08/30/1986
IWDM Study Library
The Beginning of Creation

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed: … maybe one can be a female. They should be three males. They may have women batting there at the home play, but the bat is for the man. Approve of her being a back catcher. If they ever want to give her a position in the game, - back catcher and give her a big catching mitt to catch the ball that pass by me.
[laughter]
I should be at the home play with the bat. Yes, so if we're three, we can have a congregation. What does Allah say? [Arabic language] “and He excited man's potential and thereafter guided him”. So the one who has his potential active in his mind, his potential has come into his conscience. Yes, his potential has come into his conscious. Now he's worthy to lead the prayer. Two people, the third one stands in the front of the two, so the leader in our community should be a person whose potential has come into his conscious and he's excited about going forward to his destiny. He shouldn't be a deadpan.
Somebody that ain't excited about nothing. No, he should be one with his potential in his conscience, and he is excited about the possibilities for me. Yes, I'm excited about the possibilities for me. Then we say, "Brother, we're all excited about the possibility for us, and since you seem to be more excited than the rest of us, lead us in prayer. Lead us in Jummah, give us the Khutbah because you have the spirit to talk," but those that ain't got nothing on their mind, they ain't got no spirit to talk. Praise be to Allah. Now, the third man is the imam. He's the one that should be able to hit that ball farther enough out the field to get us around three bases to home.
He's the one that supposed to be able to hit that ball hard enough and far enough or skillful enough to get us one, two, three over to third base. If we get over third base, the next is home. He stands before us and he leads us because the potential is in his conscience. It doesn't mean all the potential is in his conscience. If any of the potential is in his conscience, if that measure that is in his conscience is powerful enough to lead us into the future in a progressive way, he's worthy to be our leader. Because who has all the potential in his conscience? Unless it was Adam and Muhammad the Prophet, who has all of it in his conscience?
We don't, but if we got enough of that potential in our conscience to motivate the community to go forward to greater and better things, then we are worthy to be the leader. We stand up behind that man and we take our signals from him, and we obey the signals that he gives. He says All?hu Akbar, we say All?hu Akbar behind him. When he bow, we bow behind him. Whatever he does, we follow obediently. So we're following him because he has the Spirit, but actually, we don't follow him unless he face the Kaaba. If he turns in any other direction, we won't even pray behind him. Say, "Brother Imam, it's not that way, turn like that." If he refuses to turn, he is left without followers.
Really, actually, we are not following him, we are following his spirit that is drawn toward the potential, and the home is the potential. The home has come into his conscience and he has the Spirit to direct himself in that way upon that orientation, so we follow him in prayer. Praise be to Allah. How wonderful it is. Now, before getting off here and concluding this because we don't intend to hold you long today, Allah says He created the earth in certain periods and then He directed Himself to the heavens because they were in a state of confusion. He directed Himself to the heavens because they were in a state of confusion.
[Arabic language] The Word how He directed Himself tells us that His purpose in directing Himself to the heavens was to bring about justice and equality for the confusion that existed was because there was no equality, and if there's no equality, there cannot be any justice. How can there be justice without equality? No justice. Then G-d says halaqa He created [Arabic word]. He gave creation its form, its nature and form. He ordered it as it should be, [Arabic word], then he established the equality. What is our equality based upon? Our equality is based upon our common nature. Allah has made it plain, we can't make it any plainer.
Halaqa [Arabic word]. That tells us as a consequence, as a result of what came first, the other happened. It is because of the common creation that we can have equality. It's the only way we can have equality. That's the basis for equality. Our commonality is the basis for our equality. Halaqa [Arabic language]. The common creation is what enabled us to have a society based upon equality. We're not the only ones with this understanding, this knowledge. Man has been created with certain inalienable rights, and it goes on the constitution, the preambles of the constitution goes on to name what these rights are that he has received from his Creator.
