04/09/1982
IWDM Study Library
Educational Concerns 
Sedalia NC

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Brother Imams, teachers, principals of Sister Clara Muhammad Schools, Muslims, As-salaam Alaikum.
Congregation: Wa-alaikum salaam.
Praise be to Allah, guardian evolver, cherisher and sustainer of the worlds. I bear witness that nothing is worthy of worship except Him alone. And I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Before going into the main concerns that I have for the Department of Education, I would like to mention efforts by individuals. They are not Muslims, not members of the community, but have been very good efforts and that I think can be a study material, if not models in some sense for us. I began with the old school of the community when we were called Lost-Found Nation of Islam or The Nation of Islam.
That school, I think, was a school that attended the real needs or the most urgent needs in the African-Americans or Bilalian students, Bilalian children. And as I mentioned in one or two others, we'll see the connection between them. This land that we are on right now and the facility that we are in, facility that we are occupying that have been purchased for this community now and represents our own property, on this land was the Palmer Institute of Ms. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, I believe it is. Yes, and I have read recent the Xerox copy from an old issue of Ebony Magazine on Mrs. Hawkins' work, her works.
What impressed me was the concern for discipline in the life of those students that were fortunate enough to be accepted by Ms. Brown. She didn't accept just any student; they were carefully selected. And once they were selected, she gave them such a strict discipline that if they weren't serious, I'm sure they couldn't have stayed long in her school. She insisted upon certain manners of behavior from the time that they entered until they left, from morning till night. They had to begin six o'clock in the morning following guidelines and discipline of that school for personal behavior, for the whole conduct of that school.
She taught the girls proper etiquette, proper way of doing things, proper way of standing, proper way of sitting, proper way to walk, proper way to speak, proper way to speak when you're speaking with others. She gave them a strict code of behavior that they had to conform to. And I think that that made for the success of that institute. I believe that's what made account for the success of the Palmer Institute. It was the concern she had for a rigid code of obedience. We find that today in the public life, in the institutions as well, this has relaxed.
People think you are not conforming to what is proper now if you insist upon proper behavior, proper guidelines for personal behavior, personal conduct. But we know that this element has come into the society to contain the masses of people in their own foolishness and ignorance. We know that the people who are allowing this kind of thing to become an epidemic in the society, they themselves don't live by that philosophy. They themselves live by a strict code of discipline, but they want the public to be disorganized. They want the public to be so-called free and what it means is care-free.
I'm impressed by what I've seen in the brief account of the Palmer Institute that was printed in the Ebony Magazine some years ago. The community that we belong to has evolved from the Nation of Islam, Lost-Found Nation of Islam more properly named, to be what it is today, and we have inherited the school of yesterday. The Clara Muhammad School used to be the University of Islam; we've inherited that school. In studying its history, you find that there was really the same kind of emphasis put on personal behavior of the students. In Chicago, the students had to conform to a dress standard set by the school, they couldn't come in unclean, untidy.
Whatever the dress was for the students, all the students had to wear that. There wasn't any room for differences of opinion. The tendency now is to differ just for the sake of differing, you see? So, I'm talking about a time before this, this is not today now. If you're of today, you're out of touch with what we're talking about, you won't even understand what we are talking about. But those who have survived this new wave of insanity, we know the value of this and society can't survive without it. Here we find something that's very essential for us and that is a serious spirit, a serious attitude in all of us.
We don't have to become so serious that we become inhumane or become mechanical or stone people, but a certain amount of seriousness is required if any people expect to make progress. There's a tendency in us to be too, I would say, playful. I was trying to find a nicer word, the tendency in us to be too playful. We want to make fun out of everything. “What else do we have to do? We have to remodel; we have to restore to these properties. I know just the person to head project. He is fun.” So, we pick a person to head the project that's a lot of fun. “Oh, he gets along with everybody, he's easy, he's fun, he's humorous.
He’s got a taste for good humor.” First, we should look for the serious things, and then after you find the serious thing, then see if you have any serious problem with the serious thing. First, you look for the serious mind, you select the person for the serious mind, for the serious job, and then you look at that person
and see if he has some serious problem. If that person doesn’t have any serious problem, that's the person for use, but don't look for the emotional person first, don't look for the person that everybody likes. That might not be the right person. Look for the person that best fits the job, serious business, and then hope that we can get him to smile occasionally.
I think that's something that we ought to value. We have inherited a school that emphasize strict discipline for its students and for its teachers. And had its own code of behavior, and we are Muslims, we haven't changed. In fact, we are more Muslims now than we ever were. So, we are Muslims now in the true sense of the word. And we shouldn't think that the past is completely behind us or completely separated from us.
We haven't severed ourselves from our past, only from the things that are not useable, the things that are improper and not useable, but the Muslim discipline was perhaps reflected in the old days under the un-Islamic concept more than it's reflected in some places where there is the Islamic concept but not the Islamic discipline or the Islamic code of behavior. So, we should realize that, and as we go about trying to improve our schools, our elementary and secondary schools, we should rid ourselves of that emotional sensitivity that we have from the past where we either go to extreme in trying to get credibility to something of the past or go to extreme in an effort to discredit the past.
Both are harmful and both are equally harmful. If we have that kind of sensitivity where we have to spend time and energy in trying to establish credibility for the old days, then we really are not ready for this. And if we have other extremes where we have to go way out extremes to try to discredit the old, we ain't ready for this. But the person who's in today, he's in the present and he has no trouble recalling the past but he's not in the past, that's the person that should be here today, you see? So, we have some concerns and I've just began with the main concern, and that is the sentimental hang-ups that we have sometimes. We have to be serious.
All over the world, we are known as a playful people, believe me. The world won't tell you these things, they don't like to insult you to your face. But all over the world, negros, black folks, African-Americans, Bilalians, I've used all these names because some of you don't know which one.
All over the world, we're seen as a people that are just too playful, can't get down to serious business, can't hold a course for long. They say, “we are starters, but we can't finish anything.” That's the reputation we got all over world. See and we don't want that, and the only way to get rid of that, we have to get that Hematic strain out of our blood. We know we’re not the children of Ham, but the man said that and he must have selected just those that had that tendency in them when he was looking for slaves. I guess he just picked the ones that had the Hematic strain. Say, "You look like I can support what I say on you."
What am I talking about? I'm talking about the character Ham in the Bible. According to the Bible story, when Noah was seen in an embarrassed position, some of his sons behaved intelligently, but one of his sons was simple-minded, and he laughed at his father's embarrassment. He's called Ham. Many of you know, I know that Dr. Shabazz know, many of you know that they have called us the children of Ham. And what they are saying is that we are silly minded people that we don't take things seriously, that we don't take matters seriously or we will laugh at serious things. Now, wasn't that serious, their father seen in an embarrassed state? That shouldn't make any child laugh, but there was one child that laughed.
Many of us are just like that. We see our leader; we see Imam Shabazz in an embarrassing situation and we'll giggle. But the one who is intelligent-minded, when he sees Dr. Shabazz in any embarrassing situation, he either turn his head or he will do something to help Dr. Shabazz get himself back in shape. Right?
Yes. This is Islamic. Prophet Muhammad has taught us to be that way. So, we have to get that playfulness out of us, we're too playful. Believe me, I hate to repeat bringing this up, but as long as we give our ear hours and hours at a time to records and the music of this world, the songs of this world, and give our eyes and ears to the televisions, to their program, you have to come out of the world that you want to rise above. There’s no way to rise above a world if you're going to be under its influences. If you want to rise above that world, you have to come out of it.
I don't want to be equal to America, I want to rise above America. Those that rise above America can lead America. Those that want to be nothing but equal to America, they will never be leaders. And I'm talking about Americans. What president should lead America if he just wants to be equal to what he sees in America? The president that can really lead America is the president that wants to be above what he sees in America, and he has something to offer, he has leadership to offer. We should think that way, we should always think big, think bigger than the thing you're dissatisfied with, then you can surmount it.
