06/13/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Our Community Plans in Cleveland: Muslims in the Future of the City of Cleveland, OH

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
The following lecture titled, Our Plans in the Cleveland Community: Muslims in the Future of the City of Cleveland was recorded Sunday, June the 13th, 1999 at Masjid Bilal in Cleveland, Ohio. The lecturer is W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim-American Spokesman.
Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin, Lord Sustainer Keeper of all the Worlds. We witness that He's One. We associate nothing in worship with Him, and we bear witness to what He has revealed to His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad. Prayer and peace be Upon him, Sa ala Alahi Wa Salaam. In the Qur'an saying that nothing, no one comes to Him, that is to G-d except as a Servant. Except as a Servant. We witness that Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets mentioned in the Qur'an and the Qur'an mentions, says that he is the one mentioned in the books that came before the Qur'an, the Torah, and the Injeel.
What was revealed to the Jews and what was revealed to those who call themselves Christians. Muhammad the Prophet is mentioned in their books as a liberator. One coming to take the people from slavery. From slavery not only to men, but slavery to false G-d's, and slavery to anything and everything that takes them away from the proper worship of G-d. So Muhammad the Prophet is a liberator coming to liberate the word of G-d that people had put in prison, had confused it, had misrepresented it, and therefore they had put it in prison. And the people who were trying to follow religion were also in prison because they were following a religion that was confused, religion that had errors in it, religion that didn't clearly give to them the proper and clear concept of G-d. And it was only with the Qur'an that that purity and that clarity was given to mankind on this earth again. La ilaha Il Allah- There is but One G-d and we are to not to worship any except Him, and we do not worship any except Him. This is the real freedom. This is the real liberation. The worst of all forms of slavery or the worst of all forms of oppression according to the word of G-d in this Qur'an, our Holy Book, the last Holy Book to mankind, the false worship is the worst form of slavery. False worship is the worst of all oppression. Let us for a few minutes think about this and have some comments on it. It is easy to see that false worship takes away our freedom more than anything else.
Most people, whether educated or not, most people believe that there's a G-d, but if the G-d is made other than the Creator, the one who did this world, made our life possible, created everything, then that keeps us out of our freedom. It's only when we recognize G-d as the One who created everything and G-d as the one who created man, humanity, mankind and everything else in the skies and in the earth that we get our sustenance from and our help from. It's only when we recognize that One as G-d, that we have the chance to have the greatest measure of freedom in our life. Any other G-d denies us that freedom, gives us the small freedom, small freedom. But the G-d that made everything gives us the freedom to grow and expand, to think on the creation and to grow and expand our minds to explore and use or benefit from the total creation.
And G-d says that "He has made of benefit to you and has made it to come down to you so you can get the service out of it. Whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth." So not to know G-d as the Creator of everything is to have your freedom very limited, very limited. What G-d possessed all of these things in the skies that we can reach with the telescope but can't reach them all. No means, no tool, no instrument that man has created yet can reach the boundaries and map the creation for us. There's a map of Cleveland, there's a map of the United States. There's a map of many things, but man has not yet come upon the knowledge and the instruments to tell us this is the map of the universe. All of us must guess at what is beyond the boundaries that we have found.
All of us must have ideas about it, but no evidence beyond the boundaries that we have found. And we know that perhaps beyond the boundaries that we have discovered, may be boundaries million times the dimensions of the space of the boundaries that we have discovered. This is scientific speculation. Now, if we don't have that G-d as our G-d, we'll never be free. And it is that G-d that revealed to Muhammad that you are to fight those who deny people the religion, fight those who deny people the religion, the right religion. Because they're denying the people their freedom. When they deny the people the right religion, they're denying the people their freedom. The maximum amount of freedom for this world as we know, it only came after the Qur'an was revealed. And after the universal teacher taught that Qur'an to mankind, Muhammad the universal teacher. Then this great measure of freedom that we enjoy now in this modern world was made possible. Men couldn't even think free to the extent that we can think free, before the Qur'an came.
Before the Qur'an came, nations were oppressors, nations were slave masters, females were made the property of men and people were enslaved, not just blacks, but people were enslaved by the more powerful people. The more powerful people could enslave the less powerful and work them as they work animals in a field and get the benefit of their labor and even their mental labor, their minds too. Whatever the slave would produce with his intelligence, the master would claim it. That was his product too. Yes, but when Qur'an came, when Allah revealed the message to Muhammad, the universal message called the Qur'an, when He revealed that universal message, things changed. Then men wanted to know what is proper for them under G-d and G-d, the G-d that has respected the intellect of the human being. The G-d that has respected the brain of the human being and has turned the human being, the attenion of scholarly men and also scholarly women. We know we had scholarly women in the times of Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him. The G-d that turned the brains of men, the thinking of men to look at their brain, to look at their intellect and to value, to treasure the productiveness, the productiveness of that brain. And Muhammad the Prophet said of the brain, he said, "G-d didn't create anything more productive than the human brain."
And we can see it. When we look all around us, we can't even wake up without looking at the products of the human brain. When you wake up on your bed, the bed is the product of the human brain. The covering is the product of the human brain, the house, the walls, the interior and the outside, the products of the human brain. The transportation, products of the human brain. Everything. Products of the human brain. The nice shirt I'm wearing, products of the human brain. It's a gift to me. I got it today, and I changed shirts immediately. It looks so much better than my shirt I wore. My shirt was nice too, but I immediately took the shirt that Imam Clyde Rahman gave me and I told him I have to put it on. I have to wear it out there today. And I put it on. Yes. Product of the human brain. The medicine and the skill to use it properly for cures, for relieving misery, products of the human brain. The technology, all the electrical equipment and the electronic equipment, technology, everything, science, product of the human brain. The human brain is the greatest producer, greatest producer. Nothing produces like the human brain.
We should love G-d firstly and we should love Muhammad the Prophet, secondly, because obviously he was the human being that was fit for this great call to freedom that we have in Islam. Islam is a call to freedom. Islam wants every man to be a leader. How is that so? When we say our prayers in congregation, we say, "I make my intention to say my prayer." Describing that prayer, whether it's morning, noon, afternoon or whatever, describing that prayer and we say "Following the Imam, facing the Ka'aba, our direction in prayer, Allah is greater, Allahu Akbar." That's how we start, right? But when you're alone, you are obligated to pray too. And when you're alone, what do you say? You say, I make my intention to perform my prayer. And you describe the prayer and then you say, Imaman means I'm the leader. Imaman facing the Kaa'ba, Allahu Akbar.