This is the language of the Constitution of the United States or what you call the preambles to the Constitution of the United States. The Declaration of Independence which is also the preamble to the constitution, is it?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, all right. This is the language of that great document that we have inherit certain rights based upon our commonality. Is that not fair? Based upon our commonality, we have inherited certain rights, and we didn't get it from each other. No man can deny because we got it all from one Lord, one Creator, and it didn't say from the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, a Jew, he should be able to pledge allegiance to the United States because he's not pledging allegiance to the mafia when he pledges allegiance to the United States. He's not pledging allegiance to the whiskey joint, he's pledging allegiance to the substance of that document we call the Constitution of this United States.
That's what he's pledging allegiance to, and he pledges allegiance to the men, the representatives of the country of the document because they pledge to stand by that document, so he pledges allegiance also to them. He pledges allegiance also to the institution of the nation because those institutions have pledged to be loyal and faithful to that document. So it all goes back to the document, doesn't it? It all goes back to the document. You'll find many great Americans, in fact, it's only the great Americans that raise hell. The bad Americans go to hell. The great Americans raise hell because they see something hurting that great idea.
Something denying that great potential of man. Something hurting justice and equality, so they will stand up and raise hell, and risk their lives, and go to war if they have to. Those are great Americans. Praise be to Allah. We should be great Americans. In the light of what Allah has revealed in his Holy Book, we should be great Americans. On the basis of our commonality now, we have equality. They will be many who won't have even the intellectual curiosity or the mental activeness to concern themselves with such questions.
The few who do must represent the many who don't, and though they're not interested, we know the precious treasures that they have in their being, in their makeup, in their creation just like we have. No matter what their situation is or what their faith is, it may be shameful, but we regard them not for what they have foolishly come into or what they have been manipulated into, we regard them for what they are in their creation. Therefore, we work very, very hard and tirelessly to bring them the same circumstances for their good life and welfare that we want for our own. See that's the kind of thinking that the righteous have. That's the thinking of the righteous.
The righteous can't be weak. How can they be weak and champion the cause of the many? The righteous must be strong, they must be willing to become martyrs to lose their blood, to lose their limb, to be tortured by the wicked, maimed and crippled. We must accept all of this if we have to, so we can't be the weak. The righteous must be the strong, and you must champion the cause of man. Not black man, not white man, - man. You must champion the cause of man. Not ritualistic man, not businessman, - man. That mean your concern is as much for the businessman as it is for the ritualistic man.
Your concern should be as much for the politician, the political man as it is for the entertainer who does his thing on the stage. Oh, our concern is that we help the weak. If you got a bum in the streets who owns nothing, not even a job, he owns nothing, and he's a bum in the streets, he's the weak, isn't he? He needs a job, and he drinks whiskey, and he's a victim of the alcohol. Now, that's a bum in the streets, that's a weakness. We have to admit that's a weakness, so we should help the weak, but if you got the son of an established family in the same situation who can get a job, his family say, "He can work anytime he wants to" all he has to do is accept the work.
You got a bigger weakness, and if you got situations of alcoholism or the conditions of alcoholism in people who qualify in every other respect to be our leaders, our governors, our mayors, our senators, et cetera, we got a bigger weakness. What I'm saying is we have been concentrating on helping the lost bum in the streets and the biggest need is to help those who have the qualifications to do something about all of our conditions. That's the greatest need. If we have something really worthy in this religion and we have something really powerful and attractive in this religion, we shouldn't be caring only to the lost bums out there in the streets.
Did Prophet Muhammad rise up and go look for a helpless bum in the roads?
Congregation: No.
Imam Mohammed: The first one that came in my mind was the leaders of his society. He didn't make no mistake in considering them to be important, his mistake was in going to them, he was approached by a man who was blind, and the blind man wanted help from Muhammad. Muhammad was so concerned, he was so anxious to get an audience with the big bosses to convince them of his mission that he treated that man with disrespect. Not intentionally, unintentionally. So G-d called (unclear) Muhammad to see his fault and he said, "What's the matter when the blind man came to you that you turned away in disgust? That you frowned and turned away?"
