8/15/1999
IWDM Study Library
A Spiritual and Community Vision

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1:
The following lecture titled, A Spiritual and Community Vision Building Upon Faith in G-d: Contributing to the Improvement of our Neighborhoods and the Moral and Financial Strengths of our Families was recorded Sunday, August the 15th, 1999 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The lecturer is WD Mohammed Muslim-American spokesman.
Imam WD Mohammed:
Thank peace be unto you As we greet in Islam, Asalaam Alaikum. We wish G-d's peace be upon you and we are grateful for our presence here today for this gathering, and we are grateful for the organizers of it, the Muslims of Baltimore and for their leader who has led the way in a very, very remarkable way, led the way in correcting and for correcting the image of Muslims in Baltimore and in America and many parts of the United States, a valuable leader for our future in America. Imam Earl Abdul Malik Muhammad, my son-in-law.
We have a need in our soul asking us to accept responsibility and for those of us who have been trying to be responsible, that need in our soul is asking us to accept even more responsibility so that we will be able to establish and be responsible for community structures as much as is possible without us depending unduly on other communities. I'm speaking of us as black Muslims as we have been called. I'm speaking of us as African-American Muslims and particularly as us as a following of M.A.S, the Muslim American society. Most important among these structures that we hope to establish and be responsible for is facilities to serve our spiritual life, our academic interests, and our business life.
Soon we hope to realize phenomenal growth for our life in society. We hope to have structures built from the ground up, structures that will accommodate our need to increase the number of our private schools and make great improvement on those private schools that are now in existence. We hope also to have among those structures that we will be building up from the ground cultural centers, social centers, Islamic theaters, that is theaters that will give our people in the performance arts room and an opportunity to express their Islamic life, their Islamic taste, their Islamic spirit, through the performing arts.
We hope also to have soon industries. We hope soon to have financial institutions all built by us, produced by us, and managed by us. The prime motivation is not to have theater for entertainment, for entertainment sake or to have even education for education sake or business money for business sake or money sake. The prime motivation forming our vision for life and its future is our life of faith as Muslims, faith in G-d, which has inspired in us a new effort for the establishment of our self-respect as a group, as a race, as Muslims in our human dignity. We proudly and happily move closer to the Christian community. This leadership is fine leadership with particular thoughts or reference of our newly formed relationship with the Catholic church through our friend Cardinal Keeler, who introduced us to his holiness the Pope, and also gave us the great experience, spiritual experience of touring the Vatican and being inspired by all of the wonderful things that we saw in that environment.
We hope to join the Catholic church and this group of followers that are special, very special to us and I'm sure they're special to the Catholic church, the Folcolore, the Folcolore people, led by their president, Chiara Lubrich. We hope to join them in addressing the needs of family life in America for the people of faith. The need to address the problem of pornography, especially child pornography and family, the drug culture or as the Holy Father Pope John said, I think he causes the culture of death, the culture of death. So that we will have a better public life, better public environment, a better public life for the people of faith.
All humans inherit not only the original innocent human soul from the first man that G-d created, Adam, our father, the father of all humanity, but we also inherit with that original soul and its original innocence, the original appetites of that soul. Appetites for human excellence, appetites for the excellence of human behavior and human performance, appetites for a life of excellence and a life of plenty, not a life of want. A prosperous life. What the soul of humanity wants as a condition for human life is this G-d-given spiritual core for us is Taqwa that G-d created us with. In the Qur'an, our holy Book, we learn that G-d created every human being with Taqwa and also with Fujur. So he gave us our Taqwa and our Fujur, meaning the consciousness that makes for a good, innocent, righteous, prosperous life.
And He gave us our Fujur, meaning, human nature and human interest in the things of the environment, in the flesh, in the material world. He gave us both the consciousness for the better end, the spiritual destination that He promises us, but also a consciousness to benefit from this material world and that consciousness, sometimes, because of us straying from that original innocent life and its purpose, that consciousness in us sometimes take us into much trouble. Seeking to please the flesh, seeking to please the material appetite and also the ego, false pride, unselfishness, a selfishness in us that deprive us of that good spirit that is unselfish, that is social. In the Catholic religion and Christianity, I think for most all Christians, you believe that G-d created you in His image.