Every believer, even the sisters, sisters are obligated to do the same thing. When she says her prayer, do you think she says Amitan or she says Imamam? She has to say Imamam, she's leading herself. Imamam, facing the Ka'aba, Allahu Akbar.
Islam tells us that all of us are created by nature to be leaders. Every human being is created by G-d to be a leader. Is this said in some other language too in Islam? Yes. The Prophet said, all of you are a rai, a ra'i.
And you'll be charged with your responsibility, the responsibility of a ra'i. That's what Prophet Muhammad says, Sa ala alahi Wa salaam, Prayers and Peace be upon him. So ra'i goes directly to the valuable, I would say tool. Has reference to the valuable property and tool of the human being, his mind, his free mind. Now we have many translations for ra'i. Ra'i means person who has ability to think on his own and to make decisions for himself, to use his senses. That's a ra'i. Ra'i also means a leader too. Ra'i is also a leader. He's a leader because he has the ability to use his good senses and make right decisions.
So he's the leader. We can say ra'i means a person who is responsible for his own opinions, a person who's responsible for her own opinion. If you have intelligence to be responsible for your opinions, all people don't have this ability. And it's not because they can't have it, many of them don't have it because the world just has made them think of themselves as being too small. The world has cheated them out of the right evaluation of themselves, so they evaluate themselves so cheaply that they don't have the spirit or the will or the courage to trust their own judgment, to trust their own opinions. But Islam wants us to know that here G-d has created us with a brain, with the power to think and we should trust our own thinking. He made our brain, He designed the brain, He designed everything, the power to think. He made that.
So He want us to trust. You know, if you give your child a precious thing, but your child needs to have a little courage, it is not an easy thing to manage. He needs to have a little courage to manage it. Maybe like riding a bicycle and the boy have never rode a two wheel bicycle, but you buy him a two wheel bicycle because you know he's of the age and has the ability to ride that bicycle, but now he's too afraid to ride it. So do you feel good seeing your nice beautiful bicycle you bought him just sitting inside somewhere and other children riding it and he won't ride it because he's afraid to take a chance? No, you don't feel good. You want to give him the help. So if you can't give it to him yourself, you look for a friend of his or his brother or his sister who's riding and say, "Help him get over this fear of riding that bicycle."
"I want to see him ride that bicycle." And you are happy when you see him riding that bicycle. He probably fell a couple of times scarred his leg like I did. Peel some skin off of his arms like I did when I first learned how to ride a bicycle. But you are happy when you see him riding just like the other boys and girls and he's riding with confidence and ease and there's no problem for him. You feel so good. And that's the way Allah appreciates us when we trust the greatest utility He gave us. And that's the utility to think and be responsible for the judgments you make or for the decisions you make with your own thinking. When you take that responsibility and have that freedom, Oh, Allah is so pleased with you. Again, I repeat to you, Muhammad the Prophet said "G-d made nothing more useful, more productive than the human brain, than the human brain."
Now you know the heart is the door. The heart is the door to all treasures. If the heart is not right, we will not get anywhere except to destruction. The only place we'll go is to destruction. So the heart is valuable, very valuable as the door, as the opening for all other benefits to come to us when that heart is right, when the human heart is right, but the human heart cannot produce for the world. No, it can only influence production. That's all. It's a wonderful aid to production because of the influence. If the man didn't love females so much, we wouldn't have this great production we got. I believe if the females weren't so attractive and valuable to men, man would still be carrying a bone in his hand, hitting each other over the head with it. After he'd chewed off all the meat and carried it around like a stick and beat each other over the head with it. He'd still be doing that If it wasn't for the woman to make him feel that she's worth him going out and getting some wood and making a better house for her and getting some animals and clothing her better with their hide or planting something and using the straw or whatever to make things for her. The woman was your first incentive.
The woman was the first motivation to get us to go out and be more productive. And even today, the woman is the motivation for man more than anything else. The woman is the motivation for man. Scientists have great insight into the nature of things and they can discover great utility, great usefulness in matter, in the hidden powers of matter, et cetera. But in order to put it in the life of mankind, they have to go through the woman. They go through the woman and they say, "Wouldn't you like to have this for your wife?"
So they go through the woman and they get to you and sell you all those things. Then you abide, "Oh yes, I would like to dress like that." Yes. So you find a man has no woman he loves, he hasn't gotten much of anything else. If he got anything , he can't enjoy it. Yeah, he can't enjoy it. He's just waiting on a woman. Even if he doesn't know it, he's waiting on love so he can enjoy what he has. I got a nice car, but if it wasn't nothing on this earth but men, I would put that car up forever. I wouldn't drive it another time, I wouldn't even start the motor up again if there were only men on this earth. I'd say, "Hell, let's sit down and talk. Let's see can we create a woman brothers." Freedom. Man needs freedom for his body. We need the freedom to walk outside of our homes and to walk in the fields or walk down the streets and see the scenery.
Our spirit calls for that. If we don't get that, we are feeling like prison, like a man confined. We feel like a prisoner. We have to have that freedom. But if we are denied the freedom to move about physically with our physical bodies, we can still find joy if we use our minds to think free of the situation that we are in. Many men were put in dungeons because they offended the society or the rule, or the King, or the rulers. They were put in dungeons, unfairly, unjustly. But in the dungeon they continued to think and many of them had nothing to write with, but they recorded the best of their thoughts and they left their thoughts sometimes with a person in prison. They died in prison, but a person they left it with took it out to society and society was helped and given a better future because of what that imprisoned person was able to do with his mind thinking free while his body was not free.
So the mind helps us to get the greatest margin of freedom, the intelligence, the thinking, the free thinking mind. And that is why Allah says to us in the Qur'an, "Think! And thinking benefits you and the best of thinking is the thinking on G-d." So I come right back to the point I made in the beginning. That if you don't have the right concept of G-d, you don't have the right idea of G-d. If your G-d is not the Creator of everything, then your freedom is limited. You are cheated out of your great freedom.