Because your heart was set on getting the great victory for Al-Islam, convincing the big chiefs to come over to the religion, so this man was unimportant. G-d called to his attention to the mistake he made, but he didn't say, "Those men that you're going to address, they are not as important as this blind man." You have to understand what He's saying that you are not to go looking for just big shots, you are to go looking for those who are blind. If those big shots are blind, then tell this blind man, "Come on with me, I'm going to take care of some more just like you," but if they're not blind, they're seeing, why are you going to them?
You were sent to give sight to the blind, to help this blind man you're walking past. May have the potential to be overnight the big shot that you're going to see. The big shot you're going to see, they said they already see. We have many big shots, I've met them. Many big shots in the financial world, in the political world who have called me. They say, "Yes, Imam, say, we have achieved what we have achieved. We have this, but we also need what you're giving your followers." Now those are the ones who should be going to, because just one of them coming into the light will be more effective than hundreds and hundreds of the poor bums in the street.
That say, "Yes, I see the light. I'm ready to make my Shahada." He see the light but with small eyes and he will make his commitment, but his pledge is small too, he can't see how to make a big pledge. If you get one of those men of knowledge and experience, and that he make his Shahada, he makes his Shahada with big eyes. He sees far and wide, so he makes a big commitment and he carries it out, we get big results. That's what we need now, we need Muslims to concentrate on impressing intellectuals. Concentrate on impressing the achievers in the world, those who are successful in the world.
Look, Prophet Muhammad, he had Uthman in his immediate following. May G-d be pleased with Uthman, his companion, peace be upon the Prophet. He had Uthman in his immediate following. I think I know he was one of the first 30 somewhat followers of the Prophet. I don't know just what time he came in, but I know he was somewhere in there between maybe 1 and 15. The first and the 15th one. He was somewhere in there. Maybe between the seventh and eighth one, so up to about 15. He was somewhere in there, so he was the first follower of the first follower of the Prophet Muhammad. Immediate followers.
He was a rich man. He was no bum, he was a rich man, established man. Omar, may G-d be pleased with him. He wasn't a rich man, but he was an established man. Omar was an established man. Abu Bakr was an established man. The first caliph, the first ruler after Prophet Muhammad well established man who also had some wealth. Yes, so these became his first companions. Ali was a young boy, may G-d be pleased with him, he became the fourth caliph, I believe. The fourth caliph. He was a young boy and the cousin of the Prophet, so he didn't have wealth or a big station at that time, but he had nobility in that he was from the great tribe of Quraysh like the Prophet and other of his companions.
He was also a very bright youngster. He had a very, very bright intellect. So he didn't just (unclear) upon trash, they were (unclear). I'm not saying to tell the bums they can't come in anymore, but I'm saying let's stop writing our message to the bums. Carry the bum a sandwich and tell him it came from the masjid. You don't have to have no great logic to get the bum to come to the masjid, tell the bum we have a sandwich and a glass of milk, a hot bowl of soup. That's right. When he comes just say that's the compliments of the Muslim community. That's the gift of the Muslim community to you. You don't even have to preach, he's coming back.
[laughter]
You can't get the established people to come back for no bowl of soup and tuna fish sandwich. We can get them all just to have a hot bowl of soup and tuna fish sandwiches including chips or something. (unclear) powerful, Da'awah work. To get the man, you just have a hot bowl or can of Campbell's tomato soup. Yes, it is pitiful, but we all made the mistake. Why? Because the machinery was set up before we knew any better, and we just came into the machinery that was already set up and we have just been going in that spirit and doing things in that fashion, but now that we see better and understand better, we have to stop alerting the community.
Making the community aware that we made a lot of mistakes. We must now appreciate our better mind and give support to our better mind and let them stand before us. Do you think Prophet Muhammad was worthy to stand before somebody before he got more up here? What made him worthy to stand before others? What he got up here. He earned it because of his genuine heart, and the intellectual curiosity was there and G-d fed it and gave it to him in full, and made him worthy to stand before all the leaders, to lead all the people of the world, but it was because he had something up here. He was given something up here.
