2006 March, 4th
Education Meeting Washington DC
Imam W.D. Mohammed

Imam W.D. Mohammed:
As-salamu alaykum START 18:57
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Well, you have a good weather here in Chicago area. Not freezing in the middle of the winter almost. Times are changing. Environments being nice to what they say is global warming. Ozone hole in the sky and all that. But I'm enjoying it.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I thank Allah for not freezing us up like Chicago used to do when I was boy and still as well a man too. We'd expect sub zero weathers in dead winter always. And believe it [inaudible 00:00:53] see some Chicago yet. Old enough to witness this, 15 below zero sometimes. Five below, 10 below, 15 below. Zero. Now I think it got lower than that. That's cold. That is cold. Those times are gone. I hope they never come back.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Well [Arabic 00:01:17]. I'm here for you. I'd rather be asked questions rather than this fish around kind of thing, what you might want from me. I'd rather you just ask questions. That would be better. But I would like to say what's most important for us as Muslims, especially Muslim Imams, scholars. I'm not speaking to Imams, I know I'm speaking to the Clara Muhammad School faculty of Washington DC, so I know that. But I have to say that for Imams also. For Imams and educators, it's important for us to know that Islam is a religion that focus universals. Truth, truths, ideas, concepts, et cetera, that are universal. That stand up everywhere.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Certain things we believe, they stand up only in our own environments, where we are, where we live. You go outside of that, it doesn't stand up. For example, language. You speak Chinese, you go outside China, it doesn't stand. There's a different language, another language, and another logic. And another culture. So the reality changes when you go beyond your borders.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
But for these universals, they stand up everywhere. They're the same everywhere. The sciences are universal languages. Mathematics is the same everywhere you go. There's no Chinese mathematics and European mathematics, there is only mathematics.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Whatever the tables are for one people, those 12 tables are the same for everybody. However you work a math problem is the same no matter where you go. And Mr. [Farat 00:04:16], we are indebted to him for situating us to come into this religion, this universal religion. Mr. Farat said, "Islam is mathematics and mathematics is Islam." Now, he wasn't stupid. He's very wise. What did he mean by that? Mathematics is a symbolic language, but it's a factual language.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
It's a language of truth. You can't lie with mathematics. And that's what he was saying. Now, we can have differences with what he said, but that's what he said. I have no differences. No differences what he said. But it's a symbolic language. When we say four times four is 16, we don't know what we're talking about unless somebody say we're talking about four apples times four apples, 16 apples. It's a symbolic language.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
That's true for the whole language of mathematics. But the results are not symbolic. The results are factual. Not symbolic and not difficult to understand. It's real. Very real. That's what I wanted to say. Real.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So universals that's what Islam brings into focus, universal. And is it doing something that other Scriptures of the book, People of the Book didn't do? No. They did it also. They focus also on universals. But the Quran is a book that makes it plain. That makes it plain. It comes to bring into the light that was in the dark. And in the dark, by in the dark is meant sealed, as the Bible says. Pardon me, as the Revelator says, for the last book of the Bible, it says it is sealed. That no man alter it, or add to it, or take from it. Leave it just as it is. So this is the Bible.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Seal upon me darkness, means hidden from the eyes of the ordinary person. But not necessarily hidden from the eyes of everybody, just from the eyes of the ordinary person. The one who can read only surface language. Only surface language. This is in the Bible. Yeah.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And the light, what is the light? The darkness is more than that. I'm not giving you everything on the darkness, just the main thing. But what is the light? We say, "Oh, the light is important. That we understand what the light is." The light is sciences. The light of the heavens, spiritual sciences. The light of the earth, social sciences, material sciences. Light of the earth.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So in the Quran it's talking about light, it's talking about sciences. This is a book that goes right to the matter, the Quran. I say this is a book I don't have it here, it's in my mind and in my heart, though. It is here.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
This is the book upon me. The Quran is a book that goes right to the heart of the matter, right to the heart of the matter. And the light have various meanings, but the most important light is the light of sciences. The sciences. The spiritual sciences and the social sciences, and the material sciences. These are the sciences. This is the light. Scientific knowledge or light that illuminates the mind and turn the light on for the mind in the world and also in both in the human life. Sciences are everything.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
When Allah says [Arabic 00:08:50] that he has caused everything to be extended. And this idea is also a theory now in science, that the world started from a core and then extended out equally in all directions, spread out like in circular extensions. Circular extensions are progressions. So Allah says [Arabic 00:09:25], mean it extends out like that. [Arabic 00:09:31] means science. [Arabic 00:09:32]. In the Quran it say [Arabic 00:09:36] mean knowledge. Yes, it's knowledge, but it also means science. It means science.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