We say that G-d has given each and every one of us something of His spirit, that we are created to seek His will for us, His direction for our life and the purpose for our life established by Him when He created us. And for us obeying His will, being motivated or inspired by His existence outside of us and in us, that's something many Muslims should be aware of. I don't think you all are aware of that. We believe like Christians, G-d is not only in heaven but G-d is also in us. He's in us, in every one of us waiting on us to properly respond to Him. And over and over again in our holy scriptures, He says, if you respond to Him then He will respond to you and make your life a good one and give you good establishments both in this life and hereafter. This core of our existence that's right in the center. In the Qur'an, Allah says, and He exists between the man, the moral life of the man and his intelligence stream.
Intelligence stream. The moral life of the man and his intelligence stream. And I think it comes up the spine, right, comes right up the spine to the head and it is touching all the nerves and everything in the whole body and you can get a little trouble in the spine like I got right now and it make something numb or make something itch too much or make something not operate correctly. Very delicate. Yes. So we believe and G-d said to Muhammad the Prophet, peace be upon him, I am closer to you than your own jugular vein, the life vein that carries the blood to the brain. I'm closer to you than your own jugular vein. So we believe in this central life of ours where G-d is supposed to always have an accommodation. The Christians say, open your life and let G-d come in. We say open your life and hear G-d where He is and where He has always been.
And I think we are saying the same thing. The environment that will satisfy humanity's soul will have its material life serve the human soul by providing the material vocal chords. Now I'm a bit poetic, you can't follow me all the time if you're not poetic. Yes. By providing the material vocal chords, the visual presence or the visual reality through the life of industry, art, and religion, our humanity and our common soul can never be satisfied until the industry of life or industries that serve our life has done a way with the industry of death, with the industry that influenced us to follow the way of death.
The culture of life has to do away with the culture of death. And I'm also taking now the culture of death, that expression from his holiness Pope John Paul. And until the religion of life has done away with the religion of death, I was reading a publication, the publication right away caught my eye. I won't say what publication that was right now. Well, I have to I guess now. It was the Catholic newspapers that I would invite all Catholics to read. Your circulation should increase because we want Catholics to know their life and have direction, and we wish that more African American Catholics were subscribing to that newspaper. It inspires me, it's beautiful, it helps me, it helps my life and I'm a Muslim because it respects my life, the life that G-d created for me and I would again invite all Catholics to subscribe to the Catholic newspaper.
It wasn't the newspaper itself. I think it was like a little ad. It was the ad. The caption was the End is Near. And my spirit kind of had bad thoughts because I'm not with doomsday preachers. But as I read it, it was not talking about the end of our life on this earth at all. In fact, it was talking about sharing our life on this earth. It was an invitation from a charity institution to have more supporters, volunteers so that they would be able to serve the needs of the poor better. And they were inviting readers if they have old cars that they're not doing anything with, old trucks, if they're not doing anything with them to give 'em to this charity institution and the charity institution would try to sell them and get some money to help the homeless, the poor, the suffering.
So I felt good after I read it, The end is Near. And I said to myself, yes, the end is near because salvation is near. I see this as the time of salvation. This is the time that my soul has been waiting for, the time when good forces will be coming together from all over the world, from all the communities of faith, the good forces are coming together for the good future of humanity on this earth. To me, this is the day of salvation. And I tell my associates, my colleagues who work with us in the MAS, the Muslim American Society. I tell them that this is a day of fulfillment. What has been prophesised, the good that we were told to expect that will fill the whole earth. It won't be regionalized, but it will fill the whole earth.
My soul recognize this time in which we live as the fulfillment, the time of fulfillment of that prophecy. Cardinal Francis Farenze of the Vatican, a man whom I've also been blessed to have friendship with after I met Cardinal Keeler. He recently said, and it was printed in one of the local newspapers in Chicago, that there has not been a time before when faith communities, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others are coming together to address the common problems facing us all and are looking for more and more opportunity, dialogue, to have dialogue, to have conversation with each other so that we can know each other better and cooperate upon our common life and common interest in the common good so that we can have a better world for all. The good and even the sinners.