We don't want nobody to get up here and lead us and he ain't got no more sense than the dumbest one in the crowd. That's a shame. That makes us look like we're stupid, and we're not going to have the best of our minds coming forward until we get this prejudice out of us against those who have better minds. You've got to make them feel comfortable here. The leaders are not alone, we know the leaders can't go anywhere without followers, but the followers can't go anywhere either if they don't have leaders. We need each other, so we should give our better minds our support, and we should feel dignity in our own strength. Our strength is our support.
So if we've got one great mind, one great intellectual and he's leading three just common people that ain't got no education, no nothing above common sense, and they can't even use that half the time, then we ain't got no support. You don't feel strong as a mass when you've got three people with you, just three of you, but you let 3,000 gather and they feel their strength, and they've got strength because 3,000 can do a lot and they don't have to have nothing but ordinary common sense. Don't have to be educated. They can do a lot if they're following one with some sense. One that knows where to lead them.
So they're powerful now, 3,000 represents a power. You all who are in the common class or the common membership, what you should be doing more than anything is working hard to give that bowl of canned tomato soup to that common poor person to make him like Muslims, to make her like Muslims, and attract them to you so you have more numbers and more power as a mass. That's what you should be doing. Yes, because you work every day, when you get off, you're so sleepy, you can hardly watch TV. TV is reading to you, you don't have to read it.
We tell you to read the (unclear) of the Prophet and read the Quran and (unclear), you ain't going to read nothing. You can hardly stay awake just to watch the news or the most exciting thing that happened this week on television. They don't ask you to do nothing but just stay there, just hang there. You don't have to pick nothing up and read, you don't have to train your eyes and discipline your eyes and nothing. You hardly can do that for five minutes, so we can't expect you to come up with a great Da'wah and go out to do no great Da'wah.
Your great Da'wah is to be kind and considerate of your neighbor who's not a Muslim. Number one, the believer, but also your neighbor who's not a Muslim and the people in your situation. Show them by your life and your sensitivity, your human sensitivity, show them that you are a person that they can feel good around. When they need and you can give them a little help, give them a little help. The dignity of the poor is also charity, yes. Our people are, by tradition, people of charity. In the South, they didn't have nothing before they came up North to these factories.
They didn't have nothing, but they would share a piece of bread, share some flour, take care of the neighbor. "Honey, you stay here tonight." Yes, so by tradition, our people are people of charity, kind hearts. We should be practicing that now as Muslims. Your leaders can't do that. If I take everybody coming up to me hungry for soup, pretty soon, I will have no home and you will have no leader because we are more the target of Satan than you. We move more to the community, so he knocks down the chiefs. He wants to put out the chiefs, knock out the chiefs so that the community won't have any good leaders.
If I start going out there, bringing them to my company and everything, the poor bums out there in the streets, pretty soon they'll say the imam went crazy, and a dope fiend cut his throat. It'll be all forgotten, that'll be the end of the story. Yes, right, so I can't do that, but you can. Before I became a leader, that's what I did. I had as my associate, the people who were down on the bottom and I would give them the best of myself. Some of them are followers, some of them are right in this community now that I associated with, that I gave the best of myself to and they became Muslim some of them.
I'm sure you have associates that you have influenced because of your good life and they have become Muslim. In fact, that's how the religion progress are spread in the early years of it's life. In the time of the Prophet, especially after the time of the Prophet, it was because of the kindness, the human excellence of the Muslim people. It rubbed off on the non-Muslim, and the non-Muslim was so impressed that they became Muslims. That's happening today. I've read two stories here recently where Muslims in certain part of the world, outside The United States impress their non-Muslim neighbors so much because of their human sympathy, their sensitivities, and sympathy.
They were impressed so much by the Muslims' life that they asked the Muslim, "How can I become a Muslim?" and became Muslims. We are going to have to bring the best of our self forward and the studious people of our community, we have to bring the best forward, and the studious masses of our people, we have to bring the best forward. The studious masses who are not interested or don't have the time, the daily burden is too much, circumstances haven't favored them to put them in a situation to use their intellect more than their muscles, they should understand that the best allegiance is to have a strong bond, a loyal bond, a loyal commitment of the followers to their best minds.