That's the only way. These are my concerns. You probably want to hear me say how much money we want to spend on erasers, and chalk, and how much notebook paper each student should have and all of that. What will protect us from this tendency to be taken off course by emotionalism or sentimental influences?
When we identify in this religion in the Quran, in this religion, when we identify what is proper behavior for a Muslim, and we insist that all Muslims, I don't care if he's the person who just walked through the door, if he's the one who sell eggs to us, that bring our eggs to the home, or the one who run the school and teach our children, or the Imam of the masjid or a council member over the whole community, I don't care who he is, we should insist that all of us conform to what is proper for a Muslim in terms of behavior.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
That's right. I say we should insist. Insist means that we should use our collective voice to bring down anyone that's destroying or hurting the image of this community.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
That's right. So, actually, we don't have a philosophy. Our guidance is the teachings of the Quran, but if we would select certain principles of behavior, understand behavior covers more than just how you move physically or how you move morally. Behavior also covers how you think. Muslims have their own way of thinking, and if you're behaving wrongly, it’s because you're thinking wrongly most likely. So, we have to establish what is proper Muslim behavior. And it should begin with a rationale that holds for us the belief and outlook of the Muslims because this world is writing a philosophy for us.
This world establish principle for us to believe in, ideas for us to believe in, and then this world establish viewpoints for us. They establish the way that we are to look at reality ourselves and the external world, but we can't buy that from the world. We can't introduce the philosophy of the Western society into our schools, we won't be Muslims anymore. I wonder if we understand that. I don't believe many of our teachers understand it because, in Chicago, I see un-Islamic teachers wearing Muslim names, and pretending to be Muslim teachers, and they are not at all Muslim teachers because Muslim principles are not established in them in the first place, and they don't have a Muslim outlook.
They don't have a Muslim viewpoint, they don't have a Muslim outlook on the world, they don't have that. The heavy responsibilities of the educators in this community is responsibility to extract from the Quran and from the life of Prophet Muhammad the proper idea, the proper ideology, the proper way to look at the world, the external world of reality, and the proper way to approach whatever you have to approach. This is no small job; this is a big job. And the average one of us, we want something quick and easy and this is nothing new. It ain't no new discovery. Allah says that when He offered a great responsibility to the creatures, the angles.
He said, "Man rushed up. I'll do it, I'll take this responsibility, I'll do it, G-d. I'll watch over the universe for you." G-d says, "Surely he is hasty."
He didn't know what he was asking for. But now look at the wisdom of Allah. Who did Allah select, the one that says, "No, G-d, it’s too much for us" or the one that was cocky and ran up and said, "I'm ready, I'd like to do that"? He selected the one that was cocky, He gave him the responsibility. That tells something, when it comes to choosing between a cocky person or an overly confident person, and a person that's not willing to make a decision to do anything, you choose the cocky person.
We don't want to lose the focus and think that we're not supposed to look for aggressive, active, aggressive people. We are. We have to look for active, energetic, aggressive people, but we have to be aware that all of us are humans and we are subjected to be a little bit big-headed and we conceive ourselves or perceive ourselves to be bigger than we are sometimes. And G-d said we are little cocky, but He wants us anyway. In time, He know we'll season down after a little weight get on the back.
Allah said, "Just wait a while. Don't bother him now, just let the world rests on his back. After a while, he’ll stop being so hasty."
The two things that I have tried to bring to our attention today is the need to stick to our knowledge and the need to select personalities who can best represent that knowledge. Now, secondly, we have to value physical property. We know that we have a long history for neglecting physical property, material property, assets. Our religion is a religion that if you study it, if you will give your mind to our religion, you will come away from that mind of the old days, the slavish mind. It's not just the slavish mind, the problem is bigger than that. They say a person who will hurt themselves just to hurt somebody else, they say, “he cuts off his nose to spite his face”, or something like that.
That same kind of principle, that same kind of idea can be seen working in a whole race. A race that will unconsciously neglect material concerns, but subconsciously, what is happening? Subconsciously, they're still rebelling against the white man. Now I hope you'll understand me. Most of you all are teachers here, most of you all understand right away what I'm talking about, but some of us our minds haven't been thinking on this, so we had to bring our mind to think on these things, and then all of us can see it, it's nothing complicated. If I am forced to upkeep your house, but you reject me. You speak down to me.
I'm inferior, I'm dirty in your eyes, but now you have forced me because you have power and possession of me, you forced me to keep up your property. You don't think I'm even qualified to own property, but you force me to keep up your property. All of this registers on the man, it registers in the subconscious, if not in the conscious. So, even the best slave, I'm sure that most of the best slaves rebelled unconsciously against this thing that the white man did to us. Now among you are those that think it's wrong to even bring up what the white did. “Don't do that.” How can you lead this community if you are so tender or so subject to behave wrongly if somebody bring up the past?
The pass is there, it's a reality and if we don't bring it out here, roots will bring it out. Or if roots don’t bring it out, something else will bring it up. Now, are we going to be so delicate that we can't even mention that the white man was the son of a bitch yesterday?
A bunch of son of bitches and everything else. Now, if we can't even mention, if we can't even think back on the past, "Be careful, he will start growing vibrations." We have to be strong enough to lead the community and to be strong enough to lead the community, you got to be strong enough to deal with anything in your past, present or in the future.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
All right, so this attitude that we have, the disrespect we have for property is something that has been compounded by the plantation or in the plantation life situation. The plantation situation has made that worse. Now I'm sure that many of us came from Africa with a tendency to disrespect, the tendency not to give property its due respect. I'm not saying all of us came here perfect. If you go all over the world, you'll find the same deficiencies in people all around the world. White, yellow, red, all people have these deficiencies, but in us, it seems that these deficiencies have been fed and bred.
We know that's a fact, we know that the West, that America has fed our deficiencies in order to contain us on an inferior level so they could master us and never have to fear us competing with them for leadership and rule. We know that. Now, in order to get us back on the right path, in terms of the proper respect that we should give physical properties. This is necessary. I was saying as we were coming in here, and I hope I don't talk too long. When we were coming over to the building, I said it's a wonderful feeling to be on land, property that is ours. That's a wonderful feeling. Material achievement, material gain is a psychological necessity.
Yes, our psychology refers to the nature of the soul. Your soul needs this and the proof of it is being on our own properties and knowing that it's not just that wall. If it was just here, this would be nice, but we know it's out there too. That building there too and the building back behind there too. It goes for about forty acres.
Now we got mules, sheep, goat, camel. We are almost ready for that red Cadillac, and Mercedes, and the et cetera. Almost.
It's a wonderful feeling. We have to make a special effort in designing the courses in our schools for the children. A special effort to attend these deficiencies. We just can't ignore these and say, “Oh, we're just like anybody else.” No, we're not. We have special personality, we have special problems, and special assets and we have to remember all of that. In many ways, we are superior to the white man. Believe me, in many ways, slavery and hardship in this country in many ways have made us excel, the average white man in this country.
So, we have to be able to identify in what ways have hardship given us superior attributes. And then identify those deficiencies too that that past condition, and present, it is still lingering here somewhere, has bred into us. Identify all this and then study those attitudes in the personality, and when we write or design courses for our students, we shouldn't ignore that. We should make an effort in the course to address these things, build on the strengths, make an intelligent analysis of the situation of inferiority, and then come up with, write recommendations. See, you all can do this, the educators in this community can do this.
And don't go out there and look for no psychology book or no social behavior book in the library. You lock yourself up, throw out all their books, only use a dictionary. Only use a book that will give you terminologies if you don't know it, the meaning of the terms if you don't know it, but don't use any book that suggests a philosophy, or suggests a principle, or suggests a way of behaving, or psychology, or something. No, just reject it all and take your Quran, and take what we have in this community, and sit down, lock the door. “There's a strong temptation to pick up a white man and then you lean on him.
