02/21/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Heritage and Horizon - Carbondale Civic Center - Carbondal IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

This is the national public broadcast of IWDM, Muslim American spokesman. The following lecture, titled Heritage and Horizon, the African American Legacy and Challenge for the 21st Century was recorded at the Carbondale Civic Center, Monday, February 21, in the year 2000. The lecturer, IWDM, Muslim American spokesman.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We praise G-d. Thank you for your warm welcome. You know our prophet, the Prophet of Islam, said, "Everyone is born, conforming to what G-d wills for their life, for the child or for the life of the person, until we're put in circumstances or an environment that changes us." And we, originally, according to our faith, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, according to these three kindred faiths, we originally were created in Heaven. We were heavenly creatures, heavenly human beings. And, any time you want to see a human being straight from Heaven, just go to any hospital that has deliveries there, and go to the Delivery Room, where they have the newborn babies, and you'll see all the human beings straight from Heaven, straight from Heaven. Not a one of them born with an evil intent. Not a one of them will reject your kindness, your love, your affection. If the mother is not found any good lady to be the mother of those children, children straight from Heaven, human beings straight from Heaven. We believe that. We know what G-d has revealed, and we know what the Prophet has said. Prayers and peace be upon him. That's the traditional salute to our prophet Muhammad prayers and peace be upon him.

And we know what we witness every time G-d blesses one of our mothers to have a newborn baby. We witness a child from Heaven, given to us into our care. Unfortunately, the world is not that good, and the environment is risky. And sometimes, we can have a heavenly situation in our home, but the child can't stay in the home always. The child has to, one day, go out in the streets, go out and meet other children, and play with other children. And the test will be there. And few of us are fortunate to keep that good heavenly soul and heavenly nature. We lose it to this world, or the cost of this world.

This is Black History Month, African American History Month. And the theme that you have here is a wonderful theme. I like it very much. In fact, I've been, I think, in that groove since I can remember. Thinking about our life as African Americans, where we came from, Africa, our circumstances on this continent, and our freedom from those bad circumstances. How to arrive at the gate of freedom. And, since then, I have seen some great changes in the environment. The environment now, it's not harsh like it used to be. It welcomes our good intentions. Our good aspirations are welcomed by most of the good people of this land, and not only that. It is encouraged by our government, and by the good people of this land. We're encouraged to take advantage of opportunities that we have now, with slavery gone, and Jim Crow days gone, Jim Crow laws gone. We're encouraged to take advantage of opportunities that are available to all citizens of this country, not to one and not favoring the other, but to all the citizens of this country. And that's exactly what we wanted. We wanted no more than that, than an opportunity to live under just law, a law that would be justice for us, justice for us, and justice for all American people.

However, it's not as simple as that. The extent to which you have been depreciated, as a people, leaves a lot of work for us to do ourselves. We can expect legislation, our congressmen, our senators, our president to make our life a satisfying life for us. Our hearts beat inside of our own dress. Our souls are inside of us. And our minds should be our own minds, and we thus know we should be the ones who thus know what we should be doing with our life, to make it the life we want it to be.

We still need group awareness. We are not, yet, comfortable in our souls, as a group. We're still troubled in our souls, as a people. And we confuse this trouble with the history of our life on this continent. We can blame a lot of it on the past, say, "Well, I'm miserable because I was enslaved on this continent. I'm miserable because I was discriminated against on this continent." But are you enslaved now? Are you discriminated against now, by the government, by the law of the land? If so... Or by an institution? Institutional racism, we are told, exists... Or by an institution? If so, let's keep fighting, and we have something, now, to fight with. We have the same tool and instrument that all citizens have, and that's the Constitution of these United States, the laws and courts of this great land. So let us use those instruments. Let us use those tools, if we have a just complaint.

But if we don't have a just complaint against the society, against the government, or against institutions of this land, let us search our own selves. Let us search our own minds. Let us search our own souls. Let us search our history, and see have we kept with the best, or have we deviated? Have we departed from the best?

