02/05/2005
IWDM Study Library
First Sunday Speech
Homewood IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
IWDM:
Peace be unto you. As Salaam Alaikum. To our audience, we wish you peace, and we wish you a good day always. We pray G-d's help be with us, His mercy, and we pray that He guides us always. Ameen or Amen, as the English language goes.
IWDM:
We always, again, recognize in G-d and trusting that G-d that will be with us, and we acknowledge that Muhammad of the Quran, the last of the revealed books, is the last of the prophets, and we pray peace and prayers be upon him again, ameen, or amen.
IWDM:
I had to... I just rushed from another meeting, coming here, and I didn't even get my glasses out. I have to have these glasses, so I'm taking a moment here to get my glasses on. The weather turned a little cooler here, but still, it's much better than it used to be in this Chicago area.
IWDM:
Years ago, it was much colder, and we didn't expect it to be anything except cold, whereas now you can hardly tell Chicago from some of the Southern states and cities I visit. I go there sometime, and the weather's about the same as ours, and on a few occasions, I have traveled to the South, and their weather was not as good as ours. Not as pleasant as ours. That warming up is something else, it's a danger, but I sure like it, because I live in Chicago. Chicago area.
IWDM:
Chicago is my hometown, and I've heard the saying, "If you don't like Chicago, then stick around."
IWDM:
I have moved to several cities. At least four cities, over the duration of my leadership, time of leadership with you all, and there's only one city that I would like to move to, of those four cities, but Chicago, I guess because history, too.
IWDM:
We have a history here, that started in 1934, it goes all the way back to that time, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he did a lot of great work that many of his critics don't know about. They just saw him as a different man, condemning the world, especially the white world, but they didn't see the full picture of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, my father.
IWDM:
But Chicago, someone in Chicago did, because the acknowledged his influence in the Sun-Times, and also in Channel eleven magazine, Chicago's [inaudible 00:03:47] Chicago, and the acknowledged him as one of 100 persons who most influenced the history of Chicago, and they weren't acknowledging him in a negative sense. They were acknowledging him in a positive sense.
IWDM:
When I first the father our mayor of Chicago now, Richard J. Daley, when I first met him, I just paid a courtesy call on him. As a leader, I felt obligated to go to his office and pay a courtesy call.
IWDM:
So, I did, and the first thing he told me, before I could really say much to him was that, "We knew your father, and my doors were open to him." I guess he said that to say, "Relax," you know? And it really relaxed me.
IWDM:
Yeah. We live in the world, but we have little chance of really benefiting from the world in our time, as people of old did, and as many primitive people still do. They can't have the great life of comforts and knowledge and education and progress of science and technology that we have, but they at least can have peace in their little huts, in their little places they live in. I'm talking about backwoods people, primitive people.
IWDM:
They can have a healthy relationship with family members. They can have more peace than most of us have. And they can have more love for one another than most of us city people have.
IWDM:
So, the environment has changed so much, because of progress of science and industry. It has changed so much, and it has kind of blocked the nature, human nature, from the kind of support that human nature gets from creation in its natural form, and natural design that G-d made.
IWDM:
So, and we have suffered many a problem, and we might be losing faith in G-d, some of us. Losing faith in religion. And this factor is one of the factors that I think has a lot to do with common people, ordinary people, losing faith in G-d, and losing faith in their religious spaces or in their religious leadership.
IWDM:
It is because we do not have that direct interchange for our emotions, and for our hearts, and for our intelligence, for our brains, that man did have, and still has in some primitive corners of the world. And G-d made the world to favor human life, not to curse it, right?
IWDM:
He made the world to favor human life. The story of the paradise, Eden, paradise, Jannah, we say in Quranic Arabic language. Jannah, the story of that beginning of human life in the garden of paradise is, when you study it and look at it very... And you have to rethink or bethink, when you think into it, you come to understand, most likely as a scholar, you should come to understand that that's more a picture of G-d's wish for mankind, than it is a picture of what was.
IWDM:
It's a picture of G-d's wish for mankind, and it serves us better when we understand the garden of paradise, or Eden, as G-d's wish for mankind, than it does we think of it as a beginning for a primitive man. No, it's G-d's wish for mankind.
IWDM:
Now, when we understand scripture, classical scripture, Bible, Quran, and we may include some other scriptures, when we understand scripture, we understand that scripture sees the world differently. Not with the eyes of the secular world, and not with our eyes. It sees the world differently. It sees the world as the voice of G-d himself, right?
IWDM:
What G-d made is his voice, speaking. The universe speaks. The material system of matter speaks, and G-d says, regarding this, that most of the people, they go along unaware, heedless of these signs. Heedless of these signs.
IWDM:
You know I watched birds, I read to a student in high school, I read about migratory birds, how they migrate, and how they respond to the sun. The sun rises, as scripture says. It rises from east, and sets in the west. But it also rises over a period of a year, it rises from two points in the east, or two positions in the east. And it sets from two points, or on two positions, in the west.
IWDM:
And the birds, migratory... I guess, migratory animals, more than just birds, but the birds, very easy to notice them. We very readily notice them if we start to observe the birds and have a curiosity and know that life, and what's affecting that life, you'll find birds, when the weather gets cold, and too hard for them, they take flight, and they fly south, where the weather's warmer, from the North.
IWDM:
So, they go from the north, where the weather's warmer in the South. And they also come back. When the weather warms up in the North, they would come back from the South. The south is hot and nice, but what were they doing when we were cold in Chicago? They were living better, in Eden, a little bit, in the South.
IWDM:
Now we're warming up, they say, "Hey, a lot of food has collected and piled up in Chicago. It's warm there, now. Let's go to Chicago and eat." They know how to follow. And the sun, I'm sure, is a guide for them. The sun in the sky is a guide for them.
IWDM:
Because actually, if you observe it as I have, when it's getting near time for cold weather, the sun seems to be more in the South than in the North. And when it warms up in the North, the sun is more in the North than in the South.
IWDM:
So, really, I think, these birds, they have a inner sense, that tells them that. I don't think they look and say, "Hey, Joe, let's fly. The sun is in the south, now. It's time for us to go down south." I don't think that. I think that system, register these changes, and they know when to move, and where to move.
