11/20/1988
IWDM Study Library
Community and Personal Advancement

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As-Salaam-Alaikum. That is peace be unto you. First we acknowledge the One Lord of all the worlds. Allah; for Him is the praise. We pray the prayers of peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, the last of the prophets and the Universal Messenger, and upon his family and upon his Companions and what follows of the appropriate salutation. Believers, ail people, Muslims and non-Muslims if non-Muslims are here, we wish you peace and Allah's mercy and His blessings.

On this occasion as on all occasions we ask for Allah's Guidance and His approval and hope that Allah will accept what we offer. Last evening was another great occasion for us at the Eleventh Testimonial Banquet. And I wanted to say last night that I was really very, very happy and very pleased inside to see so many distinguished, well known, well established people from their good and hard works joining Imam Clyde Rahman and the supporters from the Muslims of Cleveland  the Congressman Louis Stokes and all the honorees and other dignitaries from the outer community and especially from public services.

It was really a beautiful evening to see them so relaxed with us. That is a new thing for us. Years ago we would have distinguished persons that came among us to be with us for major meetings, bat they would not he with as long. And they didn't seem relaxed with us. Some of them would give the impression that they were with us and the impression that they were making was strong sometimes, but I didn't see it as a situation that offered a relaxed atmosphere. And then the atmosphere was not relaxed. But last night I witnessed the most relaxed atmosphere that I have ever witnessed between Muslims and very noted and distinguished leaders from the outer community and from the public and government world of public service and politics.

We are very happy over that, for we think of that as an indication that our worth is being established, and people are accepting us for our true worth. I also hope that you will feel the same thing that I felt, for it makes you feel better inside and it does not help your own condition as a Muslim to feel bad inside. And to see persons as the distinguished persons we saw last night joining us in our Testimonial Dinner and Awards Banquet and being so at home and relaxed with us is really a great encouragement to me to work harder for this cause that I have accepted and that many others have accepted.

Our address today is on community and personal advancement. Our desire is always to see that what we offer is a factor for influencing more progress in the community life and more progress in the personal life of those who attend the gatherings. Many times we work hard for something, and we are not able in ourselves to clearly identify what it is we are working for.

We simply say that we are working to please Allah and that we are working for the deen; I hear the common expression now of "We are working for the deen." And most of the people who we are talking to still do not know any Arabic, and we say we are working for the "deen." They hear the word and do not know what we are talking about half of the time. But I understand the spirit, and it is nice to see us get attached to these new words. But rather than saying we are working for the "deen," just say we are working for the "religion," so everybody will know what we are talking about. We are working for the religion and for Allah, G-d, Lord of the worlds.

So they will say, "Well, we have to give the people the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet." That is true. But supposed we were talking to a different audience, an audience of individuals who for many generations were having the Qur'an, were knowledgeable in the Qur'an and having the Sun-nab  the life history of Prophet Muhammad  and being familiar with it, what would your purpose be then in teaching them the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet? Would it be to remind them?

Supposed they are a group of people who are very "up" on what you are talking about, and they are always reminding themselves. There are many Muslims who don't need to be reminded of what is in the Qur'an and what is in the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him. They are very well up on that, and they accept the personal responsibility to keep their own minds remembering what Allah has revealed and remembering the life works of our Prophet, peace and the blessings be upon him.

In America, we should know what we are trying to reach. We should know what we are aiming for and what we are after, when we stand before an audience and begin to talk to them on our concerns  Al-lslam, the religion, the life of Muhammad the Prophet, peace be upon him, and on the Qur'an and Sunnah or any other subject within the big and broad context or focus of our religion; we should know what we are after. Ask: "What is it that we are after?"

You do not speak to every audience alike. Audiences differ as to their concerns and as to their needs; they will have different concerns and different needs. In America our needs are greatly different from the needs of many Muslims in many of the lands or countries of the East and Middle East, and Far East where Muslims live as nations as in north Africa, west Africa and east Africa and even some in the southern part of Africa, although not in the so-called nation of South Africa. But also in the Far East as in India and Pakistan and Afghanistan, in China and in Russia even  for there are many Muslims all over the world, as well as in parts of Europe and the islands of the Pacific.

There are so many Muslims all over the world, and when we meet them we will find that they have different concerns and different needs, Although we' all have the same general concern which is the concern for the Muslim, for his religion, for his Muslim life, and we all share that general and broad concern. But we should recognize that when we are addressing an audience, that audience will have certain sensitivities that are characteristic of their life and experiences. We should try to recognize those sensitivities and do our best to present the religion to them respecting what their sensitivities are, what their major concerns are, and what their real needs are.

There are many things that we would put "small emphasis" on. For example, a Muslim leader will make a big mistake by just preaching faith and goodness to an American audience. The big mistake will be that they are used to that. That is the way the religious people of America come to them most of the time  with faith and goodness, to believe and be good. So can a Muslim say that any better than church people can say it? "Believe and be good." You can't say it any better than church people have been saying it. So we have to find out what does our religion offer that is of benefit to the people that we are talking to. How does our religion offer that is of benefit to the people that we are talking to. How does our religion address their situation and their condition, and then we do our best to present the religion with that kind of respect.

If we do so, the outcome will be positive for the people. Whether they embrace what we believe in or not, the outcome will be positive, It is because you are addressing their concern. If Allah has given a healing medicine for ills, and if you will recognize the medicine in the religion for those ills and you administer it, whether the people acknowledge "la illaha illallah"  that there is but One G-d, the Kalimah which acknowledges the Creator for Muslims and that Muhammad is His Messenger  whether they acknowledge that or not, still they will be benefited.

So I am the type of person who feels that we should be preachers or teachers of the religion with an awareness of the practical approach. We are not just to be moved by emotions and feelings, but we are to be moved by what is practical. And if you are a true believer, you don't have to worry about emotions and feelings.

A true believerif he worries about emotions and feelings, he is worrying about drowning in them. He worries about the danger of giving himself too much to emotions and feelings. That is what I am saying. The true believer does not have to make a point of coming across as an emotional pack of energy. If he does that he will mess up; be is going to lose himself and the people will all lose. We should look for what is practical and to work with that kind of respect; look for what is the practical needs in the life of the audience that we are addressing.

And my opinion is that when I am addressing any African-American group or any group of Americans period, then I feel that what we need is just good sense. The biggest thing that we are lacking is just good sense. And it so happens that our religion more so than any religion that I know, and I think I am pretty much up on religion, addresses the human being as a creature of intelligence. He is a creature of faith and is a political creature.

Our religion recognizes him in all the roles or major persuasions  the political, academic, social, moral. All of these are recognized in our Holy Book and in our Prophet, peace be on him. But the first recognition of the form of man is that of a creature of sense, a creature of intelligence, a creature with rational ability, a creature able to reason, to make decisions, and to have choices. He can choose between right and wrong, between what is sense and what is nonsense, between what is good for him and what is bad for him, between what promises him a good life and what promises him a bad life.

The human being should also be able to sense where something is taking him  not in just what it is doing right now, but in where it is taking him. Our religion wants us to be aware of that and wants us to be aware of where we are, where we should be, where we should be going, and where we are likely to go if we are a "no caring" people and if we just don't care about anything.

