12/04/1993
IWDM Study Library
A Call for Human Excellence in America Philadelphia PA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Praise be to Allah. Al-humdulila Thank you.
Thank you and praise be to Allah, that is the one G-d. We witness that there is but one Lord, the Creator and we witness that Muhammad to whom the Quran was revealed, is the last prophet, servant messenger of G-d. We recognize first our Lord Creator who is G-d. We thank him. We seek His help for the results that we desire. We also recognize the servants of G-d and we know that among those who have made this possible today, are servants of G-d.
We respect very highly our sponsors that have sacrificed from their resources to give support and make possible this occasion here in Philadelphia. We appreciate also the Imams that have come here from other cities to witness this occasion. We appreciate the support that you have given by your presence here today. And we appreciate every one of you that have taken from your time, taken from your interest, and have come here today to be here for this occasion.
We appreciate very much Imam Muhammad Abdul-Aleem and his strong Islamic leadership here in the city of Philadelphia and Masjidullah, his supporters. We also very happy to see very courageous Muslim present with us today who sacrifice much to advance the cause of Al-Islam and to help the small and weak brothers and sisters and persons of this city and that is, Imam Shamsuddin Ali. We appreciate all of you again for your good work.
I recall being in this city myself as the Minister, with the honorable Elijah Mohammed in late 1958, 1959, 1960 and I believe part of 1961. I'm aware that some of you and I have met two or three of you are ready that I was association with during those years in 1960. It is indeed a great feeling, a warm feeling for me to see your faces and I wish you always the best. I remember you and I'm sure that you remember me because sometimes I'll be hurting so bad.
I know I'm getting a prayer from Philadelphia sent to G-d for me from somewhere. And we love each other as Muslims, we remember each other as Muslims and we pray for each other that G-d always keeps us in the best condition, keep His mercy on us. Guide us always in the path of righteousness. The path of service to Allah, keep the faith, be Muslim, that's our prayer.
We say praise is for G-d and we ask G-d that the prayers and the peace upon the Last Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu alaiha wa salaam. We pray also that peace and blessings be on us.
People, brothers, and sisters of faith and I will include those who may be among us. I'm sure your very few in number if you are here who have lost faith and regard themselves now as not a believer. Also, I say this to you, peace to you, peace to you.
Again, As Salaam Alaikum--
Congregation: As Salaam Alaikum.
Our scriptures and I'm speaking of the major scriptures given to the people called Jews by the prophet Moses and other prophets, peace be upon the prophets, scriptures that we call the Bible common to Christian community and scripture that we call Koran more properly "Qur'an" the Qur'an, that came to Muhammad about 1400 and a few years ago. These scriptures promise that correction have to come where errors have been made in religion and in society.
We have seen many corrections, we know of many corrections that have been made since those scriptures made the promise to us. The three communities and others joining them, Jewish Community, Christian community and the Muslim community have made great progress in spite of the interruption for that progress over the centuries. These three communities have made great progress for the human destiny. I would like to say destiny is a term common to the west. I like to say the human purpose.
When we say the purpose, the human purpose, we mean the human destiny. G-d says which I hope you'll understand as we go on. G-d says in our holy book that He created the human being for His worship. And we believe that nothing promotes excellence in persons, in individual human being and in this society, the societies of the world more than dedication to the worship or the service of G-d. The understanding comes when we get the simple understanding of what worship of G-d is, worship of G-d is the best service to yourself and other human beings.
Worship of G-d is giving the best service I repeat, to yourself and people, to yourself and people. When you best yourself and best serve people at large, you are giving the best worship for G-d. We have a religion, we have religious rights. We have daily duties to perform as Muslims. All of these duties, all of these rituals that we go through, a service to Allah. If we don't make improvement upon our life, if we don't respect the gift of life to us from G-d.
