1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 1
Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Peace to you, as-salamu alaykum. We thank G-d and praise him. We say, Alhamdulillah The Lord sustain of the worlds. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin. The thanks and praise is for G-d. The Lord sustainer of the worlds. We witnessed that nothing deserves to be worshiped except him. We worship but one G-d, we associate no deity, nothing to be worshiped as G-d, except G-d. The creator of everything as we have it in our Holy Book , (Arabic) the creator of everything. And yet this creator says of himself that he is [foreign language 00:00:54] , that he is the best of creators. That is G-d. That wants man to know that G-d has created him also to create things, to be a creator. But he is to remember that G-d is a creator of everything, including what man creates.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
(laughs).
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Praise be to Allah . And we have been known as a people and criticized, really, stigmatized as a people that produce nothing but babies. Well, that has changed. We know there are a few of us that are satisfied still, producing nothing but babies. But I think majority of us want to produce much more than babies. We want to produce a future for those babies. And that means accepting responsibility for our circumstances for the conditions in our life and our home life, firstly, but also in our neighborhood and in our city and in our country. And this is a big responsibility that G-d gave to every human being, knowing that every human being couldn't carry that big responsibility. But G-d knew that he created enough in the human being for leaders to rise up and represent the many. And the leaders would guide the people to a life of production and provide jobs and opportunities to grow to all the people.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
This is what the best of our political leaders want for society. The best of our presidents of these United States want for this society. And this is what the best believers in the faith communities of Jews, Christians, and Muslims want for the society. That no one be dealt with unjustly. And G-d says [foreign language 00:03:00] to the Muslims. He say to us, "Be a people standing for justice as witnesses for G-d". So we have to accept this responsibility.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And G-d says of us, "[foreign language 00:03:16]". That you are the best of communities. Evolved for the good of all people and Muhammad the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam the prayers and the peace be upon him. He said, "[foreign language 00:03:31]". The best of you or the ones who benefit the whole of humanity. The best of you are the ones who benefit the whole of humanity. Now, if I'm a big man its because I have accepted a big responsibility. And if you accept a big responsibility and you're small, I guarantee you're going to get bigger. You get bigger by accepting bigger responsibility. I told my poor community when I first became their leader. They called me chief back then. And I felt like a chief too.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
With a lot of bucks. A lot of bucks. I don't mean dollar bucks, I mean, male Indians, soldiers, bucks. (laughs). That was doing more bucking than anything else. But they called me Chief, Chief Minister, Supreme Minister, Chief Minister. Then they started calling me Chief Imam, Chief Imam. That's what they called me. But I think they dropped the Chief now. And I'm more comfortable now as your leader since they have dropped all their Chief stuff. Cause I know it didn't help the Indians at all.

1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 2
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Responsibility. G-d created us for responsibility, created all of us for responsibility, and he doesn't want to burden us. He doesn't want to see us miserable under a heavy burden. G-d says he does not want difficulty for us, he wants ease for us. But, there are certain requirements that we have to accept. We're required to do certain things and it's not going to be easy, but he promised us if we accept to do those things that's required of us, that's going to be difficult at times, and sometimes very, very difficult, extremely difficult. He promised us that if we accept that challenge and accept the responsibility, he promises us a life of ease.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And we know that we relatively have a life of ease now in this United States. If you don't believe it, just travel to other countries and see how they're faring. We have it relatively easy as citizens of this United States, and it has come the hard way. Those before us have paid a big price. Frederick Douglass, Dr. King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And all the people, white and blacks and all that supported them and the nationalist movement, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington. I would say the business movement, Booker T. Washington. The movement for business and education, Booker T. Washington and Du Bois who was an educator, but also political leader, a political theorist, philosopher in his own right. All of them paid a price and many of their followers had to lose their life, had to shed their blood. Many of their supporters lost life and shed blood. It wasn't easy.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
It hasn't been easy being an African-American mother, even in the north. My mother didn't have it easy when I was a boy in Chicago. But look now at her son, her son makes so much money, he takes care of three or four families. Pay their bills every month, they don't have to worry about it. Those are not my wives, sister. I said three or four families. I didn't say three or four wives.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
I thank G-d. I thank G-d for blessing me, but it wasn't easy. My mother paid a big price. My father paid a big price. My sisters and brothers, and especially the senior citizens of the Nation of Islam that supported my father and family and my mother and us, the children, paid a big price. Yes, paid a big price. Many of them are gone, they're not here anymore. And some of them have died because they just worked too hard, worked themselves to death.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