The fact that we keep all that literature out and everything while we design the course we should take.” If we can bring back the healthy respect for properties, we will do a service to this country because this weakness and ignorance in people now has spread, it has overflowed from us, and the society is now letting everybody just go wild and free without guidance, without knowledge. You'll find that this is no more a characteristics peculiar to us now, you find the Hispanics, you'll find the white races, the European races, you’ll find all of them silly minded, don't value anything no more, just want to be happy, want to have fun, but they can't maintain life, they can't hold wealth if you give it to them.
This is an American problem now, a problem for the whole Western world and perhaps the whole world. And since we were the first victims of it, then it would be really beautiful if we would come up with an educational program for attending this problem in the students, and getting rid of it, taking it out of the students. The way to get respect back is simply to get the direction, or the ideas, or the philosophy from the Quranic teachings. Allah says that, “He has created everything in pairs.”
A student of Quran or a scholar in this religion, if he was here, and I think we have one here, perhaps we have more than one, there are plenty of them here perhaps today. They will tell you that this idea in the Quran that, “He created everything in pair”, does not just mean us, male and female, it means the nature, the constitution of matter itself. That in the very constitution of matter itself, everything works on the principle of duality. And what does He say? He said every pair noble, honorable, Kareem, deserving respect, that’s what it means. That everything that He has created operating in pairs deserves respect.
This wall deserve respect by the Quranic teachings, the earth deserves respect, the agricultural life deserves respect, whatever man fashions out of the natural world, it deserves respect. That is if it's useful to humanity, if it is still serving the purpose G-d designed it, is that right?
Congregation: Yes.
It deserves respect, so we should include this principle in the teaching of our children, we should tell them that, “Allah require you to respect creation”. And if that child is a Muslim, it's natural for him. He naturally grows up respecting all creation. So, he'll be a better student, he'll be a more aggressive student, he'll be motivated in the right way, he'll be attracted to the sciences better because when you have a high respect, or a high idea of the material field then there's more urge, there's more of an inclination to go out and explore it. That's an enticement, that's an invitation to get involved in the material world, to explore it.
These ideas are super and that's what we have to understand. The psychology for making life better is not in public school, it's not in their university, it's in your Quran.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
They're busting their brains out trying to find out how to motivate the student, how to motivate him because the only way they motivate him, the thing that they rely upon for motivating the child is what's in today. Whatever is in today, that's what they have to motivate the child with. So, when the whole world has gotten full over what's in today, they can't motivate them anymore, so they have to wait until they create new interest to motivate people, right?
Congregation: Right.
All right, so now they done made everybody a ward of the mental institution. Yes, everybody got a mental problem now of how to motivate. How to motivate him? He’s got a mental problem. You don't have to motivate something that doesn't have a mental problem. That's what they're admitting. Anytime they say, "We have to come up with ways to motivate our students," the Western school system, the public schools, they are saying that we have a mental problem in our students. Just to motivate. “I have to think of ways to motivate him.” Why do you have to think of ways to motivate him? Life out there, it doesn't need motivating.
The animal, the cat, rat, dog, whatever it is, don't need to be motivated. You just leave it alone, it's naturally motivated, right?
Congregation: Yes.
Can you imagine the first man on this Earth needing to be motivated? I can't imagine the first man on earth needing motivation, but we need to motivate people. “Oh, motivate him, give him a reason for living.” We have to understand the problems of the West, and we have to see the West as it is. The West is problematic, it is psychotic and we have to see it like it is for as long as you look up to this world, you will always be under it, but anytime you can latch onto the Quran, and see it's superiority, then you stand above this world. You stand above it, and that's the only way you can help it.
You want to help this world, I know most of you want to help America, I know that. You want to help America, I do too. You think I want to hurt America? This is my home. My ancestor lived in Africa, but this is my home America. It's my home, United States of America. This state and all the rest of them, even Hawaii. When I went to Hawaii, way over there, I said, "Is this my state too?"
I said, "I've been flying all night and day, you tell me this is my state too," but I had to remember that it's one of the 50 states. It's all right, I accepted it. I said, "This is my state too." All right, so don't think that because I'm a Muslim and because I see G-d's knowledge above the world’s knowledge that I'm not American, that I'm not patriotic. I am perhaps more than most Americans, but I'm critical too. And that's what made America great, it was people, pioneers who had a higher vision. They had a bigger vision than the present state that they were in. So, they were able to lead their country, their people, and their nation into greater life.
Now, if we have the same vision that the world has, you'll never be leaders. You have to be like those pioneering Americans whose vision was bigger than England, bigger than the old world. Whose vision was bigger than the reality that they were in at that time, bigger than the 13 colonies. They are the ones who advanced this country. The most important concern I have is the concern for your mind because we are children of slaves. We are affected by it, we still carry the after-effects of slavery, plantation life, and just being the subordinate all the time. That's right. We carry the effects of that.
Some of us overreact to it and we exalt in our own small-mindedness. We want to take ourselves out of the world and be some separate “G-d” or some superior being. We're bigger than America, we're bigger than everything.
Right away that person challenge him, “Well, Kant said, Plato said, so and so said. And just tear up the presentation of that poor brother. But let anyone bring anything from the white man and right away, buddy, "Genuine. Yes, genuine. That's genuine. The Imam ought to include that in the curriculum."

So, we want to be aware of that. The current concern is for number one, the mind because our mind has been intimidated. Our mind has been crushed, our mind has been made to think small and to fear to express itself. “Oh, if I express what's on my mind, they are going to laugh at me.” Aren't we intimidated like this? Some of us have a great idea, be just the answer, be the solution, be the medicine for the ill, but we're afraid. We're so shy. "I don't have Plato, I don't have Kant, I don't have Aristotle, I don't have any of the Western authorities to support this good idea. Oh, if I say this, they'll laugh at me." We got to get out of that.
Getting back to the physical property. In Chicago, I thought, I said, and I knew as a child, I didn't have any problems living on the property of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam. I didn't have any problems. You would never find me or any child with my mind writing graffiti or defacing the property or doing anything to diminish the beauty and value of our property. You wouldn't find me or anybody with my mind, girls, boys, alike. Why? Because over and over again we were told that, “this is yours”. See, the problem that we have inherited, I call it the plantation ghosts that's still in us.
It ain't no ghost, it's a spirit. It's a real spirit, it ain’t no ghost. The problem in the past was that this thing was in us and it'd be the neighbor's property, not the white man, the neighbor’s property. But the same kind of heat comes up in us when we see the neighbor get a new house or the neighbor gets a new car that I imagine that they came up in us when the white man said, "Go out and shine up my buggy. Go wipe my mule down and shine up our buggy.” They say, "Hey, boy, go out there and wipe my horse down and shine up my buggy." Now, I imagine that we "Yes," and I imagine heat was just coming all up. "Yes, sir master. Yes, sir."
Because he said we weren't supposed to have those things and was making us take care of his. Keep his up, keep his looking like that. Okay, so the neighbor moved next door now, not a white person, it's us, and they got a nice pretty house. If the white man moved next door it would be better. A white man moving next door is better. In fact, you say, "We got a white neighbor."
That means that the white man is accepting you if he can stay next door. They will tell you in psychology that one of the heaviest strains on the mind of an individual is the one produced by isolation, rejection, et cetera. That's right, so they know the psychology and they know that your nature wants to get rid of that strain. You don't see a way to improve yourself to make yourself to convince him that you are acceptable or the way to get in by force. So, anything that represents the end to this problem is a great relief so you're so happy the white man moved next door. "Sure, they know we're black, they know we stay here.
This is a fine neighborhood and all you have to do is keep up your property and you don't have a problem. Yes, the white man lives next door." A Black one moves next door and you want to kill him, especially if he got something nice, and don't let him buy nothing new, oh, the heat comes up. Why? Because you were shut out of those things. Now, two things are working if the black one moves next door. If the black one moves next door, he doesn't help your situation. You need to be accepted, not by him, by the white man. So, if he moves next door, he doesn't help your situation. If the white man moves next door, then it helps your situation for it means that you're accepted by white folks.