But if you have the right idea of G-d and you think on that G-d, you have the most useful tool that man can ever come upon and that's the ability to use his mind, his rational mind in a relationship with the creation of G-d. Now we can appreciate even more the first words of revelation coming to Muhammad the Prophet, saying to him, "Iqra" read. "Iqra." Read in the Name of your Lord who created, created the human being. First thought is the external world. G-d created the skies and the earth and everything therein, but then after thinking on G-d as the Creator of everything, then G-d brings it home to you. Think on your own self now man. Created the human person from a congealed clot of blood or from a clot of blood. And taught the human being. G-d taught the human being. So here is revelation coming to Muhammad, words of communication from G-d coming to Muhammad, the man, the mortal man just like us, human being just like us. No strange creature, no. In every respect a human being just like us. No angel, no divinity. Man. Just like us, a common man just like us. Comes to him and tells him that this Creator now is also the teacher of man.
You say, "Oh yes, G-d is our first teacher." No, G-d is your first teacher and your intermediate teacher and your last teacher, G-d is your teacher all the time. G-d is your teacher. All the other teachers are just acting under the great G-d. That's all they doing and acting in the field that the great G-d created. That's all they're doing. G-d is a teacher all the time. Yes. So it says the one who taught mankind or humanity, what mankind was not knowing before. What he was never knowing before or what he did not know before and could not have known before. That's what it means. Could never know without the help of G-d. That's what it means.
Says read again, read. And your Lord is Bountiful. He has more than enough for you. There's no limit on what He has for you. His creation is so vast you can never see it all to discover it all. He's given you much more than you can ever use. He's not stingy. He's so giving. He gives amply and more than enough to you. That's what He's saying to Muhammad. Yes, and your Lord is Most Bountiful. These verses in total are five. The first verses revealed to Muhammad the Prophet, five verses. I'm saying this five over and over, again five verses because I want that to stick in your mind as we go on and proceed with this delivery today. Five verses.
And then we come to know that Muhammad is a man that G-d has selected to call people to faith. Faith. Firstly to faith. Firstly to faith. Now the first five verses of Qur'an addresses the rational mind and the reading of creation, but does it also address faith? Yes, yes. Muhammad was already a man of faith. He wouldn't have went up in the mountains to try to communicate with G-d if he was not already a man of great faith. He was already a man of great faith. But does G-d, when He gives the first words of communication to Muhammad, does G-d also address faith? The need for faith? Yes. How? G-d tells Muhammad something about G-d that Muhammad didn't know before. Muhammad knew about false deities, he knew about the false deities of his people. The 369 or more G-ds that they had as their household G-ds, their fertility G-ds, their national G-ds, whatever, tribal G-ds. He knew about all that. But G-d was bringing the true picture, the real picture of G-d to Muhammad as the Creator of everything. One G-d, the Creator of everything. And Muhammad was being told that this G-d is a living G-d and does not die. This G-d is eternal. This G-d is living, this G-d is in touch with His creation. This G-d has reached me with communication and this G-d is not stingy.
This G-d gives man humanity more than we can use. So Muhammad's faith is being increased, his faith is being increased now. He not only have faith that there is a G-d somewhere. Now he has faith that there is a G-d that can talk to me, a G-d that I can communicate with, a G-d that I don't have to wonder about, a G-d that can communicate to me and to mankind and a G-d that is going to help me in my situation and a G-d that's going to help mankind in mankind's situation. So his faith has been increased now. He was just thinking that there was a G-d, but now the communication from G-d tells him, you can have faith in this G-d that this G-d can communicate to you clearly can talk to you and this G-d can give you all that you need and much more than you'll ever need. You and all your family of mankind.
Yes. So yes, his faith has been also addressed and his faith has been strengthened and his faith has been freed and expanded so great, so much more than it was before he communicated or had communication with G-d and from G-d. Now Allah goes on teaching Muhammad. See we have to know this. Revealing to him and teaching him, teaching him and Muhammad is getting wiser and wiser. Muhammad is becoming more learned and more learned. Now Muhammad is speaking with confidence. He's inviting heads of state to come to Islam because G-d has educated him and prepared him to not be afraid that he won't be suitable to address them on that level and from that dignity. So now he's doing those things. And then G-d reveals finally to Muhammad the Prophet, this religion saying to Muhammad "This day, those who would want to keep you from this religion have given up hope."
They have seen so much come, so much evidence in the growth of Muhammad and his followers, because of revelation from G-d that they've given up hope of ever keeping Muhammad and his followers away from Islam. And G-d goes on to say, "This day, have I perfected for you your religion and completed my favor on you." Who is this talking to? Muhammad? Through Muhammad. G-d is talking through Muhammad. G-d was talking to Wallace. G-d says "This day, have I completed perfected for you your religion, Wallace and have completed my favor on you Wallace, and have chosen for you Wallace, Islam. Al-Islam, the religion of Islam to be your religion as religion. G-d was saying that to me. He was saying it to you. He was saying it to your baby and your baby has to know this. Tell your baby when your baby gets old enough to talk that G-d was saying that to you baby. G-d is saying that to every human being.
All of his human creatures that he made born then and will be born later. Saying to all of us that He has done that for us. Muhammad is Rahmatan Al Amin-He's a mercy for all the worlds, Muhammad. Mercy for all the worlds. Because through him came the mercy. To him came Ar Rahman, Ar Rahim and all that follows. Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin. To the end of Surah Al Nas. Yes, Praise be to Allah. Now here is a revelation that comes to all people and for all people. It comes to all people and for all people. And it is a mercy for all people. And history bears witness that this revelation is what broke the darkness, shattered the darkness, broke it up so that the light would come through and it is what shattered ignorance, caused the powers of ignorance, the mountains of ignorance to crumble so that man would be free to walk the path of G-d with nobility, with nobility, not with shame, thinking that he's born a sinner. No! With the word of G-d saying every human being is born pure, not sinned, not in sin and not sinning. Every human being is born pure. Every human being is born a Muslim. Praise be to Allah for the revelation and for Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets Upon him be the Prayers and the Peace. Every human being is born pure. Don't you know that's a great liberating message? You don't know how psychologically crippling it is for people to believe that their natural life is to sin and their natural life is sin.