The greatest legacy we have is the legacy of innocence. The slaves were not guilty. They were innocent. So, they pleaded to a G-d, a G-d of justice, the One Who made the heavens and the earth, and all people. They pleaded to that G-d to rescue them from harsh, insensitive slave masters, and to free us so we'd be free to have the opportunities in this land with all other people. That was our prayer, and we followed leaders of that mind and that spirit. We followed them. The whole country, the worst of the boys on the street. I remember. I was a boy on these streets, streets of these cities of the United States. Chicago is where I spent most of my life. I was a boy, and I remember how bad some of the boys were.

Some of the boys would steal. Some of the boys would fight. Some of the boys had nothing but bad language, curse words on their tongues, all the time. But, if someone would speak in the name of a parent, or speak in the Name of G-d, that boy would, right away, come to a different mind and show shame on his face for behaving that way.

G-d, if nothing else, should shame us, reminding that our parents wouldn't like to see us behave that way on the streets, would shame us, no matter how bad we were. But, somehow, we lost that, somewhere, in our travel from a bad past. A bad path to a good future. We lost that.

We were, once, a people like the people called Hebrews of the Bible, who were enslaved by the Egyptians, a bad Pharaoh, a bad ruler, and they wanted their life to be free as other people. And they cried out to a G-d of justice. The Lord creator of the heavens and the earth to send them a liberator to free them from the hard taskmaster, and G-d heard them. We, before even we had an opportunity to be in the churches of America, or this land... While we were, yet, slaves, before we had the opportunity to even read the Bible, openly. It is recorded in our history, in Black history, and in the history of America, that slaves could be heard quoting Bible, singing songs that they had made up themselves, based upon the idea of truth, righteousness, and justice, and Christianity. They were singing songs and believing that, yes, G-d is a G-d of justice. There was divine rule, and divine rule will outlive this unjust rule over us. And, one day, we'll be delivered. That was their hope. That was their belief, and we left that. We left that.

We didn't leave it all at once. We gradually left it. The big tearing away from that kind of consciousness began in the '60s. A new mind began to develop in the youth, the young men. Then later, it filtered into all of the homes and all of the people. A mind of Black militancy, Black militancy. We were better off when we didn't know what black meant. We were calling ourselves Negro. Negro means black in Spanish. That's what it means, black. But we didn't really take on a different name. We just took on English for Spanish. Negro means black. That's exactly what it means.

So, when we didn't know what the black meant, or wasn't hung up on black, look like we fared better. So, we became really color-conscious people in the '60s, too color conscious, so color conscious that we left human consciousness. The great majority left human consciousness, and human consciousness is what you were when you were in Heaven. When you were in Heaven, you had human consciousness. The baby that's born a new human being has nothing but human consciousness. That's why it's in Heaven, because it has nothing but human consciousness. And we lost it.

So, what is the great legacy for us? The legacy is the legacy of hope in G-d. That's what our great legacy is. That's what sustained us, during slavery, and during a hundred years of lynching, and two laws, one discriminating against us, one that sustained us. The belief that there's a G-d of justice that loved us all, and He is going to work things out for us in His time. That's what we believed. But we didn't have the saying in Islam. I'm sure there's a similar saying in Christianity and Judaism. We didn't have the saying in Islam. Trust G-d, but tie your camel.

But I think some of our great leaders had that kind of thinking. Frederick Douglass did. He trusted G-d, but he was doing something about the bad conditions. He had a good slave master, who permitted him to educate himself. He helped Frederick Douglass find good books for him to read. He had to educate himself, and master, his good master, as history tells us got into financial trouble and had to give up Frederick Douglass. And, to get money, he had to sell him, and he sold him to another white man. Unfortunate for Frederick Douglass, that white man was not a good slave master. He was a mean slave master.