In addressing this topic, we are not going directly at the need for the community to advance or the need for the individual person to advance in society and in his private life. We are going at those conditions that we think are most responsible for a people succeeding and failing.
We are not going directly at the subject of advancement for society and the advancement of the individual person. Rather, we are going at the condition or conditions that make possible or invite success and failure. This is the best way, this is the answer, and this is the help.

Everything needs a climate, if it is growing and if it is life. You cannot have a good harvest, unless the climate is right. You will have the seeds, you will have the land, but the climate has to be right. If the climate is right, then most likely you will make a good crop and a good harvest. It is likewise for the human production, and I mean the human productivity in the broader sense. Some of us want to produce as families. Some of us want to produce as employees in the job market. Some want to produce as leaders. We have many needs. And whatever our particular need is, we will need a climate for life and for growth.

The revealed religions, and that is not just our religion  it is the major revealed religions that aim for just that. They aim for bringing about a climate that favors community life and individual life. If the climate is right, the community will grow, the community will advance, and the people as individuals will also grow and advance. That is if the climate is right  the climate for our sensitivities, for our mental sensitivities, for our moral sensitivities, and for our social sensitivities.

The great land that we live in of America, with all that it has to offer in the way of science and even in culture still look at the state of the family in America. It is not only in America now, it is in most of the world. The state of the family for the most part is very, very sad.

Are we so stupid that we can't manage family life? No. We have the education to manage a family life. Are we so poor that we can't manage family life? No. We have money to manage family life. There was a time not long ago of about thirty, forty, or fifty years ago, which is not long, when families who were really poor and feeling the pains of hunger in their stomachs almost everyday were able to keep a good family life with good family sensitivities and good respect for members of the family and good treatment of the children towards parents and good treatment of parents towards children. They were able to do that. But today, it is very, very hard to find families like that.

It is not because we don't have money, and it is not because we don't have education enough or intelligence enough. Something else is missing, and so we need the climate.

I will repeat, that the biggest need that I recognize in the society is the need for good sense  just common good sense. Now you can be very educated formally, that is from a physical school called this college and that university, but you will still be unprepared for common sense life. We find many people today with all of the education but with no ability to manage common sense life. They have the same problems that used to be the problems of what was called the "stupid and illiterate" people.

These so-called educated people cannot manage their money. They will get big incomes and still cannot manage their money. They will always be in debt and in financial trouble. They can't manage the social life of the home, and are always having problems there with the families torn apart.

So that tells us that man needs something that he can't give himself by himself. He needs help from Allah. He needs help from his Maker or from his Lord to bring him back to good sense. Now help comes two ways mainly. Help comes to one by means out of his control. That is, he is just a good person and heaven smiles on him, and he gets help. G-d blesses him, and he gets help. But that kind of help is like the help He gave babies. As the babies grow up and get older and more responsible and join us as adults, then that kind of help does not keep coming.

And if it keeps coming, it is not enough help to dignify you in the world of grown ups. It is because it is coming to a baby and is baby help. There is the example of when you are having problems at home that are making you sad and everything, and G-d helps you. Suddenly you find the attitude of the house changing and the family is being nice. But still you are just as poor, and you have no real ambitions. You are not going after bigger things in the world, but you are surviving and you are happy. You even say, "Our family is happy now. G-d blessed us and just turned the hearts of the family, and we are getting along fine now," But that was help to babies, and the babies are getting along fine now.

The other help that comes is help given not just because of the goodness of the heart, but it comes because of the urge of intelligence. There is an urge of intelligence that says, "Hey, this has to make sense! And this level of living that I have is not fair!" And you don't look out there for someone to blame. This kind of intelligence that I am talking about makes the person aware of his own resources and of his own self worth. It makes him feel happy about himself and he is happy to think of himself as a moral being and as an intellectual being or as intelligent. He sees himself as a being of intellect, although at the time perhaps he is not an intellectual. But he thinks of himself as a moral being and as a being of intellect.

That is the kind of help that grows us up from baby to adult life. So it is not enough just to have a whole lot of faith and be good and want to be good. We like that. But we know the term moral is a western term. And the nature of morality in the west differs from the nature of morality in Muslim society. That is then nature of morality the very word is different. Because "moral" in English has to do with good and bad. That is this English term "moral." And the very meaning itself, of moral is subject to change depending on the moral trends in the western society. So what was morally offensive when I was a boy is an approved thing today. It is not morally offensive anymore.

But we as Muslims do not have that kind of idea of morality, and we don't have that kind of term for moral in the Islamic world. And if you are really a knowledgeable Christian, you know that there is really no place for that kind of idea in Christianity. That is a secular world idea, and it is harmful and bad. Because it does not establish permanently for us an idea, a perception of what is good and best for us. It leaves us to the trends of the culture regarding moral thought and moral behavior, to be at one time fed with good moral sensitivities in the name of moral life. And at another time we are left to be fed with diseased sensitivities in the name of the same moral life.

So we need a climate for productive life  a climate for productive community life and a climate for productivity in the person as individuals. Since we are most familiar with Al-Islam, w« should talk about Al-Islam. I believe the great majority of the people here are professing to be Muslims, and I believe most of you are. Although I know a few of you are liars, for it just speaks so loudly from you. But I believe most of you are Muslims, and given that I am a Muslim myself, we should see how our religion has treated the human life to bring about that climate for productive growth.

Before going directly to the sources of our religious knowledge, the Quran and the Sun-nah of the Prophet, I should go to what has been said of Muslim worth by non-Muslims  non-Muslim writers and authors of history on the development of societies. There is a book by Haidar Bammate called "Muslim Contributions to Civilization." And in this book the author quotes Western authors. I am presenting this here to say this, that we do not represent a religion that has not proven its effectiveness. Our religion has proven its effectiveness. In history, it has been recorded.

Many of us think that because a thing is not serving us well today, it never had any more value to us than it has to us today. However, there are many things that we have today that are not serving us well that served us very well in times gone by and had great value for us then. So that should tell us that the thing, itself, is not responsible for us not getting the benefit; It is that something has happened to us to cut off the benefits.

If this religion brought great benefits to society in times gone by, then we should not doubt the power of this religion to do the same in any other time, ft is because the condition of man is not so much a matter of what the world is or what the world represents as a challenge for him, but it is more of a matter of what he represents as a challenge to himself.

Many nations have been freed from oppression - societies, that is, and they have been freed from invasions of outside enemies. They have their independence and their freedom; they have had their good life. They are not oppressed by anyone and art; not bothered by anyone, but you will see no progress. The resources are abundant everywhere; they lived in a rich place, a place rich in natural resources, but still there is no progress. They just lived as babies for generations and for hundreds of years.

Why is that? It is because the "self condition" was not awakened. Again, the self and the self condition had not awakened in them. So that is what has to happen. For you can find people who have been oppressed in the worse way, who lived under oppression one generation after the other for hundreds of years. And even oppression would not force them to be aggressive; instead, it will just make them content to live under the domination of others. This is history.

