01/06/0000
IWDM Study Library
Dawa Class

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W.D. Mohammed: We open the [unintelligible 00:00:11] already?
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Okay. Who opened, male or female?
Speaker 2: Male.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Male?
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Okay, so a female will close out. I wanted to really be here at too, and we going to stay no more than two hours. We limited the time to two hours, so I may have to leave around four, but Inshallah maybe, I go until 4:30. We see how it goes. First, let me-- Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem. I looked at the papers. I haven't had time-- been very busy here lately, very busy. I think it's because of the end of the year.
End of the year is the last quarter of the year for taxes and bills and a lot of things, so just been getting it. I looked at the papers-- That's what I was going to say. I looked at you all's papers and much better than I thought. What I do? First batch of papers I looked at were earlier papers that I still had at home. I didn't have my glasses on. I was looking at them, and they didn't look good at all. The papers that you all turned in, they look pretty good. We shall be all right. Did we finish this book?
Students: Yes.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: We finished it? We went to the end?
Students: Yes.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Okay, so we won't be doing that. This is a good dictionary here. This is a dictionary-- I had two of these. I've enjoyed them for many years. One got old, got misplaced and just too old. I got a new one, and that one, too-- I don't know. It bound to be among my books some where in one of the houses I stayed in. House where I stayed in Markham is too small, is one level-- no basement. I couldn't put all my things in there.
I'm thinking that I may have books, a lot of good books, that some may help this class, too, in the garage. Soon, I'll have space for them. We're putting an addition to the house and make it about three more rooms added to my house, so I have room in Markham-- our house, I should say. I found books I moved temporarily in Calumet City, where we got the first-- It was called The MACA Fund. You all remember that, right?
A lot of you who have never had-- M-A--C-A, not M-E-C-C-A. M-A--C-A, but we pronounced it Mecca Fund. The M was for Muslim American, Muslim, A for American, Community Assistance, MACA. M-C--- Muslim American Community Assistance. That's what it was. We pronounced it Mecca.
Student 1: One C?
Imam W.D. Mohammed: One C, yes. That's what I'm looking for, that other C. I couldn't find it.
[laughter]
Imam W.D. Mohammed: That's why I say, Muslim American Community Assistance. We called it MACCA Fund. [unintelligible 00:04:14] very good book. My brother, Akbar, he recommended this book to me. At that time, he was in Egypt studying, and he told me, he said, "Wallace, I found a good dictionary when I was in the States." He says, "[unintelligible 00:04:33]," so I took the name and got it. I had it ever since. \
It's very good Arabic, but you have to know how to look up words in Arabic, because it's in Arabic. It gives you the English. You look up the Arabic, and you get the English. It cost a little money. I don't know how much it cost now, but even then, it was a little expensive-- not like regular dictionaries-- not the price of an English dictionary, that's for sure. You can get this at [unintelligible 00:05:08]. There's one downtown, the main one, but then, I'm pretty sure there's one in the-- What is it called? Evergreen Mall, 95th and Western.
Just in case some of you might want the book, it will help you if you can read. It'll help you a lot. If you can read Arabic, it is very good. What I mean by very good, it's got all the words. It's got most of the words you'll be looking up. Some Quranic terms are not in this book. I couldn't find some Quranic terms in this book, but it's very good. The best I know of now unless one has come out better. I don't know if anyone [unintelligible 00:05:45]. I thought I'd share that with you, since this is the book here.
I don't have one now. I'm going to end up getting one. I don't want anybody to get me one or give me this one. I will get one. The other book that we're using-- Where is it? Maybe, it's over here somewhere-- the workbook. This is the beginning of the year, so we're closing out the year. We finished this workbook. If there are beginners here, you should identify yourself to your teachers, so you'll get this book.