Yes, let us commit our selves to support our best minds and that's what makes people strong. That's what have made people strong down through the history. Those of intelligence in the masses, but not people of vision like the few because there's always a few. When Allah revealed the Quran to Prophet Muhammad, some of those narrow-minded people said, "If G-d wanted us to have it, how comes he didn't give it to all of us? He's G-d, He has the power, how come He just gave you that book? How come He couldn't give all of us a book?" That's not the way G-d works. He didn't create you like that. He created you [Arabic language].
Your equality is based upon your common nature, your common creation. That's what your equality is based upon, but some people will be motivated to pursue greater things. Those are the leaders, those make leaders. Whether is at the factory or in school or the masjid or the government, it is those who have been excited mentally, motivated intellectually that become the leaders. That happens to the few, not to many. That does not happen to the many, that happens to the few. Am I correct or not? That happens to the few because the society would be in a great mess if we had everybody excited about leading.
I'm glad I don't see so many brothers coming up to me now and meeting them in the streets like I used to telling me they want to be an imam. One time all of us thought we had to be an imam. You become a Muslim, you got to be an imam. Brothers are coming to me, "We admire you, Brother Imam. I'm going to do it too one of these days. I'm working on it." All these brothers telling me they're going to do what I'm doing one of these days. Now, who's going to make some money to take care of me? I need some charity.
[laughter]
I'm a full-time imam, who's going to make some money to take care of me. Who going to pay the light bill. Help the poor and the needy. See, the man who preaches full time, he is really one of the poor and needy. He may have the spirit, and the virtues, and intellect, but if he's doing that full time, he's one of the poor and the needy in the world. In the world, he's one of the poor and the needy. If he's not one of the poor and the needy, then you shouldn't be giving him any charity. That's right. "How come we giving you a check?" Because I'm one of the poor and the needy. "What about brothers in the street?" He's one of the poor and the needy too.
We have to watch our spending close or we'd be out the door or the phone will be cut off. You have to understand that, but once one of us get about $50,000 in the bank, and we're still managing and everything, and at the end of the year, we didn't touch $50,000, it stayed right there, you ain't supposed to give us nothing, we're supposed to preach free. We're supposed to preach for nothing. You give us something because we can't pay our bills, but once we got enough to pay all our bills, you shouldn't give us nothing. Not money, give us every other kind of support but not money. We got money, why should you give us more money?
Once we get the money to take care of our needs, you shouldn't be giving us money over our needs. That's right. Now, don't you determine my needs for me now.
[laughter]
Some of you all don't even want a good toothbrush, so it wouldn't be fair for you to determine my needs. We need a council of qualified people or the board. The board, yes, they 're our representatives, right?
Congregation: Yes.
Imam Mohammed: The board should be able to curb our needs, curb our spending. The board should look at my spending. If they see it getting out of line, they should curb it, but I don't think they'll start doing that until I get $75,000 a year. Do you know $75,000 a year ain't a penny over what I need right now? That's right. If I had $75,000 a year, I could be a much more effective leader. If I had about $75,000 a year and I don't think you can get anybody like these people who are leading these big congregation or big national organizations, you can't get them for no $50,000 and 60,000. You can't, no.
They can't even talk to you if that's all you want to offer them. Because when you got a family and responsibilities, that ain't nothing, that's poor man's earnings. The more your needs are, the more your obligations are, the finances, then the more you're justified in receiving. 
Let's see, our time is really flying here, we'll be through in a few minutes now. So it is that aggressiveness on our part that will distinguish us, and that aggressiveness comes on all levels of society. If you work on a common job, common laborer, the labor that will progress on that common labor's job is the one that has that aggressiveness.
The one that is motivated and he feels his potential. Maybe he feel nothing but his physical stamina as his potential. He wants to live out that energy that he has there, so he will become more active, more aggressive. He will be moving about better and working with more energy. He impresses his boss.
