10/08/1988
IWDM Study Library
Liberation of the Human Mind in Al-Islam”

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
SCM School Banquet at Double-Tree Hotel in San Diego

I'm deeply touched by what I've heard here tonight of Muhammad the champ devotion to the religion and the great work and the sacrifice he's making. I knew, I thought I knew the volume of books that he was handling but I didn't know. I didn't know. For the first time, I'm hearing the great volumes of books that he's handling is much more than I had heard about and signing so many autographs is very tiring. It's tiring on your nerves and everything.
Yes, if you have to do it, if you have to greet people at any occasion, say, 102 people. You know how tiring and taxing it can be on your nerves, your whole self, your entire self.
We are deeply grateful to Allah for the blessing of Muhammad Ali who has inspired so many people around the world to think better, to look up, to appreciate Allah, that is G-d. Even before he started his Da'wah, his mission.
His name alone, his strength, his conviction that they felt when he went into the ring, turned to G-d and wasn’t ashamed to say Allah was his G-d and fought with confidence believing he couldn't lose. He touched so many hearts and indeed he was the greatest and, in my opinion, he's still the greatest. The greatest fighter ever stepped into the ring. I believe I have some knowledge of fighting because I used to watch the best all the time. From a young boy, I used to watch the best because I love boxing myself. I wanted to be a boxer. My mother wouldn't let me and I'm glad she didn't.

I wouldn't have got near as far as he has. I would have been stopped early, I believe. The price wouldn't have been worth it. We are grateful to Allah for Muhammad Ali. I'm thankful to Imam Aquil El-Amin for the kind words that he has said regarding me and what I represent. I rather think of myself as what I represent because first of all, the reason why I take so long to introduce me because people already know me, they know my father Elijah Muhammad. One time I was with some people and somebody in a crowd, a small crowd, someone recognized me and they came over. They were so excited. They knew me. They heard me speak somewhere. They said to the others, "You know who this is?" They said, "No."

I told them I am Elijah Muhammad's son. I said, "You remember Elijah Muhammad? The leader. "Yes, we know him. Yes."

That's the way it goes. The friends and supporters I do have, I believe they are the best. I believe they are the best. With Muhammad Ali doing his great Da’wah work, every while I'm not going to have to tell him I'm the son of Elijah Muhammad. They're going to say, "Are you the one who wrote the book Prayer and Islam?"

He's doing much more than we can do to reach so many more people and understand this too. Some of you might have missed it. He used his own money to purchase the book. It's his sacrifice all the way. I'm sure Allah is going to reward him greatly for that here and hereafter. I've been asked to speak on. I am a dynamic speaker but I have to be speaking on something that excites me.
If I get on race problem, I would be dynamic.

Really, I'm fed up with race, racism and race consciousness. Bad blacks and bad whites but that's not what I'm talking about tonight. I'm very low-key when I'm speaking on other topics.

Not exciting at all. The topic I've been asked to speak on, the Liberation of the human mind in Al-Islam. First of all, the Quran, the scripture of the Muslims revealed to the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be on him of Arabia about 1400 and some years, a few years ago. That scripture more so than any scripture, I am acquainted with and I'm well acquainted with the Jewish and Christian scripture and some other world scriptures. More so than any of the scriptures that I am acquainted with, that scripture addresses the human being as a thinking being, a thinking being. It addresses the intelligence, the intellect, the rational faculties of man.
It addresses man as an intellect and because of that the book has obvious appeal, influence, strength for awakening the human being mentally. By mental liberation, I understand that it means the liberation of the human mind in terms of ability or inability to think in rational ways. I have here some references from Quran. I need my glasses to follow this. I don't want to be doing that up here you see!

