02/15/2002
IWDM Study Library
Public Address
Tuskegee AL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Pray for him and my mother all the time. Yes, I do. I pray for their soul. I believe in the eternal life and I pray for their soul. And I think I'm more an African than I am an American. I do. The more I live, the more I realize I'm an African. An African. I am an African, I am. That doesn't mean I'm not a citizen of United States. I'm firstly, a citizen of the United States. That's the government. That's different. But people in continent, I'm African.
Praise be to Allah. Yes. So, the community of The Prophet, Peace be upon him, was the community center. The Mosque of The Prophet correction, was a community center. That center was made a school. That center was made a welfare station. That center was made a City Hall, a place for the council. Yes sister, you would've met right there in The Prophet's mosque. If you were one of the political leaders of his time, you would've met right there in the Mosque of Medina... The Mosque of Enlightenment, of the light, of the light. In the city of enlightenment, Medina Al-Munawarah. In the city of enlightenment, you would've met there and you would have been given a space there, and time there to discuss the political issues. And you would've been meeting with leaders like yourself to improve the political life of the Muslim society. That place was everything.
He made it a center for all of these... So, really a mosque is not just a place to pray. And sajdah is not just putting yourself physically down on the floor. Brother Imam, sajdah is not just putting your forehead and face down on the floor. How do we know that? G-d said to the angels, who were not open to His invitation to them to accept that He created a man on earth and gave that man responsibility for himself and his descendants and his environment. They thought that wouldn't work. Because that human being had a nature to agree and disagree. To obey and disobey.
So, they were not believing in human beings and G-d was. That's another thing we have to know. G-d is a Believer. And a believer doesn't mean believing like we believe only. Believing means a trusting one. Because I believe in you that mean I trust you. So, G-d is not a believer in that sense that we usually take the word believe, but G-d is a trusting one and He's called Al Mu'min. That's one of His names. The Believing One or The Trusting One, Al Mu'min. The Imams know this. So, if He's called of trusting one, why is He called that? Because He trusted man to obey Him and arrive at the destination G-d created him for. He trusted man to do that.
Gave him freedom. Freedom of mind. Freedom of will. Freedom of choice. He trusted. The angels didn't understand. They didn't have the knowledge G-d has. So they were frightened by this and in our Holy Book they said this would cause bloodshed. They feared killing and violence and et cetera. And G-d says, "Wait until I have inspired him of My own Spirit." When G-d acknowledged then that "Yes, the man I'm going to create with free will, freedom of choice... Yes, he's going to shed blood. He's going to do these things, but he's going to also earn My Grace... My Mercy and My Grace and I'm going to inspire him of My own Spirit and when My own Spirit has become his spirit... My own Will has become his will, then you..." What he told him to do? He says "Make sajdah to him." So we make sajdah only to G-d we know that. But the angels were told to make sajdah to man. When he is following the will of G-d. When he's in the spirit that G-d wants from him and following the will of G-d, G-d told the angels to make sajdah to him.
Now, do you think they make the same sajdah that you make? You think they put their foreheads on the ground? Like we do? No. What does it mean? It means surrender completely to My plan for man and serve him with no hesitation. That's what it means. Fall you down all together, that's what G-d said. That mean without hesitation. Fall you down all together in sajdah. Accepting My Will. So this sajdah is more, more than just us putting our foreheads to the ground and nose to the ground, palms down and everything on our knees in the masjid.
The masjid is called masjid after the word sajdah. Masjid... The word mosque come from sajdah. Means to make sajdah on the ground. So, the mosque is a place for sajdah. But we are not to just make sajdah with our bodies, we are to make sajdah with everything in our power and in our control. Just like we surrender ourselves completely to G-d by putting ourselves in the baby position... We not yet... Doesn't yet have the strength to pull his head up off the floor. On his hands and knees trying to get the strength to pull his head up off the floor. Surrender as little babies on our hands and knees. We're supposed to surrender our whole life that way. You surrender your money that way. You surrender your intelligence that way. Surrender your education that way. Surrender your professional skills that way. Give everything completely. Surrender as a baby. Surrender everything up to G-d.
That's the place. That's the mosque. That's the mosque. So, your education program should be completely obedient to G-d. Your curriculum for your school should be completely obedient to G-d. And everything else that you are doing in your life as a community should be completely obedient to G-d. Your restaurants must be halal. Your life must be halal. Means meeting requirements to be called Islamic. All right?