The white man has never enjoyed freedom like he enjoyed it after the Qur'an came to him, whether he followed it or not, he benefited from it's enlightenment. He benefited from it's message of truth and correctness and he never had a chance to be free until the Qur'an came to the world. Read of their history. You don't have to read, go see old movies on how they existed when they were calling themselves great people, great nations see how they existed, all dressed up with gold and sometimes diamonds and rubies, pearls and everything all over their clothing, but nothing but a dressed up savage, a dressed up savage. And couldn't help but exercise their savage nature. Even during the pomp and glamor of their great celebrations, they couldn't end the celebration without letting it all hang out.
Start off the celebration with horns and bugles and dignity and at the end of the celebration they're eating like animals and having sex like animals and drinking wine and getting crazy. And a lot of 'em doing the same thing today. But the revelation has come to civilize the people, to really refine the people. That's what we mean by civilized. To really refine human nature, to bring human nature where the spirit, the will of G-d that really carries the will of G-d, evidence of the will of G-d. There's a spirit in us, all of us that is evidence of the will of G-d in us and that spirit in us is a spirit to not to be satisfied being beneath what you can be, being cheaper than you can be or being not as productive as you can be or being not as respected or respectable as you can be, or not performing as you can perform.
So there's a spirit in us that is really the evidence of the will of G-d for us. That's the will of G-d in us. G-d says He is nearer to us than our own jugular vein. The jugular vein is a vein that man thought and still think that carries blood to the brain, carries blood to the brain. If blood is not carried to the brain, you cannot be conscious. You cannot think because you will not be conscious. It is the blood to the brain that makes us conscious and the blow from the fists of the fighter that dazes us or knocks us out, the knockout is to be understood as the shaking of the blood that's in the brain. It shakes up and it's just like giving a fine tooled computer or instrument that is able to take messages and give messages a shock or blow. You hit it and it can't work. It's so delicate. You hit it and you confuse the computer. You confuse what's put in there and it can't work. You hit the man in the head too hard, his blood shakes too much so he can't see, he can't think. You put him out, you put him out. Isn't that something? I didn't forget my subject. Don't think I forgot my subject and if I did forget it, all I have to do is look at it. Here it is.
Think about that. Here is the greatest property of man is the property of his consciousness. Consciousness. To be conscious and to be thinking, to be in touch with your brain, your thoughts, et cetera. That's the greatest property we have. And it can be taken away by just shaking up the blood, by just violently shaking the blood and all that's lost. You wake up, you feel all right. You may even ask the referee, "Let me go on. I can fight. I can win this fight." But the referee might say, "No, no, you've been counted out. You slept beyond the count of 10."
There'll be another task for you at another situation, not tonight. Yes, Praise be to Allah. Now. Let's see. Allah has created us and Allah says there are signs in all that He created. All that He created is a language. It's G-d's language to you called signs. Ayat. G-d has created all of this as a language, as His language to you. Ayats. And even you yourself, He created you. You too, the Ayats in you are Ayats from G-d. Language giving you messages. So let's talk about that a little bit. Here we are having the power to see with our eyes.
This eye permits us to see things out here. And when this eye is not seeing, something inside here permits me to store what I saw. And I go to sleep tonight and some of it can come up out of the storage and I can see pictures like reels. Sometime it's so real, I wake up and I'm disappointed because what I saw in my dream was so beautiful and so much needed in my life. But then I woke up. I had known now that I was dreaming. I'm so hurt and disappointed. I want to go back to sleep. And believe me, I try sometimes and a few times I've caught up with that dream, picked up exactly where I left off and enjoyed it some more. And that's the honest to G-d's truth. Yes. Not often has that happened in my life, but I have been able to do that a few times. Yes. Now let's keep talking. Let's keep in this vein. This is a good vein to be working in right now. Yes. Now I go to sleep. My eyes close. I'm not conscious.
I have no power except just to rest and sleep. My eyes are closed. I can't see anything. If someone comes to me while I'm asleep and I'm so sleepy I don't even know they're doing this and they open my eye wide and I still can't see. I still can't see. Same eye that I was seeing with when I was awake and I opened it and I can see, but now I'm asleep and I opened it. They opened it for me, but I can't see. I'm asleep. Do you believe in G-d? I do. No matter how wise you are, I have reached you buddy. I'm reaching you right now buddy. And ain't nothing you can do but just stay where I put you.
Now we know science got explanations for a lot of things. Science comes up with explanations, but there's mysteries of the human nature and the human creation that science has not discovered and will never discover. G-d will never let man answer all questions because G-d created man to be a creature of faith. Of faith. The only All Knowing is G-d. He's the only one that can carry the responsibility for knowing everything. If mankind would be given the responsibility for 1000000000th percent of the truth that exists, he would explode. Now let me come back to the five. G-d revealed first to Muhammad five addressing his intellect to expand his faith, to increase his faith tremendously.
And G-d mentions in the Holy book what Islam is, but it's not all in one. It's not all in one focus on one page, in one Ayat, or on one page. So G-d revealed to Muhammad or I would say motivated Muhammad and aided him with an angel who appeared in this as a man in a group of men, among the men who were listening to Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon him. And the angel Jibreel appearing as a man among them he said, "Muhammad, what is Islam? What is Al- Islam?" And Muhammad gave what Al-Islam is and he gave it as we have it today. Islam is to witness that there is but One G-d, Shahadah. And Islam is to pray the salat and Islam is to give in charity, Zakat. And Islam is to fast during Ramadan, siyam. And Islam is to visit the house, the sacred house, the Ka'aba.
Those five, five, five again five. Why all these fives appearing in Islam in such powerful connections? Five original verses, five pillars or structures upon which Islam is structured. Five pillars upon upon which Islam is structured. "Bunye Al Islam Wa Al Kamsin," Muhammad said again. Islam is constructed upon five essentials. And here I read to you from a chapter of Qur'an, which tells us that Allah completed, perfected the religion with the revelation to Muhammad, the Qur'an, and completed it for us, completed His favor on us. And did Allah then say, "And G-d gives you Islam as religion? No, G-d says, "I have preferred for you Islam as a religion." Isn't that a wonderful G-d? If you have preferred this religion for me, G-d, it's just like my mother saying, "Wallace, I have preferred Shirley for you to be your wife." And that's what she would say is she was right here now she'd say, "Wallace, what have you done? I preferred Shirley to be your wife."
