02/27/1977
IWDM Study Library
Survival Day Reflections Film

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1:
The World Community of Islam in the West presents reflections of Islam in the West 1976, a thrilling document of the outstanding growth of the World Community of Islam in the West. We are ever so grateful to Almighty G-d for the divine leadership of the Honorable WD Mohammed. Let us listen now to the G-d-inspired words of the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed Chief Imam.
Asalaam Alaikum. Dear beloved people, brother and sister Muslims, I have just recited in Arabic our standard prayer called Al Fatiha or the opening, which is the first chapter of the Holy Qur'an. I'll now read from the second chapter beginning with the first verse, the chapter called The Cow, Al Baqara. Bismilla Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. In the name of G-d, Most high, Most gracious, Most merciful. "This book there is in it no doubt, it is a guide for the G-d fearing. And those who believe in the promises of G-d and are steadfast in prayer and spend out of what We have provided for them. And those who believe in what has been revealed to you in public and what was revealed before your time and in their hearts they have assurance of the hereafter." G-d speaks the truth.
Now I will address the World Community of Islam in the West, formerly called the Lost Found Nation of Islam or the Nation of Islam in the West. I'll be speaking to you on purpose, aim and goals in this community. Beginning with the term purpose. Our purpose is the revival and the restoration of pure Islam. When we speak of reviving Islam, we are referring to the kinds of teachings or the kinds of preachings that were done by many, many Muslims since the days of Prophet Muhammad of Arabia to bring the Muslim community back to the everyday practical teachings in Islam. In America, our community began with the teachings of Master Fard Muhammad. And when we say Master, we mean teacher. In England or in Europe, we find that heads of education, departments of education or school teachers are still today called school masters.
So by master we mean teacher. It is important in Islam to understand the difference between the title of teacher and the title Reverend. In my contact with a preacher, a teacher, a religious teacher, a Christian teacher who prefers to be called Pastor, he brought my attention to the difference between the title Reverend and the title Pastor. He said he prefers to be called Pastor. Reverend put stress on the requirement or the need to respect or to revere the person wearing that title. Whereas teacher suggest the giving of knowledge to others and knowledge dignified those who possess it, who truly possess it.
The Honorable Master Fard Muhammad in his own symbolic way using symbolic teaching, mystical and symbolic teaching. He added the teachings of black nationalism and the teachings of the genesis of creation or the teachings on the original man or the birth of Adam. And with it he put black on the original man and took white off the original man making the original man black and the Caucasian so-called white and not original. He reversed the psychology and with it he brought us to practice Islam in our lives. We began practicing the habits of shunning pork, staying away from all pork meats, refusing any alcoholic beverages, not accepting to smoke cigarettes or use tobacco and wearing decent clothes, the men dressing decently and the women dressing decently as it is the practice in Islam. And this decent dress and Islamic mentality served to revive Islam in the west. But this revival was a revival in mental discipline, moral discipline and physical discipline. It did not concern itself too much with spiritual revival or spiritual discipline.
In the very beginning, Prophet Muhammad may peace be on him, peace and blessings be on him began by calling the people's attention to the reality that there is one G-d and that that G-d is creator and all else is creation. Master Fard Muhammad overlooked that, the importance of that and put his stress on material discipline, physical discipline, the dignifying of the mind by rejecting thoughts or ideas or beliefs that work inferiority in our minds. And instead of bringing the purer oneness of G-d separated from creation and matter, he brought us the Christian concept of G-d, the G-d in man having a father before him who was G-d and being born as a savior for the salvation of the so-called Negro, as you will call. Revival in this new day or in the second resurrection goes back to the pure teachings of Islam to correct the total life of this community of America and we hope the world. These practical teachings began first with the rational and practical belief that G-d is one, G-d is most high.
In fact, there is no perfect translation of the term or the expression Allah into English. We say G-d, but actually Allah means a definite G-d, a definite G-d, whereas the term G-d can be applied generally. When we speak of the G-d of the Christian, we are speaking of the G-d of the Jews and the G-d of the Muslims because that G-d is the creator of everything. But if we think of the G-d of some other religious society, we might be speaking of a G-d that is limited and not the creator of all things. So to get around the problem of addressing a limited G-d, the ancient word Allah, the word that we find in the ancient history of the Meccans is the word for G-d in the Qur'an. Allah means most high, most high and all mighty power. That is Allah. And we say G-d, but we should understand as Muslims we mean the creator of all things and the master, the ruler of all things.
Our revival preserves all of the good achievements of the first resurrection while purifying the teachings. And by purifying the teachings we mean getting rid of those things that were of a temporary nature and that were just means taught to us but had no reality that would allow them to continue forever. What were some of these things? The belief that the physical black man and his physical blackness made him superior. That was one of these things that had to be corrected. Another one is the belief that the Caucasian race is physically a grafted race, whereas the fact is when we understand the teachings of Master Fard Muhammad is that only the mentality is the grafted in the Caucasian race, that physical bodies are a product of the physical environment or creation just as every physical object or every physical thing is a part of this physical universe and came about naturally as this physical universe came about naturally. But it is the mind that can be grafted and grafting the mind we create in the person who accepts that to be grafted, a grafted mentality and with a grafted mentality in time, the person's habit will form in him a nature, a natural disposition and natural attitude that will be the nature of grafting.
So we refer to that nature in those possessing grafted mentality grafted nine or grafted mentality as grafted nature. When we understand the new language of the new resurrection or the second resurrection, the new world of Islam, then we understand the secret teachings and really the powerful teachings and terms of wisdom that was given to us by master, by Muhammad brothers and sisters after accomplishing the revitalizing of Islam and the revival of Islam in our physical life, a revival that manifests in the eating of proper foods, the wearing of proper dress, the speaking of Islamic language. I don't mean Arabic language, I mean giving the greetings of the Prophet and returning Al and in saying the prayer in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful, and then identify and in identify with righteous people living a daily life as a Muslim, taking baths once a day, keeping our tongues clean, refusing to carry on a habit of vulgar language or using vulgar language in our home life or in our life, showing at home and abroad that we are clean and upright, dignified men and women giving our lives to righteousness and resisting wickedness lives, falsehood and filth.
This is the manifestation of the first resurrection and it was and is first revival in the term restoration. Revival takes a higher set or a new gift. By restoration we mean an increase in our knowledge that brings clear understanding into our lives as Muslims.
This increase in knowledge should make us uniform and complete in ourselves. We shouldn't have conflicts within ourselves and we should have peace instead of conflict. A peace of mind, peaceful spirit, a relaxed life rather than a rigid militant one that is hard on the mind and the spirit. Not that we are saying we should drop militancy, we should remain militant but militant in a healthy and comfortable way. A militancy that dictated by the word of G-d, a militancy that means obedience to Allah's laws. The best soldier is the Muslim soldier who resists the drink, resists temptation to rob his brother and his sister or to rob his neighbors or citizens of his country or a stranger or a foreigner. Resist that temptation while obeying the dictates of almighty G-d. That is the militancy of Muslims, the militancy of righteousness.
By restoration we mean getting back in touch again with the root knowledge, root knowledge. Our first teacher, the Honorable Master Elijah Muhammad, he said, I'm trying to get you to the roots of these things. Well now we are getting to the roots of those things and it require that you be strong enough and that you accept drastic changes in your life. To plant a thing, root, trunk and branch, we have to dig deep, we have to break up the earth and then put the plant in and restore the earth in its place again. The earth will not look the same as it did before we dug it up, but we will have a tree there and by tree I mean a new community, a community that is not just an emotional community subject to be blown away by the winds of trial, political and social change.