Now, that's one thing that's operating, but there's something else operating. You were shut out and you have been conditioned by white man and his psychology to compete with each other for freedom, for escape, for achievement, et cetera. So, you have been conditioned to compete with each other, so it's just a natural impulse in us to fight the one that seems to be making it. Deep down in you, the white man has another you in there, and that other you in there is saying, "He has no right to have that. I don't have it." Do you know the white man used to put Bilalian fighters against each other just for sport?
And the one that put on a good battle, he would favor that one, give him an advantage over the one that lost. So right in that, the instinct to beat each other up for a better image in the white man's world was created. Yes, this is history. This is documented, I just don't have the material. This is already documented. That the white man on the plantation and also in the north used to put the black man against the black man for sport. Now he did this on a community scale too. But for sport, he would actually put two people against each other, blacks, the same race.
Put them against each other for sport and they would laugh and cheer the one winning and everything, and when the winner won, they would favor him, give him more recognition than the loser. On the community level, they were doing the same thing. They would create sensitivities in the black community to set the black community against itself. And when there side won, they come in and reward there side and punish the side that they didn't approve. They still do that; they're still doing that. All right, so with this happening above our heads over generations, now, we have a tendency in ourselves to just automatically attack another Bilalian. Yes, and when it comes to people who are right, it's automatic for wrong people to want to get them out of their face, get them out of their conscience. So, the person that represents right, they like to tell them, "Leave, go away." If he won't leave or go away, they'll kill him. They'd do anything to get him out of their conscience because he's a discomfort in their conscience. He represents what they should be growing towards. Their nature tells them that they should be growing towards that, but their worldly mind tells them that that's too uncomfortable for me. It's too difficult for me to grow towards that. Okay, now the worldly mind has to destroy the presence of that thing so that it can relax. The worldly mind says, "Reject it, condemn it, rationalize, put up anything, rationalize."
Rationalize means reason falsely. Rationalize can mean reason correctly but rationalize also means, in fact, rationalization is a negative word more than a positive word. It means reason falsely. It says, "Rationalize him into a position where you condemn him and do evil to him." You will take good man, a good idea, a good person and you rationalize that until you can put it in a position where you can do evil to it, where you can condemn it. Where you can say, "It ain't worth nothing, it's wrong. He's troublemaker, he trying to throw out the order in society. He's un-American." Right?
Congregation: Right.
Okay, so we have to understand all these tendencies in us in order to survive and make progress for our own lot. Now, what's wrong with people trying to make progress for their own lot? You ought to take note of what the Chinese and what the Asians are doing. The Asians are coming into this country, they are establishing themselves. By that I mean, they are bringing their culture with them. They're living in their American homes the same way they lived in Asia. They eat the same way; they pray the same way. They are living the same life they lived in Asia, but now they're in America and they are American. What we have to understand as educated brothers and sisters that America welcomes that. In fact, America is that.
America means an opportunity for you to bring your life from one part of the world to this part and keep your same life and grow in a new world. America represents a new opportunity, the new horizons. The new destiny for man, is that right? Okay. Now, we think differently over here. We think that people are going to call us prejudiced if we put emphasis on retaining our own African American identity. “Oh, they'll think we're prejudice. We don't want to put no importance or no emphasis on ethnic pride on our Bilalian ethnicity. That'll set us apart from the rest of America.” What has set you apart from the rest of Americans is the fact that you are not an American. And you are not an American because you don't represent anything unique. You don't have an identity. Isn't it a fact?
Yes, you don't have an identity. The other people have an identity. The other people have human personality, a human personality that has been born or formed in an ethnic personality. An ethnic personality that has been formed or born out of an ideology, a way of conceiving the world of reality, and we don't have that. We just buy what the White man filter into our head over the wire or through the airwaves. Right?
Okay, well, brothers and sisters, what am I doing this for? I know you're, "Let's get down to the business." This is the business. I know many of us are misguided because of our sensitivity. We are people, but our sensitivities have us misled. All right, so I think it's worthwhile for me to take the time and dwell on these things in order to get just one more, two or fifty more to make the turn. The future of our children depends on our ability to step up out the muck and mire of America's idea, and walk home to an idea of our own.
And in this interest here brothers and sisters I insist that we don't let any Arab, Pakistan, Egyptian, I don't care what he is. Don't let nobody come over here and be the idol. Nobody should come from out of this community and be the personality, be the reference. "Mr. ShuShu, Sheikh Bauer, he's our reference." No. You keep Imam W.D Mohammed as your reference. And if fall dead right now, you look for one that came up like I did. Say, "Where is one that don't follow Sheikhs and don't anybody else, but this idea? Okay, come on, brother. You have to take Imam WD Muhammad's place." That's a need that we have inherited from the souls of our ancestors. That's right. This country took away from us the dignity of a people, and we can't have that dignity if we're going to have other people over us.
Many of us with those sensitivities will say, "Oh, that's not democratic. If any other person is qualified, we should accept that person." Yes, if they qualify. I agree with you, if they qualify. But number one in the qualification is that you be part of this natural growth in America. If you're not, we can't identify with you. No, indeed, because we are people growing into what we are. We are not yet that. We are growing into that and we don't want nobody that has grown into Italian form, or into Greek form or Turkish form, or Egyptian form. It will be a terrible conflict. Once we have grown into our form as a people then, "Okay Mr. Yes, you have the qualification. Step right up be our leader because we are going to hold you accountable, you bastard, you better not make a mistake.
But now, we are too far from the destiny that we ourselves have to grow into that is us, to allow some foreign element to come and stand over us, because we'll be influenced. We are like fresh clay; we'll be too easily influenced. Wait until after we have established ourselves and have recognition in Egypt and Africa and all over the world and Asia. Recognition for having established our own personality as a people. If we have gained that then we will be like any other community. But until then we are a peculiar people under the eyes of the Lord.
So, these are our concerns. Dear beloved people, getting more at home now are coming closer to the real problems that you're confronted with as educators in the community, that is curriculum and teaching. Or teacher's qualifications. I'll just have a few words to say. What I'm saying now should be supported by what I've said before, what I've said so far.
One of the main concerns I have for subject matter and teaching method is that emphasis be put more on what is needed, than on just what is available. Now, there are so many subjects out there and so much knowledge out there. There are oceans of knowledge out there available, and if we don't have our specific needs in mind, then forming curriculum and setting guidelines for courses, selecting a subject and et cetera will become a problem too big for us to tackle. But if we first establish what are our real needs? I said in Oakland that one of the major problems we have is poor qualification for the job market. We're not qualified for the job market, and we know the job market now is constantly changing. The thing that was a necessity yesterday may not be a necessity today. New demands are coming in and it's changing the qualifications or the needs in the job market. We have to study that, be in touch with that training, and I think if we concentrate on what is practical. Do you know what benefited me most in mathematics and arithmetic? The practical mathematics, the practical arithmetic? All this academic, high language and fancy talk, I found that when I went out there to try to feed Sherly and myself, it didn't have much importance any more. The man said, "But can you --?"
When he said "Can you --?" See I was used to telling what the principle is, what the theory is, and I was never asked to do it. Nobody ever said, "Can you --" before. They just asked me, “can I recite? "Can you recite your 12s timetable?" "Yes." This man was asking me, "Could I apply this in a given situation that meant something to human life and what it has to do and what it has to be?" When he said that, I had to start thinking. I said, "Look." I said, "Just a minute. Just a minute." I said, "What you do is just keep my application and I'm going back to get me some books, and I'll be back. I'll take the test again." I went, and I got me some books on shop mathematics.
Congregant: Yes sir.
I got me some books on shop arithmetic, shop mathematics. It's different. The other mathematics says, seven times seven is 49. The shop mathematics said, seven Pounds times seven Pounds is 49 Pounds. It was different. One book says six times six is 36, six squared. The shop mathematics said, we need 36 square feet of linoleum to cover this area. It was different. I think we shouldn't give, don't even give the children tables like that. Don't give it, one times one is one. Three times three is nine. No. Tell him, "$3 times $3 is $9.