The age is changing the eyes. We began always putting our complete trust in Allah, Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim, with Allah's name, the merciful, the beneficent, the merciful. Subhanallah walhamdulillah, glory be to Allah and the praise is for Allah. The one who created the skies and the earth. Subhanallah walhamdulillah the one who created everything. The one who created everything and thereafter gave guidance for those things. The Most High says in the same holy book, I'm quoting very briefly the same time to Muhammad and through him as messenger to all of us.
These are the first verses of Revelation that came to Prophet Muhammad, blessings be on him. Chapter 96 verses 1-5. In English, read. In the name of the Lord who created the human being from a clot. Read and your Lord is must generous, who taught man the use of the pen. Taught man what He was not before knowing. A quick reflection on these words will right away bring us to see this religion as a religion addressing the intellect of man. Again, Glory be to the one Lord Most High. He says of Muhammad, “Muhammadar Rasulilah”. "Muhammad is the messenger of G-d". This is from Quran also.
The tongue of Muhammad, the language of Muhammad, Lugha-al-Arabiyyah, the Arabic language. He has called himself an Arab, but nowhere in the Quran is he addressed as an Arab, but we know that. The Most High says also in His Holy Book of Muhammad the Prophet, "You have not been sent by us except be a mercy for all the world". That means not only for Muslims, for non-Muslims. Not only for the people of the Middle East of that Peninsula Arabia but for people all over the globe. We know today Muslims as Christians are international people. We are all over the world. There are great populations of Muslims in Africa, Asia, and recently Europe and now America. All over the world.
Continuing now with references from Quran. "And you will certainly have in the messenger of G-d that is in Muhammad, most excellent model of conduct". I'm not reading all of it, just trying to be very brief. Again G-d says that we have certainly found of him to be on powerful foundation of character. The Prophet was a great character. Look at the word of character “Khuluqan Atheem” mighty, strong, firm character. Again “Qul”, G-d says to Muhammad, “Qul ana basharum mithlukum” "Say, I am a mortal person like you".
This Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was missioned by G-d to clearly establish that the Prophet or the messenger of G-d is no divine being, is a human being just like all the human beings. Has all the human nature that every other human being has. Therefore, he has all the human desires that the other human beings have. He has all the human limitations that all other human beings have. And he was able to keep his good nature and his excellence as a human being even before the first revelation came to him. G-d says of him that he will certainly found to be on the strongest foundations of human character.
He was a great human character. His people, his nation recognized him as such and they called him before he was missioned to be prophet Al-Amin, the trustworthy one. They knew of no wrong in him and he refused to worship the idol gods. He was just lonely because he had no religion that he could follow. He was such an excellent and pure man. When the revelation came, the revelation guided him and made him happy. You say, "What has this to do with the liberation of the mind?" I'm a strange fellow sometimes. It has everything to do with it, in the eyes of a Muslim, looking in the direction I'm looking in.
Praise be to Allah, "And the peace and the blessings be on his generous messenger Muhammad". The most important notation for addressing the liberation of human mind in Al-Islam commonly called Islam but in our Holy Book Quran is given as Al-Islam. Some people think that, we as black or African Americans. I chose to call myself African American. I like the term used by the first user I believe by Marcus Garvey, African American. If other people are Irish American, Italian American, then how come we just can't be African American? How comes we got to be black Americans? Nothing wrong with being black but that divides us, because I have a girl, she is white skinned like some white folks, as many white folks, but she has nappy hair.
Black is no more a term that identifies us all and gives us a sense of belonging with each other than nappy head. We should call ourselves the nappy head? But that’s the influences racism in the world. To make people call themselves black and others call themselves white, you are divided on the basis of color and make you more color conscious. Of the human beings, G-d says, G-d's speaking says, "I have not created the humans or the jinns". The jinns is, the belief or we have a belief that they are intelligent beings like the human beings with intelligence, conscious like the human beings. They are not angels. They are called jinns and they take different forms.
They come in the form of human beings, different forms. G-d says He has not created even these except for His worship. Here G-d gives a purpose for our being in existence. A purpose for our creation, it is to worship Him. Of our form G-d says, "He has made excellence your form". Speaking to the people that He created. He is not leaving out any race, any tribe, any group, any social group. He says He has made excellence your form. This word form means the whole features, the picture. If you would just take a picture. You take a picture of the ape, that's the picture of the ape.
That's how science distinguish between the different forms. Isn't that correct? They distinguish between the different forms by showing the different creatures by showing the different forms. Forms are different and the life in the different forms also differ, from one form to another. G-d says He gave us all our forms. Our description. That tells me that African feature is excellent. From the North Africa to South African. From the Watusi to the Pigmy. From the bushmen to the plainsmen, on the continent of Africa. All their features are excellent. If I said what the G-d says in my Holy Book and He made excellence their form, their description, their features and likewise, for the European, the English and all the people of Europe, the Japanese, the Chinese and all the people of Asia.
We have to accept that, that all these forms G-d has made them excellent, beautiful. This word ahsana from hassana/hasan means beautiful, handsome, excellent, high in degree of excellence in terms of beauty and other value. A conclusion can be drawn at this point, one; all men have one and the same origin in matter. I haven't quoted many obvious references in Quran to the oneness and unity of man. I purposely chose these dealing with creation, having reference directly to creation. Two; all are of the same human type or image, none are divine and none are monkeys.
Finally, Allah says in this connection “He has created you from a male and a female and has made you families and tribes that you may recognize each other, your most honorable before Allah is your most regardful.” Many of us we know what regard is, this is respect, but regard like many other words have maybe more than one meaning in the dictionary. Regard also means a deep respect for something, if we regard a thing it means we have real respect for it, a deep respect for it. This term as it is in Quran means a very deep with respect, something that comes with nature something that comes with life.
The world doesn't have to give it to you, a good situation in the world can make it better but you come with it. It comes with life, a regard for certain things. To expand or extend this, there are certain things that G-d brings to our minds for us to give this particular regard to. First of all, G-d Himself, Allah Himself, Allah said “at-taqulah” from the same word regardfulness, regard, deep felt regard, says "And hold G-d in the highest regard, regard Allah." He says, "And regard the family ties, have a deep regard, a deep respect appreciation for family relation, for family ties." One translator translates it 'for the womb that bore you', he translates it very literally, but it means for family ties and the most important of them is mother, father.
