03/00/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Radio Broadcast

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Alhamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alamin, which means "Praise to G-d, praise be to G-dour Lord, Cherisher of all the Worlds." We thank Him for our presence here. We thank Him for His gift to humanity, the Mercy for all the Worlds, the last Prophet, the seal of the Prophets mentioned in the old Book, revealed Book that we thank G-d that Book that came through Jewish people and mentioned also in the New Testament or the Book to the Christian people, called in Islam, Torah, the Old Book and, Injeel, the New Testament, what's called the New Testament.
This Leader that we follow, Muslims follow, the Muslims all over the world, over one and a quarter of a billion Muslims are all over the world, have one Leader, One G-d and one Leader, One G-d that we worship, that we owe obedience to, that we owe gratitude, thanks to for our existence and the existence of all things that we benefit from, and one human person that really represents Prophecy and all Prophets. Muhammad he's called, "Muhammad of Arabia," peace and blessings be upon him. One leader, we're to understand this Leader in Prophecy. He's just not a Leader that had a vision or that was inspired by G-d and saw the work, new work.
Allah says that the message to Muhammad the Prophet, this is no newly, fabricated message. It is a continuation and it is a completion, a continuation and a completion. Most important for Muslims then is to know that there's but One G-d responsible for all good, responsible for our existence and all good. And that we have one Leader who's a human person, not a spirit, not a myth, a real person in real history. Not only do Muslims know of his history, but non-Muslims know of his history. Not only Muslim historians have preserved his life for us on paper, in books, but also non-Muslim historians have preserved his life on paper for us in the world.
We're talking about a man, not a myth, when we say Muhammad, the seal of the Prophets, the last of the Prophets, the representative of all the Prophets. Hence, we say, "La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah." We say "There is only One G-d and Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d." That's called our "Kalimah," our creed, C-R-E-E-D, our Kalimah our creed. It's first for us. It's most important. It's the beginning of our expression of faith in religion under G-d. It's the beginning of it, our first and most important statement of our faith, of our commitment, of our beliefs, of our devotion and religion is that Kalimah, that creed, "La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah."
There's only One G-d and Muhammad is the Messenger of the G-d. And from this premise, that first premise, we go to other statements to complete the picture of our religion. When Muhammad was asked, "What is Islam?" He replied, and it's recorded in history, it's recorded in the collection of his works, his life and his works by Bukhari and Muslim, a Russian and an Arab. He said, "Islam is to witness that there is but One G-d and to pray and to give in charity and to Fast the month of Ramadan and to Fast." Really, he said to Fast. We know Fasting is in the month of Ramadan for us.
But he said to Fast and to make visit to the Sacred House, or to make pilgrimage, Hajj. To make visit to the Sacred House. To the Sacred House, The House is the House built by the Prophet Abraham, who's called, for Christians, Jews, and Muslims, "Father" and also "Leader of the Nations." When we look at these pillars, these structures, these most important supports or structures, that gives us the true picture of Islam, our religion. There's not only a design, a picture of what Islam is, but there these structures also hold a message, a great message, powerful message, a message for the whole world, not just for Muslims, a message for the whole world.
For that reason, he's called the "Mercy to all the Nations," Muhammad, that is, a Mercy to all the Nations. G-d calls him that in the Holy Book, the Quran, our Holy Book, the Book of the Muslims that we also identify with individually. It is our personal Book. Every Muslim should know that. Your Book is the Quran. And this didn't just start that the followers of this religion, since the days of Muhammad's life on this Earth, 14 centuries and, eh, some years ago, has books for children, primers, readers. And in those books, the children are given...are given certain information to keep them with the right mind in Islam.
They say "Allahu Rabbi," "G-d is my Lord", and the "Quran El Kitabi," the "Quran is my Book". So, the Quran is not just a book for preachers to read in Islam or for theologians or for scholars or for men giving sermons or women making sermons or whatever. The Quran, most importantly, is a Book of guidance for every believer, for every Muslim, male and female. It's our personal Book, the Quran. So, we should say, "My Book is the Quran." And that's your first Book. If you accept a book after the Quran, that book must not be against the Quran.