So if G-d says I prefer something that means there was something else to choose from, that wasn't the only choice. How wonderful it is, how wonderful it is. Wonderful G-d, wonderful G-d. Do you know if G-d was a stern, hard looking G-d that some of us think He is, He wouldn't say, "I have preferred this.... Nah, you got all power, yet you prefer something for me?. And some of you say, "Oh no brother, Imam, don't say if I may. Don't tell me that brother. Imam, you the Imam. Tell me to do it." I love my G-d. I love my G-d, I love my G-d.
He has preferred for us this religion which means, and He didn't say the other choices are not worth 2 cents. He didn't say that. Why? Because He respects the other choices. He respects the innocence of man and the good intention that's in the heart of people and He knows that they have made these choices of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, they have made these choices. The good people have made these choices innocently and they value their choices. So G-d is not going to offend them. How come we can't be a little bit like our G-d? He says, "So I have preferred for you this religion, that Islam be religion for you, be religion for you."
The language tells me that Al-Islam is bigger than religion, but your spiritual nature calls for religion. Your soul must have religion, because your soul, your soul recalls even when your mind can't recall, your soul recalls that you are indebted to something that you did not make yourself. You did not put yourself here, you did not make the world. So your soul is indebted to something for its existence and its benefits that it's getting from this external world. So your soul must have religion, must have religion, but your brain needs a little more than religion as man prior to the Qur'an was understanding religion. So here G-d gives us AI-Islam and Al-Islam now is a way of life that is complete and consistent both morally and ethically and rationally. Consistent and it's for your whole life. And your whole life is an expression of your Muslim nature and your whole life should be guided by Al-islam. Your whole life.
So nothing is outside of Islam for a believer. Only the haram is outside of Islam. If it's not forbidden by G-d, then it's inside of Islam for the believer. If I'm a surgeon, I do this job of the surgeon and my good job done is service to Allah. Service to mankind and service to Allah. If I'm an artist, I draw a beautiful painting, service to mankind, service unto G-d as well. And my charity, whether it's the charity of a dollar or so in the offering or in the charity box at the Masjid, or it's a beautiful painting, or a good job in the classroom teaching my students. No matter what it is. Or it's a good job on the battlefield fighting the oppressors of mankind, all of that is service to Allah. So is this something new in Islam now? Is this something new?
This idea that everything that I do, it should be done to glorify G-d and everything that I do is service to G-d through mankind. I serve G-d through mankind, my service to mankind, it reaches G-d and He accepts it and rewards me for it. Is this a new idea? No, no. This is no new idea. It's in the Bible. It's in the books of the people of the world that everything you do should glorify G-d, should glorify G-d. If it glorifies G-d, then it's service to G-d. This is not only in our religion, this is religion. This is religion. Praise be to Allah. Now five, back to the five. Here we are in the chapter of the Qur'an titled "The table" translated in English, "The Table Spread." "The Table Spread." And it's the fifth chapter of the Qur'an. And G-d is saying in this chapter, He's saying in the fifth chapter of the Qur'an that He has on that day, on this day as mentioned in Qur'an, perfected for us our religion and completed His favor on us and has preferred for us Islam, Al-Islam, as religion. Praise be to Allah. And the Prophet taught us as the Qur'an tells us in the volumes of the Qur'an and the many pages of Qur'an. But he put it in one statement to us that Islam is built upon five. "Bunye Al Islamu Ala Qasim." Islam is built upon five. Is this something new? Is this new? The woman was washing at the well and the woman was told said, "What are you doing here? What is this new thing you're doing here. That you have had five husbands and the one you've got now is not your."
David. He is the focus in Judaism and in Christianity for the messianic type, the messianic type, the Messiah for whoever will come as a Messiah. He's to be tested by what David was. For G-d anointed him according to the Bible, anointed him. And David was the King. He was the King for the people according to the Bible. So the people who followed David, the Jewish people, they're looking for a Messiah and they're testing him by what David was established, how David was established by how David was established by G-d. They're testing him. And David is associated with five in his great victory over Goliath.
David was just a young boy, 12 years old and there was a big brute menacing his people, terrorizing his people. And that young boy got the courage to take that great giant on. Now look at the giant now. He was unusual. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Six fingers on each hand, six toes on each foot. So I may say his number was six. And a young boy only 12 years old, conceived a scheme to defeat him. Whereas his people were so afraid of him, they couldn't confront him, they wouldn't confront this giant in battle. Little David, he had a slingshot he used to use, I guess for taking down hawks or birds our of the air or something out of the air or whatever, getting food. So he decided that if he can take those birds down, he could take that giant down if he could get that stone to hit him right in the center of his head.
So he goes to the water and he reaches down in the water and he picks up five stones. This is the Bible. He picks up five stones. And he took one of those stones. He picked up five, but he only used once. He picked up one of those stones, put it in the sling, fired it at the head of Goliath, the great giant, hit him dead in the center. He fell to the ground, dropped him to the ground with one slingshot, one stone, smooth stone, smooth stone. Don't forget the scripture said he picked five smooth stones up out of the water. And after he dropped him, he went to the giant, took the giants sword out of his hand, and then severed his head, deprived him of his leadership. Took his head off with his own sword, took his head off with his own sword. David didn't have a sword, he just had a slingshot, took his head off. Little boy 12, defeated the mighty giant by going to the water, picking up five smooth stones and selecting only one of those stones to slay. When we halal something, kill it, we say "Bismillah", only One G-d. And after we slay it, we say "Allahu Akbar," G-d is the Greatest. Right? So what do we slay with? One.
One. What will slay all the falsehood in the world? One, "La Ilaha Il Allah," the Creator of everything. That destroys. And that is no new thing. That was in the scripture before and I've shown you that. Praise be to Allah, how important the five is. And Muhammad the Prophet, he said, "Take charge of five before five be your undoing." And he said, he named five the things that we worry about, good health, et cetera. Don't put off to tomorrow what you know you should be doing today, et cetera. He gave us five principles or five points to look at. But what is this talking about? If Muhammad tells me to look out today for what I need, don't put it off till tomorrow because tomorrow may be too late.