If I would just follow the prophet I would say his mother, his mother and father because he put emphasis on mother, when he was asked. The person said, "If my father and mother need me who should I respond to?" The prophet said, "Your mother." He asked him again, the prophet said, "Your mother." He asked him the third time. The prophet said, "And your father."
This regard goes to other concepts or other things. G-d says, 'and regard hell fire'. Have a real deep regard, respect for hell fire. G-d says, "and regard the day of doom, the end day," have respect for the end. This is not going to last always. Everything is coming to a conclusion, everything.
Sometimes, depending on the situation you're in, the thing that comes to the conclusion right in your life right now, today or tonight, or next week is just like a judgement, just like doomsday. I told someone, he kept talking and kept running around the bush escaping, thinking he was escaping. I told him, I said "Look, I'm tired of this, I’m through with it. It's all coming to a conclusion, everything has to come to a conclusion one way or another." Now, returning to G-d as the creator of everything. The one who gave everything its creation, thereafter its guidance. This is in the Quran put in the mouth of Moses addressing Pharaoh.
Most of us- especially you familiar with the church teachings and Muslims who attend mosques and religious meetings often- I’m sure you know about the story of Moses and Pharaoh.
Pharaoh was a great oppressor. Pharaoh also was one who claimed divinity, he claimed that there was no god other than himself, Pharaoh. The belief- you who know something about the Egyptian history, that is the history of the Pharaoh- they believed that divinity passed from one to the next. The father would have it then the son would have it, because he’s the son of a Pharaoh, he's not only is he son of a Pharaoh. He’s son also of god in a sense, because divine is in the father, divine is in him. They inherit the line of divinity as well as the Kingship or pharaohship.
This man, Pharaoh, he boasts to Moses, "Show me another G-d, show me some other god, there are no G-d but Pharaoh." Here Moses is saying what to pharaoh? He is saying, "You got your creation from the same one I got my creation from." He’s created everything in this creation. "You got your creation from the same one I got my creation from." He said G-d revealed this, it’s the word of G-d to Moses to say to Pharaoh. “Thumma hada” 'thereafter he gave the guidance'. What is Moses saying to Pharaoh? He’s saying "the same one that gave you your creation gave me my creation".
He created everything, your potential- what you can do and what you can’t do is determined by your created form just as mine is. “Khalaqahu thumma Hada” These two words his creation and the possibility of guidance they're tied together. You cannot be guided except as you have been created. Can you guide a dog with cat instructions? No. You can't guide the human being with monkey instruction. Maybe you can guide a monkey with human being instructions, you see? To a point. I saw on TV they were guiding a monkey with human being instructions to a point. But the two-- the forms are different. Whatever you have been created as, your behavior has been created right along with it. Your potential has been created right along with it.
Our behavior, our potential- what we can be- and also our possibility for failure all determined by the creation itself. I’m not talking about heredity and environment right now, I’m talking about what’s the possibility for the created form. What is that saying to us? It is saying pharaoh who claimed divinity he is not superior to anybody else, everybody created equal. This is what we hear now in the language of modern western society, but this language is ancient, this language was revealed by G-d to the prophet, long time ago and to the prophets even before Muhammad to Prophet Moses that there is no superiority of any creature over another in the same species.
We are the human species, there's no superiority of one in this species over the other. This is what Allah revealed to Moses to say to wisely to pharaoh. Look how wisely he's speaking, not like us, "You ain't no better than me sucker."
We make an enemy, and we excite people to anger get them all set up and that way you can’t go anywhere, but if you speak calmly, quietly but very firmly and powerfully to the intellect, you get better results. Now pharaoh is just his head was just too big and too high in the sky, so even trouble developed after that, but he did get quiet for a little while in fact Moses was able to quiet him on several occasions with what G-d instructed, he just wouldn't-- he just couldn't rest. He would think about it and say I can't take that, no I ain't going to take that from this man. Because he was from a subject people too. Moses was from a subject people, subject to pharaoh at that time.
Continuing now, not only are we one creation and form but our capacity and potential, our natural worth, is equal for all of us. Again, G-d says, I have not created the human or the jinn except for my worship, for my service. The word comes from the word, 'Abd'. This verb, for my worship comes from the word 'Abd'. 'Abd' simply means a servant. 'Abd' at one time for the Arab meant a slave, the common term for slave was 'Abd'. Imagine now the Arab hearing this new revelation and the term that they use commonly for their slaves has now become the term in the religion meaning worship of G-d.
It tells those who were slaves or who approve of slavery, that this man with this religion is saying that you should not slave for any except the Creator. That you should not accept that position to any except the Creator. Now I remember giving a talk like this once and a sister said to me after I finished speaking. She caught me on the way out. She said, "I just don't-- I just can't agree that we should slave I don't think Allah want us to slave, Allah does want any slave." I thought like a flash the thought came like a flash. There was a tendency in me to kind of reason with her but the stronger tendency was the one I acted on. I told her, "Yes He does." And I kept walking. Now Allah doesn't want any foolish slave but Allah wants slaves.
Yes, Allah wants slaves. Wants all of us slaves. "What is a slave?" A slave is one who accepts the absolute authority of another, his master, that's a slave. Then the only one that we should accept as absolute authority over us is Allah, therefore Allah reveals that in the Quran. The same common term was used for slave. In fact, there's a saying of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He was telling one of the Arab who called his servants and he said, " ya Abdi." The Prophet Muhammad corrected him, he said, "Don't call him ya Abdi." He said, "Call him “waladi”. My son, my boy. “Waladi”.
You go in to Saudi Arabia now in those parts and you might hear a boss calling his servants. He'll say, "Ya walid", calling him that term. Now over here, we will call the same and we took offence. The white people used to say to us, the bosses, "uh, boy" but their attitude was different, wasn't it? They didn't mean 'my boy' like my son.
Prophet Muhammad meant call him 'your boy' like your own, like your own son. Because “walid” is used in Arabic not only to say 'boy'. We don't usually say, "This is my boy" but sometimes we do, we say, "This is my boy." But we're getting away from that now. Country folks used to say it often, "This is my boy." But we're getting away from that now. But in Arabic, "This is my boy." The prophets are called “walid” this comes from a verb which means to be born and one who is born is walid if it’s male.
This term is a nice term to say to another who's working for you calling him, 'my son', 'just like my son'. Believe me, I think I understand this religion.
I'm sure that if the prophet was here around it on earth today, peace be upon him and I'm sure the prophet would say," Yes I told you that then but now don't call him boy. This world got different ideas."