So, history tells us that, one day... The story of Frederick Douglass tells us that, one day, his master was treating him mean, and they were out on the road, standing on the roadside. And he hit him and knocked him out, and ran away, and never came back to a land of slavery. He went up the east coast, around Boston area, there. And he was free, and he began to work, became a great statesman, not only recognized in our country, but recognized in Europe. Great statesman, great man. And what did he say to shame America? He said, "You claim to be a Christian country, a Christ-like people." He said, "And you claim democracy, but your behavior, as a people, would shame a nation of savages." That's what Frederick Douglass said.
So, what was Frederick Douglass' method? What was his method? His method was not to be confrontational in a very negative way, but to be confrontational in a very positive way. His method was to appeal to the good that was already in this land, and show the people of this land that slavery is far away from the high ideas and the high morals that you claim, and to bring your life to be reconciled, you have to give up the slaves. He made that appeal to them. He was not alone. He had the abolitionists, white, and I'm sure some Jews... I know, some Jews among them, Christians, Quakers, and others, working to put an end to what the Encyclopedia Britannica called, quote, "the superior institution of slavery," superior, end quote.
Why is it called superior? Because there's none other like it in the history of man. So, I return to what I said earlier, that we have more work to do, and that work cannot be done by other than ourselves. We have a legacy of faith in G-d and hope in G-d, a G-d of justice. But we also have a legacy of struggle to become the human beings that G-d created us to be. No one is going to join us in that, because they can't identify with us in that, like we can identify with each other in that.

We still need African American leadership. But we don't need leaders who are demagogues. We don't need leaders who are pushing buttons of our emotions, who prey on our emotions. We don't need such leaders. We need leaders to talk quietly and soberly to us, to speak to our intelligence, to speak to our higher aspirations, to speak to our human content. Those are the leaders that we need. We once had them. We need more of them today.

One poetic writer, African American writer, I read these words of his, and I said to myself, "If I found nothing but these words, the book is worth the price." And the time I spent trying to read it was also worth it. Paid back, in full. What was his statement? Maybe it won't strike you like it struck me. He said, "Seems that, somewhere along the way..." Along what way? The path of his struggle out of darkness into the light, out of ignorance into good thinking, out of misery into peasant life, out of enslavement into freedom." He said, "Seems that, somewhere along the way, I got separated from my social responsibility." Social responsibility... What separated us, as a people, from our social responsibility?

And you only have to go to our neighborhoods. Look at our population in America to see that we are more afraid from our social responsibility than any other people in this land, including the American Indians, who are much worse off than we are, materially speaking, and maybe in many other ways. They are much worse off than we are. But, as a people who have a spirituality of their own, as a people who have a hope of their own, they are much better off than we are, because something could happen.

There could be a great catastrophe on this earth, and Indians will be prepared to survive. But, in fact, a great catastrophe has already happened on this earth, and we are not prepared to survive, not as a people. The proof of that is, look at our numbers in jail. You may say there's an unjust law. If there's an unjust law that's just aimed at us, how are they catching us? It's catching us outside of the law. That's how it's catching us, stealing, speeding, raising hell, killing each other.

So, we're the people who are farthest away from our social responsibility. Social responsibility is not socializing for fun, not merely socializing for fun. Social responsibility is having a good family, socializing with members of your own family, having quality time at home, sitting down at a table, enjoying each other’s company, eating a meal, getting up in the morning, feeling good and happy, and seeing your mother. Said, "Good morning, Momma," and your father, "Good morning, Daddy," if he's there. Social responsibility left. Maybe Daddy's not at home anymore. But if he's there... Maybe Momma ain't there anymore. I don't know. But, if he's there, "Good morning, Daddy," and to your brother, "Good morning, James," or whatever his name is, or Rahman, "good morning," to your sister, "Good morning, Thelma," or whatever her name may be. Yes, that's family. That is family, and that's social responsibility. You have a social responsibility, firstly, to your own family, to be a good social unit, to be a healthy social unit, the unit upon which around which all other units have been built, and upon which all other units of society have been built, family, number one unit for the development of civilized order. Family. But we have not only departed from that social responsibility. We have departed, also, from community responsibility.

We have a social responsibility to our community, to realize that we are a social community. The neighborhood is your social neighborhood, and you should care about how you feel towards your neighbor. You should care about your relationship with your neighbor, and with the neighbor next to that neighbor, the block next to the block, the whole area that identifies you, you should care about it. You should care about it first. Maybe there's another area on the border of your area. Maybe it's Puerto Ricans. Maybe it's Haitian, or whatever it is, but it's not you. Your first obligation is to you and yourself. And your identity is not just in you.