I've been having students coming all the time. This one, too-- is identify yourself to the teachers that assist you here, Rashida and Rashar. They work with the Institute. [unintelligible 00:06:56], I didn't see you. I didn't look that way for some reason. I don't know. I wasn't looking. I was looking fast. I was looking this way back here. I didn't looked that way. I looked [unintelligible 00:07:06]-- looked right past you. You lost weight or something?
[laughter]
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Workbook two. Okay, this is the workbook one and two. Beginners should get these books, workbook one and two. If you don't have them, please get them. We got them. You who finished these books, you who were with me for the year, you should turn in these books. If you've got these books, turn them in. If you paid for them. They give you one-tenth. That is nothing there. I think that is what it said in the Bible, a tenth. [laughs] Charity, right?
A lot of us don't understand zakat. We say charity, but it's not really charity. It's more a tax. The ones who translated earlier in the history of Muslim publishers in America, they didn't call it the charity. They called it the poor-due. Poor-due, D-U-E, the poor-due. It was tax, and it was treated like a tax. It was a tax, and treated like a-- Yes, and treated like a tax. It was not a charity.
That's why the ruler threatened to go to war, if they didn't give it, after the death of Prophet Muhammad. The peace and prayers be upon him. The publics were not as willing to contribute to the new rulers as they were to the rulers in the time of the prophet, himself, was alive. That's what happened to me. When the Hon. Elijah Muhammad left, and the donations stopped coming. [laughs].
Some few faithful ones kept donating, but most of them stopped donating. All that big money, it didn't come in. Now, we got all that big debt, but no big money coming in. It was the end. That the Hon. Elijah Muhammad told us it was coming, just like he said it was, too--" it would. Yes. So zakat is a tax, and that tax is for those who are responsible for the Office of Religion, propagating your religion. They are trusted with the taxes, because they supposed to know how to administrate the taxes.
The taxes are mostly for people who need help. That's what the tax is for. Zakat is mostly for people who need help. It was a tax. Those who earned and could pay the tax, they are the ones who were responsible for the [unintelligible 00:10:26]-- It was called [unintelligible 00:10:28]. You would call it the House of Office of Finance-- [unintelligible 00:10:37]. [unintelligible 00:10:38] means money, but you wouldn't say money. Translated, it would be the House of Office of Financing, and the people who earned were only taxed. You couldn't tax somebody that didn't earn money, no. They didn't earn anything, how you going to tax them?
The taxes were very lenient back then, even in that time, and still, because it was a percentage. The percentage was about-- Most of the scholars agreed that percentage was about 2.5 of their net, not their gross-- 2.5 of their net. Whatever you had in your possession or in your treasure, whatever, at the end of the year, they taxed 2% of that.
They didn't tax property. The ones who invested, those in property, whatever it was, they didn't tax property. They taxed only income. It was 2.5% of whatever you were caught with at the end of the year. That's what was considered to be your net, what we call net now. Now, the IRS is doing just about that aren't they. Yes, they don't tax what you invest. Well, they tax everything else now, but they're a different tax. The income tax is only for income-- more than the luxury tax, all kind of taxes. For income-- They don't tax what you invest-- not IRS-- the income tax.
If you invest-- That's what I advise everybody to do. If you invest your money before the end of the year, you are wise. Look for ways to spend your money. You need a new car, buy that at the end of the year. Look at the year, though. Look at your financial records for that year, and see if it was real low, and see if your obligations to any tax were real low. If it was real low, save that for the next year that it may be high, and put those expenses on the next year that may be high.
If it was high, you want to put those expenses on that year, and to close that year out. You saved yourself a lot of taxes. The taxing accountant that we work with, George [unintelligible 00:13:20] and Associates, that takes care of our accounting for us, that we don't take of in-house-- that we should be taking care of, also, in-house. We used to do that. We used to take care of it all in house, but we're growing. I just don't have the time to do these things like I used to.
I used to take care of all our taxes, had no problem, until I hired a professional. Then, I had all kind of problems. Now, I'm not against professionals, but I'm against the ones that I have had to deal with. I'm for professional, but the ones I have had to deal with were nothing but trouble-- nothing but trouble. They'd come in and leave us-- They hurt us-- leave us damaged.
