11/05/2006
IWDM Study Library
FIRST SUNDAY LECTURE, CHICAGO IL
(Parts 1-2)
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:16 Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the human soul, not skin color, the human soul. Thank you, Imam W. Deen Mohammed.

00:26 S?: Takbir! 

00:28 S?: Allahu akbar! 

00:31 S?: Takbir! 

00:31 S?: Allahu akbar! 

00:31 S?: Takbir! 

00:31 S?: Allahu akbar! 

00:33 Imam W Deen Mohammed: Yes, Allahu Akbar. God is greater than everything. I greet you with the greeting of peace, the Muslim greeting, Assalamu alaikum.

00:47 S?: Alaikum Salaam.

00:49 IWDM: We thank God today, as always, and we ask Him to forgive us our shortcomings. [inaudible] always and his guidance, always. For as we read in our holy book, in scripture, without God's guidance, we have no guidance. All that we have from ourselves counts for nothing in the end. Only God's guidance will take us to the end safely. Yes, give me one moment here to kinda get situated. That is of God's name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer, or as it is translated also, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

02:18 IWDM: We are told that a parable of human creation, [static] is comparable of a plant, creation of a plant. And we know that plant life normally begins in the dark and eventually grow in size from a seed and breaks the crust of the earth that is on top of it [static] to us. That is one likeness, that both [static] grows out of our sight, away from our observation or vision, that is, we can't see what is happening, but in time, the growth increases to show us that a child is growing inside the mother. And eventually, nine months normally, [static] itself to us. That is one comparison. That is one comparison.

03:56 IWDM: The comparisons get a little bit more difficult for us to readily grasp, for there are many, many, many comparisons. The child comes and crawls about on fours like an animal, but eventually, not too long, the child makes the effort to stand up straight, to stand up straight. We're having a little difficulty with the sound system here, but just bear with us. Be patient. This should be all worked out soon, Inshallah, God willing. That's what Inshallah means, God willing. Yes, so in time, and it's not long, the child makes the effort to stand and manages to stand up straight. So there's another comparison, 'cause the plant does not stand up, present itself standing up straight to us firstly. The plant is growing root in the ground, and the root is growing down, not up, or down and some that it has more than one root, some roots will be going outward, some going down to anchor or to stabilize the tree, to hold the tree, so it's there and firmly balanced.

05:35 IWDM: But in time, the plant shows itself growing up straight, growing up straight. And the little child came, and the child is standing up straight now, standing on his feet, standing up straight. That's another comparison. And when they stand, they grow in a definite symmetry, a definite pattern, a definite picture. The human being grows and takes a definite picture and maintains a balance. We have the balance here, balance. The same that's on the left side seems to be on the right side, so it's balanced, likewise for the plant. We look at a plant and its growth from the one side looks exactly like its growth from the other side. It may differ slightly somewhat, but if it does, it knows how to adjust its balance, so if a large limb grow out from a tree, then the other side will grow enough weight to balance that large tree that's a little abnormal.

06:47 IWDM: Normally, the tree will look the same on both sides or all around, they'll be growing the same all around, on both sides or all around, and that's how we are too, in picture, or in our description, physical description, symmetry, we are balanced, what's on the left side seems to be the same as on the right side. It might slightly differ because we spend more energy with our conscious mind involved. So if the doctor examine us, he'll find that the right side is a little slightly bigger than the left side. That's because we're concentrating so much energy and thought on that side, and normally we are right-handed, so we're using the right side more. Some people even tend to chew on the right side more than on the left.

[laughter]

07:50 IWDM: So all of these things throw the symmetry off a little bit, but not enough to be detected by the average person with the average eyes, it looks to be well-balanced. Well I guess we're human, we should have a little defect, huh? 

[laughter]

08:07 IWDM: To have a true picture. Life begins with a seed, seed. Everything has a seed and the seed is put away from our eyes, put out of sight, put away from observation. Placed in a quiet... Hopefully, in a quiet and peaceful place, wrapped up, covered away from the sunlight, away from the light, and there it grows in peace. As the song said, "I woke up and the sunlight hurt my eyes. And then I look at you and the world is all right with me."

[laughter]

09:11 IWDM: That you could be any person, even females, but one thing is for certain, they must have truth. Really what that person looked at was the truth. That person looked at the truth, yes, but sometimes the light hides the truth. Our light in the house here, the house light, and our light in our own minds, our limited light in our own mind sometimes hides the truth, and we have to see the truth in order to bear the light, or we're not going to make it in this light. It's all right. I'll make it. Well, a plant, now think about a plant. A plant firstly as a noun are the name of a thing, a plant, but take a look, a plant we see it, life, life, not animal life but plant life when you think of a plant.