People don't see you. They don't know you. Most people don't know you. Maybe 50 people know you. But five billion people know of you. Five billion people know of you, and they have a picture of you, that they get from the news, television, newspapers, magazines. So, they've got a picture of you. Don't you want to have them see a good picture of you? I know I want them to see a good picture of me. Why? Because I'm kind of selfish. I know I'm a pretty good buy. I know I'm not racist. I know I wouldn't treat any human being unjustly. I would be kind to any human being if that human being permits me to. And I will give them justice if they don't permit me to, if they stand in my way.

I'm not sheepish. I'm not a coward, and I'm not so sentimental that I'll excuse bad treatment meted out to me. No. That's not me. I'm strongly moral conscious person, strongly moral conscious person. And I believe that, that's the bravest person in the world. The more you become morally committed, and the more moral conscious you become, the braver you become as a human being, and your bravery is not a bravery that shows itself off. You go humbly from the land, as G-d said. And the believers are those that walk humbly in the land, and when they meet those who prefer ignorance, they say to them, "Sit down," and keep going, "Peace," and keep going in their way. Yes, humble people, not looking for fight. But I repeat, if you will build your moral muscles up, nobody will be looking for you to push you over. Nobody will want to fight you, and they will know that your goodness is not a weakness. But don't let your moral life become so sentimental that it doesn't look moral anymore. It looks sentimental. I hope you're understanding me.

This is the family that you have to keep, as a human being. Keep your family. Be good, but be firm. Be firm. And I believe this is the legacy the best that our people have passed down to us, is the belief in a G-d of justice, and a determination to work for the betterment of the whole lot of our people, and not for our own individual selves and our own families, selfishly, which ignoring or putting a deaf ear to the cries and to the ugliness and to the shamefulness and to the ignorance and self-destruction of our people in the streets of these great big cities.

So, dear people, my appeal to you, today, is to follow the best of our tradition, as a people, our history. Follow the best of it. Take it in this month of Black history. Search that history again, and return to the noble position and noble cause and noble aspirations that were passed on to us by great forerunners, like Frederick Douglass and many others, many others that I could name today. Dr. King. Yes.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., yes, he lived with the fear of G-d in him and a faith in G-d, faith that G-d was on our side, and he had the courage to challenge laws that were not just. He had the courage to fight for the betterment of his people, and not only his people. I'm sure Dr. Martin Luther King had, in mind, all people. But it so happened that we were the ones who were in the spotlight, on the stage, in focus, because of our peculiar situation, as a people in this great society. May G-d guide us to the truth, guide us to the way that will bring us to have satisfaction in our souls. Amen. Amin, as we say. Amin. G-d, forgive us our errors and our sins and guide us always. Amin.
Speaker 1:
As-Salaam Alaikum. We'll have a few questions for about 15 minutes, from the audience. Please just stand and state your question, and Imam Mohammed will do his best to answer those questions, during this period.
Speaker 3:
I wanted to talk to Imam about [...]
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes, I guess all of us, especially parents, and I have been blessed to have five children, and I've also been blessed to be tested by a couple of our children. It's a blessing, too, to be tested. It makes you understand other parents who are having similar problems. It makes you sympathize with them. It makes you want to do more for society. You realize that it's not just a family problem, a problem for the society. So, G-d helps us in mysterious ways. They say G-d acts in mysterious ways. G-d helps us in mysterious ways.
Yes, I think the best way to deal with... They'll have different kinds of teenagers, coming from different molds that mold them into the shape they're in. But I'm going to answer the question with the typical street youngster in mind. The typical street youngster is a youngster who's aware of gangs and either belonging to a gang or aware of gangs. They're either giving their life to criminal activity or they're giving their life to pop culture, the popular culture of the time.
I think that it's a problem for the field of psychiatry. It is. It's really a problem for the field of psychiatry. But most spiritual leaders, they are mental doctors, mental doctors, doctor who doctor on the minds of people. I would say, if we could give children... It's not a job, those who are of age to work... Many of them are of age to work, and they want a job that will pay them, and they look at their friends who are doing things that, maybe, they can't do, for one reason or another, and criminal things, and they're having spending money, and a lot of spending money, cash to spend. And they don't want to work at McDonald's or Burger King because their expectations have been lifted so high by what comes on television.
The average youngster showed on television, if he is pleasant and enjoying his life, he has money. He has money. And if he doesn't have money, he's miserable or in trouble. That's what we see on television. So, we have to find some way to make the expectations of these youngsters real. Expectations are not real.
The media, television, gives us an artificial reality, and makes us think that all of us, not intentionally is television doing this, but television is putting this picture before people who can't handle it. They can't handle it. They don't have the religious knowledge to handle it, and they don't have the education to handle it. It's too much for them. And this is not something that we can say, "Oh, well, how come it's too much for them? They should be able to handle it." No, they shouldn't be able to handle it. G-d says... in our religion, says, "This creation is a bigger creation than you," speaking to man. The creation of this material world is a bigger creation than man. What is G-d saying? You cannot handle... "You cannot manage this material world without Me."
G-d is the only reality that's bigger than this material reality. So, "You can't handle this reality without Me." That's what G-d's saying to us, which is revelation, that this material world is a bigger creation man.
Then, in social studies, we learn that the super ego is bigger than the ego. The ego is your own individual psyche, perception, et cetera. The super ego is your individual mind, made over by the world, the popular culture, to be direct, made over by the popular culture. But this popular culture is a stronger influence than your little mind. You can't handle it. It can make you spin on your head. We used to say that, but now we're seeing that. Over the last 20 years, we've seen them spin on their heads.
When I was a boy, nobody ever saw it. We just said it. "Yeah, you keep messing with that girl, man, she going to have you spinning on your head." And now we've lived to see the popular culture just spin them on their heads. So, it's too much for you, too much for you.