IWDM:
So, it seems that G-d... You hear me saying that. Do you feel G-d's love? I do. That's G-d's love, that regulated that like that. That's his love. But then we have this free will, so we act on our own, and plan without referring to higher powers, or reading the signs. But we don't do that. So, we plan, and we get in trouble, and soon, we are in real, deep trouble. Serious, very serious, trouble, and we're crying. And we're crying out.
IWDM:
But if we would guard against extremes, because whether you're scripture is Christian or Muslim, both these scriptures tell us to guard against extremes. Don't go out too much, lavish too much wealth on yourself. Don't go for diamonds and gold, and show off and fur coats and leather coats, and show off like that.
IWDM:
That's an extreme, and very few people in the public can manage that extreme. I saw a movie, a gunfight movie. It was a Western movie about the lawless times in the West, in these United States, and this gunfighter, he wore guns, his guns, his pistols, two of them, and he was so good at getting to them faster than his opponents. He's well-known as a fast shooter. Fast shooter, gets his guns and shoots very fast. And the movie went on to show him, focus on him for the whole movie. And at the end of the movie, it was very clear what the message was. He was not wearing the guns. The guns were wearing him.
IWDM:
His importance was all in his guns. His worth as a person was all in his guns. So, the guns were wearing him. And same thing would happen to us if we go in extremes in other ways, lavishing ourselves with this wealth.
IWDM:
Now, don't think that this is a speech or talk I'm giving against money, or against earning money, and against being wealthy. No. Not at all. I would not turn down a chance to make millions of dollars, trillions of dollars, I would not turn it down, because that would only situate me better to help the needs that I see in the world that need help
IWDM:
So, I never cut my chance to make more money. No. I want to make more and more and more and more, because I want to help the earth, not just W.D. Mohammed
IWDM:
Now, there are many people like that. Bill Gates and his wife. Bill Cosby and his wife. So many of them like that. They make plenty of money, but they help suffering humanity. They help people who need help. They help them. And if we're going to do that, then what's wrong with living in a capitalist society, if you're a religious socialist like Imam W.D. Mohammed. There's nothing wrong with it. Make money, and put it to good use. That's the purpose.
IWDM:
And not only that, we who want to become very well educated, and we have been blessed with the talent to do that, G-d has blessed us with the circumstances and the talent to do that. We also should realize that knowledge is a precious commodity. Very precious commodity, and when we give of our knowledge, we should give of it the same way we give our money. Don't hoard knowledge, don't hoard money. Just give a lot of both if you can.
IWDM:
Yeah, so the garden, it was a garden that had everything in it okay by G-d, except the forbidden tree. Except for this forbidden tree. Mentioned both also in the Quran, so I hoping you understand the Quran is like a tafsir on the Bible. At least on those parts of the Bible that were issues for the past issues for the present time of Muhammad, and Muhammad, the prophet, peace be upon him, he must have understood them to be issues for the future, going far into the future, until mankind's able to see the light, and respond to the light as G-d intends for man to respond to the light. I'm talking about divine light, guidance from G-d.
IWDM:
Yes, so the garden had this tree in it, and if you think now, it's not hidden. You just have to think, it's there's a tree of knowledge, and the knowledge of good and evil. But it's a tree that G-d forbids.
IWDM:
So, it's a knowledge context that establishes, or pretends to establish, what's good and what's evil for human beings. What we should want and what we should not want. But if I told you that tree was the world that we're living in right now, would you believe it?
Audience:
Yes
IWDM:
The world that we are living in right now, it wants to tell us what's good and what's bad for us, and it get's must of us. It wants to tell us what is bad and what is good. What is evil, and harmful, and what is good, or helpful. It wants to tell us that. And some of them, the leaders in this world, you may say secular world... I don't say secular world, because that's... For want of a better name, that's what they say, the secular world.
IWDM:
But there are many established communities, established in the secular world, and they are doing business as members in the secular world, but they are not of that mindset. They have their love, and their devotion is for G-d, and humanity. Kindness to their fellow man.
IWDM:
So, they're not of that world but they're in there. So, that's why I hesitate to say "secular world." I say "the world," because they're the biggest. They're the biggest outside the home, huh?
Audience:
Yes.
IWDM:
Yeah? Outside your home, they're the biggest. So, I say, "the world." Then, we have, in the home, the private world. And we have the religious workers working hard against the influences of the world. To save families and life for the plan that G-d gave Adam, and gave him the plans of the garden.
IWDM:
Yeah. So, we underestimate religion. We underestimate scripture, we underestimate religion. We take it to be no more than what we see, and our minds can't see everything all the time, you know?
Audience:
That's right.
IWDM:
We can't see everything. Never reduce G-d, or scripture, down to your focus. You can't put G-d and scripture in your focus, unless you get guidance from G-d, huh.
Audience:
That's right.
IWDM:
Then you can put it in your focus, but your mind, by itself, on its own, is too small, and the possibilities for your vision or your seeing, to small, without the help of G-d. For you look at religion and condemn religion, or look at scripture and condemn scripture, or look at G-d and say, "I don't think I want to believe in G-d any more," you going on your own.
IWDM:
If you knew the G-d that the prophets knew, if you knew the G-d that the saints knew, if you knew the G-d that the seers, those who look in to, not just at, knew, you wouldn't be fix you are right now.
Audience:
There it is.
IWDM:
And you would reject the big world, and this invitation to go on your own isn't that what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? He got a invitation to go on your own.
IWDM:
Stop let what you think G-d said hold you down or hold you back. Go on your own. So, the secular world, that's its message. Don't let your parents hold you back. Don't let your parents keep you down. Don't let your parents control your behavior, huh?
Audience:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
Don't let religion, don't let even G-d control you. Be on your own. I'm not trying to really criticize the world. I'm trying to get you in the audience stronger in faith, that's all. My intent is only to get you to be stronger in your faith. Don't be weak in your faith. Be strong in your faith, because G-d is not responsible. The scripture is not responsible. No, religion is not responsible for the state that the world is in.
IWDM:
It is those who care more about money, care more about the power that money gives them. They care more about that than they care about human life. Than they care about families. So, they would break up families. They have ruined human life. And you know what they say? They got a devilish mind, some of them. They say, "Well, if there is really a G-d, he can save it all out. It ain't my responsibility to make it nice. If there's really a G-d, why don't he show up, and intervene?"
