10/22/1997
IWDM Study Library
Islam
University of Minneapolis MN

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As Salaamu Alaikum, Peace Be Unto You.  We Praise G-d, the Lord, Creator, Sustainer of the  Universe, who cherishes his creation and cares about everyone of us.  We thank him for the guidance that came to us through Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, the Prayers and Peace Be Upon Him.
“Islam “ has been the agent in our life here in America to bring a people, a following, from nowhere to somewhere.   Most of the followers during the 30’s, 40’s and 60’s were poor in many ways: culturally poor, poor in the pocket and poor in the head, but sincere, believing there is a G-d, there is a responsible G-d, a G-d that holds Himself responsible to do justice or to have done justice done by His creatures.  
We believe that very strongly, as did the Christians, who came like we did from slavery to freedom in this country; but not justice.  I would like to describe that following you know now as the “Nation of Islam” members, as a sincere following, G-d fearing following--no matter how they imagined G-d, were taught to view G-d, or how they conceived G-d. They were G-d fearing people.  I was one of them.  I know.  My mother and father were among them, all my brothers and sisters, so I know.  I would like to describe them as people of faith, poor but not content to be poor.
We were unlearned, uneducated, ignorant, illiterate, most of us, but not content to be so.  Most of us survived to see the change come, when religion would be introduced to us properly and we would be able to decide for ourselves whether we wanted to be Muslims or not--Muslims not just in name; but Muslims in our spirit, Muslims in our thinking, Muslims in our religious practices and Muslims in our personal behavior.
One thing we did learn from the teaching and training received as members of the Nation of Islam (under Elijah Muhammad) whose most able spokesperson was Malcolm X or El Hajj Malcolm Shabazz, was to be responsible for ourselves, and to not blame others for our condition and wait on others to give us help; to do something about our condition ourselves and, also, demand the full rights of citizenship.
Our development in America has been a development that can best be viewed through our growth or through our expressions--expressions of what we want out of life. And if you would read the back page of a MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, if you could get one of those old issues, or if you could read in the paper of the Nation of Islam under Minister Farrakhan called “Final Call”, a list of what Muslims want, you would see that Muslims even without the purity or true concepts of the Qur’an---Muslims under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam wanted very much what the great majority of African Americans or blacks in this country want--a descent life and respect from society that is given to whites.  That’s what we wanted, a descent life, an opportunity to live and grow in this country; to live in this country and grow as whites have done.
When we came from the religion of the Nation of Islam (I have to put it this way because the religion of the Nation of Islam was not the religion of the Qur’an)-we might call it “black nationalist theology”, a theology serving the promotion of black nationalism-to the Qur’anic teachings, we made a big, big turn.  And I (speaking for myself and when I speak for myself I think I’m speaking for a great majority in our association of Muslims and even for some in Farrakhan’s association), when I say we made a big turn, I mean exactly that.  We made a big, big turn, a turn that opened up our minds and made us comfortable in our souls, comfortable in our hearts, and opened up our hearts so we could receive more suffering people who suffered like us, were denied like us, were lonely like us and were lost like many of us in our own hearts.
It freed us to identify with ourselves better, within our own selves better.  The teachings on religion in the Nation of Islam put us in a strained situation; denied us freedom of thought, denied us freedom of rational thought.  It didn’t impose that upon us directly, but imposed circumstances that compelled us to impose that on ourselves.
I would say, “I’d better stop thinking that way” (I would say it silently in my heart). I would be pursuing something with my intelligence and I saw it was going to bring me into conflict with some of the basic religious teachings of the Nation of Islam, so I would check myself...I’d say, “I had better stop thinking that way” and I would refuse to think that way. So I evidenced that.  It denied freedom of rational thought while at the same time inviting us to question everything---to question everything.  That’s what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us, to question everything.
If you could see our history from 1931 until today (the Nation of Islam under Farrakhan) you would see a movement, a progression from one way of expressing ourselves, to a more open and more acceptable way of expressing ourselves. Circumstances in this country changing to favor African Americans, encouraging them to have more hope, have forced the voice of the Nation of Islam to change.  Even the agenda of the Nation of Islam has undergone change.  The agenda in the 30’s and the 40’s was not the same as the agenda in the early 50’s when Malcolm came along, through the 60’s, until the leader died (may G-d forgive him his errors and give him paradise). It’s not the same the agenda. It has changed.