Another thing that we should realize is that G-d made all males to believe in male organizations, male organizations. You need to have hope of, one day, being part of an organization of men for some great cause, if it's nothing but improving housing in your neighborhood, or joining the Army or the Navy or the Air Force, or something. You can have hopes of, one day, joining men and being a part of a male organization for improving life for mankind, on this earth.
For us... I know you didn't ask for all this. Say, "Oh yes, of course, now he's giving a..." Yes, I am. This is very important to me. If that man would sit there, I'll be talking while all of you all are gone. If they let the lights stay on, Brother, I'll be answering your question. This is very extremely important.
The Nation of Islam, that I came out of because I couldn't be satisfied with the idea of G-d and the idea of reality, the myth of origins of things, man and all, was too much on my mind, too much of a burden. I had to disagree with it. When I disagreed with it, I was put out of the organization. But don't think that I dislike it and that I don't really have attachments to the Nation of Islam. I have strong attachments to the Nation of Islam, because the Nation of Islam didn't only give me that burden on my mind that really helped to frame me. It was a negative that worked a positive in us.
If you're goodhearted, good minded, good intentioned, it will work a positive in you. What it does is it kills everything else that you had before. The new myths from the Nation of Islam kills the myths you had before, and it puts you in the position that, once you free yourself from the last myth put on you, you will be free indeed.
I used to read the Bible. I said, "That's ridiculous." I said, "What is this? Here a holy man in the Bible, finding a man that can't see, and then take mud and put on that man's eyes." The man was already in bad enough condition and couldn't see. And then you take mud and put on his eyes. But, the Bible says, after He put the mud on his eyes, he regained his sight.
Yes, so I was in the Nation of Islam, and I had sense of my own manhood. I was a junior fruit, fruit F-R-U-I-T, not fruity. Some of us became fruity, but I was a junior fruit, belonging to the Nation of Islam... I think I was about 11 or 12 when I joined the Junior Fruit. I was so proud when I got my adult number, 58. That was my number. 58. The secretary gave me that number one night. I attended the temple. She said, "Well, you're of age now." Said, "Here's your number." She said, "58." I said, "Thank you." I was so proud of it. I belonged to the militant unit of the men, called the Fruit of Islam, in the Nation of Islam.
I am the person I am today, in great part, because of my being a member of the Nation of Islam, a member of the militant unit of men in the Nation of Islam. I have male aspirations, but I don't think myself superior to a woman. But I have male aspirations, and I want my children, males, to have male aspirations. And I want my daughters, the females, to have female aspirations. And I want all of them to have, on top of that, and above that, and more important than that, I want them to have human aspirations.
But let us not overlook the importance of militancy for males. Males need a militancy, and they need organizations. They need to belong to organizations, and they need to feel that they have opportunities to exercise their manhood and their need, in them, to be militant.
Booker T. Washington understood that. He built us cities, the school to train, to educate youngsters in vocational studies. But he also had drills, military drills. He knew that military drill would help discipline and give a sense of order and obedience to the minds of youngsters that the streets offered nothing to, but disunity, disharmony, a fragmented reality. And he wanted to condition them with education, and if their minds be in unity, they could learn more. If their minds be organized to respect authority, and orders given to them, they could learn more. The man was a great man.