What I'm saying is the psychology should be to eliminate the abstract from the world of reality as much as possible. That's right. As much as possible. Let them work with figures that have connection with things that they have to use, things that they have in their own life. Don't waste their time with just reciting numbers. Don't introduce even pictures into the room that has no connection with his real practical life. Don't just bring in something pretty, a dog. Bring in a dog. Tell them, "If you're going to be an animal doctor, here is the dog. This is a dog. He such and such, he catches this disease, he catches that disease. Look at his features." He's learning about a dog. "Here's a dog, pretty little dog." You don't have to do that. When he goes outside, he's going to see him. “That pretty little dog.”
This is criticizing the white man's mentality and that's what you have to do if you want to rise, criticize his mentality. “This is a dog.” The child's been calling this thing a dog for three years, they've got one at home. You put an image of a dog, "Draw a dog. This is a dog. D-O-G, dog." "This is a cat, that's a dog." That's not enough. That's not enough.
If you're teaching them how to talk, you don't have to do nothing but just put cat up there. Put the picture cat, put C-A-T. Then say, "What does that word say?" Look at that picture, tell me what that word says?" He says, "Cat." Then the child says, "Oh he ain’t, Sues." But if I say, "See the doggie. That's a doggie. D-O-G, dog there it is." A little child four or five years old laughing inside, and he says, "They think I don’t know how to recognize a dog."
What I want to emphasize is common sense. A great lawyer. This lawyer was on a television program, on news, no it was news. This lawyer had won a case, he was such a great lawyer. I'm sorry I don't have his name, but often I think back on this, and I can't recall that attorney's name. He's one of the leading, I think he is like second in the whole world, maybe first, but I know he wasn’t number one probably the second in the whole world. And they were asking him what did he think was making him much more successful in court than other attorneys?
He said, "Well," he said, "Most of my adversaries, they stick to the books. They follow the letter; I also use common sense." Yes, that's a man up there at the top, second to the top in the whole world, and he was stressing the value of common sense. You want to see the biggest fool in the world? The one with a whole lot of PhD's and et cetera, et cetera and no common sense. The biggest fool on earth.
Some of you say, "Oh he couldn't get those degrees if he didn't have common sense." That’s what you think. This establishment don't want you to have common sense. Yes. They make an effort in the college to deprive you of the use of common sense. They say, “you have one or the other.” They say, “common sense is your left leg and academia is your right. Which one do you want, make your choice? Can I have both of them? No ain't no two-legged people walking in the west. You make your choice, either common sense or academia.” You know I have to help my people.
Congregant: That's right.
They don't say it to you like that. But that admission examination and everything. Your qualification and everything, is saying that I choose academia over common sense. And when you say that they say, "Welcome into the club." Then, brothers and sisters, all the courses should emphasize the practical use of knowledge, whether it's social sciences or whatever it should relate to the job of living day-by-day. They used to teach music and tie music in with natural needs in the life of human beings. So, whatever you teach it should all be tied, this Al-Islam, this is the requirement in the religion. It's to establish human basis, practical basis for everything.
Yes, and lastly now, Islamic studies. Some of us I think are good Muslims but because we are not qualified in the Islamic studies, not qualified in Arabic, not qualified in Islamic history et cetera, we're afraid of it. We don't want anybody else to become qualified. This is another plantation spirit. We're afraid you see. We have to get away from that. In fact, the community can't tolerate that, not if it’s going to accept my leadership. Because I'm a man that when it comes to certain things, I don't compromise at all. And believe me, if I can't win, I'll leave you. I'll go somewhere else, and I mean that. So, there's certain things that we just can't sacrifice, we can't compromise on. And I think this community now is ready for real Islamic studies program. We want to learn Arabic. We want to learn the history of Prophet Muhammad and his companions. We want to study Quran; we want to learn it. We want this to be an Islamic community.
All right. So, if you have this sensitivity that I'm referring to now, where you fear that a person with that knowledge is going to be a threat to your image then you have to realize that that is a sensitivity from the slavish life. That's another plantation spirit that's alien to your real life and nature. Nobody likes aliens. They don't mind a foreigner, but if he's an alien, they don't want him.
Foreign just means different, but alien means that he likes to be alienated or he likes to alienate. That's something nobody likes, you see. So, let us be strong, that's all I can say. You just have to be strong. You have to be strong enough to walk away from a piece of yourself. That's right. You say, "That's me, but this dignified object that I'm after is too big to carry that part of me with me”, and just drop it and leave it behind. So, you all who are working on Islamic curriculum and interested in Islamic curriculum, please support what we want, and do your best to make Islamic education available to all members of this community.
So, thank you very much. Now I'll let Dr. Shabazz and the rest of you talk on the rest of our concerns, like money, where we're going to get it from. And how big the job is and how much money it's going to call for, and all those kinds of things. And getting better qualified teachers in the classrooms from our own community. You don't want to get them from outside. If we're as smart as we say we are, we can take a sincere person in this community and make them better qualified than the ones we can get out.
As salaam alaikum.
Congregant: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu akbar.
Congregant: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu akbar.
Congregant: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu akbar.
Congregant: Takbir.
Congregation: Allahu akbar.
Dr. Shabazz: Brothers and sisters, we most certainly have had the feast of feasts on the concerns of Imam W. D. Mohammed from Imam W. D Mohammed. So, we should think of what he has said, ponder over what he has said, and think with every ounce of substance that we have to put into practice to make live in ourselves first what he has said to us this afternoon. And so those who are concerned with the dining area, you can begin to get yourself together, and brother Imam if someone has a question, would you entertain? It would take maybe five minutes or so for questions. If you have any questions you can direct it them at this time to Imam W.D. Mohammed.
Congregant: I’d like to see incorporated in our curriculum where Allah says in the Quran and Hadith about eating halal. We need to teach more educationally about Halal.
IWDM: Yes sir, I agree. Anything that is specifically representative of your needs is something that you ought to take very seriously. And the Muslim need is Halal food. Halal food, that's a Muslim need. Now if I was talking to the general audience of Muslims, a general Muslim public, I wouldn't say what I'm going to say now, but we represent leaders, all of us here are leaders. Very few among us are not leaders. All of us are leaders. You're teaching, you're heading departments, you're heading Masjids, you are leaders. So, Allah, whatever He has prescribed for us is beneficial in every way. Now that's a dietary requirement, right? But in it is economic advantages. If we don't promote that, we'd be losing something economic. Here is an economic avenue for us. A great business avenue for us, and I'm so happy to see brothers around the country, and in Kansas City. I addressed them at a gathering of the members of the community, just here recently by telephone. I'm happy to see you all encouraging halal products, because this is going to make us more active economically. So, I support it wholeheartedly with all the vessels in my body. Yes sir?
Congregant: Bakraddin Abdul Hakim from New York. I'd like to know brother Imam, when would you start your religious training institute that you mentioned last year in New York City?
IWDM: Yes. Well, we hope to begin soon. I don't have a date yet. I don't have a date, but I hope it would be soon because I'm very anxious to start it. I would like to head an institute. We won't call it college, or university, anything. We just let the product speak for the university or for whatever it is. We’ll let the product speak for it. But I'd like to head a school that teaches comparative religion with emphasis mainly on understanding Bible and its connection with Quran, the latest revelation. Yes sir. I think that would do a lot to establish leaders for Muslim society. Those Imam, etc. they will have strong ground to stand upon, and it will be an opportunity for others to come in and see what we've got. Because we hope to have some of the other teachers who would teach them their religion too, and we've already got some commitments from Catholics. There's a Catholic priest who wants to teach, I invited him. He wants to teach Catholicism. Comparative religion but from the Catholic point of view. There's also now a Buddhist who wants to do the same thing, and a Protestant, and a Rabbi, a Jew. So, we have the people already who wants to do it, and we will invite more if they want to come in. Now these people are coming in, and you know, they would like to sneak their ideas, you see. But, if you're better, welcome, prove it.