One of them was the secretary of the temple. And I used to see him in the streets as a boy, about 11 or 12 years old, I saw him pulling what they call the push cart, but his was so big he couldn't push it. They called it a push cart. It was too big to push and he wasn't the only one. They made them big, like big as a ton and a half truck. And they had to pull them and he would load it up with the old scrap metal and whatever he could sell at the junk yard. And he would pull it with belt, big, wide belt, like two-and-a-half inch wide belt, be over his shoulder. And sometimes he'd be at an angle. He would be at an angle. He'd be leaning over at an angle of about 45 degrees, pulling it.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
His body would be jutting out like that in front, and he's pulling it. That's how heavy it was. He did that so he would be able to donate money to the Temple of Islam so that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad would have financial support. His family would not have to be hungry for food and shelter and then out of doors. He did that for those reasons, big sacrifice. Why did that man make that big sacrifice? Because he was working for something bigger than himself. Something bigger than his family. Something bigger than even the Hon. Elijah's Muhammad's family. He was working for a whole community. We called the Temple of Islam, or the Nation of Islam. He was working for that. That's how he got the energy and that's how he could endure. That's how he could survive and accept the misery, accept the discomfort for the hope our father in result that we would be free from these unnecessary problems we were having out in our life because of our ignorance, because of our neglect of our own selves and our responsibility to self.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
But also because of white man's cruelties to the black man. During the early years of this century, up to the middle of... Well, up to two-thirds of this century. Up to two-thirds of this century, we have suffering the bad conditions that the white man was imposing upon us. The white society, the white establishment was imposing upon us.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And then as you know, 1960s, things started to break, opportunities start to open up for us, but only with the price, blood, sweat, and tears. And the 1970s, equal opportunity came. The early 1970s, we have equal opportunity now. And our, as a people are still needing to have an awareness of the state of their own race or the state of their own people. When we had leaders fighting for justice in this country, they kept this country, and therefore also kept us informed of the state of the African-American people.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Now you have to go maybe to the NAACP, go to the Urban League and ask them, what is the state of African-American community in America? What is the state of our people in America? And they could give it to you. They'll give it to you. And they'll tell you that there's still a lot of work to be done, still a lot of work to be done. But recently to show you, we are making progress. Recently, the NAACP called for the NAACP to be not an organization just for blacks African-American, but to be an organization for all minorities who need their assistance, that tells you that there have been progress for African-Americans though we still have need for these organizations, NAACP and Urban League and others.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And we still have a need for organization, militant organizations or organizations that concentrate on our men, my males, our youth, our males, young males, to see that everything is done possible to give them something productive to do like minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam under him. We still need leaders to make us conscious and to make us aware of our own responsibility to ourselves, to our families, to our community, to our neighborhood.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
I'm happy and very pleased. Feel it a special blessing to be invited again to this city, Tuskegee, Alabama, to say to the people of this city and especially to your leaders like Johnny Ford who spoke, the keynote speaker last night, to say to your leaders, and to you that we have a lot in common. We who represent the Muslim American society who identified with my leadership, we have come from a past that gave us a new life.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Most of us who joined the Nation of Islam, we believed in G-d. We believed in being righteous. We believed in being good people, but we were not happy with our situation as citizens or as people in this country. So we heard the message of the Nation of Islam, inviting us to become separate from this world society. It's (unclear) from a white man's world. We accepted that and we believed that the new religion, that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Temple of Islam was offering us was the right religion.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And we believed that we would realize the promise of the Nation of Islam, the Hon. Elijah's Muhammad's promise to us that if we would unite and become Muslims in the Nation of Islam, that G-d would be with us. And one day we'd be free from all of these problems and we would have a life in dignity with dignity and a life of comforts. This is what he promised us. He promised us that and he emphasized education. He put emphasis on getting a good education. And he, as you know, built private schools, opened private schools in many of the cities, we still have those private schools. Many of them have more even now.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And when you look at what Booker T. Washington was all about and look at what the Hon. Elijah Muhammad was essentially all about, you see two people doing a similar work. Booker T. Washington didn't just want us to have education for the sake of having education and being accepted and educated as society or the society of the educated. He didn't just want us to have vocation jobs as builders, bricklayers, beauty shop owners or whatever. That wasn't the end for him. All of that was for the dignity of the people. He wanted, that the African-American people would one day have a normal existence as a people in a civilized society where they wouldn't be ashamed of their station and their representation beside other civilized communities.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