Our roots must be in reality. We must be able to support, defend, and establish our knowledge under any test. If it is the test of science, we must be able to keep our position, stand firm and not be knocked down or shaking. If it is the test of theology, we must be able to stand the test and not be knocked down by life. Regardless of what kind of test it is, we must stand it and the only way to stand the test is to have our knowledge rooted in reality. So by restoration we mean returning to the original teachings of Bible and Qur'an.
The Qur'an is original in its language, but many people with English translations has translated the teachings out of the original language of the Arabic or the Qur'an. So we have to return to those original teachings and understand that oneness in Islam doesn't only mean one G-d, but it means one G-d separate from creation, not one G-d in many physical or flesh boies, but one G-d separate from creation. And His presence does not require your life to support it. You can die in the presence of G-d where you are and Hewill not be affected in any way. And also by oneness in Islam we have to now understand that creation is one, that Allah the creator is the only one who has the power to originate things from the beginning and no other creature increases, has the power to originate things from the beginning. Only the originator who is G-d most high has the power to originate.
We use the commons sense the originator has given us. To accept this belief that G-d is one and creation is one, is to accept that you as a physical person is only physical creation just as any other member of any other race. And that you are subject to the forces of creation as a physical creation and that you can be reduced to a level of an animal or lower, that you can fall in creation to the lowest depths because you are creation. But at the same time, oneness compels us to accept that is oneness in Islam, that there is a human life that develops in the physical flesh and that human life desires and struggle for guidance and a relationship with creator. And in that struggle, the human life can reach great heights in creation and become the master of the flesh and the master of the physical environment.
Long before the Americans reached the moon, the Qur'an had told us almost 14 hundred years prior to their reaching the moon 1400 years prior to their reaching the moon, that man can cross the barriers of the skies or the orbits, leave the orbits of the world and go to other orbits, to other bodies in the skies. But to do it, he must have great knowledge and great power. This is the Qur'an teachings. Dear beloved people, brothers and sister Muslims, this oneness in Islam also require purity in our thinking and purity in our actions because oneness in Islam does not only suggest a numerical oneness, a oneness like this object is one separated from the other objects which is the second, but it also requires a oneness of spirit and by oneness of spirit we mean that the whole life of the person should be governed and directed by truth.
And to have one's life completely governed and directed by truth, that person has to submit to truth wherever or whenever he or she finds it. That is why we cannot be hypocrites, we cannot lie and deny realities before us. We cannot live in a society and practice evil against that society because it is not under our religious banner. We must do unto others as we would have done unto ourselves. We must act justly and in accord with the Muslim life. That means to walk peacefully and in dignity, self composed, not boasting, not walking high and mighty over others and being willing at all times to take anyone by the hand and show them the way to the Mosque if they're seeping righteous direction. That means your black brother. If you accept and choose to call yourself black, your brown brother, your red brother, and even your Caucasian brother.
Why? Because the Muslim is a giant in creation and he accepts the responsibility to lift or pull up fallen civilization or fallen society. He cannot refuse to help a man simply because that man is not of his race. If he is the crown of creation, he must accept to be the guardian, to be the brother, to be a helper, to be a savior for everything in creation that needs our requests, ask for help from the righteous G-d. So we are servants of G-d, slave servants of G-d and we are too great in our moral makeup and spiritual makeup to carry racial prejudices that are unnatural, that are not in the accord with universal truth and weigh ourselves down and bring injustices in our life and bring the charges of wrongdoings against us. We cannot as Muslims pick up the ways of those people who are Unislamic or the ways of the oppressors who are inhuman. As Muslims, we must live the Muslim life and accept the great responsibility of serving truth, serving G-d and truth for the sake of all creation.
 So the Kalifah is this World Community of Islam in the West. So dear brother and sister Muslims, we see that restoration in Islam goes very deep and is very broad in its meaning. In the second resurrection, we don't only move to a new field of development, the field that was prophesied by Master Elijah Muhammad, the field of spiritual or religious development, but we also moved to a new plane and a higher pain and a broader plane for activities and progress. With this, our community expands to be involved in improving the conditions in our neighborhood. Working with even non Muslims in the mutual good or in those things that we all embrace and shed for the sake of improving the strength, the moral strength, the moral decency in the society and the business strength in the community, and also the community strength which is organization. To protect the communities and to protect the vital structure of the community, to support needed institutions in the neighborhoods and in the community, to support the fire department, to support the hospitals, to support the schools, to support every healthy institution in the community. And to go as Muslims carrying charity after establishing it at home, carrying it abroad so that the establishment, the institutions that have suffered much in America and have lost much in America and have lost many supporters in America.
We have opportunity now to restore healthy, strong, bright, positive, hopeful leadership not only for ourselves but for America.
Almighty G-d has blessed us to be in the position to receive the great favor of being elevated morally to the leadership of the world. I'm asking you all to join me and to work hard as Muslims with this new life and new understanding and new tools of knowledge. Work hard to bring our people from every defeat that slavery left on us to the victories that only Islam can give us. Dear beloved Muslim brothers and sisters, in restoring Islam few Islam, we have to follow the guidelines of the Qur'an, we have to exemplify the life of Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed. We have to reflect the Qur'anic teachings and also reflect the leadership that was established in Prophet Muhammad of Arabia, the one to whom the Qur'an was revealed. and we have to also follow and understand the Mujeddid of this day and time, the new revived, mission of Islam in the West so that we'll be guided to the roots of the knowledge that we have and come to understand that religious knowledge, or revealed knowledge speaks to world knowledge and scientific understanding.
We have to understand that the job of Imam WD Mohammed, Chief Imam WD Mohammed is the answer to the Bible saying in Ezeikel that the bones came together. Dear beloved Muslim brothers and sisters, the coming together of Ezeikels bones means much, much more than the restoration of a skeleton that is bones. In this mission, the answer to that story or saying of the bones coming back together is the restoration of natural connections and relationships. Your mind is natural and a natural part of the physical world. Your flesh is natural and it is a natural part, a servant to your mind and a natural part of your total being. Mind and flesh must be reunited and the healthy dignified relationships between mind and flesh must be restored and also it must be understood that spirit, the human spirit is also a relative of the physical creation. That our human spirit did not come from a foreign creation or from a world of spooks into our flesh when it was created or made, but that that spirit grew and developed naturally out of the human world that came naturally out of the physical world. Aim in Islam and this new world mission means direction.
What is our direction? What are we trying to reach? We are following the dictates and guidelines of Islam as those dictates and guidelines are established in our holy book the Qur'an. And we are moving along our focus, our inner focus that takes us naturally but divinely to leadership. The salvation of society, the survival of civilization depends upon establishing and preserving healthy sound, truthful charitable leadership. First we must establish the freedom to lead, to establish the freedom to lead. We must break all the shackles of the slave mentality and slave habit. Much of that has already been done. It was done by the great Master Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad, may Allah's peace be on them and may He be pleased with them.
Secondly, we must gain the knowledge to lead. It is not enough to be morally fit to lead. We must have the knowledge to lead. All praise is due to Allah. We have been blessed in this administration through the efforts of your Imam WD Mohammed to gain, to get in touch with that knowledge that is true enough, solid enough, natural enough and divine enough to provide for us the kind of leadership that will not only stand but will grow and continue to grow. Our goal in Islam is simply to benefit from all the good things that our creator Allah most high has brought into our possessions or has given us as our possessions. Our goal is to benefit. Not merely to benefit but to richly benefit. Leadership in Islam means receiving an abundance of blessings from almighty G-d.