And you will find to the contrast of that, nations that have resisted oppression, and before oppression came they were not showing any superior ability. But after oppression they began to show superior ability. The oppression awakened the self respect in them, and the destiny in them was a wakened by oppression. So I say again, it is not the condition of the world, most of the time, that makes the difference for people. It is the human condition that makes the difference for people.

Look how prosperous America has been. But look how America is failing now in competition with several nations of this world, although she had the upper hand. She had the world in her hands, in fact, and still leads most of the world in the field of technology and science. But she is failing at home. So the answer is not the material condition.

Now they want every house to have computers in them. And the talk is to beef up the sciences and give more of the practical subjects in the schools, et cetera, et cetera. They say that will make the difference. But it will not make the difference, if the human condition is neglected. You can give your son everything of material worth that he can possibly manage and give him more money than he can spend. You can give him so much money, that he will be wondering what to do with it. You can send him to the best schools and give him the best environment, but still sometimes that son will not be healthy minded and will not be productive.

So you say, "Oh, I have invested in him. and it seems to be of no use. "And what is it? It is because the human condition in him ;s the neglected thing. You are not neglecting his needs in the environment, he is neglecting his human condition. And he has to have a climate to turn on the human life for him. and to make him begin to see himself as a great creation of Allah  to see himself in that way and to value himself and to appreciate himself.
Now I used to be a little bit shy in religion, myself; I was shy when it came to addressing the human being in the importance of "self." I was a little shy, and I thought that would be taking the importance away from that, that is more important. That is to say Allah. That kind of shyness in people often leads them to become creatures of the world to come, only. They will just get people ready for the world to come or for the Hereafter. That kind of shyness in us will do that.

In fact, it will cause us to reject the world and we will start to invite people to separate from the world and to get away from material interest. You will be told to "follow this formula for developing holiness and this formula for developing purity. And follow this formula for transforming into an angel." So that is the route we will sometimes take, not knowing really the true picture of the world that Allah wants us to see.

I hope that the Christians do not feel that we are slighting them when we say "Allah." We are not slighting you at all. We would love for you to know our term and hope that you can appreciate our interest and our attachment to the term. For we do understand your interest and appreciate your attachment to the terms that you hold and cherish. It is our term for the one Lord and Creator, Who is the same for you as for us.

We need a climate for communities and productive individuals. And it is not going to come by any mechanical method. It is going to come by a condition in yourself. It is the condition in yourself that makes you different than those people who neglect themselves in the world. It is said in so many ways in our religion and also in other major religions. So now let us hear what the author, Haidar Bammate, of the book "Muslim Contributions to Civilization" has to say in quoting writers of the west.

"By concentrating their thoughts on individual events, Muslim scholars were able to develop scientific methods much further than their Greek or Alexandrian predecessors. They were responsible for the introduction or the restoration of scientific method to medieval Europe." Now this is history. And I believe that most of us know what the scientific method is. The scientific method is that discipline of the rational thoughts that look for objective facts and realities or objective truths. It is that by which no influence is allowed. The field that is being studied or the thing that is being investigated is not influenced by human "subjective" influences, such as how I feel about it. So it has to be objective.

A person may have certain prejudices against a particular nation, but if he is a scientist, he has to be objective. Then, if he is studying their life, he cannot let his bad feelings towards those people or his bad opinions of those people influence his study of them. His scientism dictates that he obey scientific methods and that he disallow subjectivity or his own feelings and prejudices. He is to respect only what is established as truth in the given situation.

That kind of orientation, as I am sure most of us are aware of, in the mind and in the intellect has made possible the new advance of science in the world, and especially for the West and for America. When you think about it, the greatest benefits to nations has come from two directions  from the moral direction and from the material direction. And science has been the greatest tool or instrument for making possible greater advances for man in the material world. Yes, we have the great advancements for man in the material world because of the greater disciplines of science  for we must remember that science was not always this way. Science has evolved too, from primitive to modern.

This writer has focused on these Muslims, the Arabs in the earlier history, and also on the Persians, the Turks, Indians, and others who came in and did marvelous things and made marvelous strides in science and civilization, just as did the early Arabs. We find that it is this discipline in the intellect of man that has accounted for the major advancements of man in the world of societies. It is important that we see the working of tauheed or unity. These things are tied together  tin- moral life and the material life.

As the material life advances, it also brings about a climate for greater advancement of the moral life, until a certain point or a certain degree in progress has been reached where man then begins to take things for granted and forgets where he had gotten it all. Again the material advancement also influences moral advancement. Moral advancement makes possible material advancement, and then material advancement makes possible greater moral life and greater moral advancement. They go together.

Why then should we be in religion of this kind of mind that material and darkness and Satan and evil are all on one side? And that light and angels and holiness are all on another side? That is wrong! And believe me, whether you are conscious of this or not, living in a society or a world that has conditioned itself to think that way, we can be affected and not be conscious of it.

I could go on to cite to you cases that I have read about of individuals in the major religions, especially Catholicism  and I am not picking on Catholicism. But it has a big problem, although it has done much good also. I see Catholics just like I see other religious people; they are on the whole very good people. But certain things in their teachings have presented real problems for certain people among their members.

It is likewise for the Protestant church. The Protestants are good people on the whole. There are great things in Protestantism, but I also recognize that they have a unique problem in them. Too many Protestants are handicapped in the world of competition.

So you will say, "What about you Muslims? Don't you all have problems?" Yes, we have plenty of problems, too. But our problems are not like the problems of Christianity and Judaism. Let me give you an example.

I have sat down in religious discussions with representatives of the Jewish community, representatives of the Christian community, and myself. In these discussions it is brought out that they have an idea that G-d revealed the religion, that G-d did give us revelation, but once it is in our hands then it is our responsibility to not only follow it but to update it. They were surprised when I told them that we will never think of updating our Holy Scriptures.

They asked, "How then can it continue to serve you, if there is no room for you to make changes in it? Are you going to accept that women can't be Imams?" I said, well I don't see any problem for a woman being an Imam, if you take the word 'Imam' to mean teaching and leading. She can teach and she can lead. A woman can do a lot of things a man can do, then are we going to call her a "man" because she can? Then there are certain terms that have been fixed for certain things. In our religion the term Imam is fixed for the man that comes before the people and leads them in prayer and gives a speech or khutbah. This role is not for a woman.

If a woman says, Then can I lead?" The answer is yes. She can learn the religion and teach it. We have many learned women in this religion who make great contributions to the bettering of the understanding of Muslims and the religion. Some are better teachers of the religion than many of the Imams. Some have better ability and skills.

Now if we continue with this kind of extremism in the name of some kind of liberation or freedom, I believe we are going to reach that point pretty soon, and a woman will say, "Hey, don't call me 'woman/ for I have a right to be called a 'man.' And right now, I want you to call me 'man.' I am in the spirit to be called 'man,' and you don't have any exclusive right to that term." Following that trend some of us will be just careless enough to say, "Okay, 'man.

But some of us know better and will not go along with it We are going to stick with what Allah has revealed and make ourselves bend to its light. We are not going to bend His light to fit our wild desires.