So this is the role of the masjid. But remember, as I told you in the beginning and I'm closing out now... Remember that G-d says of the first house and G-d and Muhammad the Prophet... G-d tells us and Muhammad the Prophet established it. It says that the mosque fit to pray in is that Mosque established upon taqwa. From the very first day when it was first built, it was built and established upon taqwa. Alamal an taqwa. Established from the first day on taqwa and that taqwa is what? Some of us forget taqwa too. Itkabu Allah. You know... It says, fear G-d. But it is not fear because we know in Arabic, khawf, khawf is fear, khawf is fear and there's another word, they've got several words for fear, but taqwa is not fear. They translated fear and they also translated piety and they translated regardfulness. So what is it really? It's consciousness. But it's consciousness upon Islamic knowledge. Consciousness in Islam upon Islamic knowledge. Now you know, people are conscious everywhere. The consciousness that has been given to you really determines your behavior.
Christian consciousness is Christian consciousness. So don't frown at them when you see them eating chitlins. That's in your consciousness, not in theirs. If you don't like the chitlins, just stay away from the house. Don't go there hurting people's feelings... "What are you eating? Those old chitlins?" I'm going to tell you something about the father of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He told me, he said, "Son..." He called me son too. He didn't call me grandson. He always called me son. He said, "Son, I used to love those chitlins so much see... You know your father something so he can stop me from eating chitlins." He said, "I used to love those chitlins so much..." He said, "I thought I could get one as long, long enough to start chewing on it in Macon and go all the way to Atlanta. Chewing on that chitlin." That's how he loved chitlins you know.
But I was raised in a different environment. I can't stand them. I can't stand the looks of them. I can't stand the smell of them. But I sure wouldn't go to my Christian relatives house on a Sunday, knowing they had chitlins because I'm going to hurt their feelings. I'm going to hurt their feelings by telling them, "I can't... I'm sorry, I got to leave." So, I can't stand the smell. I would say, "I'm sorry, I have to leave." I said. So I wouldn't go over there on a Sunday. I let them... Maybe after eating chitlins. I said, come on Monday. On a day when they not eating chitlins. That's in their consciousness, not my consciousness. In their consciousness, it's okay to eat chitlins. Right.
Oh you... You smoking? You smoking and you a Muslim? Don't hurt... Don't offend people like that. Just be thankful that you are not smoking. You smoking and you a Muslim? That's not in his conscience. Ain't nothing in this Qur'an say, "And do not smoke." The Prophet never says "Do not smoke." But it's a logic there that says do not smoke. But who is so special in his study of Islam, the Qur'anic logic and the Prophet's teachings, who is so studious that he's going to know that? Only a very few. So, we the few who understand that logic, it's our obligation to teach the Muslim community at large. The logic for condemning the smoking of cigarettes or the taking of illegal substances. Because it is harmful. It contributes to cancer. It causes cancer. It's got so many harms. It hurts the environment and therefore hurts the health of the people. It contributes to the shortness of breath... The clogging of the lung... Even breathing it from someone else is harmful. So, we who know the logic, we should give them the logic.
What is the logic? Prophet Muhammad said... Came from him... The logic came from The Prophet, Peace be upon him. He said, "If something has more harm in it than benefit to the people, it's to be condemned." Though he didn't say don't smoke... And Allah didn't say... G-d didn't say to us, "Don't smoke." We used logic that Muhammad gave us. If the harm in it outweighs the benefit in it... It's rejected, it's forbidden. So, I can stand and tell you that smoking is unlawful. Smoking is haram in Islam. But you can't condemn people who don't know that or who don't know that logic. You have to educate them first. Then after they have been properly educated, then you can condemn it. Then you can say, "Brother, you know that that's against Islamic teachings and behavior. Why are you doing this? Why are you insulting us? Why are you boldly smoking in our presence?" Then you can really get on him. Now, I wouldn't mind some of you brothers throwing that book at him or something else... Whip him with your night stick, if you got one. It'd be different... He'd be knowledgeable.
Consciousness is very important in Islam. Consciousness. And G-d says, Goodness, goodness, I'm finishing up this now. Goodness. All religious people that I have become acquainted in my life who are really religious. I'm not talking about these new breeds, this new breed of people. They believe if you are religious, you're supposed to be good and you're supposed to be a doer of good. You're going to be ashamed of doing something bad. And G-d says that goodness, doing good is closest to taqwa. Closest to taqwa. It means, if taqwa, which is regardfulness, consciousness... Regardfulness or consciousness or righteousness is here, right here. Then there's nothing next to it but goodness, but goodness. Why is that told to us? To tell us that people who are very conscious of doing good deeds, that they are the closest to the righteous. The righteous is more than just doing good deeds. The righteous is believing in G-d and believing in what He has established for us to believe in.
So, what I've said here today in Tuskegee, Alabama, I hope that the leaders can work with each other and work with me to make our mosque more representative of this religion. So, that the people will know us in our true image and our true identity and will not be afraid of us and will not think we are narrow and cutting them out. And they'll be embracing us as human beings, as people in humanity, knowing that we are here to be a mercy for all people and to have charity and help for all.
Thank you. Peace. As-Salamu Alaykum.