IWDM:
Well, he does, over and over again, and such mindsets or mentalities, they are overturned. They are put down. They lose their place in the seat of power. Yeah? It happens over and over again, but they never give up.
IWDM:
So, we should have faith. We must have faith. Have faith, and have strong faith. Don't look at the world that is hurting human life, moral life, spiritual devotion. Don't look at the world that's hurting that essential life, that first life, that garden of Eden life, without looking at the direction that you get from your good parents at home. The direction that you get from your religion.
IWDM:
Even if a bad person is preaching, whether it's on Sunday or a Friday, he can't help but quote from scripture, right?
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
I guess that's why a lot of these bad preachers, they keep an audience. Because there's enough coming from scripture to at least let the hearts and souls that he is preaching over, feel G-d. They will feel G-d in their hearts and in their souls. They'll feel G-d.
IWDM:
So, they keep coming back to feel G-d, and I'm sure there's a lot of them] coming back to hear no, you ain't nothing but a show. Just like going to a good, simple show. Shallow script, and a simple show. They'll come back to you, because whether they know it consciously or not, they're hearing something from the Bible, or something from the Quran, of G-d's word.
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
So, they go there to get it.
Audience:
Mm-hmm
IWDM:
But I told those who support me in my leadership, I told them, "You don't have to be a Muslim in these small confines. If the mosque is not making you feel healthy, then you should leave it," yeah?
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
I don't go out there and tell somebody I said, "Leave the church." I said, "The mosque. I represent the mosque. If the mosque is not making you feel happy, please leave it. If it's not making you feel good, please leave it. You'll be better off without it."
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
But don't leave it before trying to bring about change. And how are we to bring about change if we're not liking what we're experiencing or what we're looking at, or what we're supporting with our charities, or whatever? How are we to change?
IWDM:
We have instructions in the religion that says, "Changes with your hands, if you can do that. If you can find the wherewithal, change it with your hands." Now, what your hands means is action. It doesn't mean go up there and grab the preacher, pull him down from the podium and throw him out the door, like a Indian told me they did a preacher once.
IWDM:
I was in prison in Sandstone, Minnesota. I was serving time for refusing to answer a Selective Service order to go to a certain hospital. I had no objection, but I couldn't get my father to say that he approved of it, so I didn't do it. I wouldn't go, so I went to jail.
IWDM:
So you know I went to jail for Elijah Muhammad? I did. Yeah, and don't regret it. I don't regret it. But it wasn't my decision. It was on his decision, not mine, okay?
IWDM:
So, anyway, I was up there in Sandstone, Minnesota, and Indians were in that federal prison for little petty things. Petty things. So, this Indian's name was Left Hand, and he got to kind of friends, and we talked a lot together.
IWDM:
So, he said, "Elijah Muhammad, your father, he's different?"
IWDM:
I said, "Yes, he is."
IWDM:
He said, "Do you know what? I'm going to tell you a little story." He said, "There was a priest." He said, "He would always start off his sermon telling us about him, and he had a big picture of angels going up into Heaven." He said, "So, one of the bucks asked him, says, 'How come no Indians are going up into Heaven?'" And he had difficulty answering the question and then they were impatient. So, he said, "They immediately grabbed him and threw him out on the dirt."
IWDM:
So, I tell you, that was kind of a poor area or not many people populating that area beacuse they threw him out on the dirt. Here, he would get hurt if they threw him out onto the concrete.
IWDM:
Yeah, but I thought that was funny, but what the point of me saying that, is that you can't judge people, say, "Oh, he's not educated, so we don't need to explain difficult matters to them. Just give them something to make them happy." That seems to be the position in religion for many churches and mosques. Many imams.
IWDM:
Yeah, "Oh, they can't handle difficult matters, so just give them something to keep them happy." And they have gotten out of touch with their own following. Their following's more advanced when it comes to intelligent feelings. Feelings for what is sense, and what is nonsense. They have become more intelligent than their leaders, and they're wondering, how come their youngsters are leaving them? How come their children are leaving them?
IWDM:
It's because you're not making sense, and you're underestimating the intelligence of our public. In the United States, we have a much more literate public than you would find in most places of the world, and we have to upgrade our message.
IWDM:
Yes, we have to upgrade our message, and speak more sense to the congregation, and stop depending so heavily on emotionalism
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
That time is here, and you will see signs not only from me, or in me, but you'll see signs in the world leadership, or world religions. You'll see the signs in the world leadership, now, that a change must come about. There must be a change.
Audience:
Right.
IWDM:
Yes, for the tree of death is this world culture that it has for the public, that the late Pope John Paul II called the culture of death. That's exactly the way he referred to it, the culture of death. He gave it other names, but it's death, just death.
IWDM:
So, going back to original nature, or to the beginning of human life, how we began in innocence, like a baby, this is what scripture shows us. The Bible says that G-d made Adam from clay, didn't it?
Audience:
Mm-hmm
IWDM:
And the Quran says, "And He, the meaning G-d, began the creation of man from clay." That's what Quran says, "from clay." Now, I think more than 60 or 70% of our public are ready for us to tell them what clay means.
Audience:
Yes. Right.
IWDM:
So, why should we keep our public ignorant, when most of our public are not feeling comfortable with the idea that man was made from clay?
Audience:
Yes,
IWDM:
So, scripture says also that there likeness of the creation, and growth and life of human beings, is that of plants, like trees and other plant life. Now, you know if you have nothing but clay, tell me what kind of crop you're going to grow out of clay?
Audience:
that's right.
IWDM:
So, when these questions start to come in the minds of our people, we in trouble if we continue to use the same old language with no teaching.
Audience:
right.
IWDM:
Both the Bible and the Quran stresses teaching over preaching.
Audience:
Yes,
IWDM:
Teaching is more important than preaching. That's no new term to identify human life, long before religion had the term, it was in the world, among people.
IWDM:
In Arabic language, which is one of the most ancient of languages we still have in use, Arabic, in Arabic language, when they want to say clay, they say Tin but the also say tafl.
Audience:
Mm-hmm
IWDM:
When they want to say baby, they say tifl, or they say tafl. Very closely related, tifl tafl. Same letters. The letter T in Arabic, the letter F in Arabic, and the letter L in Arabic. So, what does that tell you? That baby and clay have the same meaning.