With my daughter, then, I got a little more busy, Ingina used to take care of all the taxes, no problem. We got taxes so a fool can handle the taxes. You don't have to be educated to fill out your tax forms. They gave you all the instruction, and they tell you, you can call the IRS. Now, they weren't existing back then, when I was doing taxes, working with the community, and working with this responsibility and taking care of the tax reporting, tax forms and everything.
Now, you could call the IRS. They will actually do your taxes for you. You give them the information, and they will do the taxes for you. We don't have any excuse, you know, to not pay our taxes. Anybody that's not paying their taxes, you're not my friend. I'm telling you, you're not my friend. I know some of you all think that's the way to go. What they don't know, you shouldn't tell them. That's what they tell you. No, you're dishonest. We should tell them the truth and pay your taxes.
I know a sister I told that-- I went to buy some baking goods from her. She rang it up in cash faster. I'd say, "Where are the taxes?" "Oh, don't worry about that brother Imam." I say, "I got to worry about it." I know what happened to the Nation of Islam, and I said, "You should know, too." Got in a lot of trouble, lost a lot of money. I said, "I'm going to have to give you the taxes, and I have to pay you the price that you charge everybody else."
I say, "I come here, you think I had to come all this long ways over here to get some pastry?" I say, "I came over this long ways, because I want to trade you with my people. You, African-American and a Muslim.| I say, "If I'm not paying, that doesn't help my spirit. I have to pay. That's why I came over here, to help you, financially." She finally accepted my money, but still insisting I don't pay the taxes.
I just stayed there bothering her and making her more uncomfortable. She finally accepted the tax. She readily told me how much tax I gave her in cash. Since then, they've gotten in all kind of trouble. Don't say their names. We don't want to tell them. I know you know who I'm talking about, right? I hear now, they in it again, and I think they're closing them up.
There's people like that. They just won't be right. Close under one name and open up under another name-- start all back over under another name to avoid paying taxes. People who rent from you, and when they can't stay with you no more, you drive them out. They go get another apartment and do the same thing all over again. Just leave debts-- They just leave a long track of debt, accumulating debt and running.
You know what keeps most people from being really prosperous, successful-- hold it, keep living, keep passing on to the next generation. What keeps most people from getting that kind of good life-- that's good life - is that they are dishonest. If you look at Prophet Muhammad, forever peace be on him, what was he known for? Honesty. Even before G-d called him and gave him a great mission, world mission, he was known as Al-Amin, the honest one, the trustworthy one. Those are signs for us-- signs for us.
Principles-- living and respecting principles, high principles. A virtuous life and virtuous principles is the key to success. You drop your morals, you are going to get it sooner or later. It's coming. The judgment is coming, and it's not going to be good, in this life and in the hereafter.
Now, let's see. We finished with these. You can keep these books, only for beginners or new ones that join the class. Beginners, keep your books. You who are beginners, keep your books. You are not in the upper class, until you can write and read Arabic. You have to be able to write and read Arabic to be in the upper class. Those who are beginner class, if you can't write and read Arabic, if I can't say to you, [foreign language], and you can't go to the board and write that, then you are not in the upper class. You are in the beginner's class. You should be able to read that, also.
We can get you out of the beginner's class, but you have to work. Don't just take these books home and do nothing. You need to set a certain amount of time for studying your language or your work assignments at home. If you're aggressive, you'll progress faster. I never just took a book from my teacher, a textbook or class book, and if he said, "Read chapter two, pages 1 through 15," I'd read pages 1 through 15. If I got through my other homework and still had some time, I'd go beyond page 1 through 15. Perhaps, I'd go and look and read the introduction, whatever's in the beginning of the book, too.