If we don't respect that gift in other people and make contribution unselfishly so that others benefit from our work also, then we have no worship. We have no worship. We have no worship, we have no contribution to G-d. In our religion we are told that we are the best community evolved, or brought out of ignorance, darkness, brought out of the worldly confusion. We are the best community brought out for the people. Antum khaira ummatan ukrijat lin nas. You who speak Arabic you understood what I said.
G-d speaking to us as Muslims, you are the best community brought out or evolved for the people, “lin nas” for the people and those translators of the Arabic language, those scholars in Al-Islam, they translate that to mean all people, An-Nas means all people. Nas, people. An-Nas, all people. You are the best community brought out for all people. Now, what is this saying? Is this something to flatter Muslims, to make us get big headed, to make us think ourselves better than other people? No. That would be against the character of Muslims. This is to tell us that G-d, when He gives us purpose, He wants us to understand that that purpose is to be of use to the whole family of human beings.
Be of service, be of use to the whole family of human beings. We may think that's a very big task. I have a hard-enough time just taking care of myself, my child, or taking care of myself and my wife and little obligations, and private obligations that we have. It's enough for me just to manage that.
If you managed that very well. Even less than that. If you manage the care of your own self individually, you are making a contribution to all people. Whenever any one of us neglects our own welfare, neglects our own care, we are putting burden on other people. Who's going to take care of us when we can't take care of ourselves.
We expect other people will do that. It's the smallest amount of service we give unselfishly for the betterment of even our own personal self, the individual. We are also making a contribution to people at large but the better understanding of this is to do it consciously. To work to keep yourself in good position so that you don't be a burden upon others.
Do it not only in your own interest but in the interest of others, so you don't cause your close relatives, your parents, your close relatives, your children, your close relatives to suffer because of the neglect they see in your personal life. When we take and bring into our consciousness, into our mind's eye, our relationship and place too and our place in the humanity in the whole humanity, we are in the best situation to do good by ourselves and to do good by others.
And our deeds then are much more valuable in the society and much more valuable in the eyes of G-d. The world is facing many serious problems. We know that and we know that promoting human excellence in individuals and in the community is an easy and simple way to bring all of the good energies, all of the good forces to work together for the betterment of each and every one of us and for the betterment of our communities.
We know that promoting excellence is the easy way and a sure way to get results everywhere for everybody. We know that and I believe that excellence is what G-d wants us all to promote. Whether we belong to one religion or another, our Lord, the one G-d wants us to promote excellence in ourselves and in the society.
Our Prophet said and I'm giving you this now, that it be added to what I said when I quoted our scripture by saying that we are the best community brought out or evolved for all people. The prophet said, "The best of you is the one who is most useful to mankind. The best of you is the one who is most useful to mankind."
Now if we didn't understand what Allah says when He says the best community, you are the best community, you are the best community brought out for the good of all people or for the good of mankind. We certainly shouldn't have any doubts when we put beside that what the prophet said himself. Because the prophet has been raised up or the prophet was missioned and raised up, and taught to help us understand what G-d revealed in the Quran.
He is the one who gives us the first commentary on the Quran. The first lesson in understanding the Quran, the prophet himself. His life is that assistance to us, for us to understand and have the best commentary on the Quran, the best explanation of the Quran, our holy book. When the prophet says, "The best of you “khairakum man yanfa al-nas”. The best of you is who best benefits the people or all people with his deeds, with his behavior, with his efforts, with his resources. That's how we are to benefit. Now, how does this work psychologically? That's how it works. It works psychologically. It will benefit anybody if they just accept that and start doing it but most of us are not going to accept it and start doing it for one reason or another. How does it work? It works psychologically. When you have a bigger purpose to serve, you are able to produce more.
More for yourself and more for others. The smaller your interest, the smaller your purpose, the smaller your energy, the smaller your output, the smaller your works. Now, do we have any proof for this? Yes, we thought, we were excited. We thought communism was going to be around here forever. We thought Russia and its challenge to the Free World would be around forever. But now there's no talk, no worry. The Soviet Union has dissolved as a Communist Bloc.