10:21 IWDM: Now as a noun also, a plant could be an establishment and the seed is put in the ground for cultivation, or to grow, to grow, and it has to be given proper care, like a child, like a human child. You have a child, the job just begins when you get the child from the mother, just like when you get the seed now has shown itself above the centers of the ground, but now the work begins for the farmer or for the gardener, right? He has to make sure weeds don't crowd it out, he has to make sure that it gets proper water and the same we have to do for the baby, right? See? So there are many comparisons as we go on to talk about the plant being a parable, the creation of plants being a parable of human creation. There are many similarities to be observed, we're only going to observe few. Now if that child wasn't able to balance itself and walk like us, its life would be very, very difficult. The world is made for people who stand up on two feet. If you crawl around, your life will be very difficult, very difficult.

12:08 IWDM: And just like the plant has to fix itself firmly in the earth to grow, to be nourished, and grow to its full size, its maturity, we have to fix our child, our sons and daughters. We have to fix them firmly in reality. Yes. We have to situate them firmly in reality, so they'll be able to bear their weight that Allah has created them for, that God didn't create them to face 'em all, that God created them to grow, to increase in size, and they need to be given the care and understanding that they need to support their weight, and not have to struggle so hard with their weight, supporting their weight. If it's not grown in a balance, it'll be very difficult. Now just think, the child going to grow up to weigh soon 170 or 80 pounds. Imagine if 100 of that pound was on one side, how difficult it would be for that child to walk and balance that weight, but if it's balanced correctly, oh, the gait is so easy, the walk is so easy, so easy. But we have to teach our children balance in reality.

13:48 IWDM: Balance in reality. Don't fail to teach them what they need to know to be successful in a real world. A real world requires them to accept responsibility, more and more responsibility, as they grow year after year, and grow bigger in size. They're going to have to accept more and more responsibility. People of the earth, of the ground... Adam was a man, God said was made of the ground. People, our first father, people of the ground, made of the ground, like Southern farmers, they know to prepare their children to live in reality. Yes. Prepare their children to provide for themselves one day: Food, clothing, shelter, to be ready to take on a wife, the males, and be ready to accept responsibility for providing living quarters to the female and the children that will be expected from her. Well, some of the people knew naturally to prepare their children for this, for this reality. In the modern city world that we live in now, we don't do that. We leave it to the police.

[laughter]

15:24 IWDM: Yeah. Unto the gang, unto the criminal, to teach our children how to live in this world. Don't we? Yes. We've given up the scene. It seems like we think we can't manage our responsibility as parents anymore, we turn 'em over to the world. We have to change that. I know all of you are not guilty of that. Many of you are not guilty of that, but there are too many of us guilty of turning the child over to the streets. Yes. We're talking about a noun now, and the noun, it could be a thing, a plant, a living biological body we call 'plant', we call 'plant life', but it also could be an establishment. Also it could be an idea. Plant it in the mind. It could be something implanted, yes, implanted, put in the mind, here way in the mind, to produce its effect without the awareness of the person that was impregnated, of the mind that was impregnated. Yes, Mr. Fard, the teacher of my father, Elijah Mohammed, he created many things in the form of ideas or thoughts, language that he intended to grow into the mind without your awareness, without you being aware of the purpose of which it was put in your mind, and then have it grow in your mind, in the dark, grow in the darkness of your mind, and affect your life, to one day change your life. Yes, planting seeds in the human mind. That's another meaning of plant.

17:57 IWDM: Plant is, when you plant something in the mind and it grows in the mind, and some of these things grow with your awareness of them growing, but there are others that are slipped into your mind and they grow without your awareness. And if a good shepherd or gardener plants seeds into our mind, the result in the future will be good for us. Yes. It'll be good for us. And we may reap a harvest of wonderful and great things, wonderful and great ideas that we couldn't see or perceive with our own mind's eyes, it had to manifest or had to produce itself and show itself in our growth, and in our life for us to know, yes, we pregnant. So, if planting is like impregnating, planting in the mind, implanting ideas or seeds, and the seeds of thought or ideas in the mind. It's like impregnating the mind, and ideas born in the mind are somebody's babies.

19:55 IWDM: I once observed a person, he was talking about the things that he had produced and showing them to observers, and he said, "Yes, I'm proud of these. These are my babies." Animals, they have sex and produce children. They don't have to go to school eight years, and four years, and four more years, or six more, eight more years. They don't have to have all that education. It's just natural for them, it's habit for them. Natural. So that ain't no big deal, that's what I'm trying to say to you, brothers. That's no big deal, having sex and having babies. The big deal is to have created thought and then as a people, look at what you have done for the space that you live in. Look what you've done for the space that was once vacant, barren, not productive. And you look back on it with a few generations, you look back on that space, and you see it just blossoming with wonderful creations that came out of the minds of your people, and you can look at it and say, "These are our babies."

21:47 IWDM: Now that's a human achievement, that's better than an animal, that's a human achievement. Animals can't have much of that. Bees build honeycombs and their nests, their honeycombs. Birds build nests and they sometimes stay in the tree long time after the birds gone, squirrels, too. But they don't leave skyscrapers, they don't leave factories. They don't leave plants that are producing many, many creations, plants. See, what the industrialist call his factory? Plant. Am I coming home? 

