosities. The proof that they don't know G-d said to them, "Tell me your names if you know?"
And in our Book they weren't even able to tell G-d their names. Then G-d told the man He was creating He said, "Adam, tell them their names." Peace be upon him and he told them their names. And they all submitted to G-d to accept Adam in the role that G-d created him for except one. What the Christians and Christian theology they call him the black angel, but he had no broad nose brother and he didn't have nappy hair so don't tell me... The black angel. Said... and he didn't accept, he refused to accept. And because of him, they all had to be cast down to the earth, which G-d intended. That was G-d's Plan. To put the man in the earth, that's where he was going to be. He say "I am making in the earth." "Anna jaailun fil 'ard khalifa" That's what He said. Isn't that beautiful? So, He cast them all down into the earth with the man, because the man had to be put into the earth with all of these challenges.
The challenge of satan. The challenge of his own life, his own life challenged him. To discover it and manage it better. Manage it as G-d intended from that. So, he is cast down with his own life and is cast down with the woman too. The woman was with him too they all were cast down. And G-d knew that he was equipped by G-d, by His Creation, to handle that task. And to be victorious in the end. And to prove himself worthy of the great favor that G-d bestowed upon him. The favor of having a free mind to question even G-d. Isn't that a powerful G-d? How create a conscious creature. And a free thinking creature. And a creature that won't be able to see Me, or to know Me. But because I Created him, he'll return to Me. Wonderful. Yes. And the angels couldn't even understand it. The angels couldn't go along with it that their nature was not to accept that. And Iblis was a Jinn, he was not an angel. How do we know? Allah said, "And he was one of the Jinns."
"He was of the Jinns", pardon me. "He was of the Jinns." He couldn't even understand it. Who is this creature, that's going to be trusted to his sensitivities? And trusted to his emotions? He's not going to be enlightened like we are? He's going to trust such a creature? He says, "Oh he's like stinky mud, that you are fashioning in the shape." Now this applies to the world of the unseen, but it also applies to the world of the seen. Everything that's said here is in history. It's in history. Those that thought themselves perfect in their heavens, and despise mortal beings on earth, are in history. They're called by different names. The ones closest to this report or this narration are the Gnostics, who call themselves...they were Christians, the Gnostics. And they thought that their bodies were divine bodies. The leaders of it. Those who were the leaders, in the leadership, the heads of the religion. They thought that their bodies were divine bodies, that they had been blessed with some divine spark that had transformed them, so they were no more animal mortals, like we are.
So those that didn't have that transformation, they identified them along with animals and actually treated them like animals and called them animals. And thought they were doing right. They went astray. They thought that Jesus was a being [...] god and god and that if they were to be in the nature that G-d wanted them in, they had to become... not mortals but divine. Not mortals but divine. And a Gnostic order, G-N-O-S-T-I-C in case you don't know how to spell it. And my student should ask me, "Say Brother Imam how do you spell that word?" If you're my student...My student's should be like I was, and like I am as a student. Warith Deen has no shame when he's doing the right thing, right? I'm not ashamed to say I don't know something. I just want what's right and best for me. So don't you be ashamed to say, "Brother Imam, I'm not familiar with that word. I've heard it, but I need to know the spelling." I'll be happy to tell you now I just sense somebody needed help with that spelling. G-N-O-S-T-I-C. Gnostic.
And it comes from the word "Nouse" that's not spelled with a G... N-O-U-S-E. Nouse. And nouse simply means soul or psyche. And gnostic they're given that name mean that they were devoted to the cultivation or to... Yes, the cultivation and enlightenment of the soul and psyche. The soul or psyche. And they call attention to like that... attention to the skies of man's creation. They were in the skies. Nobody will do this for you but me. They think they're violating something. But didn't Jesus violate something and they say, "Hey, he's violating. He going in on this day on the sabbath? And he's bringing out the shue bread and he is showing it to people?" (Laughing).
Yes. So, this Gnostic order, they'll give attention to the soul or the psyche. Psyche is thought to be here. Although some cultures think the soul is here. Soul is here. The truth of the matter is the soul is all throughout your body. And the soul is also outside of your body. The body is the anchor for the soul. But the soul is not limited to your body. The soul is in your body and outside of your body. That's how come you can feel things a distance away. And say, "I think my mother's... I'm going to call my mother." You're a cosmic creature, as well as an earthly creature. This is what religion; this is what G-d want's us to know. G-d Revealed this. What is a Prophet? The Prophet is a mortal human being like us who received communication from the Lord Creator of the heaven and the earth and all things. A message to help us in our life on this earth.