The Communist Bloc, pardon me correction has dissolved and we don't feel the need to even think about that much anymore. There were other ideologies that Nations, men gave their support to. They've come and they've gone. What has stayed, the G-d-fearing societies, the G-d-fearing communities, the G-d-fearing Nations. They have stayed, they endure, they survive. Now, looking also at our benefits that we have received from individuals and from Nations.
If we would look at the benefit of wealth and science that we have, that we enjoy as Nations not just this Nation, but all the nations around. Even China, even red China. To what societies is owing credit for the benefits that we enjoy? G-d-fearing Societies is the correct answer. G-d-fearing Societies. When we look at the great progress that was made for the world by that revival of interest in knowledge and science brought on 1400 years ago by Al-Islam, the Quran and our prophet and the scholars that developed under him under the Quran and under the teachings of our Prophet.
When we look at that great progress that was brought on for the sciences, mathematics, medicine, astronomy et cetera, we must point to the Quran the reveal book and we must point to the prophet of G-d, the last prophet of G-d, Muhammad and say, "That is why. That is why." Western Civilization does not deny that it was that revival of interest in knowledge and science that sparked interest in the West and brought about that Revival called the Renaissance. The renaissance that took place in Europe, bringing Europe out of its dark ages, out of its slumber, mental slumber. To make great strides to progress even until today, the West is a very advanced nation, or group of nations in science, in higher knowledge and in science. Also, we must add now technology but who gets the credit? I repeat, who are we to give the credit to? Atheistic nations? Communist nation? No. Religious nations.
This is very important to know. I am not trying to present something to you without any rational foundation to it. I'm presenting something to you with a strong rational foundation. There is proof, real proof for what I am presenting to you today. I'm saying to you that if you or any nation, or any group, a business group, an educational group, no matter what kind of group, an entertainment Group, if you will make your purpose the purpose G-d created for you, if you will recognize that there is a Lord Creator that's responsible for everything that exists and not only responsible for everything that exists, but responsible for the good performance of everything that exists.
Don't you know our brain cannot form well if it had not been created well? Nothing that we have could not perform well for us if it had not been created well. That's why G-d says He is the One who created and thereafter gave guidance. The One who created clocked into His creation, that guidance for that creation. Now, if you are a student of anatomy or a student of biology or any other science, take the particular thing that you study and consider it, the knowledge that you have given in your studies come out of that particular thing that you're studying. The knowledge for how to improve human life is already clocked into designed into the creation or the person, the body, the person himself or herself. If you are a doctor who doctors on animals, your knowledge come out of the study of those animals.
If you are a scientist of plants or an astronomist you study the stars. If you an agriculturalist you study the plants et cetera. Can we boast really? Can we boast really without acknowledging that not only the creation supports us but the creation also holds the knowledge, the guidance, the science et cetera that supports us? This is the way to look at G-d. We have been silly minded in religion. Having only an emotional appreciation for G-d. We have to have a rational appreciation for G-d. We have to have a scientific appreciation for G-d and people if that can catch far, if that can catch on in the African American people, we will get up from the bottom and rise constantly, until we can compete, until we rise to a position where we compete with others. I mean any other.

Nothing has accounted for the progress and advances of a people more than what I am sharing with you right here. I am no special man but I do have a special interest in you but I'm no special man. Many men have this understanding, many men know these things but I make it my business to say these things to public gatherings. What hurts us and holds us back from reaching the great purpose and great destiny or great potential that G-d has created us for is mostly the attitude and treatment that we get from leaders and from establishment.
They treat us as though we are just little children that can't be trusted with rational maturity. That we only can be trusted with our hearts and our emotional makeup. That we can't be trusted with rational maturity. To me as I understand religion, that is oppressive, that's against what G-d intended for us, whether they’re doing it purposely or knowingly or not. They are oppressing us when they regard us as emotional people with only feeling with only hearts and we are not to be addressed or identified as people of intellect, as people of brains and intelligence because that will make trouble for the society. This is the attitude whether they're doing it in ignorance or not.