This is a wonderful time. When the Catholic church meet the head of the Royal kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Vatican and in Saudi Arabia. They meet. The members of Rabita, World Muslim League based in Saudi Arabia, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, meet with leaders of the Catholic church in different parts of the world. And Imam WD Mohammed, a man who would have been absolutely unknown and nothing had he not been the son of Elijah Muhammad. Yes, meeting in the Vatican with the Pope John Paul, who is the leader of hundreds of millions of Christians existing in many parts of the world, very numerous in my town, Chicago and your town Baltimore. And very numerous in the South America and the subcontinent, as well as in many other places of the world, meeting with him. And you think that happened accidentally? No, it didn't happen accidentally. Many years ago as your minister. We weren't called Imams back then, we were called ministers.
That's what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad left us with. As minister, I saw a need for me to communicate my intentions for our community. Because if our community is to have its aspirations live, materialize for it, they have to materialize in this public of America and in this public of America there are more Christians than Muslims, many more Christians than Muslims and the establishment is in the control of Christians, not in the control of Muslims. So it only made good rational sense in my life for me to respect that reality and seek to introduce myself and our interest to the Christian leaders of the Christian public of America. And two fine Muslims from the Muslim Congress based in Pakistan, learned of my interest, they embraced me. Brother Hamdani embraced me and the President of that organization embraced me and they arranged for me to meet with the World Conference on Religion and Peace at one of that annual international meetings. I participated there and they gave me an opportunity to speak, so I expressed my desire to them and they welcomed me. They welcomed me. Archbishops welcomed me. They were there, they welcomed me. And after that it looked like the ball just started to roll Soon I had invitations not only from faith community leaders, but invitation from powerful capitalists.
Capitalists invited me also because they knew the Elijah, Muhammad and the Nation of Islam had an interest in business, in improving your material life of African Americans. So they invited me to see if there was any chance that we might be served by their financial institutions. And it was a good meeting, very good meeting. They welcomed me. As soon as I was announced as the leader of the following of my father, the late leader the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I was visited by government leaders of the country Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. They came to acknowledge me as a new leader and to assure me that they were recognizing me as not just a new leader but a leader who would bring us closer to the real life of Islam.
This has been a wonderful experience for me, a rewarding experience for me and also a wonderful and rewarding experience for all of our leaders. Imam Plemon Al-Amin and all of us. We have gained so much because of a new disposition, a new interest in us as Muslims to be included in the following of Muhammad the Prophet as followers of the Qur'an and our leader Muhammad the seal of the Prophets. But also to be included in the following that I call the following of the people of the book, Christians and Jews, included with them as people of faith believing essentially are basically in the same thing, that we are accountable to that G-d that created us and that G-d has created us for a life of purity and excellence, for good works and for good rewards on this earth and even more hereafter. So I repeat this is a day of salvation and yes, the end is near.
Where have to begin to come to this place that we are so happy with now. Place in our travels, place in our spiritual travels, place in our travels as a group, as a race seeking honor and respect, freedom and justice for ourselves. This great American society with all of its wonderful structures was in the vision of the founding fathers and in the leaders of this society, industrial business people, the people who led the cultural life before it all materialized for it to be where it is now. America the beautiful, America that I couldn't see when I was following the Nation of Islam. America that was hard for me to see even after I start following the Qur'an and the example of Muhammad the Prophet, but now this America the beautiful is not so difficult for me to see and inclusion that was in my heart. I wanted that. I think my father conditioned me to want that, not to be separate from whites but to be with all good people. Anytime he introduced to us a savior, and I'm sure many of you saw his picture. In that picture, he knew that it was going to present some difficulty for us when we met or if we met a white person who was kind and human. It'd be very difficult to say that person was not acceptable when our savior was in the same picture or image.
So he was a kind of genius. You know sometimes the most exciting love with a woman is the love with the woman that does not always pull you to her, but sometimes when you really want to be hugged, she pushes you away. So I don't know if that's a good description for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, but I know he was telling me things that my nature loved, my core, my soul was loving. And then he would tell me things that my soul core, my soul rejected, didn't like it. And here I was using my rational mind to quiet my soul. I'm getting put out of the Nation of Islam if I listen to you.