A lot of times, they don't tell you to read that. They'd just give you a special assignment. I read that, and then read ahead. I wasn't a terrific brain, I don't think. I think I was a C student, about a C student, a pretty good C student. I wasn't a D or A. I was about a C student. In some things, I was an A. A few things, I was an A. On the whole, I was a C student, maybe a strong C student. I studied hard. I came out with better than a C. I came out with much better than a C, because I worked hard.
Don't be lazy. I'm speaking to these students that are neglectful. I don't say you're lazy, but you're neglectful. You think, "I can make it. He doesn't ask us anything. He didn't even give the test back to us. I'll be all right. I'll sit right here and hide for the rest of the term." Don't do that, because you're hiding from me, but you ain't hiding from yourself.
You're cheating yourself. Don't do that. Okay, that's enough for that, I guess. The same thing for the tapes. When you finish the tapes-- The tapes go with this book, right? Do we have another book like this? You loss weight, too. What are you all doing, fighting each other?
[laughter]
Imam W.D. Mohammed: It's good to lose weight, though. I'm still trying, too. I got to lose more weight. There's another book that comes with this. Where's the other one? Is that for the teachers, only?
Students: The teacher.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: That's okay. There's no need to get me that one. All right. We do have some more books. Soon, inshallah, after the test and you get your papers back, I will be introducing a few other book-- one or two other books to the class. We're going to concentrate now on reading the Quran and understanding the structure, sentence structure and sentence analysis, inshallah. Did we finish Juz' Amma? No?
Students: No.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Where'd we stop here? Juz' Amma-- Amma, as I pronounce, Amma. It takes its name from the first word of that section, which begins with Amma, Amma Yatasaa-aloon. About what are they debating or discussing? The word for debating or discussing comes from the root word, to ask a question, to question or ask a question. It would be more accurate to say, what concern are they questioning?
For English, you need to say, discussion, because this is discussion. This questioning is a discussion. Debate, and discussion, that's what it is. Before the prophet Muhammad brought Islam to the world, the Christian leadership had undergone centuries of debating. They are called the Nicaea Conference, isn't it?
Students: The Council.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Councils, I'm sorry-- council. That's why I'll ask [unintelligible 00:25:04] because I didn't feel confident with [unintelligible 00:25:07]-- councils. Those Councils lasted for two or three centuries?
Student 2: Yes, sir.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Yes, that's a long time. That means generation after generation passed, and they were still debating those issues. They finally signed this, - came to a conclusion. What was the main issue? It was, how to identify Jesus Christ. That was the main issue. How is Jesus Christ to be identified? Christians think that, "This is what G-d has revealed." That's what man decided, not what G-d revealed. It's what Councils decided.
They decided that Jesus Christ is to be G-d, say he's G-d. The Eastern Church didn't agree with them and still don't agree for them-- That's the Eastern Church. That's Greeks and some Turks and others that belong to the Eastern Church. Actually, they have two Catholic world orders don't you? One in Rome, that we have association with, or had associate with-- I think we still got association with them. The other one is the Greek Orthodox Church of Catholics.
They're still separate. They didn't agree back a long time ago, and they're still not together. They're separate. They have a Pope, too. A lot of you don't know that, do you? They have their Pope, and the Church in Rome had their pope. They have two Popes.
These things are good to know. You should know these things. These are very important things to know. When you know these things, then, you can appreciate better what I tell you. If you don't see a lot of evidence to support what I say, it'd make you weak. I'd be weak, too, if Allah hadn't blessed me. I wouldn't even be in this. I wouldn't be in religion. The popular religion couldn't get me, no. Islam, nor Christianity, nor Judaism, none of them could get me.
I wouldn't believe in any of them, I'll tell you, it doesn't make sense. What people believe, the popular belief of people, to me, doesn't make sense, and it's not justice. It's not justice. It's insult to say, "This stuff is from G-d." It is. What chapter did we stop on?
Student 3: We finished Dhuha, and Lail is the next-- I think the next.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: What page?