Now they won't be heading it, we will be heading it. We will head it, you see. We'll be controlling, but if they want to come in, anything you want, give it freely. Establish your arguments. And we want to look at it, we’ll look at your argument, we'll look at everybody's. Let the students look at everybody's argument. And the student will make the choice. So, that's what we want, and Insha’Allah we'll get it. I hope it won't be too far in the future. But believe me, we have made a lot of progress. If you studied what I have been giving in my talks on Bible, scripture, and Quran, and you take that. Just take some of that to people that you know to be qualified, and you say, "Look at that, Is this worth anything?” And they'll tell you, they'll say, "Who is this man? I'd like to meet him."
So why am I saying that? Because those who don't know cannot judge. If you don't know what I'm talking about how can you judge the worth of what I'm talking about? Only those who have knowledge in what I'm talking about can judge the worth of what I'm talking about. You see? I say that for your benefit, not as a criticism. I know most of the Muslims in our community, they cannot appreciate what I'm talking about, simply because you don't have the knowledge. You don't have that level of knowledge. Many of you appreciate at least the new concepts. You appreciate the new concepts. You can't see where I'm coming from, you can't see the rational basis or the evidence from other sources that's supporting what I'm saying, because you don't have any information. But you appreciate the new ideas, the fresh concepts, the excitement in the new way of looking at things. You appreciate all that and believe me, I'm not criticizing you. I think you represent the intelligent people of America.
It's those that look at and say, "Oh, that's a waste of time." They are the fools, but you who say, "Oh, that's interesting." You're intelligence. Now, just because you haven't had training in a particular course or particular field or background, it doesn't mean that you are ignorant. But still it's a fact that most of you don't have knowledge of mythology, you don't have knowledge of Scripture, you don't have knowledge of these terms, these mythological terms, and scriptural terms. You don't have the knowledge of those things. So, who can really appreciate where I am? Those people who have that knowledge, they can really appreciate where I am.
This is going to really help the whole community. When we establish that institute, with me heading it, and we get people coming, participating, coming in, qualified people representing their different persuasions, coming in there and being on the staff. And we all are addressing the students, we all are giving our points of view and when the history goes, when the news goes out on what's happening in that Institute and your man is heading it, that's going to give greater image and greater respect to this particular community. And Inshall?h, it'll be soon. I hope it won't be long coming.
Yes, Sister Secretary from Massachusetts, Boston. I can't recall your name.
Congregant: Sawwah
IWDM: Sister Sawwah, yes.
Congregant: The economic impact and condition on our school efforts.
IWDM: Yes, I see. Well, in Los Angeles about three weeks ago, maybe four now, a month, I was speaking of a need for a certain kind of courage on our part and I was trying to think of the term. I couldn't think of the term for nothing. After I finished, Imam Hassan, the regional Imam, he says, "Brother Imam, I really enjoyed what you had to say about the need for the pioneering spirit." Well, that's what would solve the problems, sister. We have to stop looking to the outside and become pioneers ourselves. Believe me, ain't no situation that G-d has put us in that He hasn't given us a solution to get out of it. We just have to trust our own intelligence and be pioneers.
IWDM: Yes, sister. Yes, sister.
Congregant: As-Salaam-Alaikum.
IWDM: Wa-Alaikum-As salaam.
Congregant: When will we open the school.
IWDM: Well, I'm going to leave questions like that for those who will be carrying on the rest of the program. I think questions like that should be addressed to those who will be responsible for the program. Some of them will be able to answer that question because they know my position and my thoughts regarding that. Any other?
Congregant: A sister behind you.
IWDM: Yes. Yes, sister.
Sister Coney: As-Salaam-Alaikum.
IWDM: Wa-Alaikum-As salaam.
Sister Coney: I'm sister Coney from Flint, Michigan.
You spoke of teachers who are concerned about educating our children not going to the public institutions. How can we realistically apply ourselves to prepare ourselves, qualify ourselves to teach our children realistically some structured learning process, such as myself? I'm dedicated to teaching.
IWDM: Now, are you right now taking courses in preparation for getting a degree or something?
Sister Coney: Not at this point. No, I just work as a volunteer.
IWDM: You're not a student at this point.
Sister Coney: No, not at this point.
IWDM: If you were, I was going to congratulate you. At no point in my talk did I say we shouldn't go to college. I didn't say we shouldn't go to college. I didn't say we shouldn't go to university. I said that we ought to have our own mind and our own vision. All right. Yes.
Michael Deen: I'm Michael Deen from Atlanta Georgia. Before coming here, I remember you telling us to read the book, Miseducation of the Negro.
IWDM: Yes, sir.
Michael Deen: Reading a very excellent book and reading it and hearing your talk is very good
IWDM: Praise be to Allah.
Michael Deen: I just want to know, Insha Allah, I will be writing my own book, but what other people are there or any other books like that that you could recommend?
IWDM: I doubt if you can find another because actually Carter G. Woodson has taught me everything I know and that's the only book in the world, I think.
Congregant: I’m from Detroit. I was wondering what’s the best approach to read the Quran in Arabic.?
IWDM: The best approach to the study of the Arabic language?
Congregant: Understanding the words.
IWDM: Understanding the words? Well, you've had to get that through Arabic courses. Self-taught methods are good, but still, you have to have a teacher, even to begin to try to learn the language on your own. It's necessary to have a teacher. It's necessary to find a good instructor who has the ability with the English language and Arabic. Or go to establish institutions that have the course, Arabic course and take it.
We have brothers in the community who have gone to some of these colleges and they have made a lot of progress. We have two brothers in Oakland. Now, I just been there for about seven months now. We have two brothers in Oakland who teach some Arabic Islamic courses at night to adults with me. We all work together. We all are teaching courses in Arabic and they are doing a very good job. They went to regular colleges that offered courses in Arabic and they were able to learn and they did learn. They're not fluent in Arabic, but have the foundation and that's what you need, a foundation.
My foundation came from Professor Jamil Diab. When I was in the Clara Muhammad school, called University of Islam at that time. Myself, my youngest brother, Akbar, Daniel Kareem, some of you know him in Chicago. Isaiah, there's a brother named Isaiah who is not around. I haven't seen him in years, many years. Rosalyn, Zahirah as she's called, Daniel's sister and Leroy his brother, and there were several others about maybe 15 of us altogether. Out of that class came maybe about four or five who were very excellent students, you see? Akbar, he went to Al-Azhar. He was able to pass examinations, entry exams, and get into Al-Azhar University based on what he learned there. So, the instructor, you need a good instructor. We have a good instructor here at Sheik Tajjudin Shuaibe, he's from California. He resides in California, in Los Angeles now. We have a few, but we need more. If you can't find a good instructor in the community, if you can ever afford it, it'd be good if you would go outside to the community and go to one these campuses where they offer good courses of Arabic.
You might say, "Well, how about going to Mecca or Madina, and Pakistan, and Lahore and to Cairo?" That's good too, but that's further away and involves more. Yes.
Congregant: As Salaam Alaikum. My name is Brother Abdul-Mu’ahkil. I just want to make a comment in reference to and a little bit of background of the school, and say a little bit about how I thank Allah for you being here. And to say to the believers, because we all are believers. The school came about out of a desire of all of us to bring our education system into the forefront of society. My wife she knew that this school was up for sale. She took it upon ourselves to write to the president, to find out what it will take to acquire it. And as a result of inquiring and finding out that it was up for sale, and not being able to find the resources amongst ourselves to be able to make a down payment. 
But the point I'm making now is in terms of what we're doing here as you said today, it is all in faith. The faith that we know we needed something; we didn't have the resources. And turning to our leadership and our community we're able to get where we are today two years later. So, I'm saying that in an attempt to bear witness to the fact that we can do what we want to do.
IWDM: I believe it. Yes.