Look, take care of my health so I will have good health tomorrow. I will stay in good health and be functional. If Prophet Muhammad told me these things, what is he telling me? He could have addressed that list to 50,000. Didn't have to stop at five. There are many other things I should look at. I can add 'em to the list. Why he stopped at five? To tell us take good charge of your common sense. Take good charge of your common sense, respect your good common sense and behave according to the dictates of your good common sense. Or you'll unestablish yourself, you'll be your own undoing. You'll contribute to your own failure, to your own destruction if you don't do that. Now centuries later, this new part of the world is discovered by Columbus and the others who they say discovered it, and the old world want to deny the new settlers here of their freedom to design a new life for themselves over here. And one of their great leaders rose up and awakened them in the name of what? Common sense.
He wrote the Common Sense papers and alerted the citizens over here in the new land and brought them together, rallied them together around the banner of respect for the human common sense. That's how this world got established over here. That's how the United States government, this great society got here. That's how it was freed and that's how it was established by people rallying around respect for good common sense. So what Muhammed gave us to hold, to cherish and hold precious ourself, proved to be the instrument in the new world, or in the time of this modern world, to open the way for its freedom. They came into a new sense of freedom. They were able to go forward with courage, respecting the common sense of man, the sense that all of us have in common. All of us don't have the elevation of those senses the same because we haven't had the opportunity to be educated or to have cultural refinements in the same degree, but all of us have the precious properties of the ra'i for the good common sense. Qur'an, revealed originally in five verses. Al-Islam being structured upon five essentials, the declaration of the completion of religion, the perfection of religion, the perfection of religion and the completion of religion and G-d's word, own word that He preferred this for us in the fifth chapter. It is no accident that all of these fives are appearing in such meaningful context and relationship.
So please don't get spooked out, don't follow superstition. Don't let some gurus come among you and some crazy people dressed all strange and come among you and enchant you and take you away from reality and have you floating in the air somewhere and you thinking that you're just like Allah want me. "Now I'm just like Allah wanted me." No, you lazy butt, you've been taken away from your responsibility and you're just lazy. So you're happy in your dream world that this spook have given you. Wake yourself up and get back into the action. Accept your responsibility and this is the message today. G-d obligates everyone in this religion to be a leader, male and female. You are not going to be able to go before G-d and excuse your shortcomings on somebody else. You're not going to be able to say, "I would've done this, but Imam WarithUdin Mohammed, Wallace Deen Muhammad, he gave us the impression that we are not supposed to do anything until he told us to do it or we were not supposed to do anything unless he okayed it.
G-d is going to ignore that. That won't get any hearing in the court of G-d. You are going to have to answer for yourself. G-d is going to say, "Well, what did your common sense tell you? Say, "Well, my common sense told me I should have done this, G-d" "To the hell fire you gone." In my conclusion, we have to stop thinking of ourselves as just religious. We have to stop thinking of ourselves as people who have been made Muslims to read the Qur'an, to pray the Jumu'ah prayer and the other prayers, to do dhikrs, to do hajj, to perform the rites and rituals. We have to stop thinking of ourselves as people in that limited focus. G-d has given us the picture of ourselves that He want for us. G-d did not say you are a priestly order. There's no priestly order in Islam.
There's no clergy really. Technically speaking, there's no clergy. No one has to go to anybody to be made an Imam or to be made a teacher of Islam. All you have to do is go to the sources of knowledge, the pure sources of knowledge for Islam, study those sources and qualify yourself with the help of others or without their help. And once you are qualified, whether with their help or without, the Muslims are supposed to recognize your qualification and none of us are to question whether you should be our teacher, or question whether you should lead the Jumu'ah prayer If the people want you there, saying "Who was your teacher? We don't care who your teacher was.
The proof is what you have learned and that you got it from the Qur'an and Muhammad's life. That's the proof. The proof is not who taught you or what school you went to. No. So we have no clergy, we have no priesthood and no clergy in Islam. Really, technically speaking, anyone can aspire to leadership. And sisters, this is your day. It is not your day because, it's not your day because we don't deserve it. It's your day because you deserve it more than we deserve it. You are the last to get your rights. You're the last to get your freedom, and you have done a great service to mankind as mothers and as advisors to little people and big people, to the poor man who does nothing but go in the field and gather what he planted. And you've given good advice, your good advice to Presidents, Kings. You've helped save the world, but you didn't get your due credit until here recently in the history of mankind. So this is your day and it's only our day brother if we support them. You want to get our day back? Support our women, support our learned women. One brother told me, he said, "Yeah, brother Imam, he said, I support what you're saying." I gave similar requests. I made a similar request to another audience here recently. And the brother said, "I'll walk beside them, Brother Imam."
I say, but will you walk behind them? Will you let a female take the lead and you follow females. Sisters? I'm prepared to follow a female. I'm prepared to follow a female. It is my pleasure to follow a female leader. And believe me, the kind of time that I'm reading tells me that the likelihood of a brother succeeding me in the leadership is much less than the likelihood of a sister succeeding me in the leadership. I know that's disappointing to a lot of you. What do I mean by that? What is my leadership? Is my leadership Imam WD Muhammad, leading Jumu'ah prayer? No, we all are Imams now. Many of us are equally qualified to lead Jumu'ah prayer. My leadership is my rational perception and my moral stance. My rational perception and my moral stance. That's my leadership. My leadership is my ability to point to the things that are more important in Islam so that we won't be busying ourselves with things of less importance and remain weak and unfit for the competition in the world with other communities.
That's my leadership. Some of these sisters may have that better than you. Some of these sisters may be turned on to that more so than you. I find most of you brothers are not turned on to that. You are turned on to formality, regimentation, rote, rote action rather than thinking. You are looking for something moving and you would jump in line with it. These sisters are looking for something digging, and they'll get a tool and dig with it. That's the difference. Now really, you are amazed to dig, but most of you all don't dig. You just go with the flow. You go with the flow of things.