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
Now, if, in their language, baby and clay has essentially the same meaning, so what is clay about a baby? A baby is impressionable. A baby, if you show it love, it's impressed upon the mind and soul of that baby. That baby will take that imprint of love, and begin to act out love, huh?
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
Begin to want to love.
Audience:
Right.
IWDM:
Begin to want to express love. And also, the baby is ready for you to mold it, in any shape you want.
Audience:
That's right.
IWDM:
If G-d doesn't protect the baby, you can mold the baby into an inhuman shape or form, huh?
Audience:
Yes, sir. Yes.
IWDM:
Yes. So, the baby is like clay also in that it is manageable, huh?
Audience:
Yes, that's right.
IWDM:
It responds to pressure, and to touch. fresh clay you just touch it, and it has an imprint, hmm?
Audience:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
Yeah, like a baby. So, instead of us stopping just at, "G-d made man from clay, or began the creation of human beings from clay," we should think, and that's what religion wants us to do, too. Think.
Audience:
That's right.
IWDM:
Yes, but some of our preachers and our imams, they don't want you to think.
Audience:
That's it. come on.
IWDM:
And I love them, and I think we really acting from a feeling or a sense of insecurity. They're afraid that if you know too much, they'll be put out of a job. I wouldn't want a job if I had to stoop down like that to keep it. No, I wouldn't want it. You'll, sign me out I'd rather be a welder again. I used to be a welder. I loved welding. Yeah, and heating up metal, making metal run like soup, and shaping it into form. Oh, it was very interesting. I loved my work, and finishing your work, and seeing that you made hard steel rather like water, and then made it look pretty.
Audience:
Yes.
IWDM:
Yes, I loved my work. Now I'm working with people, and I can't look at a blueprint and start getting the pieces for the job, and putting my... Well, I'm not getting ready to put the heat on, heat on these metals. So, I need something. The grippers, I know the name very well-
Audience:
Vice grips.
IWDM:
Vice grippers. Hey, somebody knows a little something about that metalling work. Yeah, vice grips. I look for the vice grips. Line it up, get it all lined up with the jig, get it all fastened in, vice grips holding it. Whatever else I need as tool to hold it, guide it in place. So, when I put the hot fire to it, it's not going to move out of shape.
Audience:
That's right.
IWDM:
Well, then, we got to have the hot fire invitation, through lust, for sex, and other things. Where are the jigs? I don't have a jig. I say, "G-d, I don't have a jig. These people are burning hot, and the world is welding them."
Audience:
Yeah, that's it.
IWDM:
"And forming them, and for this job you gave me, I don't have a jig. I don't have vice grips." But G-d doesn't want you to be held by vice grips. He gave you free will.
Audience:
Yeah,] right.
IWDM:
There are many people who wonder, "How come I don't have G-d manifest in my life? How come I don't hear G-d? How come he doesn't reach me?" Many of say things like that, you know? When we're feeling sorry for ourselves, we start to blame G-d.
IWDM:
Well, you know there's some people, I don't care how poor they are. I don't care how uneducated they are. Some people just won't abandon moral sense. They keep their moral sense, and they do what they know is morally proper, or decent and intelligent, though they have not finished high school, though they have not finished grade school, and they won't steal, and they won't present them in a vulgar, indecent way in the public or any place. It's because they will not give up what they value more than money. What they value more than popularity, than being popular with the crowd, and that's their decent moral principles.
Audience:
Yeah, that's right.
IWDM:
Yeah. So, see, G-d, in making us, he knew that some of us would be weak, but he knew that a few of us would be strong, and we've survived every attempt of this world to destroy our original nature that G-d made for us.
Audience:
That's right
IWDM:
Yeah, and we survived, and we will survive. And really, when I'm speaking to you, whether through a small audience of three or four persons, or to a big audience like we got now, into the thousands, my interest, my interest, is to strengthen your faith, as I have mentioned before.
IWDM:
Not to convert you from your religion. Not to make a Muslim out of a Christian. No, because I have seen some Muslims who have been made Muslim and they were Christian before, and I wish no one had bothered them, because they were much better before than they are after. Some of them, not all.
IWDM:
Yes, so I don't like to disturb people. No, G-d didn't come to tell us the way of the Christians has to be finished, done away with. No. Rather, He told us, through Muhammad, the prophet's words, that when all of this is finished, and we see the heavens or go to the heavens, say there are going to be a big number of Christians, Jews. There are going to be Jews. There's a big number of Christians.
IWDM:
And He said His followers, but He gave a lit bit, He said that his followers were going to be the biggest number. The biggest number would be his followers. And they're saying now that Islam is the fastest-growing religion, but also concerned Muslim scholars and teachers, and just good people with good sense who are looking at what's happening, they say, "We should not be looking at big numbers. We should be looking at the quality of Muslims."
Audience:
Allah Akbar
IWDM:
And really, that's a good note to say amen on. And for many, amen means, "Shut up. Close out or let us go home." I was in a church once... Yeah, I've been to churches. I've been a Muslim by name, by name, all of my life, as you all know. Those who know me, they know that I was born in 1933, in Detriot, Michigan, about a year or so after my mother and my father had accepted to be Muslim.
IWDM:
Yeah. So, anyway, I was in a church once, went to church I was going to preach, my father said I was going to help him in the leadership, and his teacher said I would help in the leadership.
IWDM:
So, I said to myself once, I said, "Well, I should go see what Christians believe, and experience what they experience, so I will know, when I speak to them," I said, "I think it would be a little ignorant on my part to speak to an audience of people who were raised as Christians, and not know what they believe. What makes up a Christian. What makes a person Christian."
IWDM:
So, I went went to churches. I went to Presbyterian I went to Catholic church, I went to Holiness church, I went to a Baptist church, I went to a lot of churches. So, anyway, one time, I was in the church, and this preacher, he was preaching, but to tell you the truth, I wasn't as comfortable with it as I was in some of the other church session I had been in, because I'm telling you, some of them have got some music, now, it sho hold you for a while. Especially with that grammar, that music and grammar too, oh, I'm telling you, I wasn't lost, but I was on the brink.
IWDM:
So, one of these preachers looked like he just couldn't get it together. He was faking his own excitement. It was obvious that he was faking his own excitement. So, a sister said, "Amen!" and he just kept going. She just, "Amen!" He just kept going.