Student 3: 90.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Page 90. Let met get my glasses on. I always do that. That's because I do not make a habit of wearing glasses. This is good. You all got me this. This is good. Look at how it shows [unintelligible 00:28:39]. We never had a pointer like this when I was a minister here. I'd have been on the blackboard more than I [unintelligible 00:28:49].
[laughter]
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Just to play with this toy here.
Student 4: Al-Lail is 94? Is that Al-Lail?
Student 3: 90. I think it's two parts.
Student 4: Thanks.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: I didn't see Brother Becky. Brother [unintelligible 00:29:15], did you all see Brother Becky?
Student 5: No, sorry, he's not here today.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Is he all right?
Student 5: Yes, sir. He's all right.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: All right. Let him know I asked about him.
Student 5: I sure will.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: We should let each other know we care about each other. I remember I was feeling real bad. A person that I respected a lot, I got word that they were concerned and asked how-- It made me feel better, just knowing that they cared. I started feeling a little better. I got up out of bed. [chuckles] You said page-
Student 3: 90.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: - 90. We are almost through. We are not really through. We've just been reading. We're going to start working now. [chuckles] Yes, okay. What are we going to do? We are going to finish this [unintelligible 00:30:37]. That's that 30th section of the Quran. Now, do you think this has some connection with religious history, that the Quran has 30 sections? It has to. It doesn't have 30 sections for no reason.
"Jesus Christ, He personifies the Word of G-d, and He's a spirit from G-d." These are the words of the Quran. He's a spirit from G-d, and a Word-- A Word and a spirit from G-d, so He personifies the Word of G-d. Personifies, do you all know what it means? Now, at this particular time, and you've been coming here often, and you heard me--

Imam W.D.M: The juz', that's the last section of the Quran, 30th. 30th section of the Quran. Now, do you think this has some connection with religious history that the Quran has 30 sections? It has to. It doesn't have 30 sections for no reason. Jesus Christ, he personifies the word of G-d and he's a spirit from G-d. These are the words of Quran. He's a spirit from G-d and a word. A word and a spirit from G-d. He personifies the word of G-d.
Personify, do you all know what it mean? Now at this particular time, and you've been coming here often and you've heard me use this word before, I'm ashamed of you. You should know what personify means. Get your dictionary, if you don't have one, find one. Find somebody else and use a dictionary, look up words you don't know.
It is written in the Bible, it was revealed before that they betrayed Jesus. I think it says for 30 pieces of silver. For 30 pieces of silver. Now it doesn't begin there, it begins in the Old Testament. Samson said, "If you break my riddle, I will give you 30 changes of garments." Same thing, It's talking about the same thing. "I will give you 30 changes of garments." Then the New Testament, addressing that same concern, for cultural purity.
Doesn't address clothing, but isn't that what they took from Jesus Christ? He had a royal robe, he had clothing. They took all his clothing according to this report in the Gospel, took all of his clothing and hung him up for public viewing almost naked. They took his clothing and betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. We've got to make connections. Make connections and you get knowledge and understanding, inshallah.
Quran comes and it comes with 30 sections. Juz', 30 sections. Juz'. What is the Quran saying? What has the Quran been designed? By revelation is designed to say to us- what is it designed to say to us with these 30 sections, 114 chapters, 30 sections? What is it saying to us with the 30 sections? It is saying the age-old hope of the spiritual souls searching to get the life that would please them and please G-d, that hope or that searching is over.
The Quran is the answer. It has the 30 sections and they are all pure. Why 30? Months are sometimes 31, sometimes 30, sometimes 28 for us over here in the West, for our calendar but only one time in four years it's 29. Assumed that it's 28 for the rest of those times. That's February. The lunar months will be on average 30 but sometimes the way the moon shows up, the way the month goes out, the way the next moon shows up, new moons show up, the fasting, the way we start fasting, it will not be 30, it will be 29 sometimes, be 29. Sometimes it's 29. Sometimes 30. Most of the time is about 30 days.