Congregant: If we put the right mind and the right heart and the right spirit into it. 
IWDM: No doubt. No doubt.
Congregant: We can make this institution be what we want it to be.
IWDM: No doubt. Thank you very much. Yes.
Congregant: Deborah Rasul, New York city. In keeping in mind in educating our young children, are we to be concerned about the youth that we have lost in the current system? Those that are in the late teens and early 20s? And if so, how are we to go about reeducating them to Al-Islam?
IWDM: Yes. We always have to be concerned. Especially, if the parents of those youth are still with us. Now, if the parents themselves have gone, then I don't think that we have any great obligation, you see? Because don't think that people who turn their back on you are all good. You may say, “Oh, maybe we could have done something to save them.” And maybe they could have done something to save themselves. So, we have to realize that.
Don't think that the transition made us lose everybody. We were losing 50% or more of our membership all during the whole life of the Nation of Islam. They were coming in and going out constantly. We're sincere, and I know your feelings because I share your feelings. We would like to help those teenagers because we know that a lot of them got bright minds, a lot of them could have great future, but they hear something, and they let themselves be taken away by what they hear.
Many times, they don't even have any knowledge to support what they heard, but something somebody has said and done just knocks the foundation out from under them, and they can't see themselves supporting the community anymore, so they walk away. They go back, they turn their backs on the community. I think we do need to make some efforts to study the transition and to study the effect of the transition on members of the community. Not just youth. On members of the community.
The youth will be included. And I think out of that study, which won't require everybody, maybe just a few persons doing that. Out of that study, maybe we'll come up with some answers, some directions, pardon me, that will help us maybe reach the hearts. And it's their hearts, it's not their minds. If their minds were working, they would be here. It's something that would help us reach the hearts of those teenagers who left. Yes, sister.
Congregant: What about a pre-school for those of us who have that interest?
IWDM: A pre-school is a very important. I still believe the way we believed in the old days, and that was that a child should receive education from the time it's come into the world to the time it goes out. We should make an effort to educate, give proper education to the children from the time they enter the world to the time they go out. As soon as the baby comes from the mother, you shouldn't say, [making baby sounds].
You should say Al-Fatiha. That should be the first word to go into the ear of that child. So that later in the child's life, when it hears that, it will recall, consciously or subconsciously, the child will recall what it heard. So, there'll be reception in that child for that later. If you turn the record on and say [making baby sounds], that's the reception that'll be there later.
We believe in starting early, and many of these children, that's 2-3-4 years old, they're ready to start learning. That's right. Yes, sister.
Congregant: I have something that's really bothering me. Sometimes the children behavior is so troubling.
IWDM: That's a real concern that you're talking about right now.
All right. I know. Believe me, I know the problem.

IWDM: Because, we had school in Oakland, and I was aware of what's going on in Chicago, and believe me, the same problem is all around. So, I'm acquainted with it. I feel your concerns, and I have expressed concern since I been out here to one of the members of the council, and to one of the other brothers who was here. When I was in Oakland, I told them, the principal there, that you just can't take the whole world on your back.
You can only take so much of it. And we hoped that we will become more and more able to take more of it as we advance ourselves and as we progress ourselves, but we can't do everything at once, and I know we feel bad. Moral strength is very difficult for some people, and moral strength is not the strength to always pacify or accommodate. Moral strength requires sometimes to separate. You have to separate from something, and you have to put it out there. “Sorry, we just can’t handle it. You're on your own. Take him somewhere. Not here.”
I think the thing that's holding our schools down most and I thank you for asking this sister. Allah made you ask that question because that's a big problem for us. The thing that's holding down the performance of our teachers in the classroom right now more than any other thing in the schools that I have visited is this over romantic kind of relationship that we have with people who come to us. Everybody wants to kiss them in the mouth as soon as they come. “
Hello. I have five children. One of them is psychotic, and the rest of them neurotic.
Can I get them into this school? "Oh yes, we wouldn't turn down anybody. 
What is your name? Yes. You know how tuition is, such and such.” So, let's see. Three neurotics, four neurotics, and one psychotic.
They come into the classroom of normal children, and the normal children trying to figure out, they're trying to discern what is proper behavior? “Are we wrong, or are they wrong?” The psychotic one, if you ask him to say Al-Fatiha, he comes and spits on the book. And you know he have crazy so aren't going to say, "Pow." You're going to say, "Sit down little George. "Sit down, John. Sit down, Wallace. Take your seat Wallace." And the other boys saying, "If I had done that, she'd have bust my hand with that stick."
Now there are many other problems. Other example of the kinds of problems that these problem children bring into a normal classroom. We should make up our mind. I told them in Chicago, I tell them here, I tell them everywhere. We can make up our minds. Are we going to be a school for special children with special deficiencies, with real serious problems, or are we going to be a school for normal children? That's where we have to make up our minds. We can't be both.
We have to make up our minds whether we are going to accommodate normal children, or accommodate children that have real serious problems. And the choice should be we're going to accommodate normal children because it's our normal children that don't have an equal chance in this country and in the world. We don't have an equal chance in the world, so it's the normal children that we should concentrate on. We should concentrate our efforts on bright minded children. We should be highly selective. That's right.
We should have the moral strength to tell a sister, I don't care if it's the Imam’s wife. I don't care if it's my wife. That's what I meant when I said the Imam’s wife. We should have the moral courage to say, "This here your children have a problem. We are not set up for that. We recommend you taking your children to such and such special schools."
That's right. That's what we have to do. That's what Charlette Hawkins Brown did.
That's the truth. That what Marvin Collins is doing, and look at the respect Marvin Collins has. It's because she doesn't have the problem that you got. She isn't no psychiatrist.
Yes, sister on the wall with the green. I know your name, Elaine. Sis Elaine.
Sis Elaine: As Salaam Alaikum. I have two questions you. My first question is, what type of education structure do you want for our school system?
IWDM: Yes, now let me be clear. When you say structure, you're talking about the general structure, curriculum, staff and everything?
Congregant: I talking about the board.
IWDM: You're talking about Administrative?
Sis. Elaine: Yes.
IWDM: Okay. I think now that you're together, you should meet and discuss this. You should agree to exchange proposals for structure, and then submit all of your final presentations to the council of Imams, and please send me a copy. And let us decide on a structure for the region, and then a structure for the whole community. Because it shouldn't differ that much. Because there's only differences in maybe certain requirements that different areas have, that you have to respect, you see, so there'll be minor differences. But I think we can come up with what should be a national structure. A national guideline.
Sis. Elaine: My second question was, what is the role of the parents in the school?
IWDM: Yes, very good question. Very good question. Since we first started under the new administration or the World Community of Al-Islam and now the American Muslim Mission, I think we have made considerable progress. In the early stages of this effort to establish a parent-teachers association, we had a whole lot of problems. A lot of confusion. A lot of tugging and carrying on, but in some places, we're doing much better. The role of the parent-teachers association should be to support what is establish for Sister Clara Muhammad school, and to work in close cooperation with the principal and teachers of Sister Clara Muhammad school. If the children see us divided, that finishes it. Yes, brother Imam.
Congregant: Thabit from Baltimore, Maryland. I just wanted to ask in reference to the Islamic studies. And I know that in many of the Masajid we have brothers like Sheik Tajuddin and some others that have been studying for quite some time. I'm wondering if there is a possibility that we could either connect those people or the other centers that have not had access to them?
IWDM: Yes, sir. Now, I know how you feel. If somebody want to pipeline in the desert to their home, you say, “hey, what about when we're going to get that pipeline in my house?”

Believe me, I sympathize with you. But I think we shouldn't move the people around. We should keep them the way they are, because if they stay there longer, they can build up a better relationship with the people in their own locality, and the people will become more acquainted with them, and they will become more acquainted with the people. Their methods will get better and better, you see. They need time to grow with the people that they live with, so its best that they stay put. But we should be working hard. The council, I hope the council members have heard what you've said. We should be working hard to get more equally qualified persons in these other areas, and we can do it. Yes.