If it's against the Quran, you should never accept it. The Quran is our first Book, and it decides for us whether we should accept other books. The message of Islam is a universal message. It's not a message to Arabs. It's not a message to Asians. It's not a message to Africans. It's a message from the Lord of the World to the peoples of the world, all of them. And Muhammad is not a Leader for Arabs or whites or Blacks. Muhammad, the Messenger of G-d, peace be upon him, is a Leader and a Mercy to all the world. Allah says of him in the Quran in the Arabic, in the Quran in Arabic that he is "Rahmatan Lil A'lameen."
Muhammad is a Mercy to all the World. Again, I repeat, Islam is a message. It is a message. The Prophet is called a Messenger of G-d more often than he's called the Prophet, by G-d and also by the followers of the Prophet. We say, "Rasulullah, Ya Rasulullah," "Oh Messenger of G-d." Very seldom we say Prophet. Usually when we say Prophet, we say, "my Prophet, Muhammad Nabi, Muhammad is my Prophet." Not only is he my Prophet, he's G-d's Prophet. He's our Prophet. He's a Prophet of every Muslim. Muhammad, Nabi. He's our Prophet. How is that? He represents the best that's in all of us.
And he is in, he was in the world, and he's still in the world, if you understand it. He was in the world and he's still in the world, not only as an idea, but as a model person, to give comfort to the heart and soul of all men and women. How do we have that comfort? How do we explain that comfort? Muhammad was not acquainted with scripture before G-d gave him scripture. Muhammad lived among idolaters, idol worshipers, who knew nothing of the scripture as we understand scripture, Prophecy, Bible. No, he was not acquainted with that source of knowledge. But he had lived 40 years, the life of an excellent person. The most excellent person in his whole tribe, in his whole nation and, now we know, in the whole world, as we believe.
He had lived a life of purity. He had lived a life of excellence. He did not follow his people worshiping idols. He did not follow them in their national fervor or in their tribal enthusiasm or...or excitement. He was not attracted to those things. He was not attracted to nationalism. He was not attracted to tribalism. He was not attracted to any of the gods, idol gods that they worshiped. He stayed clear of all of those things, and he kept the burden of his people and the society of that time on his heart and on his mind, and he wanted to see a change. So, at the age of 40, he went into seclusion to get help.
He didn't know from whom. He didn't know how to call G-d by name. But he felt that if he went away from society into privacy, secrecy, into isolation in a cave at the top of the mountain called the "Mountain of Light". Now it's called the Mountain of Light. It was not called that before he received the light on that mountain. He went into that seclusion to get closer to whatever was responsible for the creation of the world and man. And he felt that he could get help from whatever was responsible for the existence of the world and man. And there, he was not, it's never reported that he would stand before G-d, never reported that he would stand addressing anybody or anything or any G-d.
But while there, G-d reached him with a communication and G-d began to communicate His will for mankind on this Earth to that man, Muhammad, who knew nothing of scripture before. Not only he knew nothing of scripture, but his people, the Arabs, were not a people of scripture. Allah said in the Quran, "A people to whom no message, revealed message had come before." Going back over those five essentials of Islam now, we want to see, what is the message of Islam, this universal message, this message to the world? There is no god but G-d. That's what our creed is.
And Muhammad is the Messenger of G-d, normal person, a human being, the messenger of G-d. But that's also the first statement of declaration of faith, or testimony of faith, in the Bible for the people we call Jews in the Old Testament. It's the same. How does ours differ? This is not to criticize or take anything away from anybody and certainly not the Jews as a religious people or religious community. But we have to admit this and we have to understand this as Muslims that Islam came to clarify the message of the Quran, the message of Islam to Muhammad and to us through him, the world through him, came to make clear, to clarify.