The prophet's habit was not to save himself and he was correcting these people who had a superior attitude, called their servants, who thought of themselves as masters over their servants and looked upon their servants as inferior. This was to correct that problem by wisdom and gradual application of that wisdom. The prophet, peace be upon him, when he addressed one someone, he addressed them all the same, he addressed them by their first name. I know many of you say, "Oh no. The prophet wouldn’t address you and say ya Wallace. He would say brother Wallace”. You're wrong.
The history of Prophet does not have him saying “Ya ahki Umar, Ya ahki Uthman”. That is not how he spoke, he said, "Ya Uthman, O Uthman. Ya Umar, O Umar". And sometimes to really emphasize or stress who he's speaking to, he might say, "Ya Umar ibn Khattab” O Umar son of Khattab." His father, given his full name." We have a lot of habits that are just our habits. The father address people simply as by their name. I think that's the best way. Don’t we like some people to call us, - well some people might say "You don't know me that well.
Don't be calling me Wallace, you don't know me that well”. That's ugly really. Once I know your name why I should say something to go on off that-- In fact one man I knew he didn't like his family. I needed something to call him. I didn't call him by his family name. I called him by his first name. I was just meeting him. He was a businessman. I called him by his first name. He liked it too.
Sometimes your family is not too good.
Allah also says that any who does wrong, suffer the burden of that wrong any who does good gets the reward of that good. And there is a saying for Muslims. That is the potential for good and harm or good and bad or good and evil is from G-d. What does this tell us? This tell us that all of us have the same moral capacity, the same moral potential. One race is no different than the other when it comes to moral nature. The blacks can be as bad as the whites, the whites can be as bad as the black. I’m talking about white people now and black people.
I don’t want you to go off into some esoteric thing and come back from way out stuff or something come from the twilight zone. We still got people that like to come from the twilight zone. There's no difference in the morality of the different people. Whatever I’m capable of doing morally you of different race, likewise for you.
According to my understanding of this is religion. This is plain. This is clear. We are seeing it today the evidence of this, the Blacks that I am associated with, poor common blacks, African Americans I’d like to call us.
We used to think that the white people-- I don’t mean from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s teachings, we used to think this from our own understanding of white people in America. We used to think that they were more restless with their morals that they can go to extremes that we never could imagine or never could think of going too. But, over the last 25 or 30 years or more of so-called sense of equality and Black power, I have seen our people come into the same kind bad moral behavior that they used to put only on white folks. We were not known to behave that way. This might be touchy for some of you. Which I don't mind.