This 30 represents a period of one month. That's one thing 30 represents. 30 also represents a progression of consciousness. The first progression of consciousness is flesh-seeded. Flesh-seeded. Seeded in the flesh, not in the negative sense. Don't think of the flesh as sin. Consciousness sins, not flesh. It's in the flesh. We become conscious that we're hungry in the stomach. That's the first place where consciousness starts, right in your body.
The baby is conscious of needing protection, the baby is conscious of needing to be fed, the baby is conscious of needing to be cleaned. The baby is conscious of needing to be put into a more comfortable place. What tells the baby all this is body, it's flesh.
The first consciousness is flesh. It's seeded in the flesh. The second consciousness is seeded in the mind. In the mind. They sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. That's the Bible. Joseph, his brothers sold him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. They trade him for 20 pieces of silver. They trade Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. The third level of consciousness or progression, step in the progression of consciousness is the spirit. The spirit.
Now when we look at the form of our congregational prayer, and how it is formed, how the rules for conducting it, you can't conduct congregational prayer- and I'm not saying Jumu'ah prayer, I said congregational prayer, that means group. You can't pray as a group, praying alone is different, I'm not talking about praying alone, I'm talking about praying with others, you can't pray as a group and say, "We did our noon prayer as a group," unless you have three persons. The minimum is three persons.
That's the minimum for Jumu'ah. Any congressional prayer, any group prayer, the minimum is three. Two persons following an imam. Anyone who leads the prayer at that time, whether you're an imam by habit or by work or by profession or not, at that time, when you're leading prayer, you are the imam.
A minimum of three persons is required. A minimum, three persons. What does that tell us about Islam as a form of religion or the religion? The Jews if I remember correctly, they have to have 10. Their minimum is 10. The Christians, I think they can have one. A preacher can preach to himself if he wants. Some of them do.
I don't think there's any certain number. Away from the jokes, let's get back to the serious business. [laughs] I don't think any number is required. As long as they have someone, they can have one person. The preacher can give the sermon. I don't know for Catholicism, it might be different. For most Christianity generally, I would say that no certain number is required. As long as someone shows up, the preacher can give the sermon.
I believe is true for Catholicism too, but I'm not sure. I can't be sure. I would think is true also for Catholicism. Yes, so three a minimum of three. That's identifying Islam as a religion that judge people by intention. Intention is associated with spirit. Why? All of this is knowledge, you know. It ain't guesswork, it's knowledge. Over many generations. People experiencing their own life under certain conditions and in certain situations or predicaments. Observing life, that's what it's all about.
They found that intent and spirit go together, live together. Your true intent will be revealed in your spirit. Not only that, spirit and intention shows on your face. It will show up on your face and in your behavior. Spirit is all through your life. Spirit is everywhere in life.
It'll be in the way you walk, it'll be in the way you respond to people with your body and everything. People observed this over many generations. Over many, many, many thousands of years. G-d respects what is the most serious concerns in the life of the people, that's what G-d respects. G-d when he reveals to people, he reveals to the person or the persons. That, that will help them with their greatest issues, with their greatest issues, not little silly stuff. With their greatest issues.
G-d is in our spirit more than he's in anywhere, or anything else. He's in the spirit more than he is in anything else. When he separates from us, he separates from our spirit. Because our spirit is not in agreement with his spirit. Or has started to be in opposition to his spirit, then he leaves you. He's aware of everything, yes and his presence is everywhere at all times. Yes, that's true but his presence as far as doing you some good will be gone when your spirit starts to be against his spirit.