It also says [Arabic 00:09:47] and also [Arabic 00:09:56] mercy. And this is true. This is true. As we engage the world, the material world, with our intelligence, and discover the sciences, and then we bring those sciences home and put those sciences to work for the betterment of human environment and human society, human life. As we do that, what happens? We relieve miseries in the human world. We relieve misery. That's the mercy. When we relieve miseries with science and education, that's the mercy. That is the mercy G-d is talking about.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Now, the ordinary mercy, you certainly that's true. So the Quran speaks in the language of everybody, the common people, but it also addresses the best minds that G-d has created in the school. And Mohammed said, what did he say of the people who study and devote themselves to getting the benefits of knowledge and passing those benefits on to others so that the world become a better world? What did he say of them? He said, "In heaven, they will be in rank near the prophets, close to the prophets."
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
This is not to exclude the common person. That common person is very valuable too. Allah says also, "If you would know me, as my devotees." He didn't say the scholars, he said as my devotees. Because it is the common people that open their hearts for G-d more than the professional people. Common people. And they have experiences, they reach out for G-d and G-d reach out for them. They come toward G-d, and what did he say? G-d go to them running. If they walk to G-d walking, he goes to them running. It's just a picture. Just a picture. Not a reality for G-d, you know that. But it's a picture. If they come walk into G-d, he goes running to them.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
The common people, they need G-d more than anybody else, any of the more resourceful and more productive people. They need G-d. And they're lonesome, and they are not only lonesome, but having so many questions unanswered. So they're always praying to G-d, "G-d, why this? Why that? Why this? Why that?" And they get close to G-d and G-d gets close to them. And they come to know G-d, whereas many of the scholars have never had an experience like the common person has.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And they can receive also guidance, inspiration, guidance from G-d. G-d communicates in them a personal relationship with their G-d. And G-d communicates with them, G-d release them. G-d assure them when they are doubtful or fearing, G-d comfort them and assure them that everything is going to be all right.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
This kind of on the ground relationship with G-d, not in the sky. In the sky, it means the leaders. Sky means leader. Ground means common people. This kind of relationship with G-d brings people to believe in G-d, believe in G-d as their protector, their friend, their protector, their all powerful friend and protector. Loving, kind friend and protector.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
But the scholars up in the sky, that mean high knowledge and understanding, vision, lofty vision, et cetera, those that are in the sky what impresses them is insight into matters that are real. Insight into matters that are real. Like we think of life and death, but life and death is not only for human beings. In fact, it's kind of petty of us to just occupy ourselves with thoughts of life and death for a human person, for a mortal flesh.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
The big life and death is the life and death of our society. The life and death of civilization. That's the big life and death. Many of you, you go through high school, elementary school, high school, colleges and university, and you don't have your mind opened up to this kind of freedom. This is the big freedom for the intelligence. That's the big freedom for your human intelligence.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Muhammad, the Prophet [Arabic 00:15:26], he said, in heavens there'll be people do and will do [inaudible 00:15:41]. And there'll be light dripping from your hands. The water will be light. So that's telling us this ritual. It's a ritual that's good for our body, it's good for our health, it's good to do [inaudible 00:15:57] and clean yourself. It's good for health, it's good for everything.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Cleanliness is next to G-dliness, as they say. We know it has its benefit, there's cleaning. But what the prophet wants us to know that washing the hands, beginning with the right hand three times. This ritual of going from member to member or from one part of the body to the other, cleaning it, and lastly, washing the feet. He wants us to know that that's just not a ritual. That's a ritual, that whole science, spiritual science. Insight into science. I mean, insights into spirituality. So spiritual science.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I read the Bible, and it was the Quran that caused me to see what I do believe the Bible is saying. And I'm going to share this with you too. And then I will conclude, and you can ask questions or have comments or whatever.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I remember reading in the Bible, I'm not a Bible reader, but before I decided that I was going to really take serious the role that my father said had been planned for me before I was born. As we say, before I was born. Before I would take serious that role, I said to myself, "I should qualify. I should know what I'm talking about. I should know what Christians believe, because I'm going to be talking to them and trying to present to them something that I think is better than what they have. So I should know what they have."