We are not in Islam to just become rich, materially rich or financially rich if that's what we joined Islam for. We can leave Islam and go to other societies where there's plenty money, plenty material, wealth. But if we want salvation, health, peace and a hope in the future when the hope of other societies is threatened, then we should come to Islam. It is very important to know that the goal in Islam is evolutionary in nature and in meaning. What do we mean by evolutionary? We mean that the gains or the achievements that we realize, the progress that we gain or the progress that we realize is a gain that occurs or happens over and over again in or along a certain and definitive paradigm in accord with divine guidance as that guidance is reflected in the order of creation, in the order of the original nature or original creation, earth, sky, wind, water, fire, life that this environment produce in all of its creations. The order of creation, the movement of creation, and the forms that develop naturally out of the original creation we see direction, a natural law that suggests to us moral growth, moral excellence, mental development, intelligent direction, honor, peace, and the preservation of health and strength. We see all of this in the natural order of Allah's creation. So when we say our goal is to benefit, we mean to benefit in a way or in the manner and nature that was established in creation by Almighty G-d.
We must have Islamic directions that is divine directions, G-d's directions for our senses, our five senses. We must have Islamic directions for our sentiments where as we know a life born, delivered from a physical womb of his mother is born with senses in its physical body. And we know that soon the baby, the newborn child, express sentiments and we also know that soon in time we, being conscious of a moral direction affect our children with that moral direction and soon the new life become also a morally directed life. We must accept that Islam direct our moral life and we must accept also that Islam shape and direct our intelligence. Because this development is a natural development out of creation and our higher developments does not do not belong to us any more than our first development, the physical flesh or the journey we call semen. Allah must be the guide, the rule, the governor in all of our life from dust to industry. Over flesh, over sentiments, over morality, over knowledge and over conscience that is related to moral, to the moral nature of the human society. But when we speak of conscience, we are speaking of moral dispositions or moral attitudes.
The results of this will be peaceful, secure life, always offering more room for progress. Brother and sister Muslims by Ummah, which is translated by translators of the Qur'an to mean nation, we mean more than a political or physical nation. We mean a divine community, a community following the guidance of G-d. And that kind of community is nations on a higher plane, nations in a much broader sense. But it is not only our duty to execute judgment on our subjects and to give directions and regulate the life and activities of the members of our community, but it is our duties as members of an Ummah, a higher concept of nations that we can best give in the word community. It is our duty as a community, as a community following G-d's guidance to share what we have to bring about relief in the community to those who can't find relief by themselves.
In fact, the idea the mind in Islam is never a mind that should think or conceive of itself or of its members, brothers and sisters as being individualists on isolated islands to themselves responsible for themselves and for their lives. The community is responsible and the leadership is the voice of that community and the will of that community. As a religious community, as an Ummah, we are different from a political nation. We serve our leader as long as that leader is following the guidance of G-d. We do not become dissatisfied with that leader and dethrone him because we are not realizing the amount of chicken in the pot that we realized under the former administration. But as long as there's plenty moral excellence in the pot and truthful guidance in the pot, we follow our leader. But if our leader should become unfit or should fall and pass away from us, we as an Ummah, a community on a higher claim than a political nation must select one from our community and put him immediately into the position of leadership because G-d has charged us to follow, to recognize, to cultivate, to establish and to follow right leadership.
The result of this will be not only spiritual blessings and moral blessings, but this is the divine way of pointing us toward the greatest successes in all areas of human life. It will mean for us greater material strength, greater material progress. It will mean for us equal representation in America and in the world, equality and equal dignity as a people with other races and other people. It will mean for us equal representation in the political honor of the United States of America, and equal representation in the economic development of the United States. It will also mean for us equal representation among the learned of America and the world. In the field of science, technology, human science we'll become engineers, doctors, researchers, city planners, Mayors, Alderman, Governors, Presidents. There is nothing out of our reach that is acceptable to decent society if we accept this new leadership, the second resurrection, the blessing of Almighty G-d on the Bilalian people of the world and a blessing that the whole world can and will share in. Dear beloved people, brothers and sisters, Muslims, I hope you all will be present and hear our national address on the state of the World Community of Islam in the West and give this leadership your support and give it as you should. Give it the respect and the support that it deserves.
I would like to end this address to you with a reading from the Qur'an the chapter called Time or the or Time through the ages. Bismillah Ar Rahman Nir Raheem In the name of G-d most kind, most gracious, most merciful. By the token of time through the ages, surely man is at loss. Except those who have right faith and practice right deeds. And join together in the mutual struggle for truth and reality. And join together in encouraging each other to remain steadfast and to persevere. G-d has spoken the truth. Asalaam Alaikum. May the peace and blessings of Allah be with you.
As we embark on another year one cannot help but reflect on the incredible progress we BilaIians have realized under the leadership of the Chief Imam WD Mohammed.
Speaker 4:
The Chief Imam's teachings helped me to be a new person, truly a righteous Muslim and also it has given me a better knowledge of Allah. He's bringing out the goodness in me. It has broadened my knowledge and understanding that all Muslims throughout the world are all brothers. The Chief Imam's teachings change your life.
Speaker 3:
In the Bilalian community, there are many destructive forces and the Honorable Wallace Mohammed saw that it was necessary to put a unit in that would alleviate and uplift the community development known as the Black Blight Pioneers Patrol.
New Speaker:
Having a responsible mind towards the community wherein the community operates on the basis that it develops itself along the lines of cleaning itself, establishing strong morals in itself and thereby producing leadership from itself that would help to develop it.
Speaker 3:
It was necessary to form of our team in order to give the community a chance to grow as a community without fear of walking down the streets. And like the body, we have policemen in our body that form blood cells to protect our bodies from foreign matter and this is what the Chief has done by forming BAPP.
Speaker 2:
The motivating force in the community to spark the responsibility in people that are in authority to do the job.
Speaker 3:
It's to have a opportunity to learn, have more knowledge and becoming powerful in the community.
Speaker 2:
To uplift the economic conditions and eliminate the deterioration that exists within the community. That means the cleaning up of the community, not only of the physical cleaning up but the changing of the community towards the right way in which to live. That means arresting grafted knowledge and preventing grafted material things from getting out in the community.
New Speaker:
It established in me the ability to stand up and to live for truth and for G-d.
Speaker 2:
Dr. Abdul Salaam, organizational President of the world Community of Islam in the West explores the basic organizational structure.
Dr Abdul Salaam:
A few months ago in what was considered at that time to be the national decision making board of the Nation of Islam, the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed made a far reaching decision which effectively completely decentralized the then Nation of Islam now considered to be the World Community of Islam in the West. This chart that we see before us basically describes those changes. The World Community of Islam consensus board actually represents the overall ruling board that will relate to the entire World Community of Islam. The Honorable Wallace D Mohammed is of course the convener of that board. That board will be made up of local consensus boards which actually represented the administrative unit we expect to find in each Mosque in the World Community of Islam. As we go further down this chart, we will learn to recognize that the local consensus board, again the administrative unit of each Mosque has several components to it and this chart again further outlines that. Now each mosque may or may not have all of these departments, therefore each consensus board may have anywhere from three to 25 members.