That's what he wanted and that's what all of our leaders wanted. All of our leaders just wanted to see us free in our own life, and in our own identity and comfortable with our citizenship and comfortable with our future. That's what they all wanted. The betterment of their race simply put NAACP, National Association for the improvement of colored people. So improvement for the people. That's what they all wanted.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And it's compatible not only with that tradition that we know in the Nation of Islam under the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, but it's also true for the religion of Islam, this universal religion, religion of nations, not one nation, the religion of nations, the religion of over a billion people on the face of this earth, black, brown, yellow, and white folks, are Muslims and all of them have nations. And they have their Islamic nations that are white, black, brown, red.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So it is a religion of humanity. It's a religion of the children of Adam, all of them. And now we have ourselves and we're included in that big following, that universal following. That we call the Muslims of the world or the Moslims of the world. Some say Muslim, they pronounce it as the French would pronounce it. The Muslims of the world. We are members there and is it asking us to do something else?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
We lose sight on the real beauty and the real meaning for the religion. The real beauty and the real meaning of the religion, it's not just doing prayers and dhikrs. Some of you have followed the traditional so-called traditional ritualistic Muslim influences. And you haven't accepted them in their full life. You accepted them only in their ritualistic life. So you follow them in their rituals and you think Islam is nothing but doing dhikr on your fingers, or on the beads, brushing your teeth with a stick that's made soft on the end, and wearing gobs for the desert.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
You think that's the religion, that's the religion. And putting some incense in the house, burning incense and some oils, some musk on your skin. And that's the religion for you and saying, As Salaam Alaikum [foreign language 00:14:31] Alhamdulillahi, Inshallah. Got about 10 sentences and that's the religion. That's not the religion. I'm not saying that to make joke, there is humor and I welcome you to enjoy yourselves, but me, I have no joke in me. I'm very serious. Yes. No intent to make a joke, very serious. This is real, and this is serious.

1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 3
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So this is not Islam. Islam is a full life for human beings, [foreign language 00:00:12] The religion in its original state, the religion upon... Or the pattern upon which he patterned mankind [inaudible 00:00:25]. You have the pattern upon which he has fashioned or established all people. This is a universal concept. It's no in the sky, away from reality concept. It's a universal concept. G-d does not reject natural life of the human being. How can he reject it when he created it? So G-d says that the best of your natural life, he gave you. And the religion that he gives you is only a complement for the life that he already created. It's a complement. It's not to be in conflict with your natural life. So you love to smile? That's Islamic. You love to appreciate beauty in your environment? That's Islamic.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
You love to express your talents and share them with others so that others enjoy something or are entertained and enjoy what you offer? That's Islamic. Some people met the Prophet when he was coming in to to a small mall area. . And they knew he was coming. So it was traditional. It was tradition for them to meet him, to meet the guests. The important guests with tambourine, beat the tambourine, and with some chanting songs. The Muslims of Arabia, they had known such entertainment or such culture. Their culture was different. And they didn't think that this would be nice, to welcome the Prophet with such entertainment. So they told the Prophet that these people are such people and he said, "every people have their culture." He said, "leave them be." He refused to let them stop those people from beaten the tambourines and chanting. Now you will find some of us, I know the subject, think I don't... You will find some of us, - we will go to the extreme.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And use such, support, to support us performing, singing, or dancing out of the spirit of Islam and out of the respect for Islam. The best of Christians, they don't conform to the culture, the popular culture of this society. And the best of Muslims, we don't like it. Our spirit is strained, our spirit is hurt. When we see Muslim performing with no respect for the spirit of Islam and no respect for the teachings of Islam, it hurts us, pains us. Muhammad the Prophet said, "Whoever behaves, whoever takes on the behavior of people who are not Muslims are not one of us." So understand that. Now realize that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad worked all those years to take us out of the mold of the popular culture of this world.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Now, are we going to become Muslim with all Muslims of the world and go back and adopt that foolishness? Hollering, screaming, shaking yourself, not caring about rules of decency for religious people? No, we can't do that. This is a big past we have, and it is the responsibility of the leaders in Islam to remind us when we are going verging off from the life of Islam. Islam calls us to a life, the life of Islam. It has its own identity. It's not the life of the Jews, is not the life of the Christians, and certainly it's not the life of the unG-dly, unconscious people who do anything and everything with their bodies.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