I do not know how many of us are familiar with the Crusades, for I understand that now in many of these schools you don't learn very much. They don't even teach you how to count your pocket change. Although we still have some very good schools, but on the whole our schools are very negligent. The Crusades were wars between Christians and Muslims. These wars lasted for centuries  some say eight centuries and some say longer. But during those centuries of war there were also periods of peace. They were not constantly fighting all the time. There were periods of rest, though not for long. Soon the Crusades would open up again.

Actually, "Crusades" is a term for the Christians in the conflict, and the wars are all called Crusades. That should tell us something. In spite of what history has done to make it appear that the Muslims were the aggressors, the wars were named by Christian powers to identify the Christian war spirit.

I will quote from the same book by Bammate, "The Crusades had brought a considerable number of Christians face to face with a civilization much superior to that of the Europe of their own time. The Crusaders found many things that were completely new to them, as well as techniques that were still unknown to the West." These techniques mean skills, skills of the intellect and skills of industry. "The large scale introduction of oriental products into European markets and the adoption of new techniques in agriculture and industry, et cetera, brought about a profound transformation in the economy of Western Europe."

This is a Western author saying this, and I repeat, "...brought about a profound transformation in the economy..." Now if my religion was able to influence a sluggish or slumbering economic society into lively economic activity and growth and eventually productivity, if it was able to do it back then, then I should have a concern to at least look at my religion and respect my religion for its economic value as well as for its other values.

That is what 1 have learned, in fact, many years ago. I learned it when I was following my late father and our late leader the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I learned that there were powerful influences straight from Qur'an, itself, for bringing about appreciation for material life, and appreciation for business growth and economic development. I found that that was there.