Let's look to see how that consensus board is formed. Essentially the nucleus of that consensus board is of course the general membership and everyone on that consensus board should really represent the general membership of the Mosque. And you see embodied in the general membership are the mosque committees, which essentially are eight in number in some of the larger Mosque and the committees are membership service units that the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed established more than a year and a half ago. These units are designed primarily to serve the members of the Mosque and the community and administration of every Mosque. If we go further over to the left here we see the Imam Consultation Department or Imam Consultation Board, which essentially is the unit that the Honorable Wallace D MOhammed himself will be holding responsible for the spiritual guideline of every Mosque. Essentially this imam consultation department is the last authority in the Mosque and is composed of the local imam who is responsible for the spiritual guidance under the teachings of the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed and be his responsibility to see that local consensus board who he works with and who works with him to develop decisions and programs which relate to the spiritual guidance established by the Honorable Wallace D Muhammad.
We go further and find an education department. Of course that really relates to our Clara Muhammad school. If a Mosque has a school, they will simply send to the consensus board a representative from that school who in most cases would be the principal of the school. We have the propagation of the faith, which of course is done by the Mosque Outreach services which reach out into the community. We really call them portable Islamic units. And that consists of the BAPP commitee, which stands for the Blight Arrest, Pioneer Patrol. And over to this side of the board we have Business Development Services. Also very important units that the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed has insisted be a part of every mod structure and they too will be represented on the consensus board. It usually will consist of a legal component, an accounting service and a general business manager.
These are people who have the kind of expertise and background that can relate to the general believers in the Mosque and the community and help them develop services, businesses that do for self on an individual basis. The World Community of Islam has gone out of business as a unit, but the believers are expected to be actively involved on a consistent basis of developing businesses and helping in the community. So the business development services represents that unit and they too will be persons who are elected from among the community, from among the believers who have this kind of background and they too then will become part of the local consensus board. So we are confident that this kind of unit, this kind of structure that the Honorable Wallace D Muhammad has established for us will really do the job and we certainly thank him for having given us the opportunity to really, in the many senses of the word kind of rule and go for ourselves.
Speaker 6:
AlIahu Akbar. How you like that so far? AlI praise is due to Allah. All praise is due to Allah. Brothers and sisters, we have two other segments of film that will be coming on very shortly. We had a call from Chicago and they wanted us to explain a couple of things. When the Chief Imam said 14,000 years for Prophet Muhammad, he meant 1400 and when he said no others he meant no other creatures. So those corrections were called into us and we wanted to bring that to your knowledge. So I thought it was a very, very clear picture and a very beautiful speech. What about you? Praises due to Allah.
We plan to show the rest of the film and the broadcast will start at 3:15 Chicago time. So we have time to finish our film and we have time to also bring on all of the Imams from out of the region and introduce them to you so that some of them may be able to say something to you in that way. We have enough time. Alright, I'd like to though at this time to take this opportunity to bring to your attention a very serious fact of reality. This is a very beautiful theater isn't it? And it's very comfortable isn't it? Well we want to first thank all of the people who had an opportunity to make a contribution to bring this about. It was a decision made by the whole region exercising the will through their committee chairman and also through the committees in their Mosque as well as the Imam of their Mosque. They have decided that we would make the contribution and bring this convention downtown here to Radio City. Now it costs a great sum of money.
We have not yet gotten all the money to bring this completely into a success. So we feel that it is fitting and proper and right that we at this moment, at this time very quickly and quietly that we pass the bucket for charity that we may be able to bring at a conclusion this great celebration day, this annual convention Survival day of the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed, that we will bring it in and out without having any additional strain going into our future years and future months. We can't afford any more debt. So while we have a chance, while we all together on a mutual day with a mutual feeling of good and brotherhood, where a time when charity is at our biggest understanding, then let us exercise our understanding and our faith and give into this great cause. We'd like very much for those of you who can afford to give more, give more. Those who have not had an opportunity to give the contribution of $10 to this cause, we'd like for you to do it now. And we'd like for the brothers and sisters who are handling the finance to move very quickly.
We'd like very much for it to be the kind of contribution that we don't have to come back and beg and whine and hound you for some change. Let us do it the way that you want it to be done. You like the best. We have to pay for the best. Fair exchange is no robbery. So if we exercise that I think that we'll be keeping, I know we'll be keeping and what the Chief Imam was teaching us today the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed about straightness, about moral leadership, about being truthful and keeping lies out of our minds. If we exercise this conviction, this willpower to exercise charity today, then we won't have to be confronted with this problem ever again until next year, this time and the following year. So let us join together brothers and sisters, we thank you very much for your contribution.
We thank you very much for coming all the way out here to be here with us today. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money. You need not feel ashamed nor embarrassed because those of us who do have it, we will pay for yours. If you don't have it. All praise is due to Allah, all praise is due to Allah. So while the bucket is being passed very quickly, we want to thank you very much and they're getting set up now to start the film immediately so we cannot take over 10 minutes to do this. Thank you very much Asalaam Alaikum.
So the reason that I'm bringing that to your attention is because we want you to really hold your seats now.Because if you get up now, if you move now you'll lose. And we want you to close up any gaps that's around you so that the people that are outside can have a seat or can come in and have a seat because we have thousands of them. They say, the brother used the word jammed, it's jammed outside so we want to unjam it and let 'em in. If we can have any space that's empty, we'd like for the ushers, we'd like for those who are monitoring the aisles, those who are monitoring all the seats, please make sure that we have space for those to get in. Let them in now before we start the next reel or the next film. So please thank you very much. Hold your seats so that we won't lose your seats. Thank you very much. Why don't you look around. It looks pretty crowded. Stand up and look around.
Imam WD Mohammed:
All a part of that one true religion. This is what Islam is telling us brother. Islam took the lead. Prophet Muhammad took the lead to show the world that there is one universal truth. That there is one G-d, one universal truth, that everybody is bound, related to that truth. Everybody is a part of that world. One creation, one creator, one life, one human family. Islam took the lead. Now in order for us to serve Islam, we have to again take the lead. Nobody will do it for us. We have to do it. A great blessing has come to the Bilalian people of the world. I have been blessed to see this mission. I've been blessed to see the mission of Prophet Muhammad of Arabia. And me being blessed to see it and in the kind of society that was necessary to support me being created even before my time by Master Fard Muhammad and Master Elijah Muhammad, that society that was needed to support me, to give me a place in the world was there.
All of these things being present, being created brother, it is a blessing to every Bilalian on the face of the earth, all throughout so-called Africa, wherever they exist on the face of earth, they should come and get behind me right now. This is our day Prophet Muhammad peace and the blessings be upon him said that those who first accepted my mission were the poor and rejected and my mission one day will return to the poor and rejected. This time has come. This is our day. Join me brothers, I'm telling you, join me, join me now. And I guarantee you we remake this world. We have already begun to remake this world. It's felt. Don't think it's not felt, it's felt in the community, it's felt on low government level, on high government level. It's felt in Christian nations and Jewish nations, it's felt in religious nations and in Communist nations.
This mission in America is felt everywhere today and believe it or not, it's just a matter of time before an earthquake takes place that's going to shake everything up and put things in thier proper places and you going to see that this light brother, this light that you see here in the Nation of Islam second resurrection, this light is going to become the light of the world. Now I got to tell you the truth I'm a salesman. And I'm trying to sell you on something that's going to last. I'm trying to sell you on the hottest product that has ever come upon this earth brother. And that product is truth, universal truth. Thank Almighty G-d it's in the hand of a nappy headed Bilalian that's not going to let it go.