So that might not be a good description for you all but that description for me, like a woman that you really love and she push you away right at the wrong time. Now I'm really, really, excited now girl, why are you pushing me away? We have seen our vision for our future in America. We know where we want to go now and we want to see it expressed in the material structures of this society, to have us, Christians and Muslims drawn together to see better material establishments and better material life for us in our poor neighborhoods, poor areas where we don't have business establishment and regretfully we don't even have business sense As a student of economics, I learned from reading the textbook on economics, that book said economics begin with individuals and groups being concerned to identify their needs and supply their needs. Now we know that was the teaching of Marcus Garvey.
That was the teaching of many of our great leaders, and that certainly was the teaching the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. To have lessen the burden on government, we should follow the teachings of Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Farrakhan. I think I can mention his name. Farrakhan, Minister Farrakhan, who are asking the poor not to just wait for the rich to serve you, take care of your needs, but to have the faith and the courage to get up, take the initiative and do something about your condition and not hope for others to rescue you, ut to trust that G-d loves the conscious good behaving worker. And G-d says to us in our holy book, He will never ignore or disregard, put aside the work of any worker, whether that worker be male or female. The worker is highly honored and respected in Islam. And G-d says to us, I am a worker. That's what G-d says to us in the Qur'an. I am a worker. So you work you in your places. And G-d also has also introduced Himself to us as the creator that made all life and all things, all hopes possible. But He says that He is the best of creators. That says to us that G-d wants us to also be creators. And we know we are.
Some African inventors complain that they have not gotten credit in America for their inventions, but we know many of them have like George Washington Carver and so many others. They have been acknowledged for their inventions. Didn't they create something? Our stars in the performing arts, haven't we created something? We got the whole world trying to dance like us. Haven't we created something? We are born to create. Let us use our imagination. The western world has grown so far ahead of others, the other quarters of our existence because they have the courage. The leaders have the courage to use their imagination, to use their imagination, to think into the dark path to the future and have faith that they can make a better world or a better road bus to travel than exist now. We need more leaders from our community, from our community, from African American community, from the African American Muslim community, African American Christian community. We need more leaders to not to think that the world and life and its future is to be left to white people. It is equally our responsibility. We have planned to achieve our vision without depending unduly upon government or upon others, other communities. I would like to see us welcome a life in America that does not keep whites and blacks separated because of any particular racial aspiration of ours or theirs. They will not have a separation because of religious differences.
But a life that will permit all of us to work together in competition. I love to be competitive. G-d created us to be competitive in a competition. But as G-d says in our holy book, a competition like a race for all that is good. And if that competition is like a race for all that is good, the runner who is catching up with you and passing you, you cheer him. If you can't run faster, you cheer him because the goal line is for all humanity. And if I just do very well in the race, I'll get my credit. Someone does better than me in the race, they get more credit. But the benefits will come to all of us, all the races, all the runners in the race will share the benefit equally if it is a race for all that is good and not for evil, not for injustice, not for dominance, not for a selfish race for something that excludes others. I'd like to read what the religious lady recently said. Her name is Mary Boys, B-O-Y-S. And it was published in one of the publications, religious publications that I receive. Quote: I would like to see both Christians and Jews so solidly grounded in their own traditions that they are able to enter openly into dialogue and discussion. Understanding does not always mean agreement. I met with the Philadelphia Shura Council, Islamic Shura Council. And we met because we have differences and we have a convention coming and there was some confusion as to how we wanted to introduce that convention to the people of Philadelphia and the East coast area.
The confusion was are you introducing this convention as an Islamic convention? Well if so, why have not you consulted us. We are Muslim leaders, we are Islamic leaders. Why haven't you consulted us? And if so, how come you don't invite us to work on the planning of this convention, included us in the planning of this convention, which to me was all very rational, intelligent questions you see? But we explained to them that it is an Islamic convention but it is a Muslim American Society Islamic Convention. And we still invite them to welcome us, we want their welcome, we'd like for them to welcome us to the city of Philadelphia and we want them to be in attendance at the convention. Some of the leaders said to me in this peaceful meeting that we had to iron out our differences. They said to me the Tri State Shura, the follow Imam WD Mohammed, and they want us to agree with them and you are not the leader of the Muslims. There are other leaders.