They fear to encourage an appreciation for knowledge, reasoning, science, nature, and its purpose given to it by its Creator G-d. They fear to give us that-- to sensitize us that way. They fear but look, nations have risen, come up and they've fallen. It hasn't been because the people were given knowledge. It has been because the leaders didn't trust the people with knowledge. There was a president that you don't have much respect for but I do because I see him in its totality and not just in one facet of his self and that is Ronald Reagan.
The President Ronald Reagan, he went to a communist country and he told them to trust their people. Now at that time they were communist. He said, "Trust your people." Now I don't think he was trusting his people enough back home but I appreciate him telling them to trust their people. Certainly, the west democracy, our form of democracy by its very nature forces our leaders to respect their people more but our form of democracy permits the individual to have been represented by representatives and to speak his piece, voice his complaints through his representative and be heard at the top level of government through his representatives.
This kind of democracy permits all of us to have a voice or at least to have an opportunity to have our voice heard and believe me, this is Islamic democracy too even though we have been set back and we've been cut off from the understanding of the precious ideas and principles in our religion. I'm talking about Muslims of the world now not us here in America, Muslims of the world. But we have these problems. The answer is to believe in something bigger than yourself.
The answer is to see yourself as part of a bigger entity and to know that yourself can only have fulfillment, purpose and a good life if you seek to establish yourself in the big entity. No human being can have a good life without trying to establish him or herself in community. That's the purpose G-d has for us. The individual is himself the seed for the community, everything that we can get for our community or bring out for our community or produce for our community or achieve for our community is already in the individual, the seed for the community.
Now maybe you know, everything won't come out of one of us, everything that the earth produce doesn't come out on one plant or one animal. It comes out of all of the life so it is for the human life, everything that the human community needs won't come out of any one individual but sometimes enough comes through one individual to save a whole community. And to give guidance and longevity to a whole community. That is because that person is a unique person, like the prophets and the most unique one of all of them, in our opinion and in the Muslim opinion is Muhammad the prophet himself because he's the last of them, the completion of them. He is the fulfillment of them, the completion of them. He comes not as a part of prophecy, but he comes to fulfill the whole of prophecy and to make the whole prophecy work well for the whole humanity not part of humanity, but the whole humanity. Because of the uniqueness of that particular human being, that particular human being comes with the Word of G-d, but not by himself. He comes with the Word of G-d. He could not do that by himself. With the word of G-d, he comes and he's able to give birth to a whole new order of society that we call the Muslim society. In spite of all attempts by other ideologies to uproot, to destroy, to wipe out, to silence the voice of the Quran, the voice of Al-Islam.
Al-Islam still prospers, Al-Islam has not lost really Al-Islam has not lost ground, Al-Islam has gained ground. I tell you that not to convert you to Al-Islam, I tell you that in hopes that you will have more faith in yourself. But why did the scripture point us to men prophets like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Peace be upon the prophets, so that we will be able to have faith in the G-d of those prophets, who is also the G-d of us.
So, that we will have the faith in the G-d that created those prophets and guided those prophets who's also the G-d that created us and is always ready to guide us. To guide us by their light, but also to guide us by our own creation. No matter how much faith you have in someone outside of yourself, until the light turns on within yourself and there is a generator, generating energy for you within, you're not going to have much. It works psychologically I said, it works psychologically.
It works well for me in a practical way and a direct way. When I say psychologically, I mean in a direct way. Works without us knowing it's working. We have problems with drugs, problems of violence, problems of joblessness and young men who go to school. They are told to go to school, go to college, but they are not told that it's going to be employment for them when they complete their studies.
Young men that know there are less opportunities for employment now than there was 15, 20, 30 years ago. Young men that are told there may not be any job you. So, these are real serious problems. We know as believers in G-d and as students of the Quran, or Scripture, we know that the resources that G-d has made available are unlimited resources. We know that the wealth that G-d has created is more than enough for the number of people on this earth.