No, you'd be better off going back to the church. You would have a better time in court with G-d, going back to the church and being a decent Christian and behaving according to Christian principles in spirit, than you will calling yourself a Muslim, but now you don't know the difference between Muslim behavior and street behavior. You don't know the difference between Muslim behavior and popular culture behavior. This is no good. And this will never get us where we want to go. And our mosque is a center for the people, Muslims, but it's extended for all the people. Understand this. And especially brother Iman, please understand this. Your mosque is not only to serve Muslims, your mosque is to serve all mankind. G-d says that the Kaaba, that we turn to directing ourselves in prayer and for hajj, for pilgrimage, that's central focus for Muslims all over this earth, built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Ismael in Arabic.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
G-d that says that that house [foreign language 00:06:34]. It is the first of the houses built for all mankind. Not for blacks, not for whites, not for Muslims, or for Christians, - built, for all mankind, [inaudible 00:06:48], built for all people. Now we know Christians don't go there. Christians don't turn that way to pray. We know that. We know that's our orientation, but our orientation has to respect the life of all people. It cannot offend the life of anybody, no race, no religion. No. It must be respectful of all people in all persuasions. And we find that the Christians and the Jews, they embrace the Muslims, especially nowadays. They did it in Spain when the Moors were there ruling. Christians and Jews worked side by side with Muslims to better the society for all the people of Spain.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
That time is coming again, is here again. Christians and Jews and others meeting together in Saudi Arabia, in Rome, in different parts of the world, in China, in all places of the world, we are meeting Muslim leaders with other religious leaders to see how can we better understand each other so we can better respect each other in order for us to work together and support each other for the advancement of all people, for the advancement of the good life for all people? This is what's happening right now in the world. A good time, a better time than even Islamic Spain. It's a better time than that. It's the best time for religions that man has ever witnessed on the face of this earth. So we in the mosque, we have to be aware of this. We have to be aware of Islam as a religion, bigger than your shoes and your pants, brother, and your coat and your kufi.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Islam is a religion that G-d gave us to accommodate all the needs in human life, all the needs in human life, Islam is the religion of the individual. It's the religion of the family. It's the religion of the community. It's the religion of the earth. That's what Islam is. And Islam has its own idea for promoting human society, advancing human society. And its idea is not Christian. Its idea is not Jewish. Its idea is strictly Islamic. So you leaders, you Imams, you teachers of Islam, you educators. You have to know Islamic identity, and you have to know the mission of Islam on this earth. And you'd have to know firstly, that it most certainly respects mankind first. And then it calls the Muslim. Muhammad the Prophet, was he practicing Islam in the first 40 years of his life?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He didn't know Islam. G-d had not called him, but he was practicing the excellence of human nature. He was in the excellence of human nature and he was living the excellence of human nature. He wasn't identifying with any religion when G-d called him, but G-d called him, and made him the last prophet, the seal of the Prophets, and G-d called him in the Quran. G-d says of him, "he is a mercy to all the worlds." Now are you, his follower, brother Iman, you his follower? If you his follower, then you better know who you're following. You are following a man that G-d says was a mercy to all the world. Do you have mercy for all the world? To follow him, you have must have mercy in your heart for all the worlds, and mercy in your heart for all the worlds mean that you have it in your heart to want to see all the worlds benefit justly, fairly, equally.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
This is no small religion. This religion cannot be made a fad. You can become a fad with the name Muslim, but the religion will live to see you dead and your fad gone. It will never be a fad. It's permanent. It's permanent, not seasonal. If you accept the truth of Al-Islam, and you are a leader and you express this truth to your congregation, I guarantee you with my presence and with my life that you will not stay 10 and 15 and 20 and 50 and 200 in number. I guarantee you in a few years, you will be 1,000 in number. Because you will be, you will be reaching and touching the life of human beings. And there are many human beings out here waiting for a true hand to touch them. Yes, they're waiting for that.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So we must first understand the role of the mosque in the time of Prophet Muhammad, by understanding him. What was his leadership? What was his role? He was a man serving humanity, and he challenged his own people. He didn't preach national glory. No. He challenged his own people, the Arabs, and he didn't have more faith in Arabs than he had in humanity. The last sermon, when he spoke at the last big gathering at the pilgrimage sites, what did he say to the people? He said you who are present, he's speaking mostly to Arabs, convey this message to those who are absent. Per chance they will understand it better than you.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
That's what he told them. So his hopes for the future of Islam did not rest in the hands of Arabs, but he told them to carry it on to others. Per chance the others may understand it better than you, and if they understand it better than you then there'd be a better future for Islam because of them joining it also.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And even though he was in a sea of Arabs, members of his own race or his own people, racially speaking, or tribally, speaking, he had with him in his immediate circle of leaders, the white skinned Muslim, The black skinned Muslim, the brown skinned Muslim, his organized group of leaders working with him directly was a reflection of the colors of the people we call the race of mankind, the human race. So I have tried registering that more and more over the last 20 years, I've tried to bring into my immediate circle persons of color, and I have whites, I have black, and I have Brown and I have red working directly with me for the future of Islam and the future of Muslims in America, in the world. Praise be to Allah.