At that time I was crippled, because I was under my father's rule and under his order and at that time under his spiritual grip or grasp. I was crippled and couldn't come before the people with what I was actually seeing. In my heart, I actually wanted to say to him and to others that we have better help for economic development coming from the Qur'an, than we have from anything my father could say. I recognized then what I am telling you now. That there is greater help for development, for economic life and development, coming directly from the Qur'an, than from anything my father ever said or that I have ever said or ever could say. And I am aware of that.
Look, what we say in our small vision of importance- we have a small vision of what is important for man compared to what G-d can reveal. Our vision is very small, very small. Our small vision of what can be done to better the life of society and man is nothing in comparison with what G-d has revealed. We have had men come up in the name of themselves borrowing, robbing scripture. Borrowing from scripture and making us believe that they were coming strictly and straight from their own separate independent resources. They were not. They were borrowing and stealing from what G-d had revealed.
What am I referring to? I'm referring to the best thing that the man have been able to give man. The sciences, the sciences themselves, man didn't come into those sciences alone. He came into the sciences after revelation came to him. He didn't come into those sciences independently. It was only after revelation came to him. We have a model to work with. I don't just have to say this with no proof. We have a model to work with. A man that was uneducated, Muhammad the Prophet, peace be upon him. A man who was called unlettered in history, not only by a Muslim, he is called unlettered in history. He came from no institutions of higher learning. He was not tutored by any bright intellects of his day.
He received revelation from G-d called Quran. After receiving Quran and giving it to others, in time his society, his community that received that revelation from G-d became the spark for setting the fires of science, light and intelligence and intellect for the whole world. This is history. There was a model for it. The Jahiliyyah Arabians or Arabs of that peninsula Hejaz-- The area was called the Hejaz in that date. They had no scientific achievements before Quran. They had no real dignified political achievement before Quran. They had hardly any achievements at all before Quran. They were called people of the Dark Ages. They were called Jahiliyyah meaning ignorant society, uncultured, ignored society. Jahiliyyah, that's the term in history for that society.
But after Muhammad, with the Quran, with the word of G-d, they came into great spiritual life. They came into great moral life. They came into great senses of civilized community, and in time became the factor for exciting the intellect and also the appetite for science in the West. This is history. This is fact. That tells us something. That here is a model in Muhammad and in an Islam, a model for us to part to and say, well, you can tell me that man brought science and man brought all of this by himself, but I have a community in history. I have a peninsula in history that had not that at all. It came to them as a result of G-d's revelation.
I'm also referring to Marxism. Marxism, a great theory, materialism, material dialectics, contradictions for man, conflict, social conflict and the material destiny. All the great ideas of Marxism. They are nothing but distorted conceptions of what G-d had revealed to his prophets, taken out of context, bended, twisted, distorted a bit. Add something to it in your own name and come up with something. But have they proven to be as valuable to man over the long run of life as the Quran, or as the reveals of wisdom? No, they have not. Because we see a decline of that ideology right now in our day and time, decline of that ideology.
The great men-- I'm not picking on honorable Elijah Muhammad. He's just one of many men that have stood up and offered something to people in his own name, the blueprint for the black man and all of that. The economic program for the black man. I'm not saying that he was like some of them. No, he wasn't atheist like the [unintelligible 01:04:44] people. He didn't say G-d has nothing to do with this. But he said this is my plan. He didn't say this is the Quran's plan, or that this is based upon the Quranic idea. He didn't say that. He said, "This is my economic program. This is my blueprint for the black man. Mine." You see?
In saying that, he offered something, and I saw back then that he could come from a much stronger position and with much greater help if he came directly from Quran itself. I saw back then. I don't think I'm the only one. I don't think I'm saying to myself [unintelligible 01:05:21] No, I'm talking about myself because I know myself. I experienced that myself. I'm sure that there were others among you, others among the honorable Elijah Muhammad's followers that also says that the best help could have come directly from the Quran.
But you in the same situation that I was in back then. You were crippled, or your hands were tied, or your mouth was muzzled, or your eyes were cloudy because of the situation. We are not crying over that. I'm happy. I have learned from that experience back there. My experience with honorable Elijah Muhammad is teaching his society has been more positive for me than negative. I still obey this religion without an interruption. Do you hear what I'm saying? My obedience to this religion is without any interruption.
My mother and my father taught me not be poor, not to drink liquors, not to be immoral, not to be unjust. They taught me these things in the name of El Islam, in the name of Islam as a religion. They taught me these things. There were no interruption. I never became despondent or disillusioned to the point I say, "I'm going to get [unintelligible 01:06:40]." I see faults in honorable Elijah Muhammad's teaching. He's not in not in the cart with the Quran. I'm going to drink. He say, "I'm going to do anything I want." I never did that, never did that.
You go behind me, trail me from then till now and even before that. You can't find anyone. I don't think you can find anyone. There's nobody that has met me that they could even lie like that. No, you can't find anyone that say, "Yes, he did start. He started drinking. He started smoking." No, I didn't drink then. I haven't drunk. I didn't smoke then, and I haven't smoke. If my father could come right now from the grave and say, "Warith, give me your report." I give it to him. He'd say, "Boy, you sure have been a good follower of mine." Yes. Because I followed the best.
A man who invite people to follow him, he's not inviting you to follow him, so he acts the fool. So you mean your father act a fool? No, I'm not saying that. But a certain individual will do things that they don't want you to follow them in. I'm sure that he has some weaknesses, some defects. But if he could come back and say, "Let me see how many followers I got here, see if they still following me." He's not going to say, "Who followed me on that day I did at the table there? That was embarrassing."
He wants to know who followed him in the best that he accept, in the past that he did. Who followed me in not drinking? Who followed me in not smoking? Who followed me in being respectful of authority? Who followed me in being respectful of intelligence? Who followed me with being respectful of family life? Who followed me with being responsible for themselves and their household? Who followed me in those things? That's what he'd be saying.
Who followed me in stretching their imagination to do something about the material condition of the poor and neglected black community? That's what he'd be talking about. I'm saying that if he would come and find me-- If he was a judge that have to face in [unintelligible 01:08:47], I have no fear of him because he going to say, "Hey. Boy, you all right? You mean to tell me you obey those laws without interruption?" I said, "I sure did. Yes." I know what you got on me here lately. But you just got one piece of evidence. You see all the evidence, you would change your mind about that, too.
See, some people- just like misery love company. Misery loves company. You know it's old folks just say that. Misery love company. Sinners love company, too. Sinners love company. "Yes. You hear about this man? Hear what he did?" Yes, man. But I thank Allah. I thank Allah. I think I can go before any court and don't have to worry about doing a day in jail, not a single day, not even an hour in jail. No. No, because I have been blessed by Allah to love right, to love right.
I love right. I love G-d, who's Allah for us. [Arabic 01:10:09]. I love Allah. I love his messenger. I love the revelation of G-d, the Quran. I love the light it has. I love the direction in it. I love everything about it. I love goodness. I love righteousness. I love decency. I love truth. I love honesty. I love them. All of that, I love. I may have weaknesses. I'm a human being. I'm going to have weaknesses. But as long as I love these things, with the great love that I have for them, I don't think I'm going to ever become a criminal. I will never be a criminal, and I will never be a notorious sinner. I will always be note for repenting quick.
Let us not exalt any person above G-d. Let us realize that every person is very small and almost nothing when compared to G-d, every person. No prophet will ever compare himself with G-d. No prophet ever did that. No man ever did that, in the name, that was really sent by G-d, no man. Quoting more now-- "In reality an economic revolution was sweeping a society and a whole continent. The influence of revelation the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad that were really nothing but the application, the practical application, of what G-d had revealed in the holy book."
I have introduced that to say this, that our religion, as other revealed knowledge, but our religion's has more reason of the major religion. It has more history. It has more history, more living facts to support its claim than any other religion. Our religion has been proven. It is established for its benefits, for its power to affect healthy change and productive life in persons and in societies. It's proven. That should give us good reason to trust it now and not to be quick to say, "Well, we're Muslims. What difference does it make? Our life is no better than Jews, no better than Christians, no better than Buddhist, no better than anybody else's, no better than the Protestants. So what difference does it make?"