22:45 IWDM: Adam is the first industrialist. You recall when I was a young minister about 30 years ago? It might have been... Yeah, it was around that time. I said, "Man means mind," and we have to go from dust to industry, dust to industry. And the scripture says that God made man from the dust of the earth, and it was dry and it hadn't rained, and He calls the rain to fall down and wet the earth, and form the man of the earth. But that's just what's happening right now. There's dust everywhere, and I'm trying to bring a light rain down; a rain of your good feelings, a rain of your good concerns, a rain of your good sentiments, a rain of your affection for the right things, trying to bring that water down and let it touch the dust. Give it something to help it hold together.

24:10 IWDM: Praise be to God. Yes. We have become producers, producers. I remember when we didn't have as a group... We share, as a group, history, the same history. I'm not speaking of just us as Muslims, but first, we have to realize that as descendants of parents who were brought to these shores, brought to the West, America, to be slaves, for slave labor, we share an experience, an experience that have left strong imprints on our very souls, on our very souls. So, in this soul life or spiritual life, we have strong ties; ties, T-I-E-S. Ties to one another. Strong ties to one another because we have experienced over the generations, over a long period of time, things that left hurt and things that left joy, pleasure, joy. That's what makes us kinfolk. That's what really makes us soul brothers and sisters. Yes! 

25:57 IWDM: It's the experience that we share, that others did not share with us. So if we don't have that spiritual bond with them, that depth with them, depth of soul with them that we have with one another. But the Irish have their own history of suffering and joy, and they're bonded together by their history. Now, if we forget the history or change and we don't care anymore about remembering it, what happens? We lose the strong ties. We lose the strong bonding, the strong tie, the strong spiritual bonding, we lose it. And no matter how much we jump and shout or Dhikr ourselves out in space, as religious people...

00:01 Warith Deen Mohammed: As religious people, soon as they get out of the hypnosis. In fact even under the hypnosis, we're not really loving one another. We're just... I'm sorry, word's coming to my mind... We just stressing ourselves.

[laughter]

00:26 IWDM: And we going right back to cussing each other out and kicking each other in the face and killing each other and robbing each other and giving each other drugs. Why? Because we have separated from the history of our shared experiences. That bonded us spiritually together and made us brothers and sisters, made us hurt when the other person was hurt. Made us want to do something about bad conditions in our neighborhood. We gotta get it back. We gotta get it back. We can get it back. We getting it back right now. There's a fine rain falling down. I feel it. Yeah, fine steady rain's coming down on the dust, and the dust is holding together a little better now. Oh yeah.

01:25 IWDM: We got to make it. We got to make it all the way. We can't fail those who paid the big price, so we would be free today. We can't fail them, we can't fail the preachers that risked death. Knew the world didn't want them preaching what they preached. Manhood for black man, that ain't what the white supremacist, he didn't call you a man. He called you a boy. Now here's a black man said, "No, I ain't your boy. I'm a man just like you." And as Malcolm said to one guy who questioned him, the interviewer was questioning him on television, he said, "Well what do you all want?" That was a good question, calling all white folks devils and saying you got to separate from them, their time is coming to an end. If I was on the other side, [chuckle] wasn't on the side of those who was predicting the end. If I was one of those who my world going to end, you saying my world going to end, I'd want to know what you want too. Maybe we can make a deal.

[laughter]

02:54 IWDM: This interviewer, "Well Malcolm, what do you want?" He said, "Ask yourself, what do you want?" [chuckle] So what was he saying to that interviewer? It's not a boy anymore talking, it's a man talking and I want what a man want, and you a man, you know what men should want. [chuckle] And they first want that, their wife be their wife, not somebody else's wife. In our community as our wife, is somebody else's wife. Yeah, they plowing the community. They implanting in the community. They introducing in the community. Yeah, and the community is growing but not by our effort and not by our thinking and not by our seeds, seeds, seeds! It has to change. It's going to change. It's changing. Yes. Getting back to establishment. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, before he passed he saw that we had a plan. We called it 'The Paper Plan', and the paper grew to be the largest Black newspaper in America. The largest circulation, it enjoyed the largest circulation of any Black or African-American newspaper called the 'Muhammad Speaks'. No matter how we got it, we got it.

04:56 IWDM: And with that great increase in circulation, the Muhammad Speaks newspaper provided most of the cash money. The cash flow, more than even the imports and exports business. It was the greatest producer, cash flow, cash money. Yes. It enabled the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to continue to do big things. Buy thousands of acres of farmland in Alabama, Michigan, and other places. Thousands of acres of farmland, big growth. I don't know whether Honorable Elijah Muhammad understood the creation of our first father from dust. I don't know if he understood the parable of creation or human life, creation of human life. As a parable of a plant. I don't know if he understood those things. I know if he was here to hear his son right now he'd jump and shout. I know that. Yes, because he did love scripture. My father loved scripture, so he would be jumping and shouting and my mother would too. Yeah. I don't know if he understood those things. I doubt it because person wants to understand scripture and they're religious and they're speaking to a religious body.