The expressions have changed, to make the voice of the Nation of Islam more acceptable to the American public and the agenda changed, to promise more practical life and progress for the following of the Nation of Islam in America. Why am I giving you this background?  I’m giving you this background so you will understand us now, today. We now identify with the religion of Islam as believed in by over a billion people on this earth.  Muslims everywhere believe in Islam as it is given in the holy book of Muslims, the Qur’an, and in the life example of Muhammed the Prophet, to whom this book was revealed by G-d Almighty, the Creator.
We now identify with them with no difference.  We don’t accept to differ with them at all.  We are happy and we are free. Allah has freed us when He allowed us to repent our ways and to embrace the Qur’an and accept it, wholly, without differing with it.  Allah freed us.  So we are proud to say, we are happy to say that we believe exactly the way Muslims believe all over the earth, except for a few others here in America who were given a “nationalistic theology” or “nationalist theology”, in the name of Islam.  Yes, we believe the same.  
 And now that we believe the same we want to embrace all American citizens who are well-meaning, who want the good life for all citizens.  We want to embrace all of you.  It is not sentimental.  Islam has brought us to a rational position.  Our position is a rational one. Yes, there are some emotions in it. It has to be, because we are all human beings. So, we care about each other as human beings, as members of the human family. But our position has changed from looking at whites as our enemies, to now looking at whites as our fellow citizens. It has changed from our looking at Christianity as a religion to do harm to us. We are looking at Christians as “People of the Book”, mentioned in our holy scriptures and we’re wanting more than just to get acquainted with you and to dialogue.  We want to look for opportunities to work with you for the good life that all of us want.
We want to join you.  Islam has done that. The Qur’an has done that.  The example of Muhammed who showed us how to live the Qur’an has done that.  We call it the sunnah of the Prophet. It has done that.
In our development we have come from an incorrect perception of Islam to a correct perception of Islam and it has been made possible by the support of the Qur’an (the holy book of G-d). Our agenda now is not an agenda for blacks, only, but an agenda for Muslims who belong to the family of human beings.  So whatever we work for we want to share it with others. It is for everybody. 
This is Islam and Muhammed, the Prophet. He is not just a prophet or messenger of G-d for Muslims. Where do I get this from? 
G-d says in our holy book that Muhammed is an excellent model for anyone. Model means he shows you an excellent picture of human life. It says he is an excellent model for any person who believes in G-d and the last day.  It didn’t say for Muslims.  It didn’t say Muhammed is an excellent model for Muslims, for Arabs.  G-d says Muhammad is an excellent model for any person who believes in G-d and the last day. Why does it say, “Believe in G-d and the last day”?  Why are these tied together? Because there are many people who believe in G-d, but don’t believe in being accountable to G-d, or their life habits tell us that they don’t register on their mind, in their brain, the importance of being accountable to G-d. But among Christians, Jews, Muslims and some other religions, there is the belief inherent in the follower of that religion, that G-d knows me, sees me and holds me accountable for my life, how I live it.  They believe one day they will have to meet their Lord and answer for the way they lived on this earth.
So, such people are really the people of faith. They are believers in “truth”. For them our Prophet is an example, an excellent example of how G-d wants us to live on this earth, just as he is for Muslims. This is an important part of our development in America. For us to come from where we came to accept this speaks for our development in America.  This belief frees us up.  For G-d, highly glorified is He, leaves us to earn rewards. We couldn’t have planned this. G-d leaves us to earn rewards.  
If we wanted to get the full benefit of citizenship in this country and have an opportunity in this country, likes whites, have more than just rights, but responsibility for our rights, we would have to identify as citizens of America, with this land, and with the traditional excellence of its people, in order for us to realize that.  I don’t care what is written in the constitution. I don’t care what amendment is added to the constitution to protect our rights.  We will never have responsibility for our rights (and I will make this clear as I go) without identifying with this land, as citizens of this land and having a genuine, sincere interest in making a positive, healthy contribution to this land as citizens working side by side and with other citizens who share the same idea, who share the same concern. We would not be able to have it.