Don't have that kind of attitude. Look first at yourself to see if you are respecting the worth and value of your own religion. You measure up to it first before you begin to criticize it or look at it as not having enough strength or the power to bring about the desired change in your life that you want. Question yourself first. Because Allah says never will he bring about change for a people, until they first change the state of their own souls. They have to change the state of their own souls. If there's something in your soul that is contrary to the life that G-d wants for you, then no help's coming to you from any place, until you first become dissatisfied yourself with that bad state in your soul.
G-d has given all of us human beings a nature to want better, not just better for our backs and our physical homes that we live in, but better for the inner condition of man. He's given all of us that nature to want better for the inner condition of humans beings, man and woman. Don't fool ourselves. Let's be honest with our own selves.
The prophet, peace and the blessings be upon him, I turn now to the sayings of the prophet. We're still going after the same aim of climbing for a productive community, for a productive individuals, the advancement for the society and for the person.
Our prophet said, peace be upon him, the best richness is the richness of the soul. Now, our prophet is not the only one that has said such. There have been other philosophers, other men of great knowledge and vision, not that the prophet was a philosopher. He was prophet, proper. But there has been other educators. That's what I meant to say. Other educators have said similar to us about the value of the soul.
In my travel, travelling on the plane if you will accept exchange with people, you'll find many people educated, world travelers, well experienced, walking encyclopedias with a wealth of knowledge that will talk to you if you will welcome that kind of exchange. You will learn things from them. I've learned things from just travelling, sitting by people in planes that say- that I wouldn't have learned if I was going to perhaps the best college. Yes.
I met one gentleman, he was a recent immigrant from Europe. He shared with me his story of his life. He told me how conditions were in Europe. He said, "You know why?" It's easier for a White man to talk to somebody like this, American especially. American, you know-- not easy. He said, "Do you know how come the immigrants are able to come over in America and to get more out of democracy than the Americans that have been in the country for generations now? Do you know how come?" I said, "Why?" He said, "It's because we have internal resources."
That's the answer. That's the answer. He said, "I came here poor. I didn't have no material wealth." He said, "But I came here with internal resources." Wasn't that very decent of him and courageous of him to tell an American just what the real problem is? I told him, I said, "Look, I really appreciate you telling me that." Right in line with our light. I didn't tell him that, you know? I did appreciate him telling me that because him giving it to me gave me added support.
Plus it made me understand another area of the problem better because the conversation lasted for a long time. Yes. That's what makes the difference. He told me that the reason why they are able to achieve because they come here with resources of the inner person. They come here with internal resources, sources of their inner person, resources of the inner person. He's a big business man.
It started off, he's talking about the price for the ticket. We started off that way. We were talking about the price of the ticket. I told him, I always look for the best price. I said, "Try to make your reservation way ahead, so I can get that super saver." I told him, I said, "I probably never stood up there in first class, unless somebody bought me a ticket or gave it to me." That's how come I was up there. I was in his first class. Somebody in the airport recognized me and said, "Look do you want to go in first class?"
Now, hat kind of fool is going to say, "No, no, no. I'm a second-class man. I will not accept first class?" I said, "If it's not going to cost me any more, I appreciate it very much." [laughter]
He had a [unintelligible 01:20:04]. He had a [unintelligible 01:20:04]. He worked for the airliner. He went there and upgraded my ticket first class. So with [unintelligible 01:20:11], we start talking about the [unintelligible 01:20:13] thing. I said, "You have to really have some money to ride first class nowadays." He said, "No, I don't have that much money." He said, "I wouldn't say I'm rich." He said, "But I'm well of." He said, "I don't have to worry about material things," he said. He said, "My company, the company I work for, they pay for it." I said, "They pay for it because you are of value to them, and you are worth that ticket." He said, "I guess that would soften up to me." Then he said, "You know when I came to this country, I was poor." Then he started talking about the immigrants that come over and explained what I explained to you previously.
Now, if that man-- See, you don't understand- most of us don't understand science. Don't you know I'm establishing scientific support for what I'm telling you right now?
Congregation: That's right.
Imam: I'm not bringing enough information to you to make the argument really solid scientifically. I'm on the scientific method. Scientific method is to quote history, quote facts, then bring a living witness from a living example, and that's what I'm doing. These things are saying that the human condition, the inner condition is what makes the big difference. It's what makes the big difference. So don't play revelation cheap. Revelation is the best thing man have ever had. The best thing that he will ever have, revelation. Revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
Our Prophet also said a man was going along the road-- he gives us a report on this man. He says, "Once a man who was passing through a road found a branch of a tree with thorns obstructing the road. The man removed the thorns from the way. Allah thanked him and forgave him his sins." Why I say something like this? Because we need a climate. We need a climate for community and personal growth advancement. We need a climate. I know things that have been said to us in the environment that we know, this world environment. I'm not blaming it on America only. No, America's just been leader, just been the biggest and the most visible nation. No, but the whole world has had a share in this ignorance, a share in feeding our mind with ignorance and influencing our mind in an ignorant way. The whole world has a share in that.
Yes, so we need a climate. Our attitude toward Allah, our attitude toward revealed knowledge has been influenced by secular world and erring, faulty religious world. It comes from both ways, from the religious world, the wrong information has come to us about Allah. The wrong information has come to us about human identity, human worth, the wrong kind of information. All of this wrong information has a lot to do with our attitude now toward Allah, toward creator, the Lord creator; and toward revelation, toward the Prophet, toward religion.
Secular world has been successful in separating the majority of the citizens from every real help that G-d has offered. In that way, without putting us in any chains, they have us as their slaves. Now, I'm not talking about any particular person, any particular corporation, any particular religious group, no. This is really the work of Satan himself, the Devil. This is the work of Satan himself. But Satan cannot make any advancements in man's life without man inviting him in. This is our religion. Our religion says that. Satan has no ability to make any advancements in our life without us giving invitation. But we can't say who the Satan is. Satan is the Catholics. No, Satan is not the Catholics. I read that. I read that Satan is a Catholic. That that's the house of the Devil by other crazy Christians. Well, sorry, by a crazy Christian. That was a slip from the old days.
[laughter]
That was the time we thought they all were crazy. But I don't think that anymore, and G-d is my witness. I know better, yes. We know the influence is the influence of the Devil, of Satan himself. Shay??n is the name in Quranic language. Shay??n. It's the influence of Satan, Shay??n. We know that. But it was because men invited that evil influence. Men invited those evil thoughts. Men saw profit in following that evil. Men took up that evil. Men executed that evil. So the Devil, where is he at? Where is he? There he is. You're doing it. That's the Devil. Am I right or wrong? See, the honorable Elijah Muhammad was not all wrong. If you are doing the work of the Devil, then [unintelligible 01:26:09] over there. The Devil over there. The Devil's up there. The Devil is there. No, the Devil is where you are because you are carrying out the works of the Devil.
At a time in the life of America, different people from different religions, mostly from Christianity, have made themselves willing subjects, willing tools of Satan, the Shay??n, himself. They have influenced the life of people to come away from everything that G-d gave them as real support and real strength in their lives. Away from respect for G-d, away from respect for the unity of G-d's world, G-d's creation. They broke up the unity of G-d's creation and made the world two worlds, the world of Satan and the world of G-d. They broke up the unity of G-d's human creation and made it White and Black. We can go on showing how they broke up the unity of G-d's world. They broke up the unity of G-d's world and caused us to see the world in conflict and in contrast as being the product of the evil force and good force.
All of that has conditioned our attitude that we have right now. Because in time, education and scientific progress will bring us to see the fallacies, the flaws, the blunders that man made and gave us. Then return to those and say, "Well, that was the religion. The religion was responsible for that. They did this to us." Hardly ever we say the secular world did it. But the secular world is usually the main culprit, the secular world. The secular world influenced the church. Can't you see how the church has been influenced over the last 20 years by the secular world, how preachers have stopped trying to obey scripture and have started trying to just be politicians? They just want to be politicians, demagogues at that, meaning people that will cater to your weaknesses, just to keep your dollars coming into the offering.
[sound cut]
-- really what G-d revealed just to keep the dollars coming into the offering. This is what has happened to too many churches and too many preachers over the last 20 years. Where is the culprit? It's the secular world. They have been influenced by the secular world to come away from G-d. G-d has been so discredited by the secular world. Religion, the church, and everything has been so discredited by the secular world that they have not had the strength, the faith and the knowledge in G-d to stand up to the great advances of the secular world against the shrines and monuments that G-d established for man. Well, you may get tired, let me know because this is home for me. This is home for me. This is my life. I enjoy doing it. I don't want to press you or bore you too long.