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So I made up my mind that I would read the Bible. And my father used to joke because I'd never [inaudible 00:17:53]. The other ministers would be preaching from the Bible, but I wouldn't. And some of them would tell my father right in my presence, especially on Sunday when they all come over to the house after the meeting. Whether my father was there or not, the officials were obligated to come to the house and have dinner. If they weren't going to eat, they still had to come to the house, report to the honorable Elijah Muhammad. That was the national officials who stayed in headquarters in Chicago.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So anyway, they would say, [inaudible 00:18:24]. Or the way they had different ways of addressing him. Two or three different ways. Your son, minister Wallah [inaudible 00:18:36]. And my father said, "Brother, I know that. Say he won't preach the Bible, he'll preach the Quran." That's what he said. He said he won't preach the Bible, he say he'll preach the Quran. And I wasn't doing that either at the time. But that's what he said.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes. What I want to say, in my conclusion, is that these rituals embody science. Light. Well, what is that light -science. So when we hear in the Quran [Arabic 00:19:17], Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. Where does it come from? The Bible. This is the Quran addressing the Bible. It says this book have books in it corrected. If they're corrected books. Do you think G-d gave Muhammad an incorrect book? So what it is talking about? What is it talking about? I'm sure it's talking about Scriptures that came before that would change over the time. People lost the meanings and the knowledge. And some intentionally changed it to suit themselves. Say they write the Scripture with their own hands and they say, "This is from G-d. This Quran. Allah in Quran." You see.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And the Quran tells us, I mean, Allah tells us in the Quran, that this book is a book containing books corrected. Referring to Scriptures that came before. So if it's in the Quran, [Arabic 00:20:17], G-d is the light of the heavens and the earth, it is echoing what was in the Scripture before. What was in the Scripture. But for what purpose? This is to the scholars and the learned people in Islam, in the religion, in Quran. In the study of Quran.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
It is telling them that now you should understand what is meant by Allah is the light of the heavens and earth. I think you're ready for this. If you're not, it won't hurt you because you won't even get it anyway. So it's not going to hurt you. If anything, it will influence you to open up your mind more in the future.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes. Allah says in the Quran, what is he also? He is [Arabic 00:21:15]. He is the apparent for all of us to see, G-d is that. And he's also the hidden, what you don't see. [Arabic 00:21:26], he is the apparent that everybody can see, and he's also the hidden that they can't see. Allah is that.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Is the Quran saying, Allah is the ground and the trees, and all these things we see with our eyes? The apparent? Is he saying he's that? Yes and no. But why no? Because he told Moses you cannot see me directly, so look at the mountain. Look at the mountain to see him. And he says I am the apparent. He didn't have to look at the mountain, he could look at the river. He could look at the ocean. He could look at the continent. He could look at the hills and the mountains and all these other things, and the living creatures on them and everything. And he would see Allah, but not directly.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
He made his creation to refer your intelligence to him. So by reference, we can see G-d in this thing. So he is the apparent and also the hidden. And when you get insight into the thing, then you have seen him hiding.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And one philosopher, he said, "G-d's said that I am a treasure, and I hide myself so that you will search and find me, seek and find me." Yes. So stay real.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
[Arabic 00:23:15], that's another thing said in the Quran of G-d. G-d is reality. [Arabic 00:23:21], G-d is the reality, and everything beside G-d is not. He is the only reality. Why? Because other realities come and go and they change. They appear to be this at this time and later something else. But G-d stays as he is always. He is the only reality. Now this is philosophy, and you didn't come to hear me preach philosophy to you.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So we pray G-d awake us, for sleep in the Quran and in the Bible is not the sleep that the tired bum gets tonight. Or the tired worker at the factory gets tonight. That's not the sleep. There are two great sleeps in the Quran and Scripture. One is rest from working your conscious. Conscious life. From burden and conscious life. One is rest from that. And that's a good rest.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