IWDM:
After a while, the other sister gave him, "Amen! Amen!" Two of them said amen. I think he finally got the message, they said, "Close out." So, we say, thank G-d for our presence here today, and every time you wake up."
IWDM:
And our radio audience, you be strong, keep your faith, be strong because the world of suffering humans need all of us to live and work hard. Peace be unto you, As salaamu alaikum.
Group:
Wa'alaikum As salam. Allahu Akbar.
IWDM:
Now we are going to begin the second hour in just a few minutes. But first, I'm going to ask are there any announcements or anything like acknowledgements, please come forward and let us know.
IWDM:
Yes, will you come and get him? Sister Amatullah has some announcements, Amatullah Sharif. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
As salaamu alaikum.
Group:
Wa'alaikum salam.
Speaker 3:
As always, we ask our guest to stand up, and we would like to recognize them and thank them for coming to be with us today out of their very busy schedules. We want to introduce Mr. Homer R. Shanks Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri. He's the president and CEO of the Gateway ... Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Hannibal Barca LLC, an after school program for youth of the ages 13 to 21. He supports the dawah's efforts of The Mosque Cares, working with Sister Farida Fareed. Sister Farida, you may stand.
Speaker 3:
Next, we'd like to introduce our pastor, Bill Salyers, who is the guest of Mustafa Islam. He is the treasurer of JAM, Justice Action and Mercy.
Speaker 3:
And as always, we always like to introduce our friends from the Focolare Movement. We have Mr. Marco Desalvo. He is the co-director for the Midwest. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
I have another guest, I'm not sure if he's here, Brother Howard? Well, he's not here this month, but he'll be back. He'll come the following month. He is the brother to Brother Alvin Sharif, and Sister Rosa Sharif of New Medihah But he'll probably be here next month. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
There's one more. This is from Fareed Muhammad? Yes. He wants to let you know that the excellent new truths are in the mail. We have them for sale, February.
IWDM:
Well, we're back, and there are a number of things that I want to bring to you for this hour of our program on the first Sunday. Actually, what I have in mind is speaking to the broad audience like I do on the radio, and then addressing some of the same thoughts but for the live audience here. Certain things, if you say it to the public, saying those things can be disturbing sometimes if presented in the wrong way. I find that an audience that you going to have and they going to leave you, or you may not see them again, it's a one-time audience, a one-time experience, it's more risky with that kind of audience than it is with a live audience.
IWDM:
I have said certain things and it got out that I said those things, and I said, well that's true what they say I said. But I said it to an audience that I was talking to, and leading up to a conclusion. Then to take my conclusion out there and give it to somebody was, to me, wrong. And a wrong done to me, because I didn't give it that way. I built up to that conclusion, and I prepared my audience for that conclusion. There are many things that we can say to a live audience that would be not advisable to say to a audience that you're speaking to on radio or TV, and it's a one-time thing and that's it, they go and you are not able to see them again, to again convict yourself so they know you, truly know you. But this audience here, this is the audience we have every month, every first Sunday, and I consider you all to be my students, most of you.
IWDM:
I know that most of you all know me, and you're not going to make trouble for yourself, you're not going to make trouble for me.
IWDM:
Yeah. The same picture we were given, that I was giving you, we were giving you, of paradise, we want to continue to address that. Paradise, the picture of paradise. We're told that the man got to Eden, first man, our first father, he was created, and I'm sure that he was already breathing air. But then G-d mentions him again and says, when I had breathed into him of my own inspiration or my own spirit, to inspire him. So this is a second breath: the breath of creation, and now the breath of G-d. The breath of creation and now the breath of G-d.
IWDM:
If we can just look at the breath of creation first and see the breath of creation, I think a lot of us don't even study or observe the breath of creation. When a baby is born, a child is born, the child only becomes conscious when it takes in the breath of creation. When it takes in the breath of creation, it becomes conscious. If it becomes conscious, it will live. If it receives the breath of creation, it become conscious. If it becomes conscious, it will live, most likely. Yes.
IWDM:
Now, the breath of creation is to be seen not only as air, but it also is to be seen as influence. Influence, because when you become conscious from the womb of your mother, where there was no sound reaching you. When you become conscious, you're hearing things, and these things are affecting your mind and building your mind from zero. Your mind is starting to be built or composed, put together. When you open your eyes, the baby, when the new baby opens its eyes, it sees things. No pictures were given in while it was in its mother's body. Now it is seeing things, it's hearing things, it's feeling things. The five senses are being engaged. The senses of the body are being engaged. And it begins now to form itself. It's forming itself because the scripture says, as you think, philosophy said it before, a philosopher said this before scripture, as you think so are you.
IWDM:
The scripture, the gospel, added something to it that makes it a little more better for a religious person, or for a sensitive human person. It says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You can think about things, and if you never give your heart to it, it's like you never thought about it almost. But once you give your heart to it, then it begins to affect you, your whole life. Yes. As a man thinketh in his heart, and the Qur'an came after the gospel, it is the supports that halts us, the support, that reading.
IWDM:
Everything in our environment then, under certain circumstances, can affect how we are made internally, how we are composed internally. If you're put in a garden where everything there was prepared by G-d, it supports the good life forming in you. Then you form beautifully until outside influence comes to pull you out of the garden. Right. Okay.
IWDM:
My interest also is in bringing credit to things in society before our time that we have been influenced to discredit and give them no credit at all. For example, what we call primitive religion or tribal religions. Tribal religions, if they didn't have interruptions from modern man's thinking, influenced by money, power, industry, et cetera, then they should have some good. Don't think they don't have anything good, they should have some good. Some years ago, I was reading of the Native Americans, Indians, as we call them, their religions. And I read where they believe too that everything in the natural creation, as G-d made it, everything has a message, an influence, a message.
IWDM:
If these people we call primitive have these ideas that we find in our education, in our religious education now, should we reflect on them with some respect?
Speaker 4:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
Huh? Yes, we should. We think of ancient nations, as there were those ancient nations, they were condemned. And they were not given scripture, they weren't Christians, they weren't Jews, they weren't Muslim. And some of us tend to put them down as barbaric savages. They had savages, but they also had humanitarians. Ancient nations had both savages and humanitarians. They were not all like what we, some of us, have in our minds of them, that picture some of us have in our minds of them. Both scriptures say, before our time, there were great nations, and they excelled in building and construction, and road building and many things, they excelled. They had great nations and endured great conflicts, ancient ones before us, before the West, before the new development we call the history, our history. Yes, or history of the world as we know it.