Now, our Prophet says a man picked up this branch with thorns on it from the road, and Allah thanked him. Don't you know that's powerful? That is powerful. It's truth. It's a simple truth that G-d appreciate any goodness we do, and especially the goodness that we do, not out of self-serving interests, but out of an interest in the broader or the extended self; out of an interest in our fellow man who's part of ourselves, part of our own human life and existence. In his interest, we pick up this branch of thorns from the road, so he won't have to experience the same difficulty that I'm experiencing right now.
G-d thanked him. Allah thanked him and forgave him his sins. How does that help a climate for community and personal advancement? It counters. It counters. It works against that old, cheap, inferior concept of G-d that the secular world has influenced in man. It cause me to see a Lord that doesn't have to come and do a great thing in the heavens and cause all the nations to see it. But he can come to me quietly that nobody see it but me and do a wonderful thing in my life.
All the miracles that I read about are not as strong in my life as an influence for me to appreciate G-d and love Him more as this simple thing that He did for me, and nobody saw it but me. He blessed my life. He made me feel sinless for a little thing that I did like taking a thorny branch from the road, so others wouldn't have to be bothered of it. The man walk away feeling sinless and feeling that Allah is smiling on him and saying, "Wonderful creature, I love you. Go on. You have no more sins, at this moment." No telling what he'll do the next day or next year.
Of course, all of us are human creatures. We will sin. But the spirit of repentance makes us decent in the eyes of Allah. We should be decent in the eyes of each other. When we see a person-- no, no, don't look at me. The human being is something else. You've got to be perfect. If you say you're good, then he's going to say, "Are you perfect?"
[laughter]
You can't be good without being perfect. Now, that's terrible. That's another error in our thinking given to us by this world. You can't be good unless you're perfect. [unintelligible 01:32:52] "Well, he good?" Or, "Are you perfect? Did you do anything wrong?" "Yes, I did something wrong." "Are you good?" "Yes, I'm good." [laughs] Yes, as simple as that. He say, "Well, are you good," or, "Did you do anything wrong?" "Yes, I did something wrong." "But are you good?" "Yes, I'm good." A good human being doesn't mean that he's an angel. An angel never sins. A good human being is a human being that never wants to sin. That's a good human being.
Again, our prophet said, "Oh, Lord," praying-- Listen. Listen. "Oh Lord, grant me your love. Grant me that I love those who love you. Grant me that I might do deeds that win your love. Make your love dearer to me than the love of myself, my family and wealth." This is a prayer of the prophet himself, peace be upon the prophet. Now, listen to this prayer. Whatever he prayed, it's within the capacity of all human beings to pray that way.
Allah says of him in our holy book, "Say, oh, prophet, you are a mortal human being just like them." He doesn't represent another creature or another stage in the evolution of human beings, no. Yes, he does represent another stage in evolution of human beings. But what I mean, he's not representing a growth out of the reach of all other human beings. He is our example. He is our leader. We are to follow him in his excellence, which tells us that G-d wants all of us to be like him. There are many of us, perhaps, have the same spirit to pray exactly as he has prayed here.
Look what he says here, "Make your love dearer to me than the love of myself." This world has come to the point in this attention to self where it wants us to think that anything for self is okay. Anything for self has to be accepted, has to be approved. You shouldn't even love anything more than you love yourself. The greatest thing going for you is yourself. There is nothing more wonderful than yourself. How is that? Am I G-d? There must be something more wonderful than me. I didn't create myself. I didn't decide my own entrance into this world. There must be something greater than me. There's much greater than me.
Allah says of man, "Oh, man, think not that your creation is a bigger thing than the creation of the heavens and the earth." This world, secular world, inflates our ego, excites our mind, inflates our ego, gets us in the foolish, drunken love with our own image to make us rise above the things that we must respect in order to sustain our true life and true functions; wants us to rise above those things in our own mind. Trip. Trip on on to thinking that you're the most important thing there is. If I think I'm the most important thing there is, then am I going to have much respect for Allah, when you tell me Allah said don't do that?
Even if I don't consciously reject it, subconsciously, subconsciously, in my spirit, in the recesses of my soul, something is saying, "You won't move to that. You're the most important thing there is." That's the work of Satan through the secular world forces. That's the work of Satan. The prophet didn't have any kind of ugly sin in him. No, he said, "Make your love--" To Allah, he's telling G-d, his creator, his Lord, "Make your love dearer to me than the love of myself." Put himself first.
There are some of us who say, "I won't let my children stand in the way of me and G-d. No, no. If they come to G-d, I'll see them all go to hell." But we never think that when it comes to myself, I'll see myself go to hell. If I have to go through fire and suffer, I'm going to be a decent person for G-d. We don't see that. But everybody else, we see they can be the sacrifice. Everybody else can be sacrificed. I'm going to stay with my Lord. No, first thing you do is sacrifice yourself to make yourself fit for other people.
When you get the strength to face your own shortcomings and say, "I'm not going to accept these ugly things in me." There you're a better situation for other people. You're going to be a good for other people then. The first thing to do is what the prophet said is make your love dearer to me than love of myself. Then he say my family and wealth. G-d says usually these three things that cause man most of his problems. Is that not so? Self-influence directly, direct influence coming from myself, or either influence coming to myself through my family, or either the possessions, my possessions.
Now, dear people, let me kind of go back now to the subject personal community and personal advancement. The aim in addressing community and personal advancement is to show the cause underlying progress. There's something that's underlying, that's hidden from our ready grasp, ready view; that's responsible for bringing about a situation for progress, for advancement. The same situation when it's neglected, or it's reversed brings about failure. Then relationships are all spoiled. In time, all relationships will be spoiled, and no relationship can help us. Don't you know Allah created us to be helped by relationships? To be helped by our family members, to be helped by our friends, to be helped by neighbors, to be helped by institutions, to be helped by established people in society. Yes, to be even helped by the physical environment. He made it. We should have a relationship, a helpful relationship, a helpful relationship, a productive relationship with the physical, natural environment. Allah has made all of these relationships, to help us, to advance us, not to hurt us.
But when things go wrong seriously in here, all of that's cut off. In time, no relationship can help you. There are people now that no relationship can help them. They have no relationship with relatives, friends, institutions, teachers, established people, the government, nobody that is of any good in their life. Nothing can help them. Some of them will say, "The world is just no good. The government's no good. Everything's no good." Why not look at yourself a little bit? There's still some good out here in the world. A lot of good out here in the world. The bad thing is the sanctuary.
This comes from the Bible. I believe this is Ezekiel. I can't recall. Right now, my thoughts are racing. That's not very important to quote to you about. I'm not a preacher. I'm not a member of the clergy, never will be. Not to criticize them, I love them and respect them, but I don't want their life at all. I recall where this scripture of the Bible saying that the world had come to a terrible, terrible state, a dreadful state, looked like everything, no hope. They were trying to trace the problem. "Where's the problem?" They finally located the problem.
The problem was in the sanctuary itself. In sanctuary, that's where the problem was. Pollution had come into the sanctuary, and for that reason, the whole society was messed up. Don't you know that's the sanctuary of your own good self-interest? That's the sanctuary of your own good self-interest. When that interest become polluted, twisted, corrupt, the whole life eventually is lost. We have to keep our own self-interest, healthy, healthy, in good condition; honest, upright, respectful of things that should be respected; and especially the value of the human soul that Allah has created.
It seems that everything comes into life through the door of self-concern. With this matter, our task in recognizing situations, of favorable and unfavorable relationships with self, becomes very important. We have to examine all our relationship, all the relationships of self with something else, even your money. See, the human being is a sensitive creature. Everything that he comes in contact with eventually brings about a relationship. Either one that is hostile, or one that is acceptable or desired and loved. He becomes attached to it. We are creatures of relationship and that's what Allah means when he said he has made you mates. The first mate was, we think of Adam and his wife, the first mate. From them came all other mates, many men and women all over the world, so scripture said.
We have to understand that G-d is pointing out to us a fact of our nature, that we are human creatures. We do not exist or multiply or grow, except upon relationships. Those relationships are abstract as well as concrete. You have a spiritual side. It has also it's mate. You have a moral life, it has its mate. You have affections, they have their mate. You have intelligence that operates in abstracts. The abstracts also have their mates. You and your whole abstract concept or picture, you have a mate with the objective world. We're just mates. Everything that touches us. Everything that comes near us in our environment, it becomes a mate. Either it becomes a hostile relationship or a welcomed relationship.