The other one is rest from your labor. There's three, pardon me. The other one is rest from hard work or labor, strenuous life and exerting yourself, whatever. Using your energy up. Rest for that. And then the third, which I thought was [inaudible 00:25:00]. The third is not using your intelligence. That's the rest of the ignorant people. So it's stupidity. It's ignorance. Mental death.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And since I mentioned death, there are different ways to see death. The Quran never talks about the death of this flesh and blood body. Never. It never talks about that. Scripture is never talking about the death of this flesh and blood body. Never. Not anywhere in the Scripture does it talk about the death of this flesh and blood body.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Every animal knows death. They experience it. They experience life and they experience death. Pain going away. And those that see them die, they know what that is. It's the end of it. They see, there, I'll never see him again. They know what death is. Right? Yes. So don't need anybody to come and get a revelation to come and tell me what death is. That's crazy. When we think about it, it's crazy. It doesn't make any sense at all. So don't tell me what death is. I don't want to know what death is. It's coming to me, I don't want to go to it. And it doesn't need me to help it come to me. Why should I study death? Yes, study life. Yeah, study life.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So the death is the death in the three bodies. Now listen, in the physical body, that I just got through talking about, that's not the concern or the interest in Scripture, okay? The physical body. It has an interest there, but just to keep you healthy and clean, teach you to clean yourself and stay healthy. But the real issues is not the physical body of the individual, but the sensitive life of the whole community. Of all the people really. Beginning with your own immediate community, but all of mankind. The sensitive life.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And it's a science. It embodies a science. The physical life embodies a science. All for community. All in the interest of community. And the next level is for the mental, the mind, the intellect. Mr. Fard, who introduced himself firstly in Detroit as professor Fard. He wanted us to see ourselves as the mentally dead. And that's what he called us, the mentally dead. And he talked all about brain power and et cetera. You who are familiar with some of his teachings, the old lessons.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, the mentally dead. That's what he talked about. How to bring life to the mentally dead, so that's a death. That's a death. One death is the death of your sensitivities in your flesh. The body is such a beautiful educator. As a picture, it's such a beautiful educator. And the next one is the mind, mental death. And who can tell me what's the third? Quickly. Yes, [inaudible 00:28:46] and sensibilities, and sensibilities in the mind. And there's hope for the mind, for life of the mind if there is life in the spirit.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I studied psychology since I was in high school. And I love the field of psychology. But believe me, if you become educated in the spiritual sciences of the Quran or Bible, you will be better than any psychologist they have. Any psychoanalyst they have on this earth.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I'm not talking about clinical psychology, where you're working with physical things, tangible things, blood and cells and all that, brain cells and all that. Relating it to behavior and seeing there's a physical defect that's affecting behavior. I'm not talking about that. That's clinical. I'm talking about psychoanalyst, the one that Father Fraud brought into existence, after he became a fraud, stealing the spiritual science from religion. He was nothing but a fraud. That's why the Jews named him that. Sigum Fraud.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah, if you misplace reality, you bring foolishness. That's right. Yeah. The same thing that's real in its place will be ignorance and foolishness and confusion in another place. You can't apply something out of place. If it meant to be applied in one area and you apply it somewhere else, then it's ignorance, confusion, et cetera.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
All right. So I can't stay long. I wish I could, but I can't. Big day for us tomorrow. And I have a lot of work other than just speaking. And the work is growing. That's a good sign. It means the community is growing. Yeah. So I'm happy with it. I'm very happy with it. But I am busy, busy, busy every day now. I can never finish. Now it's an important thing. I used to finish important things and I say, "Well, these aren't important things, I'll get to them later." But that's not the way it is now. Now, I can hardly finish important things, so I got to get other help. I get more help. And I'm getting a lot, Allah is blessing us to find help too.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah. At this time, we have about 20 minutes left. I'm opening for comments or questions. And I would like for Imam Yusuf Saleem, who is also the head of the education and Washington DC. I'm asking him to take over from here.