And I believe that's why G-d says that male is not like a female. "Lai thakaru an unta" And thakaru means he uses his thinking. He thinks. He remembers the name of his Lord and he prays. So thakara is the ability to think and recall, to think and recall. And G-d says, "And this male is not like a female." So it's telling us that it's typical of men to think and recall and work things out. That's typical of men. Why? Because females were kept home because of their physiology. They have to be tied up nine months carrying a baby and then tied up for months more until that baby is weaned from them. So they're tied up at home. You are free to go out in the field and you go out in the field, you see much more than she sees. So your thinking is bombarded with so many more things that her brain is bombarded with. So you became the thinker for her, the thinker for her. So G-d wants you to know that you are not the thinker because she can't think. You are the thinker because you are put in the situation that favored you thinking more than her situation favored her thinking. That's why G-d revealed "And the thinking men and the thinking women."
Yes, "Wa thakarati" sisters. "And the thinking women." Allahu Akbar. So this old world has targeted the world of sin, lies, corruption, oppression. Has targeted the males to kill us off. And they're arrows of corruption, sinful, enticement, drugs and everything else that they fired at us. Vanity, has fired at us. So we have been their targets and they fired at us and ignored our women, left our women. Just as it's given in the scriptures before "And they killed off their men and saved their women alive." So the same thing has happened in this time of this great wave of corruption that has swept over the whole world now. It has taken our men down and our hope is in our women.
Not that we are going to give it up, sister, we are not going to give it up. I'm not telling the brothers to give up anything. You're going to get it by proving yourself more qualified than the brothers. That's the only way to get it. You're going to get it in the competition and it should be a competition of believers, competition of brothers and sisters, a competition involving lovers of each other. Yes, we believe in G-d, we believe in Muhammad. We trust our brothers and sisters and we love our brothers and sisters. And that should be the spirit of our competition. And if you excel and you become the one that this community recognizes, having the best ability to articulate, to speak the wisdom, the knowledge, and to guide us and to lead us into the future, I'm telling these brothers, if you don't accept her, Allah is going to cut you out of it. If G-d give us a female leader and you don't accept her, G-d is going to cut you out of it and she'll have plenty followers without you. Yes, I'm telling you that, I'm warning you. Praise be to Allah. Don't think that Islam, the society of Islam is a society left for the males to manage only. No, that's wrong thinking.
I don't believe there's another follower of Muhammad the Prophet, Peace be Upon him that has contributed as much as Aisha has contributed to the understanding of Islam and to the understanding of the Prophet. Aisha, a woman, his wife after Kadija, his wife, may G-d be pleased with her. So let's remember those things. And even scholars now because of tradition, the Muslim scholars now, they have no prejudice or no hesitation to accept what is given as guidance or understanding from Aisha the female. May G-d be pleased with her. No, no problem at all. And that's the way it should be. It should be understood too. We should make note of the fact that India, Pakistan, pardon me, voted a female into the Presidency and probably will do it again. And there are other Muslim nations that have voted females into the Presidency. So if the man is a Khalifa and females are not to be the head of state, then we ought to go to these countries and ask them on what Qur'anic basis or what Islamic ground did you all select a female to be your leader of your nation? We should ask them that. But I think your good common sense checks you. Thank G-d for good common sense.
G-d says to us, in addition to telling us, He completed, perfected and completed the religion for us and preferred it for us. In addition to that, He tells us that we are a community. So we don't have to ask, have to guess about what we are. Allah has said clearly to us what we are. Are we prayer rug sellers? Have G-d giving us this religion for us to sell prayer rugs to the world? Have G-d made us merchants of merchandise, goods, economics, whatever? Have G-d made us activists to challenge nations, governments and their ideas? No. Perhaps G-d have done all that when He said to us "You, are the best of communities evolved or raised up for the benefit of all people." So G-d tells us what He made us. G-d made us a community.
That means that I cannot fulfill the requirements of my religion. I cannot answer completely what my religion ask of me until or unless I am devoted to community and serving the betterment of community life for human beings. Because that's what G-d says He made us. "You are the best of communities brought out or evolved for the good of all people, for the good of all people." If we concentrate now on building our community life, we will bring out the best in all of us. Whatever I want to become in my individual life with my personal aspirations, I have to become that with given the opportunities for me in society. So now, if I have an effort going for me and all the people that are with me in my faith are obligated to support that effort. And that effort is to make a society performing that will invite my best contributions, that will welcome my best contributions.
Look how the circumstance has been made so beautiful for me now to live the fullest of my personal aspirations. To live my personal aspirations to the fullest. It's not the same if I give up this obligation to support Islamic community life and I be satisfied just to let Jews or Christians or others design the public for me, the public scene for me. So when I go to the public scene to be employed naturally it's not as accommodating. It's not as open, it's not as inviting. It's not as welcoming as it would be if it was an Islamic public. Well, how can you have an Islamic public in a nation that's not Islamic? I can have it because in the United States of America, the nature of the society is quite different from what it is in practically the whole world all over any place else in the world. In this society, everybody has a right to influence the life of the public and to shape the life of the public and design the life of the public.
Everybody has this right. This is a right of freedom and I don't think most of us have nearly perceived what freedom is in America. I don't think we have. We think of freedom from slavery, but we don't think of freedom as free people. What about freedom as free people? The freedom of the free, that's the real freedom. The freedom of the slave is a little freedom, a small freedom, but the freedom of the free is a big freedom. And now we are not slaves anymore. We are the free. So we should study what is the freedom of the free. The freedom of the free in America is the right to challenge the Constitution of the United States. And if you can get enough support from the citizens of the United States to rewrite a Constitution for this land, the provision for you to do that is already given in the Constitution of these United States.
What is freedom of the free in these United States? It's the freedom to design a new way of life if we want to for the people of this country. And if we can convince the intelligent decent majority that this will be good for America, we can change the shape and nature of the whole society if we want. Never have an idea that have been created or envisioned, that permits man to do as much with his own life as the Qur'an and second to the Qur'an, the idea of the Founding Fathers for this new world society we call America. So let us wake up. It's time to wake up. Wake up! Here I am the son of a man who got no more education than three grade school years in the south, in the work fields of Georgia. He was born in Sandersville, Georgia. Here I am the son of that man and the son of a mother who only got seven years elementary school education.