IWDM:
Some of those in the past, they also had these skills. They had science, they had humanity, human feelings for each other, and they were promoting that, promoting humanity. Yes. So don't think you are with doubt of nothing when it comes to the ideal human being and human society that we have in mind now. We have to learn to give credit to whom credit is due, no matter whether they believe like we believe or not. Like children, children grow up from babies, a young boy, teenager, young girl, they show their parents they've become artistic. And they're creative, and they impress us with what they are thinking about and what they are doing. Yes, well so did societies, societies in the early years of G-d's plan for man. They were able to do very beautiful things and impress, make great impressions on any intelligent person's mind. We can realize a relief for our hearts and souls and spirits if we had just come from this world that's so narrow, so greedy, so narrow that it wants you not to look at anything other than it, and give only it credit, but nothing else.
IWDM:
The truth will set you free. Yes, I believe that. Open your heart and mind and eyes for the truth, and the truth will set you free. I think it means, just take the pressure off your soul, I think that's what free means there. It'll take the pressure off your soul.
IWDM:
Consciousness. Constantly breath the air, but look what the air does. The air is like the cord of the computer, and you plug it into the energy, into the electric source, into the energy. You plug it into the energy source, and the computer is on and now it's working. So you breathe the breath of creation, the air, and it does the same thing for the mind. It turns it on, and now it's ready to record and to express itself, express what's recorded. Yes.
IWDM:
What this world breathes, it breathes us. This is another means for breathe, it means to influence you from without. And breathe in or influence you from without, but now you have taken it within. Then you respond with the exhale. Breathe in, exhale. And exhaling is your response to what you breathed in. But now the air is influences from all the things that your five senses are getting, that's actually building the life of your five senses.
IWDM:
When the second breath comes, from G-d, when G-d breathes into us, expect for it to work similarly. If it's not going to work similarly, G-d wouldn't have used it as breath. It's going to work similarly. I'm ready to say, amen.
IWDM:
I need that amen those two women were crying for. Yes, it should work similarly. That's why it's called the word of G-d, because scholarly thinkers or intellectuals, they don't just take in and respond the same way, but respond as it came in, they respond and give the same thing back. No, they don't do that. They take in and there's a pause. And they read what came in, and then they give it back. And they need paper. Sometimes they have to rush to get a piece of paper so they can get that wonderful idea, rush to get a piece of paper and pen, and they write it down. The first word to Muhammad the prophet was what? Read. He didn't say Allah, he didn't say G-d is G-d. That's something for you Muslim readers to think about. First word of Revelation, first word from G-d to Muhammad was not Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. It was not Allahu Akbar, but a lot of you all like to say it. It give you some kind of charge. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!
IWDM:
Read, and then say Allahu Akbar. First word to him was read. And look how it came, in five verses, five statements. Now, you know that had something to do with your five senses. Read in the name of your Lord and creator. Created the human person from blood adhering. Read and your Lord is most generous. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Most generous. Got more to give you than you can look at or count or see if you look for the rest of your life. Most generous. Who taught man the use of the pen, how to preserve the knowledge. Yes?
IWDM:
Who taught mankind what mankind was not before knowing. Yes? When I first started out as a minister, I was dealing with a mindset that had to be changed, so that we'd be free to embrace the big truth, the whole truth. And what did I say? I said, man means mind. Now, I didn't know the power of what I said when I said it. All I know I needed to say it. I just knew I needed to say it. But it transformed brutes and criminals. It did! Some of them still around, they even witnessed that they used to be brutes and criminals, transformed brutes and criminals. Man means mind.
IWDM:
Then as it progressed on, I said, words make people. Words make people, yes. Today, I say to you, whatever I said to you at any time, I didn't say everything. Please keep up with it, keep current, be aware of what I'm saying at the moment or at the time, and keep growing, keep progressing. Keep growing, yes, because it's not the flesh that is the beginning of life for human beings. The flesh is the beginning of the condition for the life of human beings to begin. We begin in the flesh, but it's not the life itself. The real life is your good nature, your good sentiment, your concerns for better, and your spirit to have better, not only for yourself but for yourself and the world, the whole world. Yes, that's the real life, the growing of your heart and the growing of your intelligence together.
IWDM:
Sometimes the heart, know that intelligence is not traveling on the road that it got on. It got on the road of intelligence, now it's on the road of ignorance and self-destruction. The heart will know that, and the soul is the seed of the activities. Thank you very much, people. As salaamu alaikum.
Group:
Wa'alaikum salam.
IWDM:
Yes. Yes, Sister Amatullah Sharif is coming with another announcement. I want to introduce to you our Imam that most of you know. He's Brother Fareed, and I'm going to ask him to come and just now introduce to you a change that we have made for our office that handles every convention and has sponsored and handled every convention for the last two years. We don't have the same persons working with our office anymore, we have new persons. I think we only have one from the office, but we have a committee that's a very important organ for making our conventions a success, for planning and helping us plan these conventions and making them a success. Except for that committee, and Safar Muhammadbrother Rafar's daughter, who works directly with me from that office, she's a very promising young lady. Very young, but she has great promise, she's very intelligent and works very well, and makes friends. That's what we have to do, make friends. We've got too many enemies already.
IWDM:
We have Brother Fareed and also Brother Ansari, but he'll bring all this to you, and I have asked him to take responsibility for it. They want to plan something big for me, I won't tell you that, but he'll tell you that too. Yeah, you come first. No, you come first. She only has a single minute, and then we'll hear from Brother Imam Fareed. Imam Vernon Fareed from Norfolk, Virginia.
Speaker 3:
Where's Sister Ernestine, where are you? Okay. Where's the sister? I'm sorry, we have another guest here that we need to acknowledge. The sisters are from St. Louis, Missouri, and one is 95 years old. 95.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. Thank you so much for coming. We appreciate you for coming. Thank you. The sisters all from St. Louis, Missouri, would you stand? All right, thank you. And our sisters from Detroit, and our brothers and sisters from DC. We have a lot of folks with us today. Alhamdulillah, we thank you so much. LA, alhamdulillah, all the way from LA. Thank you so much. As salaamu alaikum.