Imam Yusuf:
All right. Well, first of all we do thank Allah. And we thank you for accepting the invitation. And we also thank the staff.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
My pleasure.
Imam Yusuf:
This is all of our staff. We even have our principal here. We have the chairman of our board of education. All the teachers are here. Is that right? All the teaching staff is here.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
You say the chairman of Board of Education?
Imam Yusuf:
Yes.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
May he stand please?
Imam Yusuf:
All right.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Oh, wonderful. Wonderful.
Imam Yusuf:
[crosstalk 00:32:18].
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
One, I'm not surprised. I said he, but I'm not surprised. This time that the devil has brought into existence for us now, is the time to wipe out the males and save the females. This is in the Quran and Bible too.
Imam Yusuf:
And we also have some young Imams too. This is Imam [inaudible 00:32:46].
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes. We know each other.
Imam Yusuf:
We have also [crosstalk 00:32:49].
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
[Arabic 00:32:50].
Imam Yusuf:
All right. So really because of the time, and I really have to give credit to [inaudible 00:32:55] had a lot to do with this whole gathering coming about. [crosstalk 00:33:01]-
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Wonderful.
Imam Yusuf:
[inaudible 00:33:03], he's still connected. Now, you can look at this, or y'all can read it, if you want to pick from here. This is the chairman of our PTA. We call it Islamic Parent-
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, I recall.
Imam Yusuf:
All right. He was responsible for the ball. And you can say responsible for you coming to Washington DC with that invitation. But these are some questions we had devised, but it might be some other pressing. Now keep in mind, you heard Imam, time is factor.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I'd rather you just select from there.
Imam Yusuf:
Okay.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
How many questions all total?
Imam Yusuf:
Well, there are 10 here.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
10?
Imam Yusuf:
Yes.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
We should be able to 10. Let's go.
Imam Yusuf:
Okay.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Let's go over them.
Imam Yusuf:
All right. We've been studying the address you gave in 1982, it's the day of the educational concerns.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes.
Imam Yusuf:
We've been kind of using that as a base. And it says, how have your thoughts and ideas regarding education changed from 1982, particularly in reference to Clara Muhammad School?