So I told them, I said, we are not seeking people who are leading people who are only from our association, but we are seeking people who are leading Muslims from other associations, from other groups, other Mosques. I said, you don't have to be following me for me to want to meet with you to see if there's opportunities for us to do things together to contribute more to the good future of Muslims, all of 'em in America. They said, they say you are the leader and Muhammad is the leader. Peace be upon Muhammad the seal of the Prophets, the last Prophet. I said to them, yes, that's true. Muhammad the Prophet is the leader. He is my leader. He's the leader of all Muslims. I said, but Imam WD Mohammed is a leader too. I said, you know Imam WD Mohammed is my leader. I said, I follow WD Mohammed. And I didn't tell him this, but it's true Imam WD Mohammed introduced me to Muhammad Prophet and now Imam WD Mohammed follows the Prophet, peace be upon him. But it was Imam WD Mohammed who introduced me to the Qur'an and to Prophet Muhammad. I was in the same boat you were in. The same person who introduced you, introduced me. I was just as lost as you were.
Now you think I'm not going to recognize my leader who led me to the light, to the path of Islam and to the greatest human being ever created, the model for all people a mercy to all the world Muhammad the Prophet who received the Qur'an. Do you think I'm not grateful to Imam WD Mohammed for leading me to that? I'm speaking just for myself, I'm a witness for what has happened to me in my life. Yes, I repeat the salvation of the humanity of the world is a near. A new world of faith communities is on the rise where people of faith, of one faith don't have to be burdened. Fear that their interest is not being served by anybody but themselves. Where we can go happy in the road to our great future, knowing that our interest is being served by us and also by all good people of faith. This is a wonderful time.
Recently in USA Today, an insert for that paper appeared in the Detroit News and Free press publication. It carried the caption, the American Science of Goodness, the American Science of Goodness. I didn't have to read that caption to have those thoughts. When I meet with these leaders from different faith communities and I meet with the leaders of the business world, financial institutions, and we are all having the same spirit, all having the same interests in making this world a better world for all people, and seeing a welcome in people that I didn't find a welcome in before. I travel now more than I ever traveled by plane. You, if you keep up with my travel in the Muslim Journal newspaper, the calendar of events, you are just seeing maybe one half or one third of my travel.
I'm traveling in the air sometimes so much. I think I'm a creature there and not a creature of the land, of the ground, in the air so much. And I'm seeing and meeting the public on public transportation in public places. And what I experienced years ago, I don't experience anymore. I used to get on the plane and right away the resentment was so strong in the whites that were on that plane that I didn't have to look at them. They reached me through my subconscious life. They touched my subconscious life and my conscious life say, don't look, don't look that way. Say just keep and find a seat. Don't look that way and hope that you don't have to sit down by a devil. And that was after I was Imam and after I understood the right way, I still didn't want to sit by a devil. Sometime I had to sit by that devil an dit was so miserable going all the way to my destination just knowing what was in his mind. So experiencing that over the years after a while, realizing too that we were making a lot of progress for right thinking and that really the majority of thinkingas against that kind of thing in people, white or black, I started to play with 'em a little bit. I'd say, you might not know it, but I'm as uncomfortable as you are. But I thank G-d, goodness is on the rise. Yes, goodness is on the rise. Racism has to draw, pull itself back out of sight because it can't get approval anymore. It can exist but it's not going to receive public approval anymore.
That ugly racism and all of this wickedness, it can continue to exist but it will not get public approval anymore because goodness is on the rise. And there are many convincing signs everywhere. I gave you a little example of what I've seen change in people, white people. I remember in Little Rock pulling up to the service station and I spoke to my black soul brother. He was right there. I didn't have the year. He was so close. I didn't have to yell. I said "Good morning." And he had just like a racist who was white and I was black and he was blacker than I was in color. He didn't return my good morning. I said to myself, I'm in Little Rock. I said, now if that had been a redneck, I'm sorry. That's what I said in my mind, I don't have that kind of language anymore. I don't know how it comes up. If that had been a white man, I would immediately identify him as a racist. Immediately. I would identify him as a racist. I say, good morning sir. And he ignored me. Look at me like I was a piece of something that stank in his nose, but G-d rescued me right away. I was hurt and G-d comforted me so quickly. As soon as the hurt came, I saw a white man in about the same distance from me. I said, good morning, sir. He said, good morning, sir.