Speaker 3:
If there is anyone here for the first time, please stand. Okay, thank you. As salaamu alaikum.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
As salaamu alaikum.
Group:
Wa'alaikum salam.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Peace be unto you. First, we thank Allah for the opportunity we have. Imam Mohammed has mentioned that he asked us to take responsibility for the convention, or first for a program, a idea that came to his attention for a tribute for 30 years of progress under the leadership of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. And we got involved in that, and later he asked us to also to form a shura. Can you hear me? Okay. To form a shura of three to five people, so we opted for five people. And we have that shura in place that will work with us on the convention this year. Those five persons are Imam Fajri Ansari, who is already working with he and myself, the Imam asked that he and myself working with the tribute, which will be... And he wanted the emphasis not to be on him. He wants the emphasis to be on the progress of the community under his leadership. So this is what we going to focus on. We're going to do what he asked to do, that is to focus on the progress of the community under his leadership.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
First, let me tell you, the five people are Imam Fajri Ansari from Buffalo, New York; Sister Lydia Muhammad, and Lydia's right here in Chicago, most of you all know her; and Imam Abu Qadir Al-Amin from San Francisco; and the fifth one is a representative from the national young adult association, a sister by the name of Africa Abdul Alim, she's from Charlotte, North Carolina. Those are the five shura members, and we're all working of course under the leadership of Imam W. Deen Mohammed under Mosque Cares.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Then under that structure will be the committees. We don't have time to give you everything, so I'm going to try to go over this as quickly as possible. The Imam will have to be leaving shortly, but I'm going to try to share this information with you as quickly as possible. The tribute, let me deal with the tribute first. The tribute, again, the focus will be on the progress of the community under Imam Mohammed's leadership, which means that we have several categories that we will be... I have some forms here, we'll be passing out in a few minutes, that you can submit recommendations for persons that you feel that are deserving of awards that will be given out at this tribute.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
The tribute is to be tied in, again at the suggestion of the Imam, that we tie the tribute into the convention. Initially, it was supposed to be two separate events, but now it will be one big event. Let me tell you, come this year. Do not stay home, come. We're already hearing that some are not going to come to the convention. We going to do our best. I have no other agenda. I have no hidden agenda, we have no hidden agenda. Our interest is to help the Imam, all right? So I have nothing in the back burner, nothing hidden, nothing under the rug. We're not going to let anybody stop us. We're here to work. If you all know me, you know that's what I'm about, working, trying to help the Imam. Let's all of us help the Imam, and let's all of us show him the respect that he's due. All right, so we going to make this thing a success, inshallah.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
The persons that you know that are deserving of awards in the area of business, first of all, education... He asks that the focus be on education, beginning with education. And he gave us those specific instructions, to point back even to Master Fard Muhammad and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and what their intent was. The Quran, our religion teaches us that matters are judged by intent, so he asks us to focus on the intent of Fard Muhammad and Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Focus on the intent, and to show that from what their intent was and what we have arrived at now, under his leadership, praise be to Allah, that is the Quran, the word of G-d, the life example of Muhammad the prophet and the thinking and tafsir, commentary of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. That's where we have arrived at.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
A lot of progress has been made over the last 30 years, so we want to highlight those individuals and those communities that have made great progress in the area of education. You can submit persons that you feel are deserving of this award. There will be one male and one female in each category. Obviously, there are some communities, some areas that he has asked us to make sure that we cover. And we, most of us, it's obvious to us where progress has been made in some areas in education and in business. A tribute will be done, there will be a video production. We got some people, some of these brothers right here were doing video photography, they will be assisting us and others around the country in putting together a production, a video production that will be shown at the banquet on that Saturday night.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
There's business and education, business, those who have exceeded or excelled in the area of government, those who have excelled in the area of community and interfaith work. Women, those who have worked specifically in the interest of helping and assisting women, they're going to be honored this year. We have about 10 categories, without naming all of them, and there will be a male and a female recognized in each one of those categories, so we're looking forward to that. Again, the focus is on the community, the progress that's been made under the leadership of the Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Now, we can't focus on our progress without throwing light back on, focusing attention on Imam W. Deen Mohammed. He asks us to vacillate between Imam Mohammed and the progress of the community. And that's what we're going to do. Don't listen to the naysayers, don't listen to those who told you that there's not going to be a convention this year. There will be a convention this year, G-d willing. Don't listen to those people. Don't listen to those people who tell you that nobody's in charge. We're waiting on the leader. You don't get ahead of the leader. If you all just be patient with us, you're going to see things in the Muslim Journal. Just be patient. We have to do things at the right time. And there are things that are working behind the scenes that you don't know. There are things that have to be worked out that you are not aware of, but just be patient, and let's make this a success. Let's make it a success.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
All right. I don't want to go too much into the matters about the convention, again, until some things are straightened out. But again, even the convention will have activities. Some will be the same activities that we've had before, and others will be slightly modified. Imam Fajri Ansari, again who's not here today because his flight was canceled, he called me early this morning, he was supposed to have been here today and his flight was canceled, so he could not be here. But he has a project that he introduced to the Imam, and the Imam approved of it, and then he and others are working on that. All of this is going to be worked into the convention and the tribute, all right, that whole weekend.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
It's called HYA, Higher Youth Achieving... I can't think of the full acronym. Anyway, the focus is on youth who are excelling or who have excelled in the areas of science. In other words, we're going to have, in the various regions around the country, there are going to be representatives that you can channel your information to for youth that you know that have excelled in science, in music, in the arts. I think initially, he said he wanted to focus on, for this first year, probably those three areas: science, music, and the arts. Youth who have made significant contributions or excelled in those areas, there is going to be a competition. We got to step this thing up. We're going to become, as Imam said a long time ago, as you broaden and heighten your association, you have to also broaden and heighten your sophistication. So we want to be a little bit more sophisticated about how we do things.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
This is an area that we want to focus on, so there will be competition, with science projects, like they do in the world, as Imam described, in the world. There are some people in the world who are doing some good things, and they have... The youth, one might come up with a theory about electricity, and he puts together a scientific project, a presentation. And he competes with another who has come up with a new design for an automobile, for a new airplane or whatever. That's a science competition project. So that's going to be going on. There will be booths.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