If you mind, then that's different. I don't mind being touchy. It should be touchy. A lot of things should be touchy. In fact, life ain’t life without something being touchy. I was in prison-- The touchy part is not me being in prison.

That was touchy when I was in prison. I better tell you what for.

No telling what's going through your mind. For refusal of going to the war.

An Indian- I was in Sandstone Minnesota Federal Correctional facility, and up there it’s near Dakota. A lot of Indians were up there. This Indian left-hand, his name was Left Hand. We got acquainted to each other and talked together. Left-hand told me once, he said, “You’re all right. I don't like many things about the white men myself”. Muslims were known then to be advocates of separation from the white race. We preached of Black superiority as a psychology to deal with the problem of inferiority in us.
He knew of that. Right away he saw me as one of those people believing in that although my father had sensitized me with also other influences. I wasn't so excited about that idea of Black being superior to white. Yes, he said, “Once we were having church.” He said, “The priest starts speaking to some of the Indians with disrespect.” He said, “Two of us we went and got him by his black vest and threw him out on road.” He said, “We knew nothing about oral sex until the white man came over here.” So, there the Indian was thinking the same way that we were thinking.
They’ve got bad moral habits that we can't even think of. We can’t think of ourselves doing the things that they do. Now, I don't know about the Indians these blacks have gone to the extreme. Falacio or whatever it is. They have taken it to the extreme. You are afraid to hung a brother to close right now. Wait a minute. “How do you like it?” I'm just making a little fun here. The point is all people have the same capacity. All people have the same nature, same capacity, same potential, same possibility for behavior, for advancement, for failure et cetera. Further, G-d says in our holy book: By the human soul. The term that’s used for soul in the Quran “An-Nafs” is also used for self.
If I say my soul, I say “nafsee”. If I say myself, I say “nafsee”. Depending on how I use it, it is understood that I’m saying myself or my soul. It means personality. It means a lot of things. Depending on how it is used, it what context it is put. By the soul and how it is proportioned. And it goes on to say G-d and has provided for us its “Fujuraha”- its enlightenment “wa taqwaha” and its regardfulness. Certainly, whoever spends on it, succeeds and whoever neglects it, fails. Now, this puts responsibility in everybody's hands for the faith of their own soul, for the faith of themselves. We know G-d plainly says: O you who believe you're responsible for yourselves.
The word 'spend on it' means care for it in a proper, decent way. Give the soul what it needs for its proper growth and refinement. Whoever looks out for the proper growth and refinement of his own soul, he will be successful, male or female, black or white. Whoever neglects it will be assured to fail. We are trying go briefly over a lot of things. I won't take time to elaborate on this topic, bringing different—or apply in different situations. You know yourself what you've been doing.
You know if you've been regardful of your own soul’s welfare and well-being, if you've been spending time, money et cetera, for its education, for its enlightenment, if you've been sacrificing to bring into it a greater sense of regard for the things that are valuable in the life of human beings that should be regarded. We mentioned some of them, the most important of all, G-d Himself, parents et cetera. Again, G-d said: Certainly, We created the human person in the best mold, in the best statue, in the best mold.
It says, “The consequences of his own bad doing, he's brought to be the lows of the lows. He could fall lower than any creature.” If monkeys and pigs, and dogs, these animals. I heard a human being call another human being, "You dirty dog," and I knew both of them. I didn't feel sorry of any of them. I feel sorry for the family of the dogs, I feel sorry. Dog ain't never been that bad.
This is the faith, the bad faith of those who give themselves to the habit of neglecting their own good human welfare. Except for those who have faith, who believe. “Aamanu” have faith, trust in something. Most people who have given up on morality. There are people who have given up trust. They don't trust anybody. They don't have faith in anything anymore. 
“They have good deeds. For them is the reward that shall never be cut off." So, we know our faith. As long as we believe in G-d, believe and we do good, we know our faith. We are going to always experience good future, tomorrow's going to be good.
Next week will be good, next year will be good. A hundred years down the road if I live that long will be good as long as I keep faith and believe in good work. It's only when we give up faith and stop believing in good work that we start to deteriorate and fall down morally. It is not that accident, that I have physically that makes me unhappy. I've seen many happy people with no hands and no arms - very happy going about doing something that please them. They have even some kind of occupation that brought them a sense of a feeling of reward. They didn't have arms and they didn't have legs.
It's not the physical law that cause us to be miserable, it's the moral law and the spiritual law that cause us to be so miserable and to give ourselves to self-destruction and bad behavior. This reference from the Surah At-Teen (The Fig) supports our saying, "Allah created our self-dignity and revealed in the Quran that the claim to this inherent dignity is the right of all people." We have the same dignity. There's no such thing as a race pride to you that's not also for me unless it’s based upon fiction, fantasy, lies. If it’s based upon the reality of our creation, you cannot have any greater sense of pride and dignity in your own self-worth that I have if my mind is right, if I'm given a chance to think in an environment G-d created for me.
Furthermore, the faith which is tied to man's creation-based dignity. This dignity is creation-based, affects us all equally, which says also, "The heights in self-worth to which one may rise as well as the depth in inferiority to which one may fall is the same possibility for all people." Same possibility for all people. We speak of our nobility - a noble race, the noble English people, the noble English, the noble this, the noble that. Our nobility its created inherent for all of us. And some of us are favored by environmental situations in terms of the physical environment, and others in terms of the social environment, what man has been able to create, develop for himself. We're favored by those environments.