He received it for all people. And he's called, "A mercy to all the worlds. A mercy to all the worlds". And a Sister asked about the word "Alameen" and I said the root word is "Alama" which means to be taught or knowledge or science. And now let's look at something here, he's a mercy to all the world. Could have said to "adunya qulee". "Aduyna" means the world, doesn't it? This the material world. So He could have said, he's a mercy to "Aduyna qulee" and that would've been enough for Arabic That's plain Arabic, clear Arabic. It means he's mercy to the whole world. Or He could have said to each nation in the world. "Qulee gensin," "Qulee ummah," "Qulee whakan." He could have used any of those names to say that he's a mercy to all the nation, all people. But He didn't. He used the word G-d selected the word of Arabic language with knowledge in it and science in it.
And He said, "Muhammad is a mercy to all those worlds". Who had? What world, had as its most precious, most precious essence, knowledge and science? The ancient Greeks. The ancient Romans. The ancient Egyptians. And we can go all around the world, the Persians. Go all around the world. He's not a mercy to a baboon in the woods. Except through men. Through men they would be enlightened the mercy would come to the baboon in the woods. What I mean by that? He's not a mercy to savage tribes that can't think and never appreciated clothing. He didn't go there. They're not the one's to take up the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad. But every people who had appreciated intelligence and had devoted themselves to civilization or to refining their life, having some kind of culture that dignifies the person or at least covered shame for him, he is a mercy to those people because they have used their intellect and they have engaged the world with their minds and intellect to improve, make improvements upon their lives.
He's a mercy to all of them. And through him the mercy comes to even the dumb brutes. And all living things and even the dead things too. Because He made us to be creators. Look how we have beautified the environment that was ugly and dead. Man! Yes. Praise be to Allah. This is no small matter. Islam is no small matter. The Quran is no small matter. Allah says, "If this Quran had been revealed on a mountain, the mountain would've trembled and crumbled into dust." But He revealed it on the heart of a flesh and blood mortal. And his heart was not injured or damaged. His heart could take it. (Laughing) [...] his mind to perceive it and his tongue could speak it to the world. Praise be to Allah. The Prophet is a universal teacher. The Prophet is an example of human excellence for all of us. G-d says, "For any who believes in G-d and the last day", which means for any who believes in G-d and believes that he should be accountable to G-d.
That he should respect that G-d because one day he had to answer for his conduct, to that G-d. So, any who believes in that, that Muhammad is a model human person for them. That means for more than Muslims... Allah G-d made him a model for more than the Muslim, for all good people, for all people of faith who believes in religion in the right way. People say they believe in G-d but your behavior doesn't say so. You don't believe in answering to that G-d for your behavior? We don't call that really belief. And Christianity if you understand it does not call it belief either. Says, "Faith without deeds is a dead letter". Muhammad is a mercy to all the worlds, a mercy to all the worlds. Therefore we should be a mercy to all the worlds. We should want to carry compassion, carry love, carry sympathy. Kindness. Brotherly assistance, to all the human beings. To all the people of the world. We shouldn't be so selfish that we want this only for some and not for others. We should want it for all the dependents of G-d. And that's all people.
What is a Muslim? We went over this. We going over it again. We just briefly going over these things again. What is a Muslim? A Muslim is one who has been created by his G-d to search for his G-d, to search for truth. To search for reality, to search for his purpose. Why I'm created? Why I'm here? G-d put that all into His Creation when He Created him. To strive and work for better performance and a better life and more virtuous life, all that's put into him by his G-d when He made him. So, if he responds to the better motivations in himself, if he responds and listens to the real urges of his soul, he will become a good Muslim without any Revelation coming from G-d. But in order for him to see his purpose on this earth, that he's here to establish the order for mankind that G-d intended to be established, he needs Revelation from G-d. He doesn't know how to establish this order.