06:36 IWDM: You can't help but share that with your congregation. Yes. So I'm sure that he would have shared it with the congregation. But you know, they say God works in mysterious ways. God can cause things to happen, and if you don't know what's going on, it looks spooky. [chuckle] It looks spooky. Wow, what in the world is this. You want to shake your head and see if it'll clear up a little bit, see it the same way after shaking your head. And then you shake your head and it still looks the same. You have to try to grow to understand what's going on. Well when I look at my father's life, his preaching, his words, his actions, I know God intervened. He couldn't do it by himself. He couldn't have done it on his own limited education and thinking in mind. In fact, even if he was the most educated Black in America he couldn't have done it unless God assisted him. Intervened in his life. Yes, I know that for a fact, when I look at his words and his life, how they grew over the years and many years of his leadership, and where he left off. He left off where all people should start.

08:10 IWDM: Yes. For many years he just taught us what we call the lessons of teachings of the Nation of Islam. Problem Book, first student enrollment. You hear that? Student enrollment. Lesson number one, lesson number two. English lesson number one. 14 questions and answers. 34 problems. Students! Student enrollment. And then he put out a book of his own, 'How to Eat to Live'. Oh that's a good book now. That book was so good that one of the high priestess in the Black community in herbal foods and health food, told me, I went to her place, Dr. Sultana of Chicago. I went to her place, I heard about her, Dick Gregory brought a lot of attention to her. So I had heard about her before but Dick Gregory, the comedian, got with her, an activist, political activist Dick Gregory... I heard about him going over there so I decided to go over there. I knew about him because he was popular in the African-American communities and especially with serious-minded people in the African-American community, like the followers of Elijah Muhammad. So I went to her store, and there she was, she was there herself.

09:53 IWDM: So she came out and greeted me. And the first thing she offered me was some grass. [chuckle] So I didn't laugh or nothing but, I just didn't respond. [laughter] And she said, "Do you know what the elephant eat?" And I said, "Yeah, grass." She said, "That's right." [chuckle] She said, "I want you to take some of this grass, it's good for you." I'm still, I didn't say anything... [laughter] Grass? You know grass, I don't care how good the logic looks that you giving me... [laughter] it's still grass in my mouth. [laughter] And something in my souls history tells me I ain't supposed to be chewing on no wild grass. [laughter] So she had a hard time getting me, so I went around in her store and shopped for the things that I wanted. And I'm getting ready to leave now, I got my things. She said, "Take some of this grass." So for her sake, I took a little bit of juice. She had a juice, grass juice. You could see the grass in there, in a little juice like water. I guess it was still water. So I took it. And that's how I finished. I didn't buy any grass.

[laughter]

[pause]

11:29 IWDM: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad also produced another book, 'Message to the Blackman'. He didn't say, "Message to the Muslims." He said, "Message to the Blackman." A lot of us don't know that when Mr. Fard taught his student, my father, Elijah Muhammad, he taught his student to prepare to invite all black people of America to the temple of Islam, to become members of the Nation of Islam, that's what he prepared him for. Not to just be a leader of Muslims, no, but leader of African-American people. And I know that if the other leaders that want to be leaders of African-American people or black people, all of us in this country, and now we thinking even our side of this country. Caribbeans, South America, everywhere, that we have been taken from the continent of Africa. We're thinking about all of our soul brothers and sisters, but if those leaders don't study the works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they will never be prepared to lead us to the goal line. We'll never reach the finish line that our souls want until they study the works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and benefit from the positive work that he gave or left for us before he passed away.

13:14 IWDM: They have to know these things, they have to experience those things. I'm the leader I am, not because I learned Arabic, I'm the leader I am because my life, my soul, my mind was impregnated by Honorable Elijah Muhammad's words. He left his seeds in my mind. Yes, he left his seeds in my mind and my mind has grown so large, so big. I didn't know all of that was in my mind. I couldn't see it being put in my mind, it happened in the dark. And it has worked on many of our people in the dark crisis of their mind. Yes, and some of them have grown to confess, "I'm a Christian but it was your father that turned my life around. Make me think big and grow big." I've heard them... In fact they're still telling me these things. Non-Muslims, Christians are telling me these things. Yes. So the bigger picture that we're to see in religion is not these myths or these mythological pictures that we see, like the picture of Atima holding her baby and she representing the earth in its futility, in its growth, in its abundant plant growth. No, we have to see more than that.

15:31 IWDM: It's more than the story of men bringing rain and fire down from heaven, or the Red Sea opening up for the servants of Egypt, the Hebrews to escape from pharaoh, that can't do you much good, because really you don't believe it. You just put it away like you do things you can't use, you put it away, and you don't even think about it until somebody mentions it and you say, "Oh yeah. I remember putting that away." [laughter] And you do right to put it away, what can you do with it out here in the real world? Preacher gone preach, take off all the time, people tired, they've worked the whole week, and he's telling them about some of the Red Sea opening up, and they trying to stretch their imagination to understand something of what he's saying. [laughter] Struck the water with the robe, struck the water with the robe. "Yeah, you're a good showman, but what in the hell are you talking about?" [laughter] And not to put them down, they put themselves down, they're coming out for show every week, some of them every day, can you imagine having seven days a week of that? Well, some churches they have church seven days a week. That means you ain't never saved.