It don't mean that he will leave you because your spirit is not following his spirit too well. As long as the intent is there, the intent. As long as the intent is good there, he won't leave you, no he won't leave you. Only when your intent is no more for G-d. Then he's gone, he's gone from you as a helper. He's not your friend and helper anymore and your spirit has gone too. I said they're together, didn't I?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam W.D.M: The intent and the spirit. Once the intent changes, the spirit is gone, it changes too. It is something that our courts hold to that same idea that matters are judged by intention. If there's not enough evidence, the judge will make a conclusion based upon what he decides the intent to be. This is a law in the United States of America. I guess it's everywhere in the Western world I would think.
Now when you pray and you know it takes three, remember what I told you yesterday. Remember these things that I've told you, it's important. Don't live Islamic life unconsciously. Islamic life is to be lived consciously. It's not a life of faith only, it's after the order of Abraham. The man that couldn't be satisfied with something his intelligence didn't agree with. He had to have a religion that he practiced consciously. That religion had to respect his intelligence, that's Abraham.
That's why I said in the Quran, this is the order or Milla doesn't mean actually order, it means hope. It means hope, but a hope that has been followed. A hope that has been living through generations going back to Adam. It's a hope that G-d created when he created the human soul. That hope was in that human soul. He created that human soul to know, to understand, to want good, to want progress for a good life. All that's in the soul by creation, it is in the soul.
It only needs the objective world to awaken it. Once we face the objective world then the soul starts expressing itself. Expressing itself through our conscious, through our intelligence, it starts to express itself. That's already there, you come with that. It's the nature. So science says what?
The purpose of life is to have pleasure. Life seeks to be pleased. When I was a young student very suspicious of my professors, my teachers. This teacher was saying that the purpose of life is pleasure. That life aim is pleasure et cetera. I guess he wanted to pick on me, or he knew where I came from. I'm sure. He asked me, "Did I agree with that?" I said, "No." I said, "No", and now I regret that I said no.
If I had been as mature in intelligence as I am now, I wouldn't say no to him. If I could go back to that same situation, in that time in that situation and he had said that. He said, "Is pleasure- the aim or purpose of life is pleasure?" I would say, "Yes." I'd say, "Not the pleasure that most people are going after in this world." Then I left it for him to bother me after I bothered him. [laughs] Certainly its pleasure. The pleasure principle is what determines the outcome of life, right? He was right.
When you read the chapter in the Quran that says, "Also pleasing and pleased." That means pleasing yourself and pleasing your creator. "Return to your Lord," and then it says- I'm not giving you the exact reading. "Enter you among my servants, enter you my paradise." The Quran long before this professor communicated to anybody. What the purpose of life is and what life exists to seek. G-d said you seek pleasure, but G-d doesn't just say pleasure because pleasure leaves us to find that pleasure anywhere and with anything.
G-d tells us, Allah tells us clearly that the need in the human soul is to be pleased with itself and be pleased with its creator. How come also with its creator? Because once you're pleased with yourself, you already have found your creator. You're not pleased with yourself until you find your creator. The soul has to have an answer.
How did I come by all this? What designed all this? How come I'm this way and not the other way? How come I am a human in this form and there's not a better living form for me to be in? All of this makes the creature wonder, and it comes to the conclusion that there is a creator, this is a gift, I didn't make it. There's an intelligent designer behind this intelligent pattern I'm looking at. He comes to that conclusion and he finds his G-d.
Then when he finds his G-d, he is fully pleased or satisfied, he has fulfillment for his soul. His soul hungers for no more. That's what Allah is saying with those lines from the Quran concerning the soul that has found his pleasure. Coming up to his own expectations. Bring himself up to his own expectations. He's satisfied he brought himself up to where he should be and he has recognized his G-d.
That's a victory for hunger in the soul that you're born with, baby comes here and cries for food but that's not the biggest hunger, that's not the biggest appetite. The real appetite that's going to change the world is the appetite in the soul because when it has expressed itself fully in the world it changes the world and never works alone. Mr Fard said. “I came here by myself, I came to North American by myself”.