Speaker 3:
The World Community of Islam in the West is an unincorporated association which is intended to be a membership organization in which the various Mosque in both North America and the Caribbean and in Central and South America can associate and be benefited by this association in order to maintain the kind of legal control which is necessary in order to bring about the best work of the World Community of Islam in the west. The Chief Imam has instructed that all Imam ministers who wish to maintain a membership in the World community of Islam in the West must execute or sign a legal document. This document is perhaps the first of its kind in the world and will provide that all of the signers of this document will agree to the following in both principle and concept. First that the Holy Qur'an in the original Arabic language must be accepted as our pure book and they must accept the Chief Imam's position on the Holy Qur'an and Islam.
In addition, they must accept the Chief Imam's position on the teacher Fard Muhammad and the Honorable teacher Elijah Muhammad. They must accept the Chief Imam's position on Bilal the first muezzin and Bilalians. They must agree in terms of the leadership structure of their local Mosque. To establish a consensus board as the administrative body over the Mosque and must agree to hold annual elections for Mosque leadership. In their Mosque structure they must agree to have a youth leadership thrust. The Chief Imam has stated that we can live in the United States and accept, obey, and uphold the laws of the United States as long as that law remains in agreement with the United States constitution as presently constituted and embodied and all Imams signing this document will agree to the Chief Imam's position on the United States constitution. The Chief Imam is under this agreement, the sole authority on the proper political posture for Muslims in America. In addition, the Imam ministers will agree to cooperate and identify with other religious bodies. They will also agree to make a commitment to provide necessary services to the world community and establish a position and an actual framework. And they will agree not to discriminate or attempt to separate brothers or sisters except as provided for by the Chief Imam. In addition, they will agree to use and enjoy the Mosque property only to the extent that they continue to maintain their membership in the World Community of Islam and they will also agree not to use or display insignia or other symbols which are exclusively associated with the World Community of Islam in order not to defraud or misrepresent the general community if in fact they are not members of this worldwide community body.
 John Abdul Haqq, World Community Of Islam treasurer clarifies our financial obligations.
John Abdul Haqq:
The Honorable Wallace Muhammad, Chief Imam of the World Community of Islam in the west has stated to me that the operating expenses of the home office should be shared by the total World community of Islam membership. The many farms, the clothing store, the pioneers building the Eprahim Baha Center, Marriott Chevrolet building, Mosque apartment building complexes, Your Supermarket, Salaam Restaurant, and other dwellings that are owned through the purchases by contribution from members of the World Community of Islam cannot be maintained by the home office solely.
We're asking that the membership pledge themselves a certain amount of their finances to help the World Community of Islam to alleviate itself of this tremendous debt that we have. We are now issuing identification cards to all those who are followers of the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed. In the World Community of Islam. The Chief Imam, the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed has approved a minimum of 2.4% of our take on pay to be given for zakat. Accordingly, the giving of charity or zakat, which is one of the five principles of Islam, is incumbent on every Muslim. Each adult working World Community of Islam member who has his own office survival in his heart, he or she will come up with all or part of that pledge to help to once and for all pay our creditors, thereby clearing the head so that it may help the rest of the body.
Speaker 1:
The BilaIian News is fast becoming a household item throughout America. Presenting national news, it is a main revenue source of the world community and a key propagating vehicle for the Chief Imam. Here we find Eugene McGee, our director of the BilaIian News meeting one deadline and preparing for another.
Staff coordinator as the Bilalian News plant sister Dorothy Hassan.
Sister Dorothy Hassan:
In 1977. I see my job as staff coordinator for the Bilalian News as one of tightening up loose strings. We are very much aware that we have competent supervisors in each area of operation here in the plant, in building services, in each phase of production, in the editorial department, in graphic arts, accounting, and in the circulation and distribution of the paper. Therefore it is my job to see that these people have the opportunity to coordinate within their various areas and then I serve as a coordinator for the total so that we can look at the priorities for the paper as a whole. And we also have two consultants in our new structure. Dr. Naim Akbar as policy director, has helped us to formulate in clear, precise and short statements the policy guidelines given to us by the Chief Imam. Hassan Sharif works closely with us on a day-to-day basis to make sure that the policy of the Chief Imam and the World Community of Islam is reflected in each article and in the graphics of the paper as hoped.
Speaker 2:
In keeping with the Chief Imam's WD Mohammed's new directions for Blalian News, we can say that our newspaper has evolved and it has taken really a quantum leap from the time that it was a purely propagandistic journal. As you can see, this was back in the first resurrection days. It has been steadily evolving since Chief Imam has given us our new policies. And his policy as taught to us is that he says that Bilalian News is a newspaper that should be able to sell itself. And in our evolvement we have moved from those early papers through this particular stage of which a lot of typography was used on the front page and was very ineffective in terms of being attractive to potential buyers. This really was not a type of newspaper at this point that the chief Imam had in mind. So we continued to get instructions from him and we continued to evolve and try to adhere to his directions and we are reaching a point now where we are being much more successful with the graphics that the Bilalian News is being treated for. And here's an example here-These last four papers of BilaIian News under the Chief Imam's, new directions have definitely taken a step toward being the successful paper that he has envisioned. We can bear witness that these particular papers have been big sellers at the news newsstand around the Chicago area and I'm sure as long as we keep adhering and trying to adapt Bilalian News to the Chief Imam's directions that we will become one of the largest selling newspapers in the country.
Sister Dorothy Hassan:
Also, our goal in 1977 is to improve the quality of the paper. Its content, its look everything about it so that it becomes a publication which people feel forced to buy because it is so good. And we are doing that by covering issues and events which interest the larger community and we're trying to do that in a bright and fresh and exciting way. At the same time, we're very much aware that we have guidelines and these guidelines reflect our policy. The first consideration and our first focus is to look at moral and economic development throughout this country and in the world. Secondly, we feel it important to project positive images within our own community and give proper exposure to positive individual and community activities among Bilalians in America and outside of America. Also in this year one of our top priorities will be to educate our readers with every page and every issue. And we feel in this way that circulation of the Bilalian News can't help but to increase.
Speaker 1:
The Principal of Sister Clara Muhammad Elementary and secondary school in Chicago, Brother Clyde El Amin expounds upon education, an area of special importance in Islam.
Clyde El Amin:
We are very grateful to Allah for the progress that the educational program of the World Community of Islam has made under the leadership of WD Mohammed The Clara Muhammad Elementary and Secondary schools are one of the most vital programs in the World Community of Islam. We have grown in our understanding of how important it is that we prepare our youth to carry on the great work of the Mujeddid. We have been very, very blessed over the last year to see the growth of our Islamic studies department. Here in Chicago we've been fortunate to receive on our staff, a fine instructor and brother Muhammad Said from Syria, and we've also been very fortunate with the work and the contributions of Brother Darnell Karim, also an instructor of Islamic studies. We look forward to the rapid growth of this department and we welcome the influence that it has had on the entire educational program of the school.
We are very, very fortunate to have as the base of our educational program, the greatest religion in the world, the religion of Islam. We under the leadership of the Honorable WD Mohammed realize that we are the most fortunate educators in the world. The Honorable Wallace D Mohammed has given his full support to the educational program and to the youth leadership thrust, which is the umbrella for most of the youth programs in the Mosque. Brother Muhammad Said.
Muhammad Said:
Two purposes for implementing the Arabic teaching for the teachers. Brother Chief Imam Honorable Wallace D Mohammed has two purposes in mind. The first purpose is to represent Islam perfectly and purely to the Muslim students in Sister Clara Muhammad School, to have better image as Muslims, practicing Muslims and at the same time to better and develop the image for the Muslim teachers who are working in Sister Clara Muhammed School in a very good system that serves the purpose of Islam.