17:35 IWDM: Anytime you talking out of space, talking out way out in the galaxies, and somebody listening to you, and the rent is coming at the same time every month, and all other bills, somebody is insane... Oh, they didn't cut me off the radio yet. Isn't that nice? [laughter] Well, we're going to keep goin' then. You won't get anything stronger than that. That's the strongest I'm going to give you, so don't get mad and pull the plug on me. [laughter] The point of this address today for the first hour here, is we have to take our mind from ABC blocks of education, of world knowledge, and of religion. Most of us, we still have nothin' but ABC blocks of religion and picture language. A lot of picture language, that's what you get in kindergarten, in pre-school, a lot of picture language, but no understanding, no translation of that language, and show you how deep, Mr. WD Fard was the teacher of my father. He said, "Mathematics is Islam. And Islam is mathematics. And it can be proven in any given time." That mean if you say prove it in one second, he can do it. Say prove it over six hours, he can stretch it out over six hours if you like.

19:45 IWDM: Mathematics is the language of symbols, but mathematics is an exact science, the most exact of all of our science, of all of our sciences, mathematics, but it's the language of symbols. And I'm not just talkin' about college math, where you'd know you get a whole lot of symbols. I'm talkin' about the first lesson you get in arithmetic is the language of symbols. Two plus two equals four. Two-what plus two-what equals four? So you're not workin' with anything but symbols. Time-tables. Three times three equals nine. Three-what times three-what equals nine? So you're not workin' with anything but symbols. It's the language of symbols. And Mr. WD Fard, or WD Fard as I prefer to call him now. Mr. WD Fard, yeah he had some oil man, I'm tellin' you. Tune up your engine, buddy, I'm tellin' you. Make those parts run so smoothly. Whoa, clean 'em up. Get the gunk off 'em on there. [chuckle]

21:13 IWDM: Yes. He said, "Islam is mathematics, and mathematics is Islam." So what is he telling us? One day I hope you students... 'Cause that's how he made all of us, students. Everyone registered was a student, we're all students of the Nation of Islam. One day, his prayer was that one day some of us, or just one of us, all it take is one to tell the others and we got somethin' goin', that one day one of us or some of us... And really it was some of us. Don't think that I'm the only one that was curious and thinking and tryin' to solve mysteries in the Nation of Islam. I was not the only one. But you all just didn't want to come. You thought if you showed yourself, they might throw you out. And you're probably right. [laughter] Throw you right out of Nation of Islam. [laughter] But I know I was not the only one because I got support for what I introduced, and for you to support me like that, many of you were already workin' the same road that I was workin'. I'm plowin' the same row in the garden that I was plowin', workin' the same row in the garden that I was workin'.

22:46 IWDM: Yes, and you recognized me that I was on to somethin' that you needed, that you had been workin' for, and that's why you gave me your support. And my friend, Silis, and all those people, and some others I don't want to name right now 'cause it's a little sensitive, [chuckle] they make big claims but you ain't goin' nowhere. You with the light. You with the light. And even though you sit in the dark with those that moan, you in the light with me. Yes you are. I don't care where you are. If you one of the lost-found members of the Nation of Islam, the leader that you're with in the dark is not the one that you're with in the light. You're with me in the light, you're with them when you want to go to bed. [laughter] Yes, it's a good day. Good day to be alive, brother. Oh, I'm tellin' you. I couldn't have looked ahead in the road, to this time that we're in right now and see what had happened. If I could have, I wouldn't be able to speak. None of you, you all would have me in a mental institution. If I saw this [simulating babbling] ...

24:16 IWDM: Say, "What in the world has happened to Minister Wallace?" [laughter] I'd be lookin' at this day we are in now man, it'd been too much for my mind to bear. Right! Yes sir. Yes siree. So it's time for us to work with reality. In high school we had a physics teacher. He was an African-American. Every now and then we'd get a good, really experienced teacher would join us. But this brother had a nerve problem in his muscles of his mouth and face, and he would be slow speaking, and sometimes he would stretch his jaw and he would blow. He said, "Islam is no vain imagination or superstition, Islam is a reality." But I'm tellin' you, I recall that man's teaching. I recall that man's word. And then he would start teachin' us physics. That's how he would come on. And then he start teachin' us physics. As a teenager, I got grown and in my 20s, every now and then that man's word would pop in my head. "Islam is no vain imagination or superstition. Islam is reality."