No matter how much we accumulate-wealth, property, whatever-it would be temporary. It would be lost.  There have been many attempts to establish wealth in America by African Americans but with a separatist idea and the leaders have died and all of their labor has gone away, been lost.  The only way it can remain for the generations to inherit it behind us, is that we have to be citizens of these United States, holding as valuable and precious our citizenship and working for the full rights and benefits of all citizens in this country.
Islam has freed us to have that.  We don’t have to be enemies of the government.  We should join Christians who want to see their government better and Jews and others who want to see their government better.  And we should work as citizens valuing the American traditional excellence for better government.  We should work for better government and not to be enemies of the government.  This is our new position, a position that we came to only after we came to understand what Islam is and what G-d really wants of us in terms of our life and how we live it on this earth.
Our agenda now is not to have the Temple of Islam, the Nation of Islam, Muslim businesses, our own schools, without also having an interest in the public school system, in the business community on our block, in our neighborhood.  We now see our life as a life that can co-exist with the life of our fellow citizens who outnumber us greatly. On our agenda now is a plan to develop neighborhoods, where African Americans, Muslims, will contribute greatly to the health and stability and progress of those neighborhoods, where Muslims will be a factor in increasing the presence of minority businesses in those neighborhoods, will be a factor in keeping the neighborhoods healthy and safe.
Islam is conditioning us to want that responsibility.  Now, we know we have personalities, individuals, who are African American, black, who achieve much more then the average European American or white American has achieved for themselves; for the dignity of their group they belong to; or for the pride of their group they belong to. Oprah Winfrey, for example, and many others. I read an article recently where the writer was saying that Oprah Winfrey may be the first African American billionaire.  This is great progress for the individual person, but when it comes to “group progress” we don't have it. As a people, we don’t have great progress.  We are still too dependent on the outside for help.  And where we fail the most today is not where we were failing yesterday, during the days of DuBois, Booker T. Washington and others.
We fail today when it comes to personal pride in one’s moral excellence.  We used to be proud of being a descent person, proud of not being a thief. We were proud. We wouldn’t lie. We wouldn’t steal. We wouldn’t join a criminal gang. We used to be proud of our moral life.  Today it is not even a concern for most of the African Americans that we see in the street. The moral life is not even a concern anymore.  It is changing a little bit, because of the new trend in the whole of America. African Americans, to me, have departed from the life of excellence that was a pride in us to keep us going forward on the path of human progress.  The biggest failing for us is morals and business. I drive through Chicago, through the different ethnic neighborhoods, and I see a much stronger business presence for other ethnic groups than I see for my own race, when I come back to our neighborhoods. That has to change.
So on our agenda today is a plan to have an effort by business people, men and women in our community; an effort by business people to develop more businesses in our neighborhoods throughout this country, without government involvement. Our businessmen, we want them to hold themselves responsible. We have formed a company called Collective Purchasing Conference. We use that language “conference”, because the great benefit we get is not so much the benefit of our money as it will be the benefit of other resources we can bring to the table and share or benefit from. Many of us have a lot of education, a lot of training in business, but no business.  So we are going to come together, bring all that knowledge, all that training to the table, so all of us can benefit from it; so the little businessman who didn’t have the opportunity to go to business school to acquire that knowledge, had no opportunity to work for a corporation and learn those skills, etc., will get the benefit from one who did, by sitting at the same table as equals with his business brother who is sitting at the conference table.
We are putting our small monies together in one company, “CPC” (Collective Puchasing Conference ), and these persons are selected for their good character and their strong faith in G-d.   This is how they are selected.
If they haven’t proven to us that they have good character and strong faith in G-d, the membership is not open to them.  We won’t accept them. We want this to be an effort to increase the business life, better the business life in our neighborhoods with us being responsible for it.  We want to do this not just to have more money (We have plenty money).  If we don’t have plenty of money, then we have the life of the rich. If you don’t believe it, just go and live among the poor that don’t belong to your race and you will see, you have the life of the rich.