It doesn't mean that we are always going to be in that favored situation. In fact, the good situation can continue, but some other factor may come into the picture that will cut off that growth to that people. I remember when I truthfully could say that the American conscience was a pretty good conscience in terms of respect for refinement in the life of human beings, from the time when I was a young boy until I got almost in my mid-20's almost. I think that kind of feeling was prevalent throughout the United States. You had the bad fellows, you had the lowlife people, but they didn't feel the world belonged to them.
They felt they were in the minority. Now the bad fellow and the lowlife people feel the world belongs to them. They feel that they are the majority. This is a greatly different climate. I'm not saying that I'm dissatisfied with the climate in America now because over the last five years or so, the climate in America has greatly improved. The thinking on the part of the people in terms of moral behavior has greatly improved, I think. I'm not expressing any real disappointment.
What I'm saying is we have trends, we have cycles, we have trends. No matter how advanced we are in terms of material power and even education, it doesn't mean that we're always going to be a fit people for the life we call human life. For that reason, we see now Asians and others coming here, and they're getting job, and they're taking over, and they are getting themselves established, and many of the Americans are wondering, "Why is this happening?" It's happening because you didn't spend on your own soul in terms of its enlightenment and in terms of its moral nature.
Let me continue here and I'm going to bring a conclusion in a few minutes. Our Lord says to us, Allah that is in the last revelation. O you who believe, be a people firmly for justice, witnesses for Allah." That is witnesses for the one Lord G-d. The same G-d says, most high is He, “Order what is of the highest and most refined standard-“Ma’aroof”. And object to what is working against that." This word “munkar” comes from a word means, "to make void". Make void of what? The human quality. Whatever acts on society to make the human quality void, empty, nil, or nothing. We are to work against this.
I told Muslims in gatherings like this and bigger gatherings. "Don't think we are not a people who don't protest. Don't think at times we are not a people who are not at some time activists." We have to be, we have to stand up and speak firmly and loudly maybe sometimes on the issue, especially when we see things developing that’s taking away the foundation of human society, the essential life of man, the human qualities. That's what cause people to lose their power, to lose their authority, to lose their nation, to lose their governments and their nation. We have seen this down through the history and G-d has given us so many of these reminders, so many powerful reminders in the Holy Scripture.
Also, G-d says-- Yes. Okay. That's in the same line, to same time I’ll go now to the saying of Prophet Muhammad in this same direction. The Prophet said, peace be on him, In English, the Prophet said, "Whoever see or witness, if he observes and he sees it happening, a “munkara”, from the same word that I used that means to make void, a behavior that will have that negative influence on the society to make it void of human quality. Most of the outrageous sins are “munkar” Most of these sins that we call outrageous sin are “munkar” public sins especially are “munkar”.
"A person can get by, not only with us but also with G-d, with much sin that he does in the privacy of his own home, but if he does it in the public, G-d's wrath will certainly come against him." Why? Because in the public you are passing it on to everybody else. You are boldly doing it and saying, "This is okay." You are setting a precedent you're setting a norm. Not that we should be unafraid of what sins we commit at home. Now, don’t go back home and get to relax." The house has got your fire, too.
Continuing what the Prophet says, "Whoever sees this thing being done should resist it, should change it, stop it, turn it the other way. Turn it around. I remembering hearing a song, that one of the singer say, "Help me turn around something." Telling his woman, "Help me turn around." He is calling his woman. He's saying, "This thing is killing me and my life is going, so help me turn around." 
He says, "Change it with your hands." That means active. Do it with action. He said, "And if you can't find a way," because sometimes, the forces behind these things are so powerful you know if you speak out, you're most likely to be shot, killed, anything, can happen right? Or if you intervene like a fellow on a bus in Chicago, just here recently.
He intervened to save a person that was being robbed on a bus and he ended up in the hospital. Thank Allah or G-d as we say in english, Thank G-d he wasn't killed.
The only thing I didn't like what the police chief said in Chicago. He told them, if you see something like that, keep out of it, the civilians, stay out of it. I don't think that's right. If a civilian wants to risk his own life to save another, an innocent civilian, I think the police chief should just keep quiet rather than say anything. He should just keep quiet. He doesn’t want vigilante taking the law into their own hand, they're fighting crime by themselves, that's okay.
You can just be quiet, but to come out and say don't do anything, I don't think that was right. I didn't like that. A human being should sacrifice himself. 
He says, "If you can't change it with your hand, then with your tongue." Speak out against it. Sometimes, to speak you might get killed. He says, "If you can't find a way to speak out against it with your tongue to fight it," he says, "then with your heart." Now, how are going to fight wrong with our heart? Many good people, and most of us good people in America, we fight wrong with our heart. We just in the quietness of our heart, in our heart. Nobody hear it but G-d, I guess. We say, “That ain’t right!”.
What did the Prophet say of that kind of resistance of wrongdoing? And that is the weakest form of faith. If you have faith in G-d, faith in the G-d of justice and righteousness, then the weakest form of it is to do nothing and just feel bad in your heart. That's the weakest form, but G-d gives you credit even for that. The better is to speak out against it, and still the better, according to the teachings of our Prophet, is to act against it as he did. He changed the whole peninsula over there. He used everything, he used every level, and when one wouldn’t work, he used a stronger one and finally, he has to meet them in physical confrontation on the battlefield.
He accepted that and G-d was with him. He triumphed. Because of their great victories we are here in America and we don't have to fight, not physically. I don't think we would ever have to fight anybody over here physically. I look at some of these off-brand denominations and I think it might be a possibility.