In Little Rock, Arkansas. And I felt so good. I sat down in my seat, turned my car on and just cruised. There are convincing times everywhere if we'll just open our eyes and see, believe, have faith. Don't impose upon your own consciousness something that's not true just because you've been following it for so long. Sometimes we have the habit of following a certain thinking for so long anything comes up to say that’s wrong, we drown it out, close our eyes to it, put our fingers in our ears. Open up. And you would hear the sound everywhere, goodness is on the rise. Goodness is on the rise. I never feared the wicked. I never feared the criminals ever since I became your leader. I said, they don't have a right to be on this earth. This is G-d's earth. I have a right to be on this earth. And I told them, I don't fear you. They were in the Nation of Islam. They were sitting out there looking at me with their hard black faces saying, "We will kill you." And I looked at 'em and I said, you don't have any right here. The righteous have the rights here.
You are not having any support from divine law, or divine favor for your presence in your way of life. Law and divine favor is on my side. So I'm not afraid of you. I invite you to transform your life and I'm your friend. I want to see you free of that devil that's in you black man. And I'll help you get rid of that black jinn that's in you because I love you. But don't think I'm afraid of you. And I know you could break me up with your strong fist and your strong muscles and your pistols. You can do away with me right away. But I trust the G-d that has power over you in all things. He'll turn your mind around and send you away from me. That's the way I spoke to 'em. Now if I didn't fear them should I fear now? Goodness is on the rise everywhere. Well, I got friends that I'll go to their rescue, I'll get on a plane and go overseas to fight with them. That's the kind of friends I've made since I've been your leader. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of them might not get on a plane and come to my rescue and fight on my side if I have to face some bad jinns.
We are living in a time of revival, a revival of the true life that G-d put into the human soul when He created the first person. Recently the president of the NAACP, he was expressing to a gathering of that organization, that precious organization. We know what it has meant in our life. The good church, the good black church and the NAACP, the Urban League. We appreciate those organizations, those institutions, religious and political. He was expressing to the NAACP a need on its part to not just say it represents the African American minority interest or the African American complaints against the establishment pleading for justice, better opportunity and better life. But that the NAACP should change its expression so that its expression will be heard not only about African-Americans who are suffering, who still need help, but also by whites, Hispanics, or any minority. Women, any minority that need some representative or some organization to help them get their pleas heard and justice. I welcome that position so strongly. It tells us this is a new day. Goodness is on the rise.
The issue is no longer race. It is more. Not that we have solved all our problems, all of our problems for racial relations. We haven't. But it is more now the cry of humanity. The cry of humanity in all people who have been denied, unfairly dealt with, denied opportunities. Short changed, misguided, deceived, exploited. It's the cry of humanity in all of us now around this world. And if you had traveled like I have traveled in many parts of the world and seen suffering like I've seen suffering outside of these United States, you would say, "Hell, let's not cry so loud. There's people out there suffering much more than we are. Let us kind of lower the volume of our cry so that we can hear the cry of those that's suffering much more than we are." Times have changed. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad recognized that before he left us, before G-d willed His will that he should finish his life in this earth. At one of his last annual addresses where he was addressing the convention of Muslims, 15 or 20,000 maybe I know 15,000 were present. And he said, and I tell you that from the bottom of my heart, I've never heard them speak that way before. And what was he telling us? He said, if the white Americans can respect you, you respect them.
 Now he couldn't go too far with that because he had been too strong in the position asking us to separate from them and condemning them as a race of devils from whom we could expect no good. He had been so strong in that position that he couldn't be free to within a year or two to tell you what he really wanted to tell you. But he prepared us in the years before he got sick. He prepared us. He said, if you work for a white man, give him a honest day's worth, don't cheat him. And he says, respect the laws of this man. Don't disobey the law. And he said, be mannerable with the white man, with the white people. Be mannerable. Show good manners. So he was telling us then don't put yourself in a situation with them where others and them would point to you and say, you are racist and you are evil and you are unjust too. But show them that you uphold the better side of humanity so that they will not have the argument against you that you have had against them. Now that was a man that was good and a man that was wise, a wise man, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
And he went even further. He did something that even the Christians who wanted to integrate with whites have not convinced me that they can do yet. He acknowledged the great achievements of the white race and asked us to follow them in their great achievements. He said, they build the best road that you will find anywhere. He would say, that devil done built that road. Ah, look at that scoundrel. Now he said that. He did that for you to hear. If he didn't call him something bad while he was praising him, you wouldn't have even heard him. He said, look at that scoundrel, he done built an airplane. He'd get into it like he sitting in a mansion. And he then lifts it up from the earth into the sky. He was trying against you to recognize the man's great achievements, but to get you to hear him, he had to call the man something bad.