My mother Clara told me with her own mouth, she said, "Son, I really wanted to finish the elementary school, she said, but my parents took me out of school and put me in the fields before I could finish elementary school." She wasn't dumb. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wasn't dumb, he wasn't retarded. He wasn't a thickheaded person. He was a brilliant man, brilliant man. He could have become a doctor of law or doctor of politics or whatever. He could have got his doctorate degree in many fields of knowledge or science if he had been favored with the opportunity. I know that because I knew his mental ability. I sat at the table with him and I saw what he could do with his mind. I knew he had exceptional mental ability. He could have been that, but he wasn't. I'm the son of that man, the son of that man and the son of that woman. And I have been given audience with some of the greatest, the biggest people on this earth. Not given an audience because I asked for it. Given an audience because they heard about me and valued what has happened in my life so much that they wanted me to come and be in their castle. They wanted me in their President's quarters. They wanted me there.
That's no ordinary thing. That's no ordinary thing. Here I am now free to go with the heads of states, to be in that company, be accorded the respect that they are accorded, to have your voice heard through me at the round table of the best minds in this society. That's no ordinary thing that has happened. So that should tell you that you have been blessed and you should not look back, except to appreciate where you are more. That's the only way I look back. If I look back, I'm looking back to appreciate where I am a little more. I'm looking back to say thank you for aiding me to get where I am now. That's the only reason I'm looking back. I'm not looking back to go back. I'm not looking back to worship what's back there. No, what's before me is so much bigger than that.
The light ahead of me, in front of me is so much brighter than the light behind me. But certainly I'm grateful as Allah says, "And be grateful to G-d. And be grateful to your parents, to your mother who bore you through feigning and feigning." Feigning after feigning and then wean you from her in two years, huh? Be grateful to your parents and grateful to G-d. I'm grateful. I'm grateful to G-d and I'm grateful to my parents. And I live with my parents in spirit all the time. Yes, all the time. I live with memories of my mother. That's what I mean. My spirit wants me to live with memories of my mother. I live with memories of my mother. I can't go in the kitchen and cook anything. I love to cook. I can't cook without thinking of my mother. And when I'm cooking. I thank my mother.
I say, thank you mama. I say I love my mother. I say, "Oh Allah, forgive her for whatever she was guilty of or wrong and have Mercy on her and cause her to enter the paradise. Oh, you who are Most Merciful of all that is Merciful. The best of all Creators." That's what I think. I'm saying that often in the day. I cook, I'll be saying that. I remember my mother and when I remember my mother, I start to think, I imagine that my father might be getting a little jealous. So I will say the same for him too. Yes, knowing him if there's any way to break into the gates, he'd break into the gates.
But my mother would wait to be invited. Now, dear brothers and sisters, can't you see that I have finished my subject? I'll explain it to you. If you establish the model Muslim life as a community model, as a community model, that means you have to have brothers and sisters living next door to each other. Muslims living next door to each other with stores to support their needs, their consumer needs, with some manufacturing going on somewhere to provide consumer goods. With some access to overseas factories so you can import things and compete with this market because this market is a one world market now. You can't get anywhere just having U.S. made stuff. You're not going to go anywhere with that. So you need all of this for growing more Ummah, expanding the life of the Ummah. That's what you are here obligated to do.
And that means you are obligated to have role and responsibility for public life as well as private, private life. Who's going to have it? You mean to tell me we African Americans going to say we have no right to be responsible for the public life and let everybody else come in here just yesterday. They hardly know how to speak to us in English and they're getting a piece of the public life and deciding what you going to do in this public sphere here. They deciding with their money, with their investments. But you tell me we ain't going to have the rights? Something is terribly wrong with our thinking if that's our thinking. But I don't think it is. I'm trusting your good common sense. Peace. Let's build a great society. And if we build a great Muslim society, taking responsibility for a part of the public scene and build a great Muslim society here in America, it will be the best and most powerful dawah that the world has seen since the time of Muhammad the Prophet himself on this earth.
Peace and blessing be Upon him. Yes, it will. It be more powerful than the picture of hajj with 2 million or 3 million people going to hajj from all over the world, making hajj there. Showing that picture on TV and then showing us having established model community life, have proven that we can be responsible for providing public life for people. That will convince people high and low. And the message will go so far and broad that people will come just to see us and they will marvel over what G-d has done because it will be G-d's miracle. When it happens, it's going to be G-d's miracle. Yes, they will marvel and big shots will come and take their Shahada right in our little quarters, right in our shop. He might say, "Yes, I want to buy this, but who can tell me how to become a Muslim? Yes. You talking about tourist attraction, there'll be no tourist attraction greater than ours. And it is in our people's spirit and soul to have this.
You remember Soul City? That's proof that our people want it. He didn't want just a storefront. He wanted a city, called it Soul City. It didn't work. Wasn't because it was wrong. It was because it was not time and the Muslims were not in the forefront of it. I say in the forefront of it. Why I say that? Because we are going to welcome Christians to be our neighbors. We don't want to put them out. We welcome them to live next door to us. If they can stand to hear the adhan, like I stand to hear church bells ring on 61st and Michigan. We lived at 61 16 Michigan. There was a big Catholic church on one corner and a big Presbyterian church on the other corner and they both would be ringing out sometimes and it sounded like they were in a concert. Yeah, because one bell ring, they rang differently. They didn't ring the same. One was "ding, ding" Another was "dong, dong."
So every day I heard that concert going on. So if they can live with the adhan next door to them like I live with the church bells, welcome. And we'll treat them just like we treat each other. We give them the same breaks. We'll remember what G-d says in the Qur'an. Don't say sell you won't sell to these people because they're not of your faith and say, I have no obligation to be fair with them because they're not Muslims. Thank you very much. And this will be the greatest dialogue too. We used to have the Christian dialogue with the Christian dialogue with the Jews. You want to really have powerful dialogue with them brothers and sisters? Let us build the nucleus for an Islamic model public community life. Thank you very much. Peace. May G-d forgive us our errors, increase us in knowledge and the right guidance. Without His guidance, there is no guidance for us. Have mercy on us, our Lord, Ameen.
For more on the Ministry of W Deen Mohammed, Muslim American Spokesman, call 1 7 0 8 7 9 8 6 7 5 0. Or write Post Office box 10 61, Calumet City, Illinois 6 0 4 0 9. For WDM publications. Call 1 7 0 8 8 6 2 7 7 3 3. Or write Post Office box 1944, Calumet City, Illinois, 6 0 4 0 9. For Muslim Journals, see local distributor and thanks for listening.