25:51 IWDM: And I connected that when Mr. Fard said, "Islam is mathematics, and mathematics is Islam." That means it follows a logic that stands. It stands in America as it stands in China. Stands in China as it stands in Europe or any place else in an area. The language of mathematics stands upon a logic that's universal. It doesn't change from nation to nation. It doesn't change from place to place. It doesn't change from one field to another field. I use mathematics in any field. I'm a psychologist, a doctor of the mind, but when I have to figure somethin' out how many, and what to have as a conclusion for this adding up or subtracting or whatever, I have to use the language of mathematics. It's a universal language, all fields, all nations, all places, universal. And the logic stands up as strong in one place as it stands up in any other place. That's Islam, if you understand it. That's Islam. Now, I'm speaking to our radio listening audience. And I'm speaking to non-Muslims as well. And believe me, I am aware of you being in the audience. And I know you would like to have more understanding of Islam.

27:27 IWDM: Don't you know Islam is a big burden on the black Christian? Got these Muslims growin' among these Christians, preachers shakin', tremblin'. Every time we open up new avenues for our growth, the preacher start tremblin' and shakin', and he go and get together with his partner preachers, "These Muslims, we gotta watch 'em. We gotta watch 'em. We gotta come out with somethin' now. We gotta check 'em. We can't let them come here and take over the church." I don't want to take over your church, mister, Mr. Reverend or whoever you are, I respect you and love you. You're my brother. I would like for your congregation to get some of this WD Fard. [laughter] Man, I'm tellin' you, it ain't just for the Quran. WD Fard will help you understand the Bible. And they say take a little sugar with the medicine, you know, and let the medicine go down. You need a little WD Fard to help that medicine go down. Can you believe that time is up. Yeah, we just have one more minute here. And I'd like to talk to you forever. I enjoy talkin', but I'm also a man of action.

29:08 IWDM: You know ain't nobody supposed to just talk, and not act. You got to talk and act. Nation of Islam had a national spokesperson, spokesman. That's the talker. Elijah Muhammad was a builder. That's action. May God give us guidance always, for without the guidance of God, we will not have guidance. Peace be unto you. As-salamu alaykum. And have a good day. This is a good day. Please have a good day.

[background conversation]

29:56 IWDM: God is greater. That's what you're hearing from this audience here. God is greater. Allahu Akbar. God is greater. I was listening to... I don't know if we on the air but I'll say this. I was listening to a preacher and his congregation singing, a very intelligent preacher with a very high-spirited audience. They started singing, "God is greater. God is greater," and they got me. I'm tellin' you, they pulled me right on in there. [laughter] They pulled me right on in there, 'cause that's what we say, "God is greater. Allahu Akbar." So, I end up getting in touch with him and he is my friend. I send him a birthday gift. He had recently had a birthday gift. He is in his 80s now. Yeah. A wonderful man. You don't have to know his name. Our first hour is up, so let us get ready for the second hour and I'm going to take a few minutes break, about five minutes break, so that we can come with announcements, any announcements. I know we have a very, very special guest here and we want to have our guest come and greet us. So, I'm going to step back and sit down and relax a little while and get myself ready for the next hour while we come forward with our announcements. Thank you.

[background conversation]

00:13 IWDM: With the life of plants, it's creation of human life with the creation of plant life. I need to get my glasses.

[pause]

00:36 IWDM: We have... It looks like we have about a good 40 minutes. We might go over the hour, a little past 5:00, to try to get in more time. Now, strategies. Strategies. That's what this is about. Strategies of WD Farad, Mr. WD Farad. Strategies. Strategies to reach our minds firstly, and secondly, strategies to bring us to the purpose. To the purpose.

[pause]

02:15 IWDM: Said the words of the teacher, "Big fields await the wide awake man." Do you know that language? "Big fields await." They're just waiting for you, the wide awake man. The wide awake man.

[pause]

02:48 IWDM: Now, some of the strategies of WD Farad to awaken us. To awaken us. Firstly, is the strategy of stretching the imagination. Stretching the imagination. You cannot move in big spaces if you can't think in big spaces. So he had a strategy to empower our imagination, so that we wouldn't be weak or intimidated or afraid to think big. Exercises, exercises, drills and exercises. Some things he produced for us to have as our activities. And he had no interest in them that we had in them. For example, marching, brothers marching, fruit of Islam. Marching. He had no interest in us marching, as physically marching. He didn't have interest in it, his mind was on something much bigger than that. Marching is also called drilling, isn't it? 

04:52 S?: Yes, sir.

04:53 IWDM: Drilling. And he talked about drills, didn't he? 

04:58 S?: Yes, sir.

05:00 IWDM: Can a black man produce a drill to drill into the earth so many miles to actually split the earth, what was then called earth, cause a split in it? Drill. He hoped that all this big language and complicated big ideas would find rational students, and they'll say, "Well this can't be this. He must mean something else." Then they'll say, "Oh, drill." You drill a person in lessons too, don't you? 

05:50 S?: Yes, sir.