It is not for money that we will have more money in our hands, no.  It is so we will have more responsibility in our hands.  We are working for more and more responsibility. That’s what we are working for.  We are working to qualify for more responsibility, for more rights.  We have a right to own property in this country.  But how much property are we responsible for in this country, business property, commercial property, real estate, factories, etc.?
Elijah Mohammed strained our minds when the confined us to the small walls, small interior of the Nation of Islam temples, but yet opened our minds to be responsible for the whole earth. Yes, he told us the earth belongs to us. But if that is my property, I want to be responsible for it.  That is what Elijah Mohammed told us, that the earth belongs to the black man. 
So if the earth is my property I should be responsible for it and believe me I got that as a little child. I didn’t have any other ideas in my mind. I couldn’t say “He doesn’t really mean that. I shouldn’t take that seriously.” No.  A little child takes seriously what you tell that child, if that child believes in you. And I believed in my father.  So what he said, I took it very seriously.
He said the earth belonged to the black man, so I accepted that and said “Why does the white man have everything?” He answered that question, too, but I won’t tell you the answer he gave me. He gave it to you, too, if you remember. That was a strain on my mind.  I’m told the world belongs to me and the white man has it.  He even has my neighborhood. If you are a healthy person, a sincere person, you are going to try and break out of that.  You are going to try to get in a position where you can really understand and relate to that belief, that the earth is mine.
Now we know in Islam G-d says the earth belongs to G-d, not to us.  The earth belongs to G-d, but G-d says to us that we have a share in this earth; and G-d says, “Seek by the means that I have made available to you the destination, the life after this, the resurrection, the new life”. G-d says, “Don’t neglect your share in this earth. Don’t neglect your share in this material world.”
Well, here I come from one strange situation as a follower of the Nation of Islam teaching and then I run into similar language that is more rational. I can understand it better and it puts me on the spot. It makes me feel that I have a lot of growing to do in terms of me qualifying for more responsibility; that G-d created this earth not for whites only, but for every human being. And the Creator Who created us all, wants everyone of us to know that we are His dependents and this earth is big, and He gives us (each one of His dependents) the right to a share in this world.  
So that’s the new situation and I am not obligated by my perception of citizenship, only, to pursue my rights. Now I have a much more powerful motivation in my life. I’m obligated by G-d’s expectations. G-d expects me to do more. G-d expects me to assume more responsibility. G-d expects me to measure up, qualify for more responsibility, to not to look at one race, to be responsible and I’m not. We are all put here to be responsible and when G-d says He made the first man to be a Khalifah, to be responsible to G-d for the environment that he lives in, himself, his family, the cultivation of the land, etc., He was speaking to each and everyone of us. 
So, our agenda has grown quite a bit from the Nation of Islam agenda to the present agenda. We want to be builders of towns and cities.  We want to have business malls, business plazas with the name, “New Africa Business Plaza”. We don’t want to change Minneapolis to New Africa. No. We want Minneapolis to stay Minneapolis, but we want a business district, a street at least running about six (6) blocks, “New Africa Business Strip”, “New Africa Business Plaza”, thriving businesses that we are responsible for. That is what we want, and we want to build our identity stronger and stronger in this country. We like that idea, a nation of many, “E Pluribus Unum” ...one nation of many people, of many ethnic groups.
We like that idea because we came from a teaching and an experience that made us want to be ourselves again.  We were brought from Africa. We were Africans.  We were put in slavery. We were slaves and we lost awareness of just who we are, or just who we should be.  Our religion has brought us to feel comfortable again, that we are just to be excellent human beings, whether we are black as coal or as white as snow. So we are comfortable now with the healthy perception of ourselves as the creation of G-d-human.  And now we want to build upon that human identity with an African American mind and taste for what is excellent for the human person.
So, we hope that this new business effort by our outstanding business persons will also contribute to a growth of ethnic identity, where our businessmen and not just parents will be influencing the dress trends, influencing the menu (what we are going to eat this evening), influencing how we express ourselves through art, music, dance, theatre, etc. We believe that G-d wants to give us back our life and Islam is our help.





		


			
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