[END OF AUDIO]
PART 2
Imam W.D. Mohammed: … but for a mission like we have, our mission is to better community life. Bring improvement and betterment to community life. That's our mission. G-d says, "You are the best community. You are the best community." We know what our mission is. The purpose of our lives as a people on this Earth is to advance the excellence of community life. To do that, you need much more than muscle.
You need brains to go before muscle. Every ordinary, common minded person in this community should feel terrific. Because I'm the son of a man and a woman who didn't get a high school diploma. I am a man myself who was provided education or given education by a community of the common non intellectual people. And now I stand in a position without diplomas, without degrees.
I stand in a position to get respect from those who have the diplomas and the degree. They don't look at me as an intellectually weak person, they look at me as an intellectually strong person. So I am your credit, am I not?
Crowd: You are.
Imam W.D. Mohammed: Yes. Your body produced me. Elijah Muhammad, Clara Muhammad and people of their same situation. Your body produced me, so you shouldn't feel bad.
You should be the first of the common minded people, or the common masses to tip your hat, to extend your hand out to the intellectuals and say, "Welcome." "We welcome you. We know your value because G-d has made one of us intellectually curious, and wise." Don't be afraid to tell them that G-d has made one of us intellectually curious and wise, who wasn't favored like you, to go to the schools of higher learning, and to get a degree, but we know that if our leader is to carry out the work that we want him to carry out, to accomplish the things we'd like to see him accomplish, to bring us and motivate us and to lead us forward, we're going to need you intellectuals to come in and join him and give him support.
You should send out a warm welcome to the intellectuals and to the aggressive people in business, to professional class. You should send out a warm welcome to them. Let me tell you, they'd be happy to come in among you if they feel that you have that warm welcome for them because their life depends on the masses. Their hopes are in the masses of the people.
The reason why many of them are deprived of the dignity and security that they have, the qualifications for, it is because they have to depend upon outsiders people outside their race for a living. If they knew that we had great mercies that would support them, it would cheer them up, and they would give their best I believe, to people like that. Yes, I do believe that. We have a lot of work to do.
In terms of us waking up to what we should be about right now. We have to change our spirit, change our attitudes, we have to see things differently. (Arabic), he excited the potential, he activated the human potential and thereafter guided him. When Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him, when he left his confused society and went out from it into the private quarters of the cave in the mount of the light, he was doing that because the potential in him was activated.
He was excited about the human potential. "Why should my society linger in this state with this great potential that G-d has created us with?" He went to find G-d, to seek G-d for guidance. G-d to guide this potential in me. "Oh G-d guide this. Where are you? I know you exist. Guide this potential in me." And G-d began to speak to him. Then Hada followed Gadara. Gadara for Hada. He excited the potential and thereafter guided the man.
Let us get away from this ignorant notion and ignorant idea that America so called democratic life have given us that we are all equal. We're all are equal in our creation, but we are all are not equal in many other ways. We're not equal and you know that. I don't know how come we act so foolish. We all of us know better. We're not equal. Some are better than us in some areas, we're better than them in other areas.
The whole worth of some of us is much greater than the whole worth of some others. Yes. Don't be ashamed of your qualifications just because your qualification doesn't equal another man's qualification. This Western society have made us crazy. Got all of us ashamed. Because our possessions are not equal to the next person possessions. We're ashamed of the little wealth we have because we don't have as much wealth as the next door neighbor.
We can't even let the next door neighbor come in our house because we're ashamed to show them that we have less than they have next door. That's a sick life. Ashamed to join a class because, "I don't know as much as them." They didn't either until they got in the class. They got about 10 months ahead of you and you won't join because they're 10 months ahead. You don't want to let them know you're 10 months behind, and you haven't even been in a class, but you don't feel comfortable unless you've got equal to what the other fella got. That's devil, the devil. The devil has come into this so called idea of democracy in the West and has made the people think crazy. "Equality, all got to be equal." A sissy got to be equal to a hero or a man and a real man. Sissy got to be his equal. He's a human being too. A woman got to be equal to the man, "Yes she is your equal." In what respect? Some crazy women have been messed up by this crazy idea of democracy they say, "In every respect," but you're not. You excel us in certain respects and we excel you in other respects. When it comes to looking out after the welfare of society, you're supposed to let your man be seen and yourself be behind closed doors, and come out only when your man is in trouble and needs your help.