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I don't think my thoughts have changed at all. My thoughts then were on us becoming aware that we have mom and pop schools. Like mom and pop stores, we have mom and pop schools, many of them. And they're out of touch with each other, and they're out of touch with a larger and more progressive schools or more, I would say, stable schools, established and stable schools.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
The need is, for us, to have some kind of association that brings all these schools into contact with one another, where they can benefit from one another. The stronger ones benefit the weaker ones. That's what I want to see happen, not just a uniform curriculum but an association of educators for these schools. Teachers and educators that would tie them all together and put them all into the focus of all the educators so that we can address their needs and strengthen them, and the stronger strengthen the weaker. That was my main interest.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
But I know we need a uniform curriculum so that when my child leave this city and I take the child to another city, I want to feel that my child can go in that school and continue his education without any problems.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So these are realities. And for me, the interest has not changed at all, if anything, it got stronger. But I've kind of given up hope of getting cooperation from the schools, because I've tried myself, you've tried. And the last one was a sister, you know her name [crosstalk 00:36:21]-
Imam Yusuf:
Laila Hassan.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, sister Laila Hassan. She tried. She didn't give up now. I had to tell her though, well, just leave it for now and maybe in the future, they will ask for that. They will call for this. That's what I'm hoping, that maybe one day in the future they will own their own call for this. I don't see why they don't want it, because I don't think they qualify to teach our children if they don't respect these realities that we're showing them. And we can't tell them to close up shop because we didn't open shop for them. So what are we going to do? You all have to figure out.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah. It's kind of sad. We're laughing and chuckling, it's funny but it's sad too. It is sad too. I don't know why. You're the Imam and I hate to make you uncomfortable, and that was [inaudible 00:37:23]. But the Imams are just like these schools. They would rather have poverty, and I mean poverty in every sense, not just in the sense that we readily see, but poverty in every sense. They'd have poverty and be small, very small than to embrace the whole and grow with the whole, and get rich benefits.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
In other words, they rather have the focus on them only and be nothing than to have the focus on all us and they rise up to be something. That's pitiful, but that's the case. That's the case. So I haven't changed.
Imam Yusuf:
Yes, sir.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, sir.
Imam Yusuf:
All right. This one, I saw your hand, so let me try to finish this. Okay. All right. What advice would you give with regard to Clara Muhammad School discipline policy?
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Well, you don't have to agree with me, I'm a different kind of fellow. I don't have many people like me around us. But discipline, what they call it? Corporal discipline?
Imam Yusuf:
Yes, corporal punishment.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
That's punishment or discipline? Discipline can be punishment too. [crosstalk 00:39:06] but disciplinary? What are they? Disciplinarian?
Imam Yusuf:
Yeah, come disciplinarian.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
He punishes too, right?
Imam Yusuf:
Yeah. That's how they see.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I know. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. Yes. Hitting the physical body. In this time, with the mentality the way it is, and the spirit in the youngsters the way it is, you're wasting your time. You're just wasting your time. That worked long time ago. It doesn't work anymore. You'd have to kill somebody. And they will put you in jail. Teacher, everything. Your books too, they lock you up there. Lock your books up too. So yeah, that's about it, come and get your books and take them.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
That doesn't work. And I don't think we should try to use it. I wouldn't even use it on a kid that it works for. I wouldn't. Not in this time. The best way to get discipline is to discipline yourself and show a child very disciplined person. Don't you let the child unravel you and make you start screaming and hollering acting crazy.
Imam Yusuf:
Yes, I agree. Yeah, it comes from within.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah.
Imam Yusuf:
Discipline should come from within.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Exactly. Exactly. Spiritually, they feed on what's good in you. And that includes your discipline.
Imam Yusuf:
This says, given the serious lack of appropriate behavior in our school, particularly the interaction between males and females, should there be a mandatory class on Islamic adab?
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Well, I think most of us, because I'm a teacher too, most of us we include adab in our communication to our students. We do include that. Whether that should be a subject in adab or not, that's up to you all. It sure wouldn't hurt, but that's up to you all.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
But I think the disciplines that we want for our Muslim life or for our real life, I think we should be conscious of those. And everything that we are imparting to our students, we should be conscious of the need for them to have proper manners, to have the right disciplines.
Imam Yusuf:
What are the key components of an Islamic curriculum?
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
The key components of an Islamic curriculum. You will get them from my opening statement. They are all there. Wholeness, truthfulness, integrity, integrity for the body of knowledge. Integrity, compassion, openness, encouragement to the student. And the best encouragement for the student is for the student to know his own human value as a human person.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
There's more, but I think what I said in the opening about the reality of the world that we live in and how the common beliefs that we get mostly from myth, but they call it religion. But myth and religion acknowledges that it is a myth. And myth is not foolishness, myth is also science. Yeah. But myth is a different language. When the religion tell the child that G-d made the man of clay. How long was he going to live with that?
Imam Yusuf:
[inaudible 00:43:43].