Well, I don't think so. I hope not. Again, look, in our prayer, the common prayer we say all the time, Al-Fatihah You alone we worship, but “na’budu” comes “abd” don't forget. A common term used for slaves- “na’budu” For you we worship, for you we give our life as slaves only for you. That's what it means “e-ya-ka” only for you. And you we ask for assistance, we ask for assistance. Now, to reflect on what is implied as well as on what is given directly, one only has to refer to the issue of servitude and dependency in the life of world societies.
Servitude and dependency in the life of world society. This term “na’budu” directly it means, we worship you, we devote our whole life to you as servants, as obedient servants accepting you as our absolute authority. “Nasta’een” And we turn to you, begging you or asking you to assist us, because only Allah has absolute authority over us, our being, our self, and also over the resources out there. We need food, we beg Allah for food. We don't have to beg man for food, we beg Allah for food. Not that we have to be too proud to be hungry and to ask another man for food, that doesn't mean that, but it means that this prayerful kind of pleading or asking, we don't do that to anybody but Allah. We pray to Allah for that, just for help, do you see? Our dependency, we don't worry about it. Allah created us, He created this dependency also, and He has a way to take care of us. We should have the faith in Allah to call on Him, direct ourselves to Him, and then use everything that He has made possible for us within our human reach or human grasp to improve our condition, being faithful to Him, trusting Him, and respecting Him.
Act upon what Allah has given us. All of these references to the person, to the human creation, to his excellence, to his equality in everything. Says to us that we ourselves have great resources. Though I don't have position of Governor, position of Supervisor on the job or whatever, I have no position, I have no power in terms of my resources, I have not even ten dollars in the bank. I only have myself. All of this that I've been talking about tonight was not addressing what you got in your pocket, how much wealth you have, or how much wealth you can get. No, it wasn't addressing that. It was only addressing what you have in the treasures of your own creation.