I know you don't like this kind of talk but it's right. Your crazy society making sissies of our men, making women of our men. That's what they all want to do by saying you're equal. Well, okay, you confuse this male boy who has inherited from his ancestors back to Adam masculinity and the spirit of manhood. He has inherited that from ancestors all the way back to Adam, and now you want to tell him that women and men are the same, unisex, and they're equal. He's going to say, "Well hell, give me a skirt. Where's the iron and the starch or the flower? Let me do some of-- let me hang the curtains or something. And let the government send us to check to pay this rent. Messed up some terrible. No, strong women want to see strong men.
[audience chants Allah Akbar]
Praise be to Allah. Highly praised is Allah, highly glorified is He above all that we can imagine of Him. In the holy book it is said that He is the one who started the darkness and the light. He gave beginning to darkness and the light, in that order. He made the darkness first and then the light. Then it says for Him are all the most excellent names [Arabic language].
Allah says in the holy book in the Quran-- and He taught Adam the names, all of them. Then He exposed them to the angels and He said, "Now inform me of these names if you're truthful." They said, "Lord we have no knowledge except what You have given us." Understand that in teaching Adam or in giving Adam the names of things, Allah was satisfying the hunger in the intellect of man.
What will make man qualify for this great responsibility as G-d's responsible creature in the total environment? Earth, land and sea and air. What will make him qualify for that responsibility? His respect for his intellect and his willingness to submit his property in obedience to his Lord who created him and gave him those properties. That's what will make him worthy of that high station.
Names of things, names refer to what? Identity. They say, "Where's your identification card? May I see your identification card?" Your identification card has your name on it. It may have some descriptions of yourself on it of where you live, where you can be located, so that if you don't tell them they can find out where you live and they can ask some of your neighbors and friends to tell them something about you.
Your name identifies you. If we say, "This is an apple," then apple is the name of that thing. There are common names and proper names, and G-d taught Adam the names of things. We say, "This is electricity," and Allah taught Adam the names, all of them. What is it telling us? That Allah fed the intellect of man. It is Allah who has fed the intellect of his creature man. All of the knowledge he got came from Allah as Allah's gift to him.
It is saying that Allah gave man the sciences. In the sciences we are more careful to really be true with the name. In the ordinary activities of man, he doesn't have to be as exact in naming, but in the sciences we have to be more skillful or more exact in naming. Say, "This is calcium chloride." When they examine it, and they find that you were not accurate, perfect, you may be disqualified.
He taught Adam the names of things. If I know the names of things then I have wisdom. Some of us, we hear the names of things and we can give back what we heard. That's an electric wire, but we're not the one that named it electric wire. The one who named that electric wire and then told the rest of us, "That's an electric wire," has an advantage over us. They have led us.
We use this language because of them. You read the dictionary and you read the encyclopedias and you see new names coming out for things all the time. When is the black man going to have his Adam? In order for the black man to measure up for the inheritance of Adam, he has to have the ability to give names to things. G-d exposed the things to Adam and he said, "Adam, tell them their names," and he told the names.
Where is the black man's Adam who doesn't have to refer to Irish or to the Italians or to the Germans or the Greeks or the Chinese, but will come straight from the original source and say, "No, we didn't get this from any other race? If anyone can get the credit it is G-d." You see what I'm trying to say? We have a long way to go. We are not even living out our potential, our native potential.
We should not be satisfied to let the role of the prophets be fulfilled by other races and we don't fulfill the inheritance, we don't protect the inheritance of the prophets. We should measure up and protect the inheritance of the prophets.
Thank you very much. As salaam alaikum.
[00:22:35] [END OF AUDIO]