He didn't mean he really came by himself, he came with G-d in his heart I know. He came with Allah in his heart, I know that. I know him well enough to know that. He didn't really come by himself. He said that to say, "You won't find another person like me." [laughs] Don't look for anybody. Don't say, "Well, who's with you?" There's nobody with me, I couldn't find a single soul to come here and help you Negros.
[laughter]
Imam W.D.M: I came alone. He didn't call us Negros. He called us so-called negro. He said so-called Negro. So call on a Negro.
[laughter]
Imam W.D.M: That's what he did, and he got one and did a big thing.
Male 1: Yes, he did.
Imam W.D.M: Yes, he did. Matters are judged by intent and we should associate intent with spirit, I mean the spirit that stays with us. Not spirit you get every time the wind changes, or every time the scenery changes. The spirit that stays with you, the spirit of hunger in your life, the spirit of appetite in your life for the correct life. That pleases you and pleases the Creator, that what we are talking about, that spirit.
Intent and spirit goes together, and dwell together, they live together and they express themselves together. They have the same purpose, same nature. The true intent that Allah puts in the soul, when He creates the human soul. The human soul was created, it bears an intent that lives in it to bring it to its best conclusion. It bears a spirit, spirit comes with motion, with motion, something else has to already be in existence for there to be spirit. There has to be movement for spirit.
Everything has a spirit, this is philosophical, but everything has a spirit. We don't mean spirit like a human has a spirit, a spirit that showed an emotion and all that, you don't need that. It has a spirit and it also imparts a spirit. Imparts a spirit and you would call that influence. Everything imparts an influence and many things impart influences that you're not interested in at all. You're not even aware that they re imparting an influence, but they do, - everything.
For that reason, Allah says and He has given to everything something of His spirit. To everything something of His spirit. That means His will is in everything he created, His will, G-d's will is in everything He created. His will influences the spirit or gives birth to a spirit.
[silence]
Imam W.D.M: So they were critical of Muhammad the prophet at the time, that's really being insulting. Like the Jews said to Moses, "You're going up to speak to this G-d, you talk to this G-d, show Him to us in public." It means show us what all of us can see, you only see that. You're dreaming, you have delusions or something. We can't go on this, "Moses you're not calling fools, don't insult us with this G-d of yours. Show him to us in body like we see each other," that's what they said.
The heavens were outraged. Right? Yes, the creation itself was outraged when they asked Moses, insulted him with his G-d, the G-d that he represented with such questions. There was like an earthquake, trembling in the earth, trembling like an earthquakes and many of them were killed by the destruction at that time. Many of them were killed by asking such questions, being so insulting.
And then, the followers of Muhammad they came in the same way at him too. "Have you seen this G-d you're talking about?" That's what they asked him. "Have you seen this G-d you're talking about?" Then he was instructed by G-d to put the question to them. He said, "Have you seen Lat and Uzza?" These are the name of their false G-ds. [laughs]
They gave no answer, he gave them no answer-- he gave them an answer but not as they expected. Not the way they wanted him to give it, but they gave him no answer. Not there anyway. Later on in- I mean some other place in the Quran the explanation is given why they believe in these G-ds, that they make with their own hands.
The answer comes, it said, they met on the far horizon as if they were two arrows shot by one bow. As if they were two arrows shot by one bow. You can imagine the bowman, putting not one arrow in the bow, on the string but two and then he pulls them back. So they both get the same pressure. Don't they?
They get the same pressure for sending them forward or the same force for propelling them forward. They pull two of them back, then you fire them. Then they should go parallel if it was done skillfully. They should go parallel. That's what we are told, they go parallel. They had the same aim. They had the same object that they were going toward. They were going together, parallel with the same force, the same energy. That's the spirit.
Going for the same target and that's to fulfill the will of G-d in man. Had the same aim and purpose to fulfill the will of G-d in man. So there's a Holy Spirit and the spirit of the human being that have reconciled itself with the Spirit of G-d or will of G-d, going with the same force to the same target or the same purpose.
[00:31:31] [END OF AUDIO]