We don't have to have any dictatorship socialists, dictatorship forcing those of more means to share more of their means with those who have not to solve the problem. We know that if we can just some way invite people and they respond, invite the jobless people and they respond. Invite them to come to a bigger understanding of their reality in this world. Invite them to come to the real understanding of their creation and its purpose on this earth. If we can invite them to come to that and have faith in the Lord G-d who created them that He created them not for idleness, He created them for production.
He didn't create them for emotional nonsense. He created them for a rational and tactical life. If we can invite them to that and they respond, we're going to have individuals that can't be held back by bad circumstances all around them. They will fight those bad circumstances. They will conquer those bad circumstances. They will take into their charge, into their own control, the future circumstances not only for themselves but for others too.
They will do that when they are charged with the right sense of being and purpose on this earth. They will do that. I'm not saying everyone will do it at the same degree but we all will be motivated and that's what I think we need to motivate excellence. If we want to motivate excellence in society. The best way to do it is to tell them the truth about their reality on this earth. You are not just here as a dog, a cat, a monkey or happy jack or something, you're here because of G-d, Lord of the sun, moon and stars.
Who created galaxies that are so vast and so many no man, no matter how much science he has in astronomy area, and no matter how powerful a microscope he has, no man knows the boundaries of this universe. No man.

G-d made it and G-d says that He inscribed or prescribed. Inscribed and prescribed excellence for everything, for everything. We know these problems are real and we have to have support for organizations and for legislation representatives and legislation aimed at ending the problem. Problems of drugs, problems of violence, problems of idle youth, self-destructive youth, hand guns et cetera.
This is not to take away at all from the criticalness of these issues and the need for us to support those who are addressing the issues and doing something about it or tried to do something about it. But I say we will go on and on forever addressing problems and fighting bad developments and complaining on and on forever. Seeing little or no change for ourselves or for society at large. Unless we come to see our reality, and that reality can't be seen just looking at ourselves out in our own little small circle.
We have to see ourselves in our reality in the context of the creation that G-d Himself made. As much I would like to say to you but some of it may be too difficult for many of you in the audience but for many of you it will be too difficult. I'm going to try to keep it real simple and real easy. I'm not going to ask you to strain your mind and try to instantly become a philosopher but we know the free thinkers they preceded the scientific thinkers. The free thinkers preceded or went before the scientific thinkers. So, if we can do no more than just free your mind to have faith in your own ability to think and think freely, we would have accomplished something and that's what we need to do. We need to think and think freely. In this society and the circumstances that we are surrounded by Allah under, when we think of free, we think of freedom for life as we proceed life, human life. So, if you want freedom for life as the public or as the streets of America, proceed life, if you want freedom for that, you're already got too much freedom for that. That's causing a lot of the problem, you want freedom for that life, you want freedom for the life that G-d desire in you. Freedom for the life that G-d created for you. That means freedom for the heart that G-d wants you to have. Freedom for the brain that G-d wants you to have. Freedom for the spirit that G-d wants you to have. That kind of freedom have made giants of men and women, that kind of freedom have made great strides for civilizations.
In Al-Islam, we have an identity given to us of what is human. So, if we say human excellence, that can mean no more than us to us than our appreciation for human person, human being, human excellence.
I'm sure that when some of you heard that this occasion was about promoting excellence and that Imam W. Deen Mohammed was going to be here speaking on human excellence in America, how to promote human excellence in America, for some of you it meant just being a nice person on human excellence, being a nice person, being good. You were just looking at the emotional side or the moral side of human creation.
The human creation is essentially moral and rational. Moral life develops in the emotional life. That's where it develops first, in emotional life. One side we have the emotional life, on the other side we have to rationalize life. In the emotional life, morals develop until these morals strain for further development and have to appeal to the rational life for further development.