Imam WD Mohammed:
It is indeed an honor to be invited here and to see so many young people out here. Well, I'm sure you know why you're here. You're here to get yourself prepared to lead the World Community of Islam.Bbecause one day we are going to be gone. Time is catching up with us and it's catching up with you too. It's going to force you to take responsibility for the Community of Islam in the world. We are not just here in America, as you know, we are outside of America too. And this Community of Islam is chosen by Almighty G-d. We know and we can convince the world if they'l listen to us talk about it a little while, that this community over here has been chosen by Almighty G-d to provide the world with the leadership that will remake the world and solve some of these terrible human problems that we have.
Now I am only here today to say thank you to those representatives of this community who've gotten together and made this effort to start you on the road toward leadership. I understand that the seminar and the youth ministry, and there are some other programs that we are getting together, is going to soon bring us into the leadership thrust, the youth leadership thrust that we want. And from there we'll have a new body of people representing the World Community of Islam leadership. And you youngsters are in many ways, some of you more adults than some of us. And we know that we don't always admit it. I wouldn't even admit it to my children. I hope not them are here, but we'll admit it to others outside of our home. And I know that in many ways many of you are more adult than we are.
And we don't think that you have to wait until you get 18 or 21 to come into this leadership and participate in the leadership of this community. We want your help. We want you to grow with us. We want to share our experiences and our knowledge with you. We want to teach you and train you, give you everything we got and we want you to give us everything you got. And you have a lot to offer.
Clyde El Amin:
We are thankful to the many believers that have rallied to the support of the Clara Muhammad School and we are very fortunate to have had some groups start up recently for the sole purpose of supporting educational programs of the World Community of Islam. Some fine examples are the Clara Muhammad Memorial Scholarship Foundation, the Clara Muhammad Alumni Foundation, and a number of individuals that have made themselves available on call to help us in our programs.
Many of the fundraising activities of these groups have done much to increase the spirit of charity among the believers and have greatly enriched the social life in the Muslim community In order to involve the youth more in the decision-making processes The Youth Leadership Trust has been established. Through the Youth Leadership Trust we are able to identify youth with potential with talent and involve them in the decision making process as soon as possible.
We realize more and more that the future of our community depends on us preparing our youth for the leadership positions. Under the Youth Leadership Trust, some of the more outstanding programs are the Youth Mosques and the Youth Imam training class. These two programs which work very closely together have allowed us to identify youth who have within them the potential to be outstanding leaders in the community. The Youth Leadership Thrust of Clara Muhammad elementary and secondary school, all have received tremendous support. And we are very thankful to the many believers who answered the call in the year that have just preceded us.
Imam WD Mohammed:
No, you are supposed to keep your health. Look, take care of your babies, Take care of your needs. But if you've got enough and you know have your meal here, if you got enough to eat tomorrow, then share. Share the extra with another brother, with another sister that needs to eat too. This is our society. It's a society of equals, a society of one plus one plus one mund, one spirit. And this way we'll be successful. Don't forget the strong attributes of our forefathers in slavery. I've read where they suffered, but one suffering slave would try to comfort the others when the master wasn't around. Then when they got free in the south, one would be cooking beans and some greens and have a neck bone in there with hardly no meat on it. But we remember sister down the road with her five children and walked five miles with a jar or pot and a few green in and a piece of corn bread. We would come back home smiling, knowing that he has given a little something to that family across the road. So let us not change so much that we lose the greatness that we had yesterday. What do we want for this nation? I'm talking about the aims of this nation. We aim for freedom from lies. We aim for wealth for the whole community, not wealth to make us capitalistic, wealth to make the whole community capitalist. And each one in the community is a worker. This is the way we should be. This is not Communism. This is Islam.
Clyde El Amin:
Everybody say that BilaIian. Now is that true that all black people can be called Bilalian? So from now on, don't call me black brother call me Bilalian.
Speaker 10:
Master Bilal was the first minister of Prophet Muhammad May peace be on him and the first to call the people to prayer. And like all great men of history, his greatness was proven by his ability to stand up in the face of opposition for what he believed. His belief? That there is only One G-d.
Clyde El Amin:
On the south side of Chicago in the vicinity of 63rd and Stony Island will be the site of the new Bilal Mosque. The building of the Mosque was announced by Sheikh Sultan, Bin Muhammad El Amin, the ruler of Sharza. In a special press conference, the Mayor of Chicago along with President Leon Finney of the Woodlawn organization and our Chief Imam jointly announced the plans for the construction of the Bilal Mosque as part of the South Side Housing Development Project. The plan boasts of large modern apartments and a general remaking of the neighborhood. School facilities will also be included in the magnificent Islamic complex. The $16 million structure is slated for completion in three years.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Unity, harmony, agreement, obedience. Is that right? Give us this in our lives. So this is what life is all about. People won't stop short of having government in their lives. People won't stop short of having a society of men, women and leadership, strong leadership serving the needs of the community. People are not going to stop short of that. And human development within every individual is not going to stop short of that. In ourselves we want a kingdom to manifest so that we can have some kind of management control over the wilderness that comes up in our own lives. Is that right? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Praise be to Allah for Prophet Muhammad, the Qur'an.
Salat in Islam is not salat in other religions. Prayer in other religions is begging more than it is anything else. A Muslim is a beggar too. Certainly we all are mortals, we all are capable of being frustrated in our lives to the point that we have to cry out like little children in the cradle and ask G-d with tears running down our face to help us, to help us bring some kind of light or some kind of strength into this situation. So we all know that we are beggars before G-d, but a Muslims worship is a little bit more dignified than pure begging.
The pleading for help we call it du'a. And we make du'a like this because we are asking for something. We are not asking to go up in the sky. We're asking for something here. We want to always be aware that Islam, prayer in Islam is worship, sacred, holy service to Almighty G-d and that the man is seeking G-d not to feed his physical mouth so much. G-d has given us the means to feed our physical mouth. We are asking G-d to feed our spiritual mouth, our moral mouth, our intelligence so that the most precious form of ourselves, which is the inner form, may be guided, may be strengthened by the food from Almighty G-d, may be given, have his thirst quenched by the water of Almighty G-d. So these are the things that are most valuable to us and it is those things that make for the growth and the development, the strength and the health of the person, the inner being. So when believers pray, they're not seen saying, "Oh G-d, give us our daily bread."
The daily bread is already given. The birds, the bees, the insects, they have their daily bread. So why should the man who has more capabilities, more potential, more power to get his daily bread, why should he wake up every day thinking, oh G-d, give us this day our daily bread? Well I gave it yesterday to you, the day before to you last year to you a billion years ago to you and you still ask Me today to give you your daily bread? So you see if we don't have understanding of what we're asking, we make fools of ourselves. We ask Allah for those things that means most to us and that is for spiritual guidance, for moral understanding, for intellectual understanding, for rational understanding, so that we may become whole and strong within ourselves and a healthy person in the society so that we can do something about the conditions in the society. Cause a man is not praying by himself. A man belongs to a woman, or a mother, or a father. Is that right? He belongs to a family, he belongs to society. So men don't live alone, can't live alone. So when they pray they shouldn't pray alone. They should pray like the Muslims pray. G-d guide us, not me. See the prayers of most people are selfish prayers, selfish prayers. Oh G-d, give me this, give me that. Give me that. The Muslims said Ihdina, give us guidance.