Many, many important things and issues in religion are formally done. Most important is, how do you identify G-d? How do you perceive G-d? What is your picture, what is your concept of G-d? All over the world since the beginning of time, societies have turned to some idea, some picture, some concept of G-d, all over the world. This is universal. This is something man has in his nature, in his soul. There was no way for Africa to be in touch with America until they had ships to travel over here to connect themselves. But long before history caught Africa and this New World, what we call America, connecting, there's evidence that the people on this land, on these continents, North and South America, had religion and had some picture or idea or concept of G-d.
And their spiritual life was very much the same as that of the people of Africa, of Asia, and everywhere else where people were existing. They may have different names for G-d. They may have different rituals, but essentially, they have the same spiritual hunger in them to connect with a being above and more powerful than man, a being upon which man depends for his existence, et cetera. So, it's a universal message. When we say, "La ilaha illallah," there is no god except G-d or there is but One G-d, we are saying something that the whole world needs to hear, a world that is discovering the soul to come up with a picture of G-d, to come up with an idea of G-d that will make it feel comfortable.
Yes, this is the way I'm to see G-d. Yes, this is the way we are to get to know G-d, not in the statues we're looking at, not in these things that are dependent upon bigger things, but in this idea, in this concept, in this picture that is independent of all things and, at the same time, serving all things. This...this is the universal picture of G-d. Jews had that picture. Christians have that picture. In spite of the mystery of the Trinity, Christians too have that picture. They say there's one G-d. So, the universal message, the message of Islam in that first principle, in that first creed, is that man's soul will never be satisfied until the G-d he has as his G-d is not smaller than anything else he knows of or discovers. (Allahu Akbar).
Man's soul needs that and wants that. That's the universal message. What has been the message of religion? The message of religion is that religious right vision, perception, understanding in religion is a growing thing, not a complete thing, not a finished thing, but a growing thing. As Prophecy continues, Prophets had to follow other Prophets. Why? Because man's soul is not satisfied yet that the picture has been made clear enough or that the picture has been made complete enough. And Muhammad comes as a final Messenger or Prophet of G-d, the final Prophet of G-d. Prophet connects him with Prophecy.
Prophet connects him with this continuous movement in revelation and revealed knowledge, to move and progress until it completely satisfies the soul of the human beings on this Earth. That's what...that's why he's connected with Prophets as the last Prophet. Nowhere in the Quran does it say Muhammad is the last Messenger. It says Muhammad is the last Prophet. He's the Seal of the Prophets and the last Prophet. He's connected with Prophecy as a Prophet. And Prophecy has been struggling always, since the beginning of revelation, Prophecy has been struggling for completion.
And Muhammad said of himself, the Prophets came one behind another and G-d was bringing these Prophets as building blocks in a structure. And there was only one building block left to be placed into that structure. And He said, "And that is Muhammad, himself." So, he's the last. And he was needed to complete the Prophetic picture or the Prophetic lifeline. He had to be there to make that completion. So, Muhammad as an Arab is not important, but Muhammad as a Prophet that was needed to complete Prophecy and the Prophetic line... lifeline is important. And that Prophetic life and Prophetic lifeline is not for Arabs, is not for particular people, Black or white. It's for mankind.
The human soul that hungers for religious peace and satisfaction is not a Black human soul or a white human soul or an Arab human soul or an African human soul. It is a human soul, period, that struggles to know what is to satisfy me as a G-d? What is to satisfy me as religion? The universal message of Islam. So, we are not saying Muhammad in that creed, Muhammad is a Messenger of G-d, primarily to say Muhammad is a Messenger of G-d or primarily to say Muhammad is important to see him as G-d. No, we're saying that primarily to say that the issue has been settled. Man is no G-d. (Allahu Akbar)
The man that G-d communicates to is not a G-d. And is this against the Old Testament? No. The Old Testament says, "Make no engraving images. Make no G-d but G-d. The Lord thy G-d is One," et cetera. Is it against the New Testament, in spite of this mystery, the Trinity? No. I've read the Bible more than once. I've studied it thoroughly. In the New Testament, it says of Jesus Christ, "The sent is not equal to the Sender." Quote, that's it. (laughing) That's it. (Clapping...Allahu Akbar) So the truth had to be given in a clear picture, in a clear way so that the common person can understand it and walk with peace in their hearts and soul and feel satisfied that I have my G-d and I have my religion.