Brother Imam Hamidullah has some good information for us right now. He says six more coming, so that'll do it. That'll do it for a while.
Congregant: I just want to say we got a them in Baltimore, I don’t know about the other Masajid. We know a lot of these people coming from abroad that hopes to fill these kinds of positions, but they have all kinds of other motives accompanying their desires.
IWDM: Yes, sometimes we get somebody who just straggles in who turns out to be a very excellent person for the job. But most of the time you're right. Almost, a hundred percent of times you're right. And it's best to have those people overseas who know us, and we know them. It's best to do it with them. It's best to have them send us people. Let me get another sister. Yes, sister with the white on.
Congregant: As-Salaam Alaikum. I have a question in reference to teacher training. I wanted to know what role non-Muslim teachers?
IWDM: Now that's a hard one. That's a hard one, and it's a hard one because of the plantation spirit.
That's very hard. It's a hard one. Well. let me approach it this way. If we have a staff of persons who are not academically qualified for the job in the school, in the Clara Muhammad school, but there is an outsider, non-Muslim, who will work with us, who has the qualifications. Now, in the area of that person's expertise, we should become second in command. But in the area of our own expertise, we are first in command. When it comes to our religion, the decisions that Muslims have to make for their own schools, for their own community, we don't listen to those people. We tell them what we have, what it has to be. We say, “look, if the Mormons will invite you to come in and teach in their school, do you think the Mormons would have you re-write their religion? Say, by G-d, we niggers are just as bad as the Mormons.”
They will respect that. Yes, sister. Did you have anything else?
Congregant: Does that apply for the curriculum also?
IWDM: Certainly. They can only give their input from their own knowledge. We know what we want in the curriculum as Muslims. Yes, and they better not inject no idea, or no philosophy, or no principle that play our knowledge cheap. We say, “hey, look at here, what are you saying? Take that out.” They say, “but the curriculum calls for it.” You say, “not here, baby.”
Yes, it's like going to get a suit made. You go to the tailor and say, “I want a suit.” And the tailor brings you out a superfly pattern. And you have to let that tailor know what your personality is. He says, “Oh, sorry, mister, I've made a mistake. You want something conservative." You say, “thank you very much.” You have to order what you want and let the people know who have more knowledge in that, let them know first what you want and make them give you what you want. Not what they have been told to give you. Yes, sis in the door.
Congregant: My question is, in terms of some guidelines for setting up a Clara Muhammad School, should a regional board be set up or should it be for each locale to do it?
IWDM: Ok, that means we’re growing, right? When you hear questions like that, that means we're growing. I think the council ought to take your question and make a note of it, and then they are to consult those persons in the community who can help prepare a statement that will give that information that you need, “How to establish a Clara Muhammad school?” Insha’Allah they’ll get it together. Yes, sister.
Congregant: One question I have 
IWDM: Let me say this. I think the concern here should be for us not overloading ourselves. Because you can overload ourselves to a point where you become self-defeating. You begin to defeat your own self, your own purpose. So, a small community can take on so much responsibility. For small numbers, I would suggest, and the council perhaps will make a note of this too, and they will perhaps have to come up with the final statement on this. I would suggest that small centers with small numbers, if they have children, and the parent wants their children to have a school, that make their school a weekend school only, like Saturday or Sunday.
Congregant: ????
IWDM: Please don't put Carter G. Woodson name on it. Because actually Carter G. Woodson was nothing but a common sense negro in academia, in black academia. That's all he represents. He was no genius. Carter G. Woodson was just an open-minded clear thinking Bilalian in the field of education. He talked the same common talk, that Honorable Elijah Muhammad talk, and many others. You talking about the terminology?
Congregant: ????
IWDM: No ma'am, I got you. Now I have understood. For students of scriptural terminology or terminologies in the language of Da’wah, they should put emphasis on definition, consult dictionary, special dictionary, et cetera. If they want to take up. You don’t have to do that. I can do this by myself, I don’t need any help for this. What I'm saying you don't need to bring people together and say, "Oh, let's work on the terminology," no. Believe me, one person doing this is enough. The others, should simply just record what he said. Because you don't even know where to go to get it.
I have a lot of Imams; they're going to different places. They come and finally found it, but they are on the wrong course. I think in schools, the emphasis should be on grammar. Emphasis has to be on grammar. Because grammar is a tool for expression, isn't it? I think grammar is a tool for expression. So, the emphasis should be on grammar, proper grammar.
Congregant: ????
IWDM: You're welcome. Yes, sis.
Congregant: ????
IWDM: I believe that any sane American, if they understand what the word allegiance means and hope to grow in America and the benefits from the opportunities of being in America offers us. I think any sane American, Muslim or non-Muslim, would want to be allied with the United States of America. And pledge allegiance to the flag, means you’re allied with this government. Prophet Muhammad, don't you know that was he allied with Christians who were not part of the Ummah. He had Christian friends and allies, and he would accept Jewish allies too if they weren't so hypocritical.
So, we should pledge allegiance to the flag. Now, I wish the flag was different color. I don't mind the white in it, but I don't like the red, white and blue combination in the way that they give it. I don't like a lot of the symbolism behind the flag. But that's their terminology. The way they interpret it is good, it's not bad. We've been taught that, “blue, no, blue doesn't mean truth. Blue means such and such. And white don't mean, white means this. Stars don't mean, stars mean snakes,” etc. So, we have to look at the past, and say, “I'm just checking the past, the language of the past. Because something the sister or brother said it ain’t in the present.
We need to look at the past and see how many of us are still coming from the past. Now, you know in the old days, we’d rather be found dead than to pledge allegiance to the American flag. So, if we are still there, you better go find Farrakhan or Salus. We need to find some of those people and say, “sorry, we think you made a mistake, your membership is in the wrong place. My way is the best it will win for all of us.
Congregant: As Salaam Alaikum, what about American history?
IWDM: All right. This will be our last question. I thought it was getting near Maghrib. I kept looking at my clock. It should be near Maghrib time. Yes, American history? Yes, we should have American history in our schools, but we should rewrite it. We should make it more truthful and make it more decent. More presentable. That's the last question now. We wish we could take more. Perhaps maybe before we leave, we'll be able to entertain a few more questions. Yes, brother Imam, member of the council.
Congregant: I just want to make a statement that we don't have too much in the way of skills or trade in our elementary coming up to a secondary school. And I think it's a very practical approach that needs to be dealt with since we do have men and women in the trade, because it's about relating to making a living out of this world.
IWDM: Yes sir, that's leadership. That doesn't mean that has to be in every school. Maybe schools will differ you see, but I think all Bilalian parents should be more interested in their children getting what we call a vocation rather than just an education. Because an education doesn't mean that you can go out there and make a living, and believe me, this has been discussed by some of the Imams already. Believe me, we have typewriters, we have machines, and if somebody just take one of those machines, they can qualify to pay their rent, you see.
There are big companies that are all the time trying to keep up with the high standards in the market, and they are making obsolete equipment that is still modern for most people. It would be more than modern enough for our interest, you see. Some of those companies will give you. “You got a private school?” Yes, they will give you those machines. So, we've got a facility in Oakland and we hope to put a welder in there. There are two brothers who weld. They're expert welders in Oakland. I'm an expert one myself. Not that I'm going to be there, but I'm proud of my skills in welding. No, no joke. If I can see it, I can weld it.
Okay. All right. We need to study this and think again. The council should be one to come up with a proposal for utilizing our machines and whatever to better training members of our community for the job market. That's going to conclude it. I had to take him. You don't ignore a member of the council.
He said no more questions. No, I'm saying this for our benefit. He said no more questions, but he isn't qualified to say no more questions from a council member because he's no more than a council member himself. It was a council member that said that, but that doesn't apply to a council member. "Oh, he's establishing hierarchy." No, I'm not. Establishing respect. As Salaam alaikum.


