1977-February-4

Bilalian News

Earthquake: Part 1

Imam W. D. Muhammad

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1. When the Earth is 
Shaken to her (utmost)
convulsion,

2. And the Earth throws up 
Her burden (from within),

3. And man cries (distressed):
' What is the matter with her ?'—

4.  On that Day will she 
Declare her tidings:

5.  For that thy Lord will 
Have given her inspiration.

6. On that Day will men 
Proceed in companies sorted out,

To be shown the Deeds 
That they (had done).

7. Then shall anyone who 
Has done an atom's weight 
Of good, see it !

8. And anyone who
Has done an atom's weight 
Of evil, shall sec it.

Holy Quran Translation by Yusuf Ali: Sura XCIX: Verse 1 -8
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever, Amen.

There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

As -Salaam –Alaikum

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The earthquake, as everything else in scripture, is speaking to both the physical object and also to the nature of the human being. The human being has what we call a "material" nature. He is interested in material things because he has natural needs, but he also has a spiritual nature. This nature is not just hymn singing and whatnot, it covers all of those activities in the human life that are not in the category of material interests. When we show compassion for each other, that is a spiritual response. When we show a response to beauty, to truth and to righteousness, those are spiritual responses.

The spiritual life is a human life. The human life is more characteristic or typical of spiritual life than it is of material life. That is why the Holy Quran says that man should keep his interests in both the material things and in the spiritual things. But it also cautions man to remember that the spiritual achievements are the bigger or the greater achievement.


The Human Achievements

When we look at the history of the human society, we see that the biggest achievement of nations was their human achievements. Many of them amassed great wealth, great physical power, and great armies. But throughout history people have disregarded the "greatness" of nations, if those great armies of millions of standing soldiers and great weapons and huge skyscrapers and monuments did not have in them the human ingredient. Many of the ancient pharaohs were great men in history, but because they did not have the human ingredient that is necessary to reach the hearts of human beings, the society of the world has disregarded their achievements and they do not have a great place in our hearts. The Holy Quran says that man should remember that the spiritual achievements (human achievements) are the greatest and that he should work for them.

In the chapter entitled, "The Convulsion," the Holy Quran is telling us that there is going to come a climaxing of all of the things that are moving in the earth that are in opposition to the plan of Almighty God. It says that these things are going to reach their fullness, and when that happens the whole world is going to know what has been going on. In that final day of judgment, Allah will make man's material works (materialism) speak to him. Although their flesh tongues will not speak to God, He will make even their physical cities speak out against them. When that time comes, it is going to be as a mighty earthquake.


The Shifting Of Balance

The earthquake prophesied in the scripture is the time when things are going to be shook-up all over the world. We know that material things sometime get out of balance. If we put too much material up on one spot without balancing it, pretty soon it will cause the foundation to give; way. If we amass too much wealth | in certain places without any foresight to what the consequences will be, we Will make one person very heavy and another person very light, one nation very heavy and another nation very light. The unbalanced weight will start the material mountain shifting. When the foundation will not support it any longer, the wealth is going to start tumbling down.

We have lived to see the earthquake come in the economic strength and construction of the Western world. The structure of wealth of Europe and America has begun to crumble because of the shifting of balance in the world. Certain people (nations) are not strong enough to support them anymore or either they refuse to support them anymore. America and Europe had too much material weight piled up in their "mountain" society, so it is falling. Today, we have come through a kind of economic earthquake.

When an earthquake comes, the earth splits open and drops houses, communities, and nations down into its crevices. Pretty soon, the whole world takes on a new face or a new look because the earthquake has come and destroyed strong nations that had been standing. In the scripture, God is saying to us that a mighty world wide earthquake is going to come in the judgment.


Inner Light Of The Mind

The Holy Quran says that the earth is going to shake with such a violent force that it is even going to cause the dead to wake up in their graves. We are not denying that the material world is not all that there is to life. It is just a world created for the life God wants to grow. It is a world that man gets his start in. Once God starts man in His physical world, He removes the physical womb in time and gives man a higher world, a spiritual womb, that will enable him to grow eternally. We also know that God speaks to everybody when He speaks. God is not One Whose tongue is short or Whose power to deliver a message is weak. He can reach the weakest mind, the most ignorant mind, or the thickest mind in gross darkness. God knows how to penetrate the thick darkness of ignorance in the head and touch the inner light in everyone of us and turn the mind on again.

It is only God Who has the power to light the mind of every man and woman on earth. When He speaks, He is not speaking only to the learned or to the spiritual, He is speaking to everybody. He knows how to touch the core of your being and spark life into your human atom. Maybe you cannot be reached rationally or maybe you cannot be reached with a threat of fear, but God knows how to touch your sentiments, wake up your compassion, and start you turning on your mind to understand what He is talking about. Maybe He cannot reach you through your intelligence or through your compassion, but He has a way to reach everyone of us. In the Holy Quran scripture we are discussing, God is saying to us that He is going to get all of us when that day (judgment day) comes with major changes taking place in the world.


Stand Up For Truth

The great earthquake with its shifting of financial power, with its shifting of material power, and with its shifting of the might of nations is going to cause weak people to get the strength to stand up for truth. Those who have been trembling in their knees, fearing to listen to truth, thinking that they will be put in jail will get strength to stand up for truth. Those who have been fearing that they will be persecuted or that they will lose their job will get the strength to stand up for truth. God knows how to break the influence of those things that are keeping you from obeying him. In time, He is going to break every hold that Satan has on the people. He is going to break it in that thing that Satan depends on. When Satan cannot deceive you with his slimy, snake-like tongue, he uses physical threats against you. God says that He is going to cause an earthquake that will break up the material power of the world. He is going to put the material power tomorrow where it is not today and He is going to take it from where it is today and put it somewhere else tomorrow.


Gods Crumbled To Dust

The Holy Quran says, "When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion, and the Earth throws up her burdens (from within)..." There is nothing more perfect and more penetrating than the words of Almighty God. The earth will throw out that which has weighed her down. Something has weighed the earth down and kept it from moving with smooth and free movement like God wants it to move, but God is going to cause a worldwide major earthquake that will shake things up. Even flesh, which is material, is going to quake. It is going to cause the structure of sex power that this world has built up to start crumbling. The world of materialism, the world of financial power, and every material image is going to crumble under the power of the earthquake.

You cannot see the spiritual form and you cannot see truth without looking into something physical (material). The scripture says that God is coming one day with His powerful truth and He is going to break up all of these material images that you have been looking at. When your gods are all crumbled down into dust, He is going to spew up the truth out of that destruction. When the earth is forced to give up her burdens and throw the weight off of herself, the people will say, "What has happened to her?" We have lived to see that time when societies all over the world are looking at the things that are happening in human life and they are saying, "What is wrong with this world?" This verse in the Holy Quran is now realized in the actual language (in the very words) that are said by the spiritual -minded, God -fearing people of the world today.

We will continue this very important subject next week.

Your brother, 
W.D. Muhammad