It is also natural for man it is part of his very nature, his essential nature. It is his core nature, the nature upon which all other natures are depend and all other natures exist, upon his spiritual core. In that spiritual core is a need for him also to pray to G-d, to communicate, to talk to that G- d. Man can't satisfy his soul by talking to another man alone, another man. No matter how smart that other man is, no matter how loving that other man is, no matter how giving that other man is, he wants to talk to G-d (Allahu Akbar). So, we have prayer. And all over the world, where his story has been written about, man in that situation, societies in their given situation, man in history and society in history, the history of the world, we find prayer.
Everybody has some form of prayer. So, this second essential, this second structure in the house we call Islam, is the universal structure, all people pray in some form or in some way. What is the universal message? Is that man is not put on this Earth to pray alone. He is to pray together. The G-d that made him didn't make him to live alone, but to live with his brothers and sisters, to live with men and women that he belongs to, the family of man or the family of human beings. So, when he prays, he should pray with all the men. The Muslim prayer is a prayer that reflects the unity of mankind.
If we have members outside of our race in our neighborhood, we can't build a mosque, a house of prayer for our race only. That House of Prayer, House of Worship has to be for all the members in the neighborhood. ... Have been struggling always. Since the beginning of revelation, Prophecy has been struggling for completion. And Muhammad said of himself, Prophets came one behind another and G-d was bringing these Prophets as building blocks in a structure. And there was only one building block left to be placed into that structure, and he said, "And that is Muhammad, himself." So, he's the last and he was needed to complete the Prophetic picture or the Prophetic lifeline.
He had to be there to make that completion. So, Muhammad as an Arab is not important, but Muhammad as a Prophet that was needed to complete Prophecy and the Prophetic line...lifeline is important. That Prophetic life and that Prophetic lifeline is not for an Arab, is not for particular people, Black or white. It's for mankind. The human soul that hungers for religious peace and satisfaction is not a Black human soul or a white human soul or an Arab human soul or an African human soul. It is a human soul, period, that struggles to know what is to satisfy me as a G-d? What is to satisfy me as a religion? The universal message of Islam.
So, we are not saying Muhammad in that creed, "Muhammad is the Messenger of...of G-d", primarily to say "Muhammad is a Messenger of G-d" or primarily to say "Muhammad is important to see him with G-d". No. We're saying that primarily to say that the issue has been settled. Man is no G-d (Allahu Akbar). The man that G-d communicates to is not a G-d. And is this against the Old Testament? No. The Old Testament says, "Make no engraving images. Make no G-d but G-d. The Lord thy G-d is One," et cetera. Is it against the New Testament, in spite of this mystery, the Trinity? No. I've read the Bible more than once. I've studied it thoroughly.
In the New Testament, it says of...of Jesus Christ, "The sent is not equal to the Sender." Quote, that's it. (laughing) (Clapping...Allahu Akbar). Hum. So, the truth has to be given in a clear picture, in a clear way so that the common person can understand it and walk with peace in their heart and soul and feel satisfied that I have my G-d and I have my religion. It is also natural for man and a part of his very nature, his essential nature. It is his core nature, the nature upon which all other natures are...are...are depend and all other natures exist upon his spiritual core. In that spiritual core, there's a need for him also to pray to G-d, to communicate, to talk to that G-d.