Now, at this point I conclude what I'm talking about, my point and the point is this; The most powerful influence for liberating the mind of the Muslim-- Because I was given the topic to speak on Liberation of the Human Mind in Al-Islam, or for Muslims. The Liberation of the Human Mind for Muslims. The most powerful influence for liberating the Muslim mind is right in what I've given you tonight, right in what I've given you tonight. Perhaps the most powerful of them all is G-d addressing us as His “abd”, He calls us the “ebaadulla” it means, servants of G-d or slaves of G-d.
Here the slave master is and he has Bilal. Bilal was a slave. He was a slave from Habashi, Ethiopia, he was a slave from there. He has his slave and he hears the religion, he hears the common language saying, "O slaves of Allah." He is the slave of this man now. He is a slave of this particular this particular fellow, and he hears a religion where G-d is addressing, "My slave" and addressing all people as His slave. Don't you know that he registered that in slavery? That this man calling him his slave, and that religion says, "I'm G-d's slave." That's powerful, and also the slave-master now, who has the slave.
He hears the revelation addressing him and a slave. And exalted him, "Oh my slave." Don't you think if he got any good in him or whatsoever, he's going to start to feel uneasy in the position of slave master. That G-d has called him a slave. That slave is G-d's slave and I'm also G-d's slave you see. That was the most powerful thing. I was asked brother Imam, he asked me to talk on the liberation of human mind. I mentioned the Quran addressing the intellect human being as an intelligent being as an intellect as the obvious way that Al-Islam excites the human mind and makes the mind come out of death, slumber, sleep whatever. Make us feel proud, to be intelligent, proud to be an intellect, all of us are an intellect.
All of us may not be intellectual but all of us are intellect. This religion wants to excite the intellect so that the dumbest among us will want to become intellectual. I believe the world and especially modern world, we believe in that. We believe in the possibility. We believe that every man no matter how bad his situation is, his cultural neglect his family life no matter how ignorant he appears to us to be. That he is entitled to equal education. Every child born in the United States is entitled to the same education. I can go to any school no matter what kind of background I have. No matter how dumb you may think I am. I can go to any school that I can qualify to enter. Right?
And if I go into the qualifying one I can't get in that like I go in this one first. If I can I'd work my way all up into Yale, Harvard or maybe even a better school. Are there some better, maybe so? I believe the modern civilized world believes in that too. That we could be given the opportunity to come alive in our intellect. Thank you very much. As Salaam Alaikum.