Speaker 2:
The idea of community worship introduced and encouraged through Jumu'ah prayer services every Friday has brought Muslims in America closer together. A wise Arab scholar recently stated that Jumu'ah prayer services under the guidance of WD Mohammed is the largest he has seen in the past six years in the Western hemisphere. The enthusiastic participation in the Jumu'ah prayer service is surely bringing men and women back to the path of proper worship. Never in the history of mankind is understanding of truth been so great. As Master Elijah Muhammad, may Allah be pleased with him so often stated, one day you will be taught how to pray. And all praise is due to Allah that day has come.
The work has brought about a true universal brotherhood of Muslims. WD Mohammed Publications department provides books and tapes to the public upon request. Every fourth Sunday a national telephone hookup carries the Chief's words direct to local Mosques. Our Islamic leader lectures often. Brother Adib Mahdi speaks on the Muslim program.
Adib Mahdi:
Those who society segregated for the wrongs done to society. However, we have in the success of the Honorable WD Mohammed's teachings which have served to correct the minds and lives of those whom society failed. A classic example to the world that if among the worst such success can be realized, certainly this world can be remade.
Imam WD Mohammed:
You would have to take care of business because the threat is just too real and too dangerous, right? Okay, well we survived. We survived and here we are here now. Look what we survived brother. Here we are here talking inside prison walls to brothers and I consider you all Muslims. To me the word Muslim doesn't mean I went to the Mosque and became a Muslim and you didn't go to the Mosque, you went to the church and became a Christian. To me, Muslim means what it really means in this book, the Qur'an, it means one who desires to be right and peaceful. One who doesn't desire to be destructive, one who wants to see the world comfortable and at peace. This is a Muslim. And the Holy Qur'an says not only individuals are Muslims says the sun is a Muslim, the earth is a Muslim. All the living things that G-d has made are Muslim in their nature because they love peace, they seek to be at peace.
Clyde El Amin:
Since the chief of man has set up a prison services department, his teachings reach over 300 prisons throughout America. Now he has upwards of 12,000 registered followers and over 90% of them were not Muslims prior to prison. The recidivism rate among prison inmates on a national level is above 90% returnees. However, among those who accept Islam in prison and come to the Mosque upon their release, the recidivism rate is only between two to 5%. The World Community of Islam in the West has as its goal in the prisons, essentially the same as its goal is in the general society. And that is to remake the mind of fallen humanity into the form intended by almighty G-d. To take artificial minds and with the teachings of Islam as given to us by the Chief Imam to make real human beings.
Imam WD Mohammed:
There has come a time when the prison doors are going to open. And this is the great mission of the Nation of Islam. It is to open the prison within the individual so that we can be free as human beings within ourselves. And once that happen brother, you have something working for you that keep you with a certain amount of freedom no matter where you go or where you are, you have something working within yourself, preserving for you a certain amount of freedom, that amount of freedom that is necessary for a man to live a comfortable or a same life I would say. Not a comfortable life but a sane life.
With your help, maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but give me five years with your help I will guarantee you in the name of Almighty G-d, I guarantee you in five years time, you won't be having misery in your life, brother. If you join with me in this mission, it's your mission as much as it is mine. G-d didn't give it to me as an individual. He gave it to me as a representative of a new world mission and that mission is the BilaIian mission. That mission is the BiIalian mission of people all over the world. You're the ones that are going to lead now. You're to come into the world as the leaders. This is something that has to happen. Prophecy said it would happen, others will join you, others will help us. We'll accept them into the leadership. But who will get that Joseph's coat of many colors?
You. G-d intended it, that it comes to those who are the furthest down in the mud, the furthest away from the activities of government and institutions, those who have been kept out of the mainstream of social life, of community life. G-d, all throughout Bible and the Holy Qur'an says that He shall take up their cause into his hand, and He shall bring justice for them. Is that right? G-d said that. Okay, I defy any Christian minister, any rabbi, any Imam, I defy anybody Pope or anybody else to come and argue with me on this point. G-d says that He's going to give the world leadership to those that the world reject. Now, history shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are the most rejected in human history. This is a fact. Now what leadership can the world expect but a Bilalian leadership. Also history will show that no other people have been prepared. No other people have been prepared by suffering, by denial, by rejection, by condemnation, by slander, by mockery.
No other people have been prepared brother, to understand what moral leadership is all about more than you and me. We have been prepared in our ancestors. Now this is what I ask you to do. Join me, come on into this thing that is yours. Join me in the Nation of Islam. We can march to Mecca. We can go to the Ka'aba. This mission is the hottest thing. This is the most valuable thing. This is the most convincing thing. This is the most needed mission that the world has ever known. And right now we got it inside our hands. How many of you going to join me and carry this truth, not just to America, not just to Bilalians, not just to the American Caucasians, but to every corner, every nook, every corner of the earth. When time comes, when the day presents itself, when the opportunity is there, how many are willing to stand up in the Bilalian mission and take this truth wherever it must go.
 We are about 25 minutes behind schedule, but I can't leave here without letting you know that I love each and every one of you for this. I don't think I know I haven't seen a Holy Qur'an box holder more attractive than this one and I've seen them from different parts of the world. This is the most attractive one I've seen. So thank you very much for your gifts to me. May Allah bless you and we all will share these gifts. Also for $450. May Allah bless you. Now we have a unit we call Blight Arrest Pioneers Patrol Unit established in Chicago and many other places, big cities. And we have established that because you have made it possible. When I say you, I mean the Imams, the ministers as they were called, the Imams in the prisons and the brothers, the hardworking brothers in the prisons. You made it possible for us to establish that unit. So we're going to put this money in that unit.
Remain strong, make a commitment, and keep it. Pledge that you're going to be Muslim, you're going to worship the Almighty G-d. You're going to accept the Holy Qur'an as your guide, as your book, Prophet Muhammad as the messenger, the universal messenger and Imam WD Mehammad as your leader, as your Mujeddid that G-d has inspired with the knowledge of how to renew the knowledge and how to revive and remake the world, the human world. Stand behind us you'll be successful. When you finish your time in prison and come out to the other world, which is another prison. Come on and see us. We need you. And if you feel you need us, let us right now mentally put our hands in each other's hands and remain brothers forever. And I assure you that I'll never fail you because I'm not serving myself. I'm serving truth, almighty G-d. As an expression of thought (Arabic expression) which means until the next meeting. This is not goodbye. We don't say goodbye to each other. Until the next meeting we have much more to say. May Allah, bless all of you. Asalaam Alaikum.
Speaker 9:
The Honorable Maynard Jackson, Mayor of the city of Atlanta.
Maynard Jackson:
The Nation of Islam with this great leadership in the Honorable Wallace D Mohammed has moved now in a way which I know, although no one has told me, must have resulted in the Chief Minister being subjected to undue and unwanted criticism even by some of those who may have supported him originally. But the visionary is one who sees beyond our normal capacity to see. And the only thing I think we can say about the Southern Jubilee, even though we have an admixture of religions, Baptist, Methodist and Episcopalian Presbyterian, AMECE, you name them. Here with the Nation of Islam, there is not the level of biracial activity that I'm sure all of us would have wanted to have seen. But understand one thing that you made the attempt, you did not close the door. It is not your fault that this audience is as it is. However, this audience is as beautiful as any audience I ever have seen anywhere.