Man can't satisfy his soul by talking to man alone, another man. No matter how smart that other man is, no matter how loving that other man is, no matter how giving that other man is. He wants to talk to G-d. So, we have prayer. And all over the world, the historians have written about man and their situation, societies in their given situation, man and history and society and history, the history of the world. We find prayer. Everybody has some form of prayer. So, this second essential, this second structure in the house we call Islam is a universal structure.
All people pray in some form or in some way. What is the universal message is that, man was not put on this Earth to pray alone. He is to pray together. The G-d that made him didn't make him to live alone, but to live with his brothers and sisters, to live with...with the men and women that he belongs to, the family of man or the family of human beings. So, when he prays, he should pray with all men. The Muslim prayer is a prayer that reflects, the unity of mankind. If we have members outside of our race in our neighborhood, we can't build a mosque, a House of Prayer for our race only.
That House of Prayer, House of Worship has to be for all the members in the neighborhood. And we can't pray separately. The most important prayer for us is Congregational prayer. We must pray together. Right. So, the universal message is that, man is not praying to have his soul leave this world. Man is praying to G-d to get help to establish his soul in this world. So, he needs to do that with other men. He needs to do that in concert with the others who have this need in their nature to communicate to G-d, to pray to their Lord, and that's our prayer, a universal concern and a universal picture.
And so, with all men standing together, shoulder to shoulder, Black, white, brown, yellow and red, praying Muslims together and praying one prayer, our prayer is the Word of G-d, is the Quran, the Word of G-d. Okay. Charity too, is a need in the life of all human beings and even when you think of the prayer, I mean charity, pardon me... charity, pardon me, the third one. When you think of charity as a need in human beings, don't forget that charity's also a need in animals. Charity is also a need in plants. Every little living thing that lives, it lives not only for itself, but it lives to support something else.
Charity, universal message, we are one life. We have to respect each other. We have to respect the life of human beings. We have to respect the life of animals. We have to respect the life of plants. This is what Islam taught us, a universal message. And then Fasting. Animals know when to stop eating. (Laughing). They eat and then they say, "That's enough". They know when to cut off. And sick animals know they need to go... get on a Fast. They refuse to eat because they're sick, "Eating won't help this, so I have to stop eating until I get better". Animals know how to Fast. So, Fasting is universal too.
And in Islam when we Fast, we Fast because even the poor will forget that there are others in his or her circumstance that are maybe worse off than he or she is. So, when we Fast, we can't eat, and there the food is. We're not poor, but I can get some chicken. I ain't that poor. I can get some chicken. I can buy a chicken. But I'm Fasting now, but I'm Fasting as a discipline. I'm Fasting because I owe this to G-d. G-d said Fast. So, no matter how much I want to eat, G-d is more important. To obey Him is more important. I don't eat. So now I'm hungry. And I can buy myself a bag of peanuts and get this pain out of my stomach.
But the pain is there and I'm going to let it stay there until I complete my Fast for G-d. And I can do it because G-d is big. (Laughing) So I Fast. And then I remember when that man come to me and say, "Hey, buddy. Can I have some of those peanuts? I'm hungry." I remember how that feels and I say, "Yeah, man. Here are these peanuts. In fact, I ain't hungry, man. Take the bag." (Laughing) Charity and Fasting. So, we get healing by G-d and we get so much, we got enough to share with others. After a while, we come out of conscious and we are just consuming too much.
Then we have to restrain our appetite, to get our own life in good fashion and also to help others, a universal message. Right now, they say...they say...they're telling us that one out of every five persons on this Earth experience hunger and can't do nothing about it. Isn't that something? I think it's exaggerated, but that's what they say, so I'm just giving you the statistics. One out of every five persons. Over a million and a quarter of our children, on Earth, starving, and the poor say, "Why?' But we are throwing away tons of food, tons of food. Every city, every big city in the Western society, throwing away tons of food... every month.