05:56 IWDM: The drill is to prepare you to solve the problems, to know how to do the work. So this is mental, so get away from the physical, that's what you have to do. To know the strategies of Mr. WD Farad, you have to get away from the physical, or the material things, and get to the mental, the mental exercise, and the mental ideas. What does drill mean for the mind? Not for feet marching, what does it mean for the mind? We could have joined the Boy Scouts, and got some marching. We could have marched with the Boy Scouts. Girls in the Girl Scouts and boys in the Boy Scouts. We didn't have to have a scientist come out of outer space, to give us some marching lessons. It's a little warm in here. I'm going to take my jacket off. I got a nice jacket on here. I mean that jacket's warm. It's a sport jacket, but it's almost like a overcoat.

[chuckle]

07:01 IWDM: It has wool in it. Yes. To understand Mr Farad's strategies, the first thing you got to do is to get away from thinking that things are material, are physical, like this. He told us that... I'm giving you some lessons here... He told us that we are to check our weight every fruit day, and I remember when they did it. They changed, they went away from it. They got away from it in time, but I remember when you came to the fruit, you had to be weighed. [chuckle] And if you were over 150 pounds, you had to pay a penalty. Now, I don't know about you all, but I was only about 14 years old, 13 or 14 years old, and I said, "What in the world is this?"

[laughter]

08:00 IWDM: "I'm only 5'6" and this guy is 6'6" almost. And they're penalizing him for weighing over 150 pounds."

[laughter]

08:13 IWDM: But, that's the strategy of Mr Farad. That's his strategy. He know that some of you are going to question that, and that's what he wants. He doesn't want the stupid ones. He wants the bright ones. So the ones that are questioning that are the ones that he wants, and hope that those students will grow in understanding, and will one day be able to lead the black man in America how he should be led, intelligently and with great insight. Great insight. So, don't think that some man actually had a drill, and drilled a hole into the Earth, and filled it up with black powder and set it off, and caused a split in the original Earth, and a piece that broke off became the moon.

[chuckle]

09:20 IWDM: And the piece, the larger piece, remained the Earth that we're living on. Say a black man created the moon by drilling a big hole into the Earth and filling it up with strong, powerful, strong black powder. You all that's been coming to this with us, I hope you don't have to see a little psychiatrist for being here. [laughter] That only realizing Muhammad was giving a language environment, a language environment to contain the minds of his followers until they could hatch great intelligence, that would be used as the light to guide our way all the way to where we have to go. Yeah.

10:21 IWDM: And then getting back to it. So if you still have those physical pictures in your mind, you got burdens. You got serious burden. But most of it, as I said, most of this like I was, things that you can't understand, you put them away, you don't deal with it, "I can't handle that." Put it away. And I don't want to force you to handle it. I'm discussing it. If you still can't handle it and you can't follow my discussion, put it away again, please. I don't want you to have to see the doctor, especially while I'm talking.

[chuckle]

11:11 IWDM: I don't want the task disrupted. Yeah, alright. The mothership, there's another idea, physical picture. I can't believe it, 2006, almost 2007, 30 years, working on the mentally dead, and still some of you all are going and saying, "They are here."

[laughter]

11:53 IWDM: Hoping to see, they all be like Muhammad, jump off the mother plane and step down from the mothership. What in the world is going on? 

[laughter]

12:15 IWDM: That's some black magic there, I'm telling you. Yeah, that's some powerful black magic, if you've got them believing in that and expecting to see the old the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I see him anytime I want to see him, and it's all real. The man left a beautiful, beautiful picture of himself with me, and anytime I want to look at it, I look at it. I just think back on the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his good works, I see him anytime I want. He lived in my heart, he lived in my mind. And to tell some followers that he's going to show up physically, that he's alive, physically alive, that's cruel. That is really cruel. You have no love for your people to tell them lies like that. And I don't care who told the lie, I know they're going to hear what I say, believe me. They're going to hear what I say. They got people here right now that's going to take them back what I'm saying right now. So I wouldn't be speaking this long in this way, if I didn't think they weren't going to be able to hear my words, because this is not for you, as much as it is for those who are saying these things, claiming to represent the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and telling nothing but lies. Ugly lies. Cruel lies.

14:00 IWDM: Not only are they cruel to you to tell you lies like that, they're cruel to the memory of a man that picked them up, took them up out of the street, when nobody, nobody, and he picked them up out of the street, lifted them up, they became great world known figures, on the TV, on the radio and everywhere, and then they treat the man like that after his death. That's ugly. That's cruel. To use the dead to fill up your pockets and your bank accounts. Cruel, really cruel.

14:53 IWDM: So please get away from these physical pictures, it doesn't mean that at all. Mr. WD Farad took his idea from the motherplane, and he didn't hide it. From the Bible, not the Quran, not the book of the Muslims, from the book of the Christians. From Ezekial's wheel. And I remember being a young boy, not even in my teens yet, and we walk into the temple and what do we see? A black board on one side had been painted, American flag, a cross, and ancient Islam flag. And under the staff of the ancient Islam flag was Islam, the word Islam. And at the cross, suffering, shame and death, the words suffering, shame and death. Words taken from a song of black people. We used to sing it, "On Yonder Field, and an Old Rugged Cross. The very emblem of suffering, shame and death. One day I hope to change that old rugged cross for a starry crown." The song of our people, not Muslims, they were Christians.