This Ummah, Community that G-d says is "Khyra ummatin," Best of Communities. "Ukrijat la nas" evolved or brought out for the good of all people. He can't do that. He can't find the vision, the blueprint for establishing this society under G-d, that G-d wants for all people, without G-d revealing to him. So, G-d took the one who was still the excellent Muslim in his nature and had lived that excellent life for 40 years. 40 years. That mean he kept the human excellence through the years of puberty, when the sex drives are the strongest. He kept it through his manhood. When his interest in the world is the strongest, when he had to get food for himself and food for his wife, et cetera. He kept it through that time. So he passed a test. Moses fasted for 40 days. Muhammad fasted for 40 years. (Allahu Akbar). And G-d gave him the Revelation for the world. That's Muhammad. What is the Prophet? Allahu Akbar. What is the Prophet? That's what we're talking about. What is the Prophet?
And the Prophet is also, by saying a mortal human being like us, that means he did not know everything. Some things were out of his reach. He could not know what was in the hearts of people all the time. And when someone accused someone and they brought it to Prophet Muhammad one time, peace be upon him, and they wanted him to go on and make a decision. They were accusing this person and they were saying that he had took something but Prophet Muhammad had no evidence to go upon. So, he told them, "G-d has not given me the power to see inside someone's stomach." Now the person, it wasn't about food, but it meant if you saying he has this, I can't see inside of him, to see what exists in him. If he ate some grapes I can't look at his stomach and say, "Yeah, I see some. And it's still some not quite digested yet." No he wasn't given supernatural powers he was a mortal just like us.
And many times when he was fighting to establish Islam against the persecutors of the religion, armies were persecuting the religion. Muhammad the Prophet, he didn't know... he didn't feel comfortable making a battle decision without consulting other men in the army. So, he would consult others in the army and he asked them, "What should we do in this case?" And it proved that there is a possibility that sometime the best advisors, who have experience in the world, the fighters, the army and the soldiers cannot be better than the Prophet that G-d is guiding. Because they suggested something that had turned out it didn't work out well. But the Prophet accepted it. It wasn't their fault that it was done. The Prophet accepted it, to establish what? That we are mortals we don't know everything only G-d knows everything. And we need the help of other mortals like us. And though sometimes the one person may have the better decision, for the most cases, you need to consult others, and since you do for the most cases, consult them in every case.
So, Allah says, and orders or decision making for the Believers is by consultation amongst you, between each other. You consult each other. The best minds and the best characters for this particular interest or purpose, consult them and then you come to a consensus, "Well, majority of us say this" and then you follow that. So, we are a democratic society. And we will follow that. We won't deviate from that. I'm speaking in the name of this Community. We will follow that we won't deviate from that. We won't be satisfied until we have that Islamic democracy, that Allah wants for us. And that respect for the worth and resources of all the good people in our Community where we include them in charting the way for us and building this great society that we are destined to build. Oh, I have to leave. I have to leave or miss my plane. Just one quick word, take me two minutes to finish this I think. Prayer.
I emphasized yesterday importance of prayer. When we are praying the prayers, you will say, you students of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, you who choose to be in this Mathab rather than some other Mathab. Don't be hypocrites here. We can disagree slightly but let's not disagree so much that people notice us disagreeing. That's bad for us. If I don't do sunnah prayers before Asr, why do you do sunnah prayers before Asr? I studied the Prophet's life. You show me where he said do sunnah prayers before Asr. Show it to me. See that's what this is we're a consultative body. So, if I'm wrong, why don't you bring it to me? Say, "Brother Imam now you're here and you are not doing this," or whatever it is you have a complaint about or issue with me. Why don't you just bring it when I'm here, bring it. I want to be corrected. Bring it and let's look at it. That's honest, that's being honest, that's being sincere. That's being decent. Bring it and let us all look at it so we all can make a judgment on it.
The learned one's among us, the best in character among us let us make a decision on it. And if Warith Deen is wrong, I'm ready to change anytime. So much for prayer. And don't let me catch somebody making Athan like this, "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar." You never see me do that. I do this. You want to copy somebody you saw in the movies or somewhere. We ain't here for that kind of jive. You better want to hear with both your ears man you in bad shape. (Laughing). Yeah, you know the same, the same tendency in Black people, African Americans, Negroes to style and be noticed? Don't think that's just a Black man's trait. That's all people's trait. You got that kind of Black man everywhere. You go over there and you find a Syrian, "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar." (Laughing).
In a year, sometimes two or three, four times a year. So, there will be a next meeting. So, we look to see the next meeting. I have to excuse myself abruptly. Forgive me for that. As Salaamu Alaikum. (Takbir. Allahu Akbar).