The farmer, turn his crops back in the ground because there's no demand for them. He got too much. And he has a quota he has to obey. So, if he got too much, he has to get rid of it, can't sell it. Can't sell it. The President of the United States is not happy with that. And most of our honorable good leaders in this country, they're not happy with that. And the citizens of this country, Americans are people who feel for others. We feel when others suffer. That's one of our strong features. Americans feel when others suffer. You could be a criminal, you could be morally corrupt, a sexual pervert, but it's hard to find any American, saint or sinner, that won't feel bad if they find another person suffer.
We just don't like to see another person suffer and not get help. So, when the people of America, the public, hear about this, that these...all these children are starving and all this food is everywhere in the world, it's sad and it saddens us. It's universal, what we're talking about. And we come to the last or the fifth of these, Hajj, a visit to the House. Why do we make pilgrimage? We know we're going to be in the presence of G-d. We know we love our G-d. It's our G-d and love for Him that draws us there. We know that. But why has G-d designed that for us through His Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, to have us come to that one place from all parts of the world, different nationalities, different tribes, different ethnicities, different languages, et cetera, all coming to that one place once a year? Why has G-d designed it that way? To tell us that mankind is one family.
Announcement:
We will return to today's broadcast after this important announcement. Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim American Spokesman, will be making appearances throughout the country. And those wishing to support his mission or propagation and Community assistance are asked to send their contributions made over to Ministry of W. Deen Mohammed. He has a post office box, 1061, Calumet City, Illinois 60409. And now back to today's program.
IWDM:
Mankind is one family. In Islam, among the scholars, the leaders, the Ministers, the Imams, the preachers, it's understood that this Pilgrimage is a message of the unity of mankind, that we're all family. We're going to a House that is said to have been built by Abraham with the...with help from his son, another Prophet, peace be upon him, Ismail or Ishmael in the Bible. And this same Abraham is called the Father of the Nations in Christianity and Judaism and is called a Leader for the Nations in Islam, which means the same, if you understand it, a Leader for the Nations and also Father... our Father.
He is the one who built the House. And G-d said of the House, that it is a House built for all mankind, "Buneeya len Nas" A House built for all mankind, for all people. And G-d says of that House, "Awwala Bayytin...Awwala Bayytin" The First House "Buneeya len Nas", built for all people, the First House. Now, get away from the tendency in you, to see things only in their material form or in their concrete, physical form. In the concrete object or a concrete structure, there might have been other houses before that House. Listen, close that. There might have been other houses which were built before that house. Well, you're contradicting what the...what the Scripture said. No, I'm not.
But listen to me. The house is not in its physical picture, the house. The house is in its symbolic picture, the House. It's symbolic of the natural need and the soul of all people to identify with one beginning as a people existing on this Earth or to identify in one beginning and to turn to the power that's responsible, the Creator that's responsible for their existence. And that's what that House symbolizes. It symbolizes a House is a House for all people. It represents the first urge and the last urge in their stomachs, in their minds, in their hearts, in their souls to connect with the One responsible for their existence and for all the benefits that they enjoy.
It represents that. It represents the beginning of the social family that might have started with just an Adam and an Eve, that spread all over the world. So, in conclusion, the message is we are one, and don't think of this anymore as one physical body, although science proved that we are physically, biologically, genetically we are one, all people. But don't look at that as an important thing. Spiritually, we are one. Spiritually we all have the same life in common. We all have the same spiritual need to connect with our G-d and to acknowledge that we didn't put ourselves here and we need His help to get wherever life, matter, [...]
So, Muhammad is a Prophet to clarify things that were troubling the world. And man was promised by G-d that it would one day be made clear. That's Scripture. When you look at the Bible, or the New Testament, the way it was lost long time ago, we... The Old Testament is black. The New Testament is black too, but what Jesus Christ said is red. And when we study Abraham, his life, Abraham was a man who dug a well. He dug a well, a well in the Earth. And G-d says of the Earth, in the Quran and it's in the Bible too. But I'm not giving you the Bible. Bible is not quoted. My source is the Islamic source, the Quran.