He had to call him scoundrel or something. That's how sensitive we were. And some of us still are. Some of us still are. Yes. Well, I'm here to continue that work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad cause you will never be able yourself have great achievements to your credit, the equal achievements of the Western world until you develop an unselfish heart. A heart that will recognize good wherever it is and embrace good wherever is. And good is on the rise. Yes. The cry is not only the cry, not the cry of any particular one people. The cry today is the cry of the suffering everywhere, it's the cry of humanity in us asking a response from all human groups. And I'm the leader of this human group, the Muslim American Society. And I'll be going in the right direction. I'll be registering the suffering cries of all people. And I'll be your leader for as long as you love and accept that in me.
There's a great need for us to continue to present the Muslim life that is not in disagreement with the commands of G-d and the Qur'an. The spirit of that beautiful Qur'an, most generous Qur'an, merciful Qur'an. And the life example of how to live that book that we have been given from G-d in Muhammad, the seal of the Prophets, the last of the Prophets, the Messenger of G-d to all the worlds, to all people, mercy to all mankind as G-d tells us in His book the Qur'an. Again, I have to remind you of the good works of Earl Abdul Malik Muhammad, my son-in-law in this area and also anywhere where he knows there's a calling. He goes to answer it and he gives them in beautiful language, beautiful logic, beautiful sensitivities. He convey them to people of the Christian faith. They embrace him, their fears subside. They say, well, if this is the Muslim, we are not afraid to have them live in America and prosper in America. Don't you want to live here and also prosper here? Follow this man and follow that man and follow this man. Their with me. And follow that lady, their with me.
And there are many others who are also over here. And that man and that man and that man. Believing in me. Follow us home to the destiny of peace and justice where our souls will find fulfillment and satisfaction. See the slave, the slave and the children of the slave. They have something. You have to be a student of psychology to appreciate this. They have something in their psychology, something in their genes, something in their souls. Something in their spirit. They say, Hey, you haven't lived enough yet. You haven't lived free enough yet. You got plenty of money. You're Oprah Winfrey. You got plenty of money and plenty visibility, plenty popularity. But you are not free yet enough. You are not recognized yet as a people who can establish themselves and take care of their own. Let's go home all right, let's go home to the full, full destination. Let's go home. Let's work together. And we are not asking the rich to lead us. This movement is going to be led by the poor. I'm poor. This movement is going to be led by the poor and we are going to show them that we can do what the first man did. G-d created him and put him on the earth and didn't give him any help. Just gave him the earth. And he went to the earth and G-d said, you responsible for it. Do something with it. By G-d we are responsible for it and we are going to do something with it. And we are not motivated by greed. We're not motivated by money. We're not even motivated by intellectual arrogance or something like that.
It is not our intelligence that we want to put on the top of the mountain. It's our humanity. We want to put on top of the mountain. It's our human soul we want to put on top of the mountain. We want spiritual freedom, spiritual peace. And we won't have that until we do the same thing for our environment that G-d did for the faithful believer. He gave him a body, a material body. It's is like an instrument. The wind needs a horn through which it expresses itself and out of the body, human body, the artist, comes the wind into the horn and it comes out and it has a language. It's communicating the abstract. It's communicating the unseen to the listeners. And they're not only hearing the conversation, they feel the conversation. They taste the conversation. If the expression is vulgar, they say, oh, it's in bad taste. I don't want that. They smell it. It's too funky.
Imam WD Mohammed:
And they see how the physical body of the performer to witness that communication is coming through here. Lord it's wonderful to be human. Now the G-d that gave me my material, flesh through which I expressed myself and reach you in all of your senses, wants us to have schools and Mosques of quality and beauty. Factories making money. Financial institutions, financing our schools, financing our sick, financing, our people who buy automobiles so they can have automobile insurance. They don't have to go outside of themselves to get that insurance. When we have those material builders serving our spirit, our spirit will be seen in so many instruments. In so many instruments. Thank you. Peace, Asalaam Alaikum.


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