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
He will live with it all of his life. But I guarantee you it has a negative influence and burden on his education, from preschool to college and university and graduation. Yeah. He's carrying a burden on his psyche.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
If we can relieve this burden, get that burden out of the psyche, which I'm trying to do, and a lot of people don't agree with me. Some people want to kill me for it. Yes, they will. They want to kill me for what I'm doing. But they can't do it because G-d has caused me to do what I'm doing. And if G-d want me to stop, I'll stop. And as long as I'm doing what G-d wants me to do, they can't kill me. Only G-d can kill me. I know that. So I fear nothing.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Not that I don't have human fear, I do. I'm immortal. I have human fear. But as soon as I recognize or registered a fear, it goes away because I recall my Lord and he takes away all the fear instantly. Instantly. Yeah.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And my curiosity is always stronger than my fears. And never in time in my life when my fears were stronger than my curiosity. No. And I'm only sharing that with you to tell you that that's the way you should be. Don't be afraid to follow your curiosity, no matter what the consequences are. We don't mean go and peep in somebody's room, no. They've got that kind of curiosity. That killed the cat.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Allah forbid that we pry into the privacy of any brother or sister or person. He forbids it. So the spying that they got in the United States, it's un-Islamic. Couldn't do it. Islamic country couldn't do it. Tapping phones and stuff like that. Islamic country, if it followed the religion, first it has to know the religion. Do you think those kings know the religion? A lot of them are just as dumb as the people walking the street. Yes they are. In religion, a lot of them just dumb as the people walking the street. They raised them to know how to present themselves before the public, and how to run the affairs of government, but that doesn't mean they have great insight into the religion.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
How much insight you think President Bush had into Christianity or the Bible? If he had great insight, you'd see a different President Bush. So some of us we're naïve, even educated ones, college and university, naïve when it comes to understanding this world, and how it works and how it's constituted and how it's worked. So naive. Think because a man is important he's supposed to know about religion, no, he may be a fool in religion, fool in Scripture.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Oh, would they have a president that's a fool in Scripture? Sure they would. Depending on what they need in the presidency for the next four years. President Carter was a learned man in Scripture. President Jimmy Carter of Georgia, a learned man in Scripture. Because actually he was a trained minister, a qualified minister, Christian minister. And look how he respected the religions and the people.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Such great respect for the religions of the people and also for the diversity of the people. All the people. Wonderful, great man. And the proof that he was a wonderful man, look what he's doing now. He's working for humanity. Working for suffering humanity. And still going on missions around the world promoting peace and better treatment of the people. Masses of people. Wonderful man.
Imam Yusuf:
Yes, sir.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Six minutes.
Imam Yusuf:
All right. I ask two more then I come to you. Okay. How should Clara Muhammad School be teaching about the life of Prophet Muhammad?
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Well, you ought to get together and select the best books, and I think Maulana Maududi late, he's considered a Mujaddid of this age, this time period we are in now. And he was very sincere and honest person. Very sincere and honest person. Very open and fair about everybody. Pakistani. I met him myself, I know. And I read his books on the Prophet. Very good. There are other ones that are excellent too, but I mention him.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, but you all should get together and select the book. And I hope you don't have among you those that are fascinated by Muslims outside of America. If they fascinate you and charm you and amore you and you, - "Oh, oh Alhamdulillahi " then you can't select books not for this association of Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
That's another thing I have to tell you. Anytime you all use my name, you obligate me. And I have the right to tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't do. Now, if you don't want that, then don't use my name. It's easy, I'm not begging anybody. I don't want people to give their attention to me personally. So if that's a problem for you, just don't use my name. Nowhere. Not anywhere.
Imam Yusuf:
Now I'm looking at the others. Well, let me review your question. And then we get one more from the audience. Okay.
Speaker 3:
As-salamu alaykum [inaudible 00:50:00] but I was going to ask about the universal curriculum and also the mission statement. The mission statement be universal for all the Clara Muhammad School. Like if say our mission statement in Washington DC is one thing, and then you go to Atlanta, the mission statement is another thing. [inaudible 00:50:19].