16:35 IWDM: And there was a picture of a black man hanging by the neck from a tree. And that hanging was associated with the cross, he was hanging right by the cross. So what was Mr. Farad saying with that drawing? Or what was my father saying with the pictures? Because actually my father produced that from what Mr. Farad gave him in his mind. What is he saying with that? He was saying that you remember your people being lynched in the South, that your teacher is equating that physical lynching with the lynching of your life, the hanging of your life on religion that you don't understand, that has you suspended above the ground, you can't stand up on the ground, you're hanging by the neck. Your vital life is choked out of you.

17:58 IWDM: So he wanted us to see this picture, the other picture, the higher picture, the higher translation, not the physical. And in our religions, Allah God says to us in our Holy Book, "Persecution is worse than outright killing." , surely, persecuting is worse than outright slaughter. Because you slaughter a person, it's over for them, it's finished. They're gone to their God, it's over. But you can kill a person all their life, kill them all their life, every day, by persecuting their life, their vital mind, nature, mind, spirit, etcetera. You prevent it from going where God wants it to go. Tie it up, so it can't go where God wants it to go. That's worse than killing them outright.

19:20 IWDM: There are a lot of things in the Bible that are given to open your eyes. I remember a couple that stayed in my mind. Say that the Lord found a certain people, like a baby, a infant born from a mother and no one to attend it, the umbilical cord has been cut, and the baby is left unattended wallowing in its own blood. It's in the Bible. And another one I recall from the Bible often, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." For a lack of knowledge. If they just had the right knowledge, they wouldn't be destroyed. And yet another that touched me as a young boy. It said, "Can a man rob God? Yes, you have robbed me the whole people." Now I know it's talking about the history of the Jews, but I'm telling you, someone set us up to be a better reflection of that picture than the Jews. Yes, the world has set us up. The world of greed, material greed and power, dominance, set the soul of the the spirit of the black man up to be robbed of his vital essence, of his vital light, his workable parts in his nation, all taken from him, he can't get results from them.

21:30 IWDM: Yes. And the sad thing is that in this late time that we're living in, most of our church leaders are just as lost as they ever was. It's pitiful. And most of our Muslim leaders, too, lost. Just as lost as they ever were, like no progress has been made at all. It's pitiful. We got to change it. And we got what we need to change it. Oh, yeah, we've got what we need to change it. We got the light that we need to keep us out of the dark, and we've got the people whose faith is strong, can't be changed, can't be broken. And believe me, we're not alone. There are people like us all over this planet, but they live as angels, and we can't live as angels. Our God says to us in our Holy Book that "If the earth had been populated by angels, he would have given us an angel as a messenger." He said, "But the earth is populated by human mortals, so he gives you a human mortal as a messenger."

23:03 IWDM: And fulfilling prophecy, we cannot live in the world in disguise, and have secrets, that is our real life, and the life we live in the world is a mask or a disguise. We can't do that. We are not permitted to do that. God won't allow Muslims to do that. You read your Holy Book and you see you can't do that. We can have secrecy, but there should be moral justification for it. Moral justification for it. This is a certain amount of secrecy here, I'm speaking to you in the language that you were given, and I'm addressing that language that's know by you as esoteric. It's an in-house language, it's not known by outsiders. Outsiders didn't get this language. But the instructions to us in our Holy Book is that this is only allowed, to have these meeting like I'm having right now, and if I lead the Saviour's Day meeting again this year, and I plan to do that, in fact, we're preparing now to do that. It's not to offend anybody but we will not have people outside of our experience attending that Saviour's Day meeting. If we know them, we're going to ask them to respect our privacy, and respect our love for them that we don't want them to have experience that's uncomfortable for them.

25:15 IWDM: Arabs or any other people, no. Indians, Pakistanis, no. We don't intend to have any of those people in our meeting. If they're in the meeting, even though they say they're Muslim, they should be Muslims from the Nation of Islam, or from us, from my leadership. Not just anybody coming in. Why should they be exposed to these things? They shouldn't.

25:52 IWDM: And I've accepted also to join Minister Farrakhan for his Saviour's Day meeting. So we going to plan it so I'll also be free to join Minister Farrakhan for his Saviour's Day meeting. And he promises that he's going to have an announcement that will show him in a new light, taking a new position that is more in accord with the Quran and good sense.

[background conversation]

26:32 IWDM: So and shall Allah God willing, we will join him and we will see. I say we will see because I've joined him in Saudi Arabia, I've joined him in America, and he has said one thing, and as soon as he got back to his people, he said the same old thing he says all the time. So he's disappointed us many times, but I love my brother. I do love him. We've been friends ever since we were young, both of us young men, we've been friends. And I know...