Speaker 3:
Whenever the colored people as we are called or Negroes, as we are called, Afro-American as we are called. Bilalian as I choose to be called, whenever we get together, there's beauty radiating from our faces. G-d has made us beautiful. It's not because of the blackness of our skin that we are beautiful, but it's because we understand the blackness of the human heart that we are beautiful. We understand the depths of darkness and ignorance and coldness that can take over human beings heart. So whenever there's an opportunity for us to get close to each other, we just light up. G-d has made us over centuries, over many, many generations, over thousands of years, G-d has made us into a beautiful people. A people that once we find a hole or a nook or a corner to come together in as brothers and sisters, we light up. Because the forces of society has held us down and kept us away from warmness for so long.
If G-d bless us to find it, we show G-d we appreciate it. Now I'm not saying that you of any special race in any physical sense, but certainly you are a special race in a human sense. And you are special in that sense simply because the forces of the world have made you special. Some men are destroyed by prison, by enslavement, by abuses, by cruelty. Some men are destroyed and there are some men that are made better by the trials and tribulations. We as the people we have survived many cruel and horrible, inhuman, unbelievable experiences.
And we have come out of it with the spirit of the Prophet, a spirit that says I won't die in any form other than the human form. The religious leadership has failed the world. I'm not here to condemn a church, or a Mosque, or a Synagogue. I'm here to condemn religious leadership. I'm here to tell you what life is all about. G-d said He made two legs for you to use, not one. G-d didn't make any one legged peg legged human beings. G-d gave us two legs. He gave us spiritual balance and material balance and He said, go out with your spiritual force that's greater than the whole material creation and use it up. Isn't that what he said? Replenish the earth, use up the physical resources, use them up. G-d knew that you can't use them up. He said, go out to traverse the boundaries of the heavens and the earth.
Escape the earth if you can. So you can't do it unless you have great knowledge and power. But G-d didn't say you couldn't do it, did He? He said gone on out. Traverse the boundaries of the heavens and earth, escape the earth going out there in the sky. He said but you can't do it unless you have great knowledge and power. G-d wanted us to get great knowledge and power. That Caucasian so-called Gentile people, they got great great knowledge and power. They went up there and sat down on the moon. Now they have set some kind of container on Mars. And Russia is bringing one back I hear. But what has the Church, the Synagogue and the Mosque done? Sit around here and talk about Nicodemus,
Imam WD Mohammed:
So this is indeed the work of AImighty G-d. It is something that I wanted, but I didn't know when it would come. If I just saw some sign that it would come after my death, I would've been happy. But here it is in our lifetime we see brothers and sisters coming together because of what we recognize in each other's hearts and are not separated by the lack of communication that is brought about by different tongues. We all have tongues of our own and every man and every woman speaks with his own or her own tongue. Likewise for groups, religious groups or what have you. We all develop our own tongues. And sometimes when we speak, we can't understand ourselves the language that we are speaking. And someone has to come and tell us, say look, your tongue is different, but the language is the same. So we have had a different tongue, but now we are discovering that our language is the same. And that's the language of peace, love, togetherness, work, progress. And these are the things that all of us want. And these are the things that's going to make us happy. Not up in the sky, in the by and by, but right now here on Earth.
And for the time that I'll be here with you as the guest of our dear brother and friend Pastor Barrett. And believe me, I feel like I'm one of you. Whenever I go among people who believe in Almighty G-d, who are working to improve the conditions of human beings and who are trying to do that together, not vying with each other with bitterness, but working together and competing with each other with love in their hearts for the progress of the whole. When I come among people like that, I feel like I'm one of them. So I don't belong to the Nation of Islam. I belong to people who believe in G-d and who work for righteousness. And as long as the Nation of Islam supports that, then I'll be with the Nation of Islam. But the moment they indicate that they're not going to support that, then I'll have to go with my people and they'll be somewhere else.
Speaker 1:
The Chief Imam's mission is not a local mission, it's a world mission. WD Mohammed is the man to bring the whole of humanity back to G-d's truth through moral guidance and divine wisdom. His world mission has taken him to South America, Central America, the Far East Africa and the Middle East. As we look towards the future, we eagerly await what new directions that our G-d inspired leader, the Honorable WD Mohammed will move us in. Who could foreseen that Bilalians would've come this far in only two years? WD Mohammed is the Mujeddid of the World Community of Islam in the West. He has opened up new frontiers. All nations, all creeds, all colors, all of humanity is invited to embrace Islam and come to pure worship of Allah. Come to Islam, come to success. One of the outstanding pioneers of the World Community of Islam in the West Sheik James Shabazz remembers the historic Umrah to Mecca.
James Shabazz:
There were so many Muslims gathered there and they were all in a circle around the Ka'ba and there were just tears. There were just circles and circles on top of circles of Muslims all around the Ka'ba. And it was the most impressive sight that you eyes could ever witness. To see that when the call was made for prayer, they all assembled in a circle around the Ka'ba. And everybody is bending and bowing in unison during the rakats. And you could just imagine the impressive sight, thousands and thousands of Muslims all bending down in unison and saying these prayers together. It was the most awe inspiring and most impressive sight that I've ever experienced in all my life. But it is an experience that will, I will cherish in all the days of my life because it is something that every Muslims wants to experience. To one day visit the holy city and make the circuit around the Ka'ba and kiss the black stone.
Speaker 1:
Treasurer Haqq also accompanied the Chief Imam on his trip to the Middle East.
John Abdul Haqq:
When you see that kind of love for your brother, what you love for yourself, you see it coming out there because they just accept you. They just accept you like you a blood brother or a blood sister. It's really beautiful. It really showed me something. Some of them were quite a different color than us from just all shades white. They don't even think about it. They don't know colors. All colors, brown, black, whatever color. But that one thing stood out in my mind. They love for their brother what they love for their self. And that's what we have to get into, the spirit of Islam. When we say we are Muslims, it's an oath to G-d,
Imam WD Mohammed:
Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. We ask Allah's choicest blessings upon Muhammad, his descendants, upon the followers, the righteous, all of them. We ask that Allah strengthen this community, guide this community. Bless us with more light and understanding and unify us as a strong group of people that will answer the call of the Holy Qur'an. Let there arise from among you a group of people inviting to all that is good and warning against all that is bad, evil and corrupt. How many of us are strong enough to openly confess good wherever it is, openly and boldly stand up against wrong and evil, filth and indecency wherever it is? How many of us are that strong? So Alah has asked us to do this and we can do it. We can do it. We are going to do it because we want to do it, because we love it, because we've been wanting it for so long. As I stand here right now before you, I don't believe in spooks, but I almost can feel the presence of an ancestor of mine that passed away 200 and 400 years ago, a thousand years ago. I almost can feel their presence here now saying, gone on boy, this is what we prayed for.
Speaker 8:
We're going to do it. Because it's what we want, it's what we've been wanting. It's what we've been starving for. It's what we have to have in our lives. We're going to do it because it's right. Because it's just, because It's plain and simple and easy for everybody to live and understand it. We're going to do it because many people who can't reach it who want it just like we want it. We're going to do it for them We're going to do it because it's time to do it.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. Oh Allah bless the community of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Bless this community to grow and prosper and strengthen those who contribute and sacrifice themselves for this cause. And defeat the efforts of those who work against it and render their works of no effect. And give us the victory that you promised to your servant, your slave servant Prophet Muhammad. And give us the strength to always recognize your presence among us and your ever flowing graces into our lives. And give us the strength to acknowledge truth whenever it manifest forth, And give us the strength to pursue truth and righteousness and never turn back in our ignorance and in our weaknesses to that dark, filthy, confused troubled life that you blessed us to come out of. Give us in this world, the excellent things and in the future world the excellent things And save us from the punishment of the fire. Ameen.

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