When these moral urges, can go no further in the emotional life and began to appeal to the rational side of our life, for further development, then we have the beginning there the process of what we call ethical life. Ethical life combines moral nature and also rational nature, ethical life. The person who is very moral and very the strongly moral and a good example of a moral person on the first level, the elementary level can't handle the problems of ethics for the Senate or for some other intellectual body of men and women.
Why? Because they don't have rational development. They don't have the logic developed in them that we get from the sciences to understand how to address ethical issues and give ethical guidance or make ethical improvements. The G-d that created us didn’t intend for us to be forever dependent upon the emotional side of our life. The G-d that created us wanted us to evolve in a higher level of life, to have that rebirth that will enable us to find our destiny and purpose, to come into the rational life and with the support of the moral life coming to the rational life so we can raise the moral issues to higher and more significant circles of effect, impact, et cetera.
Is this understandable what I'm saying to you? I hope it is.

A society is oppressive, when it denies that there is G-d. A society is even more oppressive when it says G-d is an idol. G-d is an animal. G-d is the force of nature. G-d is a woman. G-d is a man. Now, society is even more oppressive. Why? Because society, the superego influence is imposing upon the ignorant person a very, very incorrect idea of G-d. If society didn't do that, G-d has already equipped every person.
Every baby is born with a nature to better and better understand G-d as it grows up and learn more about itself and its environment. No society has come to believe that stones, animals or other flesh, is G-d without an oppressor leading that movement. Oppressors led such movement. That's why in our religion in our scripture G-d says, "And the corruption of the concept of G-d or the idea of G-d is the worst form of oppression." Inna shirka lathulmun athem in Arabic, "I gave it to you." Because we have those that speak Arabic and read the Quran in Arabic. Among them are the few big-headed scientists that will question and misquote what I just said.

So, I give it in Arabic too. Hope that it keeps down unnecessary problem. Scripture does not only promise us life but it promises us a renewal of life, a renewal of life. This renewal of life comes when we follow the Quran or follow our sacred scriptures intelligently, rationally, and with the innocent heart a sincere innocent intention. We then are blessed by G-d to find the light, the direction for us that will guide us to our purpose in this scheme of things we call creation. society et cetera.
Now, let me say that to benefit and grow in excellence as individuals and as communities, we have to rethink past behavior. We have to rethink even past conclusions that we have come to as individual and also as nations. We have to rethink our own ideologies. We have to rethink our own attitudes and expectations, rethink these attitudes and our expectation that we have in our society.
We are told in the American society that we are free and when it comes to the freedom of the intellect, the freedom of thought that G-d created us for. I think the masses of the West are more enslaved than any people on earth.
You say, "But how come we are so progressive?" We are progressive because of the progress for education in the West. The progress for Education, Science and Technology in the West and the belief in free enterprise is what accounts for all the progress. But look to the individual homes and if that home is not a G-d-fearing home with some rational sense or at least some fear of G-d that makes it obey commandments of G-d, you'll find the most backward home, most likely, when it comes to the development of a rational human person.
The household won't be performing as a sensible human family with its reasoning powers, with its rational ability won't be performing that way. You will find that they are not governed, they won't be governed by large, by emotional purity and they won't be governed by sound reasoning. They will be governed by appetite.
Appetite for the next thing to eat. Appetite for the next thing to wear. Appetite for the next music to enjoy et cetera. They will be governed by appetite. Not only will you find them by and large being governed by all the appetite but you will find them by and large choosing those appetite over themselves, deny each other for those appetites and out in the streets if not in their home. They will be killing each other for those appetites.
The respect for human life have become nothing in certain areas of our society. And it’s because we have lost that establishments G-d intended for us. The establishment of a well meaning rational human beings with the healthiest emotional nature but also support for that emotional nature from a healthy mind, intellect or intelligence.
We need to rethink equality. America gives us equality. We talk about equality and don’t see nothing but inequality. Have we become equal as white talking about it? Are we going to become equal with the Japanese talking about equality? No. "Oh, but if we enforce equality to bring it about--" No, that hasn't done it either. Enforced equality so much that others complain that our privileges we're denying them their rights.