I know you all have some concern, and we're going to try to work these things out. We going to do it collectively, together, we going to do it. We're going to try to work out the concerns that you all have had in the past, for we know the vendors have taken a hit last year or two, and we going to do what we can. We going to do what we can to try and make it so that those of you who are vendors, who come here from around the country, that you can make money. You come here to make money. You come here to support, but you also come here to make money, and we're going to do everything we can to try to make it possible so that those who come to vend will be able to go home and say that I made a contribution, but I've also made some money, I have gained financially. We going to do what we can to try to address some of your issues.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
If you come to us, don't come and just bombard us with your problems. We don't have time for that. Some of y'all have time for it. But come and offer. We're willing to accept your criticism, or I should say your critique of what we can do to improve things in the past. This is not to criticize anybody who's worked in the past, because I'm in the hot seat right now. We got this responsibility, and it's a big responsibility, it's a huge responsibility. From the day that Imam asked us, I didn't go to the Imam and ask him to, Imam, let me do this, let me do that. The Imam has always known that I am just like many of you, I just want to help wherever I can help. I always tell him, my Brother Imam, I never feel like I'm doing enough to help you. We have this responsibility, and we going to make the best of it. We going to do the best that we can with what we got to work with. As time goes on, we're going to try to improve.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Another feature that we want to improve on, we're going to try to set up a website where you can not only go online and find out what's going on with the convention, but you will be able to register online. It's time for that. We have computers, we have people who are capable of setting up websites. I don't have that skill, but we have people among us who can do it, and we are already in touch with them. And they have told us that they will help us set up this. I consulted with the Imam and asked for his permission, he's given his permission, we're going to set up a website. G-d willing, under the Mosque Cares, you'll be able to register online, you'll be able to pay for your registration online, you'll be able to pay for the banquet online. You'll be able to pay for all the things you want to pay online. And you will be able to get updated information about the activities and the plans for the convention.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Others are already doing these things, so we don't want to keep looking in boxes and trying to find your name, and have you stand in long lines. We got to streamline things, we got to become more efficient. We got to become more sophisticated. And those of you who have the skills, come and let me know, let me know you have the skills. Brother came to me this morning and told me about, he said, "I want to help you." He said, "I understand that you're working with the convention." Excuse my voice. "I understand you're working with the convention and I want to help you." I said, "Well, what is your area of expertise?" And he told me. And when he told me, I said, "G-d sent you to me, because that's what we're looking for. That's one of the areas of responsibility we're looking for."
Imam Vernon Fareed:
We want people in public relations. We want to have people to get the message and the program and the initiatives of Imam W. Deen Mohammed out beyond these four walls, and out beyond this gathering of people that we have right here. We want the people in America, we want the people in the world to know about what Imam W. Deen Mohammed is teaching. We need public relations people to help us in that area. We need business people to help us solicit business sponsors so that we can have the necessary funds from business sponsorship to do what we have to do to make our convention a success.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Some things that, a few years down the road, and I don't know that I'll be working in this capacity or not, but whoever is working in this area, we hope that we will be able to give more attention to youth activities, and things that need to be done in that area. There's a whole lot of things that we want to see happen. And we want to see these things happen because our leader deserves it, and you all know our leader deserves it. If we would just trust his leadership and stop second-guessing him, maybe you don't understand everything that Imam says, maybe you don't, but stop second-guessing him, and trust that this man is blessed by G-d. There's no way in the world a man can talk like he talks, and say what he says, and you not believe and understand that G-d has blessed this man and inspired this man. No way in the world. So we should accept that.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
We should accept that he is our leader and that, prior to G-d sending him to us to help us, we were lost. Even those of you who said you had the Quran, and you had your dresses on and you had your scarves on, you had your miswak in your mouth, you had your Quran in your hand, you had your Hadith in the other hand, you had all that stuff... you had your donkey parked outside, your camel outside, even with all of that, you were still lost. It's because of the help that we've gotten from the leadership of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, we should thank Allah for him. We should really thank Allah for him.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
I don't want to prolong your time, I know all of you are busy, you got things to do. We welcome the opportunity to work in the interest of this community. I hope that those of you who share the spirit that I share, who share the feeling that I share, will work in arm, in conjunction with us. And let us all watch each other's back, and let us all tell the naysayers, let us all tell the troublemakers that they are liars. They are liars. And when you hear them talking negative, tell them that all you're trying to do is undermine a good thing. And we're not going to let them undermine a good thing. We are going to come to this convention, we going to make it a success, and we going to make more progress in the next 25 or 30 years, inshallah, G-d willing. We going to keep working, we going to keep working, keep following the leadership that we have, keep following the guidance that G-d has blessed us with, and we can make progress.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
The last thing I'm going to say, and this is another area, we thank Allah for those business persons, Imam, business persons, believers who traveled here from around the country this morning to be here for Imam W. Deen Mohammed Community Center. Right now, I don't know... Allahu Akbar. Amen. I didn't mean me shut up. If you did, just give me five more minutes. All right. Anyway, Allahu Akbar. I know you didn't. Anyway, we thank Allah for all of you who came here and sacrificed your time. Some of you, had you known about it, I'm sure you would've been here.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
And you have also an opportunity to make a contribution today. As I mentioned this morning, we got a lot of projects, we got a lot of things going on. Help where you can help. We have the retail center that's coming up in Markham. Imam Izak-El Pasha, he's right there, Imam Izak-El Pasha from New York, if you have questions about that project, you can ask him, he'll fill you in. But we want to see that become a reality, that business center, that retail center in Markham. We want to see that become a reality with those shops there. That's just one piece.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
Other things, the W. Deen Mohammed Community Center, we want to see that become a reality. It's going to take money, it's going to take sacrifice on our part to make these things become a reality. But together, we can do it! The Imam said, as he reminded me this morning, that when his father asked for something, that we is to get it done. We have to get it done, and we got it done just like that. Why can't we do the same for the leadership we have today? We should do the same for the leadership that we have right now. I'm going to close with that.
Imam Vernon Fareed:
If somebody can give me a hand, that's a nomination form, and the second one... Give me one of those so I can have one. Thank you. Maybe somebody can take this other one here. These are the areas... anybody who can help me pass these out. We got about 150 of those, so if you don't get one, we'll be mailing these things out and getting that information out to you. These are the areas, categories that we're going to recognize people: education, business, interfaith dialogue recognition, community involvement recognition, government leadership recognition, academic achievement recognition, women's leadership recognition.