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah. No, I think the content for the mission statements should be the same. It may be worded slightly different, but when you look at it, you should see the same message, the same idea, the Same interest, same objective. Yes. Thank you.
Imam Yusuf:
Now, I'm going to recite the mission statement to you now.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes.
Imam Yusuf:
What ours is at Clara. And then, first of all, [inaudible 00:50:55] if you had something in particular, I invite you.
Imam Yusuf:
We say that the mission of Clara Muhammad School is to provide an Islamic education, foundation and structure for students with which they can grow as morally conscientious, intelligent, upright human beings, who prepare to lead, contribute and compete on a global level guided by Allah through his creation, the Holy Quran, and the life example Prophet Muhammad, prayers and peaceful and Allah be upon you. That's our mission statement.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yeah, excellent. Excellent. But if there hasn't been a convening or a meeting of the educators for these various schools, for these mini schools, then I would say we might hear a mission statement that I might say, "Oh, it's a little better than what I just heard." That's why it's necessary for you all to come together and form the mission statement. And then each educator or each representative of each school would then take that statement, and if they want to come up to rewrite it, or state it again in their language, they shouldn't change the essential makeup of that mission statement. They shouldn't change the interest points in that mission statement or the guiding principle of that mission statement. They should read so much alike that anybody who reads one have read them all.
Imam Yusuf:
This is our principal. Principal Ophilia Khan.
Speaker 4:
As-salamu alaykum.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Alaikum assalam.
Speaker 4:
First of all I'd like to thank you for giving us your time. It's an honor for us to come here and hear you for yourself because some of us have never actually seen you in person. They have heard you, and they've heard tapes and things like that, but to actually get to meet you, it's an honor.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
It's my pleasure and it's an honor for me. Thank you.
Speaker 4:
As far as Clara Muhammad School is concerned in Washington DC, we're making changes [inaudible 00:53:32] that way. We're all striving to work towards the same goal. And we keep the child as the center. First, Allah is first, we know that, and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But we're trying to educate the whole child, the human child. And it's difficult because you find a lot of forces from the outside who work against you. But [inaudible 00:53:59] that they are all committed, very committed teachers.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Wonderful.
Speaker 4:
For me, they have made my job easier.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you.
Imam Yusuf:
Yes, and there's one issue, I think I can speak for the staff that we are working, when she says changes. In the past, and this is it. In the past, I'm not going to say wholesale [inaudible 00:54:26] he did too. The staff knows he schooled in Milwaukee.
Imam Yusuf:
We've kind of, I'm not going to say wholesale, but we haven't had strict admission policies. And what we're finding now is we have too much diversity in the... Well, I'll just say the conduct of the children that we have. Your talk in 1982 speaks right to it. I know I haven't been adhering to that. In other words, we just can't let everybody in. Because we have some conduct, as you say. In our days, we would call it crazy. Some students can't keep still, just have a lot of emotional challenges. But sometime-
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
And it's not mental sickness.
Imam Yusuf:
Yes.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
It's the influences of a crazy world. Influences from a crazy world. And they think it's okay to behave that way. It has become the lifestyle.
Imam Yusuf:
So we are attempting to be more selective. We've become more selective this coming school year.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
I understand. I understand. And I agree with you, because you can bring disruptive students in and nobody learns anything.
Imam Yusuf:
All righty. Imam, again, thank you. This is a real treat, because not only today we're going to have the public address, and then we're going to have that other special address afterwards. So thank you.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes, yes. In house.
Imam Yusuf:
All right.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
Yes.
Imam Yusuf:
Okay, then. So thank you. Oh, now, I want to look out for the staff, that we'll be able to get copies of [crosstalk 00:56:04]. Is there a charge for that or what?
Speaker 5:
Cost, $3.
Imam Yusuf:
All right, thank you very much. All right. Copies of this city. Okay.
Imam W.D. Mohammed:
So Inshallah, I'll see you all tomorrow.