Equality, where is our equality? We are equal creation, that's where our equality is. G-d created all of us human. G-d created all of us with the same design and nature, we're equal creation. Does that mean that we are going to be equal in the marketplace? No. Does that means we're going to be equal on the battlefield? No. But if every group or every race gets what G-d intended for it, for that group or for that race, at least will be on equal footing and at least we'll have equal opportunity to compete with each other.
But many of us we are at a terrible disadvantage when we entered into competition with other people. It's because we have less in us, in our constitution, in our vision than others have of what G-d intended for us, of what our reality is and where it should be going. We have less of that, so we are less qualified for the competition.
If we want to promote human excellence, then we can't just look to individual human beings. We have to have this overall picture of excellence that this conference or this occasion is all about. We have to have excellence in everything. For G-d says that He inscribed or prescribed excellence for everything. Human excellence should want us to have excellence for everything. How can I myself be motivated by a desire to have excellence in myself and excellence on my own part to perform in an excellent way and not want excellence for my circumstances or for the environment that I'm in?
To promote human excellence for the individuals is also to promote excellence for everything that affects the lives of those individuals. Excellence for our schools, excellence for our businesses, excellence for our government, excellence for our industry and everything, excellence for everything. Excellence for the medical field, excellence for everything.
Don't think that we are just promoting excellence in the individual, no. Psychologically, promoting excellence in individual results in or brings about excellence in the total society. Because once an individual has a strong urge for excellence within him or herself then they can't tolerate mediocrity, bad performance anywhere. They will want to be an influence for better performance everywhere. That's what made the community of the prophet so great.
That's what makes the community of the last prophet, Muhammad, so great that they didn't work for excellence in one area, they felt a duty to G-d, a duty to G-d to promote and work for excellence in every area, in every involvement, in every relationship. How can I want excellence for my own nature, excellent for my own performance as an individual and not want excellence for my relationship with my wife, excellence for my relationship with my children, excellent for my relationship with my properties no matter how small the properties may be?
Now I'm sure that if you are not under influence of heavy drugs or not absolutely out of your mind, you have understood what I've been telling you.

And the responsibility is on you as you understand to behave accordingly. Now, I'm sure many of us didn't have to come here to hear this from me. Many of us are already turned on to excellence and many of us already appreciating that idea and having faith in it. But I am sure that even you have gained something from our discussion of the problem.

Our religion also teaches us that it's only a few that will accept the great responsibility that G-d puts on us, or that G-d entrusts us with, only a few. Only a few men and women and youngsters that will say, "I want to be a part of that. I want to work in this work. I'm ready to give my life, devote my life to this."
Devoting your life to the path of G-d and Al-Islam doesn't mean devoting your life to being a priest or being a preacher. It doesn't mean that. In fact, the Imam who only preaches and read scripture and preaches and that's the limit of his dream or his aspiration. He's not much in our society. But if he wants to be an effective, a very productive, usefully Imam and he studied the Quran, so he can share it with others and he has as his concern, the welfare of the whole life of the person, not just that they make five prayers a day or that they make Hajj before they die, but they also prosper as a human being in their environment, at home, in the streets, in the marketplace, in the nation.
When he had that at his desire and he preaches the religion in a way to stimulate that interest and give support to that interest in them or to awaken that interest in them if it’s not already in them for whole life and for prosperous life, then he's worth it.
And he has to go even farther to be ready to put his life on the line if he must to defend the right of those people, to live a healthy and complete life. He has to be ready to defend the rights of the people. See, rights are nothing if we just talk about them and don't protect them, there must be individuals like we have. We have representatives and citizens and councilmen and government people who are watchmen, women and men they're watchmen watching out to see if our rights are preserved, recognized and also protected.
We need to have what we have had in the past. Well, we don't have it now, it's coming slowly. I see it coming. I see signs of it coming. We have some great intellectuals that are developing, who are not developing to show off their knowledge or to present themselves as men of great knowledge or intellect, but they are developing to serve the real pressing needs of their people and their society. They're developing mostly in education on the campuses of higher learning.