G-d says of the Earth, that the Earth is to support Community. So, what is the Earth? The Earth is a social foundation. The Earth is a social foundation. The red print in the Bible is to connect us with our social life and our social foundation. And Allah says of Abraham that G-d made Abraham a community. He's one man. He's one. He's not two. He's one. But G-d says He made him a community. So that man symbolizes not one person, but man in society, man in Community. And that Community is the Community of mankind, that Abraham symbolizes all man. And Allah says of Muhammad, if you understand it, Muhammad is a community because his life does not symbolize the life of the person, but the life of man in Community, how man is to live in Community.
The digging of the well now, what is that a picture of? What does it symbolize? Here is pure water, filtered by the sand base, by the rock base. It comes up through the filter of matter, of Earth, and it reaches the surface pure, and fit to drink, good to drink. And they call it a "well" because it's not sick and it won't make you sick. It's well. (Laughing) I don't know about all the wells they dig now because industrial pollution even goes under the surface of Earth (laughing) and pollutes the water we need but a well could be trusted if it was well water. So here is an invisible mass. Transparent. I shouldn't say invisible because we can see it. It reflects light, et cetera.
A transparent mass, here's a transparent mass inside of a colored, or a mass that has parency, color. It prevents the sight from penetrating or going through it, the Earth, the ground. So, we have here a transparent core in another body that is visible and not transparent. That symbolizes our spiritual core, that man is essentially spiritual. Our life, our true life is spiritual. But it must have a social context. And the social context is two, material support and material interest. It is material support that brings man to socialize and to form productive social bonds, not just spiritual social bonds, not just social bonds, but productive social bonds.
The man socialized to have pleasure, fun, expressions for his pleasure. The man's socialized to have peace, to call on G-d. The man socializes for many reasons. But what has changed the look of man on Earth and the look of the Community on Earth is man's interest in socializing for production. Thank you very much. Peace. As Salaam Alaikum. (Wa Alaikum As Salaam. Takbeer... Allahu Akbar. Takbeer...Allahu Akbar)
As Salaam Alaikum. We thank G-d. And praise Him. We say, "Alhamdulillah. The Lord, Sustainer of the Worlds, Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil Alamin". That's the Praises to G-d, the Lord, Defender of the world. We witness that nothing deserves to be worshiped except Him. We witness that Allah, One is He. Nothing is worshiped as G-d except G-d. The Creator of everything that we...that we have in our Book. Allah is the Creator of everything...of everything. I've yet to see the [...] that He is the best of Creators. That is G-d that wants man to know that G-d has created him also to create them to be a creator and that he is to remember that G-d is the Creator of everything, including what man creates. (Laughing). Praise be to Allah. And we have been known as a people and criticized really...hypnotized as a people that produce nothing but babies. Well, that has changed.
We know that a few of us that think...eh, still producing nothing but babies. But I think the majority of us felt that we want to produce more than just babies. We want to produce a future for those babies and that means to accept the responsibility for our circumstances, for the conditions in our life and our home life firstly but also in our neighborhood and in our city and our culture. This is a big responsibility that G-d gave to every human being, knowing that every human being couldn't carry that big responsibility. But G-d knew that He created enough good human beings to rise up and represent the many and the leaders will guide the people to a life of production and provide jobs and opportunity to grow for all people... for all the people.
This is what the best of our political leaders wants for society, the best of our Presidents of the United States wants for this society, and this is what the best believers in the faith communities with Jews, Christians, and Muslims want for the society that no one be dealt with unjustly. G-d says "Qul kawa mun el bil kushi tu hal dalilallh". To the Muslims He says to us, "Be a people standing for justice as witnesses for G-d... as witnesses for G-d". So, we have to accept this responsibility. And G-d says of us, "[Arabic]" that, "You are the best of Community, evolved for the good of all people".
And Muhammad the Prophet, SAW, the prayers peace be upon him, he said, [inaudible], "The best of you are the ones who benefit the whole of humanity. The best of you are the ones who benefit the whole of humanity."