Don't take lightly anything that has touched you: your money, your children, your property, your friends. Don't take lightly any of those relationships. You have to work at keeping those relationships from going rotten, making you a bad person. You know we have to watch this relationship we have with this world out here. Good G-d almighty.
On the unity of Allah's creation, the belief that whatever Allah has done is good. I know the Bible hasn't given the world this idea that materialism is bad, nature is bad, nature's sinful, material is sin, nature's sin, human nature's sin. No, it was those who misread, misinterpreted. They're responsible for that. The Bible said, "G-d made the heavens and the earth. He made everything in it. He made it met." Each thing that G-d did is followed by this, "And it was good." It was good. So what made it bad?
G-d made the material world, the heavens and the earth. He made the fish in the seas and everything, animals and everything. How come animals became bad? It was good. That's what it said. It was good. Our religion says the same thing. It said he made everything and made everything excellent,gave excellence to everything he created. This is our religion, what it says.
Look what it said here following the story or in the context of the story of a man who had become attached to his wealth and allowed his wealth and his riches to keep him from obedience to G-d. He's not the subject here or the concern here. But I just want you to know what precedes the statement in the revelation Quran. G-d says, "When his people said to him," to this man that had lost his soul to this attachment to his wealth, "When his people said to him, 'Do not boast in a silly, humorous kind of proudness or pride." The word is [Arabic 01:48:26]. It means not only to boast but to be light-minded, taking lightly the serious things. "Do not boast, for surely Allah do not love those that boast in the light, trivolous [sic] things." You see?
It goes on to say, "[Arabic 01:48:47] and seek by the means G-d has made possible for you, the destiny, the hereafter. However, do not forget your share of this world." Here is G-d inspiring people who are subjects of a rich man, who had allowed the worldly influences to take him away from obedience to G-d. They're telling him. They didn't tell him, "You have allowed these things to affect your life and take you away from obedience to G-d."
They didn't say, "Now, stay away from those things." No, they just said, "Wake up to the destiny of man. Wake up to the promises of G-d. At the same time, don't neglect the material world." Isn't that wonderful? That is wonderful.
How many of us preachers, even Muslims--? How many Muslims--? I'll just put it just like that. How many Muslims Imams will see a rich Muslim attached to his wealth and forgetting G-d that will come to him and tell him, "So and so and so, don't neglect the end, the destiny that's coming. Take care of that and also, don't neglect the material side of it." How many of us would do that? "See there, brother, don't let your wealth go to your head. That stuff messed up your life, got you all corrupt. Your heart is all messed up, brother. You've got to break loose from that."
That's what we be telling. We be telling you to separate from wealth, when we should be telling him to look at wealth again, and look at yourself again, and respect yourself, and respect the wealth. Respect both. Don't let the wealth damage your soul, and don't let your soul neglect the wealth. That's G-d's guidance. Now, you tell me if that kind of philosophy is not better than what Karl Marx offer, is what Engels and the other guys offered us. It's much better because it brings about a situation for our soul, for progress.
It gives a situation to the soul, a condition for human and an inner life, for real progress in the world, which then will lead us behind man that promises great things, but their promises fail because they are not able to serve man always with their limited resources. Their resources are going to run out. Man is going to run into a condition of life that's going to make all that they offer of no count, no use. But what Allah offers will never fail, will never run out, and this is nothing new. I've always heard religious people say G-d never fails. It means his word does not fail. Neither G-d nor his word fail.
What did they say also to him? They told him, "And do good as G-d has been good to you in giving you all this wealth." Now, you're doing wrong, your soul is at risk. Do good as G-d has been good to you. That's a nice way of saying you didn't have all this wealth to start with. You came into this world naked and without anything just like we did. You got all this wealth, at least, be as kind toward G-d's creature as G-d has been toward you.
He gave you a share, share your wealth. Share it with the creatures that are around here, are parched-mouthed, and ashed faced and thin, and worn out and raggedy, and sick, and dying of diseases. You got all that money. Hurry up and wake up before we rise up with axes and things and chop you into a billion pieces.
[laughter]
Yes, this bad wrath of G-d will come through the people. They'll be coming to him as servants of G-d with oh so such a beautiful wonderful way of bringing him back to conscience. They told him to do good as G-d has done good by you, and do not seek to corrupt the land or to bring corruption into the land. I think if we had that same level headed of sense and that same respect for both sides of the reality that G-d has made man, human life, I think we can make much more progress in this world. We'd get much more from those that got than we're getting.
Don't you know the economic problem for society now is not government, and all of us want to point to government. It's not government. Government has made blunders and everything, but the real problem is not government. The problem is the absence of charity in the heart of man himself. There are people with plenty. They is more money among the wealthy for help to this society, the failing society, than the government has.
The government has to get all that money because the neglect is neglect on the part of individuals that have wealth. They're neglecting their families. They're neglecting their neighbors. They're neglecting the society. They're not investing in institutions like they used to. Rich people used to pay for most of the colleges and university. Now the burden is on the government to pay for all the schools and everything. So if we bring about a climate for the return of man to his excellent state that G-d created him for, it's going to be a beautiful world. The government will become healthy again.
I'm not saying government is good. No, government is bad. We know government is bad. All the evil wouldn't be in our society if government was good. If government was as good as it should be, government would risk war to correct some of these outrages. It would risk war with all the people to correct some of these outrages. We know that. I'm saying that in the light of what private life has done in its own neglect-- We have to have sympathy. We have to sympathize with government because government has been carrying, for many generation, much more burden than nature ask of it. Nature does not ask of government that it carry all that burden. They end up having to tax the citizens so much because those that got won't share fairly with those that they have gotten it from.
Government has to tax the people excessively. It's not directly the government's fault. It's the fault of the moral state of man, the inner life of man and society.
I'm not finished but I'm going to bring it to a conclusion. I'm only halfway. I'm going to bring this to a conclusion. No, I don't want to, but it's better. I'll have another chance if G-d bless me. I'll have another chance. There's an inner urge in us to connect self to make good sense out of life, to connect self with a context for making good sense out of life. This urge is in the baby when it's first born. Every baby is born with the urge to make sense, to contact. It's to make contact. To connect itself and make good sense context for his life, for his existence.
Some people say he's looking for G-d. Yes, he's looking for G-d. But he's not looking for G-d directly. I don't think any of us are born looking for G-d directly. G-d invites us to come to him. The way he invites us to come to him is by first trying to make sense out of things. The more sense we make out of things, the closer we come to seeing G-d.
The more sense we make out of our own self, our own place in the external world, the more sense we make out of that, the closer we get to G-d. Don't you know the prophet said, "Whoever has seen himself, has seen his Lord?" Some of us, some of the mystics are so foolish to think that that means that if I ever could acquire the great vision, the great divine vision to see myself in my origin, I will find myself in G-d. My origin is in G-d, and I will see G-d. I was once G-d before I descended into the world. That's foolishness. That's heavy wine.
[laughter]
What the prophet is saying to us is this, peace and blessings be upon our prophet, the greatest man, the perfect man. Muhammad is a perfect man, perfect man. He's a model of perfection that all of us should be striving for. He's what's in all of us. The prophet is saying this, that whoever has seen himself, has seen his Lord; meaning this, once you see your own reality, once you see your own self in the real, real plan of G-d, this creation-- You see yourself and understand your nature, your role in this creation. Once you see that, you see G-d because automatically you know that the one responsible for that is the G-d. Automatically.
Once you see yourself it makes you free. The more you see that, you get a little inkling of it. The little inkling of it make you appreciate G-d. There must be a G-d behind this. The more you see, the more you say, "There's got to be a G-d behind it." Pretty soon you get to the point you see it in such a great light and illumination. You say, "Oh, Allah." You fall down and say, "I'm nothing, G-d. Before you, I'm nothing." The drunkard, the wine drinker, instead of falling down when he sees himself, he gets crazy, "I see G-d."
[laughter]
Thank you very much, as-salaam alaikum.
[applause]
Takbeer.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar. 
Imam: Takbeer.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Imam: Takbeer.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
[sound cut]
Imam: --is the sayings of the prophet. We're still going after the same aim of climbing for a productive community, for a productive individuals, the advancement for the society and for the person.
Our prophet said, peace be upon him, the best richness is the richness of the soul. It's not--
[02:00:25] [END OF AUDIO]