I see that. I don't want to name any of them but I see that. Very little is happening in the political arena. I guess they've been so beaten by troubles, city problems, et cetera, that they don't see themselves as being responsible also as guardians, or watchmen over the state of the human intellect for the masses of people.
Knowing that the intellect is the most productive part of a human being. The emotions are powerful but never have the emotions produced as much as the intellect for individuals and communities. Just look all around, you think emotions produced this? This equipment we're using, the wooden floors or the cement floor. The chairs, the beaches, the architecture here, do you think emotions produced that? The intellect produced all that you are looking at.
The intellect is the herald of progress for all societies. The intellect and whenever you have a piano player or orchestrator over you as a world authority singling out your race for nothing but emotions, playing on your emotions, you have the worst oppressor ever was born on this earth. Because they know that all principle of physics, "No two things can occupy the same space at the same time." So they can occupy your life with emotional life to the fullest capacity of your life, they know there's going to be no room in your life, not very much room in your life for rational life.
Al-Islam calls us to rational life. Rational life. We need a select group of people like we had in the past. Frederick Douglas, he was not only a politician, he was a man that cared about the rational state of his lot. I say lot because at that time our community had not formed, we were not an African-American community, we were a lot of people in bad circumstances. But that great intellect, Frederick Douglas, he was able to put his language in the terms that could be understood by the majority of his people, the common people as well as the brainy people.
He was able to fire up in his people or desire to learn how to read and write, and have meaningful employment, and aspire for greater roles in society. I'm just picking him out as he's the one person. Booker T. Washington was another. Dubois was another. There were women too. Many of them in education, in other fields, Benjamin Mays was one of them. I don't know if you know Benjamin Mays, but he was the president of Morehouse at one time.
I think when he died, he was honorary president I believe if I'm not mistaken. They bestowed that honor upon him for all of his life. Benjamin Mays. His religion was Christianity but he had a complete interest in the life of his people, not a narrow interest. It wasn't just political, it wasn't just academic, he was interested in the whole life of his people and he knew that promoting good sense and promoting efforts on the part of the mind or the brain or the intellect, would bring results that would be lasting, not temporary.
The Bible says, "As a man think in his heart so is, he." Well, let's look at that saying, "As a man thinks in his heart so is, he." That is saying that as our thoughts are influenced by our appetites, so are we. That is saying that our thoughts are really forming us. Our thoughts determine, how we think determines what our constitution is, what our content are, how we think.
We know that you don't need a lot of talk to convince us of that. The thinking process is the life of every person. The thinking process, you can continue to live as a biological life. You can continue to live as a flesh life without thinking, but when your thinking process is dead, what do they say in the hospital? "You're dead." When they get no more response from the brain, they say that first is dead. Don't they? Then that person just regarded as a vegetable or regarded as just a piece of flesh there, not a living person.
G-d says when He created his first human being, he said to Satan who challenged the right of a human person to have such authority that G-d intended for that human person on earth. When Satan challenged that authority and challenged the human mortal right to have that authority, G-d didn't say, "This is the end of that." G-d said, "Wait until I have inspired him of Myself, then submit to him."
Do you think G-d is an emotional being, do you think G-d is an emotional entity, do you think G-d is up in heaven somewhere laughing whenever we are happy and smiling and we're doing well, and crying when we are sad? That kind of G-d couldn't create the heavens and earth. When G-d says, "Wait until I have inspired him of Myself." G-d is saying, "Wait until I have turned his intellect on to my purpose." Thank you very much, we pray for G-d's guidance and forgiveness. As-salamu alaykum.
For more on the Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim-American spokesman for human salvation called a right, WDM publication. Call +1 708-862-7733 or write WDM publication, Post office Box 1944 Calumet City, Illinois 60409. For Muslim journals, see local distributor.