The man that built the Nation of Islam borrowed from Booker T. Washington. I don't have time to tell you all of the story. But he also borrowed from Marcus Garvey. He borrowed from Noble Drew Ali. He borrowed from Father Divine. He borrowed from a lot of... And he put something together, and made it very powerful. He called it magnetism. Very, very powerful, to attract Blacks to it. Farrakhan now, is a very powerful, magnetic speaker. Powerful, magnetism, Farrakhan has, it’s because of his training and teaching in the Nation of Islam. So, we need that, very much, Brother.
So, if you can... If you are helping... I believe you are. If you're working with youngsters, understand that they need to belong to organizations, male organizations. They need to have discipline and order in their life and, sometimes, you can't bring the Bible or the Qur'an or the Torah into their life. But you can bring drills, military drills into their life. And if they drill long enough, and you talk to them positively, as I'm sure you're doing, it will help organize their souls. Not only their minds, but their souls will be touched by the new orientation, and they'll start to feel more comfortable in their souls. That's my advice to you. Thank you. Peace. All right. You have some more questions. I thought I silenced everybody with that question. Yes, Brother. Wa Alaikum As-Salaam.
Speaker 4:
[...]
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes. Yes. Yes. I don't know how many of you all are aware of Minister Farrakhan's most recent statement that he made to the public. But I'm convinced that this last statement of his is a very sincere, expresses his sincerity, and I don't think he's ever going to turn back on his statement. And his statement permits us to embrace him as a Muslim brother, and that's what I have done. As far as I'm concerned, he's a Muslim with all the rest of us. He's no different than all the rest of us. We love him. We loved him, even when he was different. But we couldn't say it. Now, we can say it. We love him very much, and we're going to be with him.
We're joining him for Saviour's Day on the 27th, and we're joining him, also, for Friday Jumah prayers, at the McCormick Place in Chicago, and then for Family Day observance, that evening. I think it's around six or 7:00, somewhere around there. And, as I said, on Sunday, we'll be joining him to hear his Saviour's Day address. And he has invited me to have something to say also. I will have comments. I have some of my close friends and relatives. They say, "Well, you're going to speak, too, aren't you?" I said, "Yes." "Well, you're going to tell it right. You're going to put it straight." I said, "No." I said, "No." I said, "I'm going to listen to him tell it right and put it straight." I said, "I'm going to just be there for a few supporting comments." Thank you As-Salaam Alaikum.
The women's role in Islam is really a very hot... pardon me... issue for the faces in Islam today, the scholars in Islam, today. And we have one scholar, who I think that may be more popular than any other on that particular question. His name is... He's from Sudan. He's from Sudan, and he's a very popular scholar. His name... I've got it on the tip of my tongue, but I can't say it right now. This issue is to be solved by the Qur'an, for Muslims. And G-d says, in our holy book, that He made us from one self or person, one soul, or one self or person, (Arabic), which means one soul or one person. And He caused that soul, or that person, to become two, male and female. So that tells us that, in Islam, male and female are of one soul, one soul, one human type. And that means intellect, emotionality, everything, everything. We're the same. But then He caused them to mate each other. That's the biological, the physiological, the biological. And that's what makes the difference.
As far as the opportunities to lead and guide our world to contribute to the betterment of our world, to the disuse of this world, a real Muslim scholar, understanding the Qur'an, will not stand in the way of women, but will be out there supporting women, to go farther in the world. Go ahead of us, if you can. We'll follow you. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
This young man. Yes, sir. Any more questions? Yes, Dr. [...].
Speaker 7:
[...] I wonder how, in this newly diverse [...] we can include those people [...] on this platform. But who cannot bring themselves to do the work [...].
Speaker 1:
That's a question. Right?
Speaker 7:
That's a question.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 7:
At Passover time, we read a book called the Haggadah, which tells the story of Exodus. And in that book... The whole point of this is that children ask the questions about freedom and about exodus. And, in the book, it speaks of four sons. And one of the sons it speaks of, and asks, “What do you do with the son who is unable to speak, who is unable to ask the question of, what is freedom, what it means for peoplehood?” And the answer is, in the Hebrew, it means, "You open his mouth." That's for us to do, is to find these people who are unable to either ask the question, or speak the thought, or join in. It is for those of us who can ask the question, who do join in, to go there and to reach out, bring them in to help them open their mouths to ask the question.
Speaker 8:
[...] who have taken role of asking [...]
Speaker 7:
I'm sorry. I misunderstood you.
Speaker 8:
I may have heard the question in a different way, but it seems to me that one challenge that we have faced is to broaden our own concept of what worship means. There are those who worship, not with prayer but, rather, with service. There are those who worship by creating beautiful art. There are those who put their souls into things that enrich our world, and I am sure gives them transcendent power, great pleasure. I think it is up to us, in some ways, to not insist that worship can only happen in whatever form each one of us might choose to use for our own purposes of worship, but for us to recognize that living well and serving dutifully, whether done in the Name of G-d, or not, is nonetheless one of the best ways that worship can occur. That would be my personal response.
Speaker 7:
Yes. [...] the unity of humanity [...] and spirit [...] in ways other than, in the name of, or in the presence of G-d.
Speaker 1:
[...]
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
All right. Just stay up there. I said, I can't hear too well, now. I think I've got some damage in the factory I used to work in, Bethlehem Steel, in this ear, here. My little young daughter, she tells me that. She says, "Daddy, you need a hearing aid." She might be correct. I might need a hearing aid. And, because I can't hear that well, I think you can't hear that well. So, I want to get closer to you. I want to use the mic. I know you can hear, though. It's just something that happens with me. I shout... My daughter says, "Don't speak so loud, Daddy. We can hear you." Yes?
Speaker 9:
[...]
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
My daughter, I told her once. I said, "Do you think if you didn't know me, but I know you, and you didn't know where I was? But I know where you are. And something was preventing you and me from having contact, do you think I still would look out for you and do the best I can, from wherever I was?" She said, "Yes, you would." That's G-d. That's G-d. Some of us don't know Him. Some of us don't know how to perceive Him. Some of us don't know a name. Some of us don't even know that we have a G-d. But that G-d is helping all of us. And we believe that G-d created the human nature to want to satisfy its creator. And we are moving in that direction, whether we know G-d or not. We're moving in that direction.
G-d has created us with a life that wants to be better and better. And, as long as we are progressing, and our life is becoming better, we are moving in that direction, whether we know G-d or not, whether we accept that there's a G-d or not. We are moving in that direction, and it is G-d that has created us to move in that direction, and its G-d that is helping us to have better circumstances for a better life on this earth, whether we know Him or not. G-d is too big for the small idea of G-d that we have.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're five minutes over. So that concludes, and thank you for coming. We want to thank all the families and like to give them a hand, please.
Speaker 1:
Be sure to join us next time for the National Public Broadcast of IWDM, Muslim American spokesman. For more on the ministry of IWDM, call 1(708) 798-6750, or write Post Office Box 1061, Calumet City, Illinois, 60409. For WDM Publications, call 1(708) 862-7733, or write Post Office Box 1944, Calumet City, Illinois, 60409. For Muslim Journal, see local distributors, and thanks for listening.