1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 4
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
The role of the mosque in the time of Muhammad, the Prophet was a community center, and emphasis was on learning how to read, literacy. So that after literacy could come scholars, knowledge, educate higher education and scholars. If you can't read, you can't be educated. So he put emphasis first on literacy, learning to read. He obligated every follower of his to write down what he would give them and then teach it to another person who could not read. So he made really, teachers of all of his followers. He said, "if you only can remember one line, say, teach that one line to another person."
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And in the Quran he's mentioned as a liberator and our holy book called the Quran, G-d says of him that he is the unlettered, meaning was not formally educated. He received no formal education from anybody. He was not belonging to any rabbinical school of any order that would educate him. No, he was not formally educated by anybody. He belonged to no... He had no teachers and belonged to no school.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And G-d says of him, He says he is the lettered messenger Prophet. Mentioned in the Torah and in the Injil. Mentioned in the Torah and then in the Injil. So brother imam, how many of you all are conscious that G-d said to us through Muhammad, that our Prophet is mentioned in the books that Moses' people receive and in the books that the Christians received? How many of you are conscious of that? I don't think you are. I listen to most of you, most of you are not even conscious of that. You think Prophet Muhammad is a prophet separate from all other prophet. When the point is clearly made to us in our Holy book, that this is no new religion, this is the religion of the Prophets before. That's what we were taught. And we are told that we are to believe in those Prophet, all of them.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And we are told that not only we have to believe in leaving Jesus Christ as a Prophet, we are told that we are to believe in him as Christ also. How many of you are aware of that? If you are, you don't show it in your language. We have to believe in Jesus Christ as a Prophet. And believe me, the Bible says he's a Prophet. The Bible says he's a Prophet. And we have to believe in him also as a Christ, the Bible says he's the Christ. We believe in him as a Christ, even further than that, because Christ only means the anointed, and David was anointed by them putting the special oil on his head and wiping his head with the oil. So he's more than just that.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He's also the child, man of the immaculate conception. Do Muslims believe in immaculate conception? Yes. But how do we explain that,.. I would say great sign? The Allah says he and his mother, not only Jesus Christ, peace be upon him and his mother. He and his mother are for a sign.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
How do we explain it in Islam? In Christianity we know how it is explained. I don't need to go over there. In Islam, we say, "G-d is the creator and has the power to create whatever he wills, and Jesus, his creation, peace be upon him is as the creation of Adam, the first man, Adam." That's what we are told to say. "Oh, but I want to know more." You got your mind on sex too much, brother. You will never learn the religion if you're just going to be sexy through and through. Get your mind off of sex. This is not about that thing that you do. That's not that small brother. This is a big thing. There's a big, big conception. Yes. Say, believe that G-d has the power to create whatever he wills and as he created the first life he can create the second and repeat it. Says that as he created a man from the dead earth, he can certainly create a man from a living woman.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
This is G-d. He's supposed to believe in the power of G-d to create whatever he wills. And G-d again says to make it very simple for us. He says, "If I want a son, I can get a son from those that I've already created." Thank you.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And he created Adam. Didn't he create Adam? Wasn't that the first man he created, Adam? And he said, "If I want a son, I can get a son from those I've already created." And I read the gospel, the new Testament, one of the books of new Testament, that's given us the genealogy of Jesus Christ, be upon him. And the genealogy of Jesus Christ is traced from his mother back to Adam. It says, who was created by G-d. Need I say more? I think I should, not for the sake of you people in the audience, but for the sake of our imams that are fixated.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
In Christianity and Christian theology, Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, is also called the second Adam, the second Adam. That's why the Bible new Testament has to trace his genealogy back to the first Adam. Was Adam a man? Adam was a man, wasn't he? That explains why Jesus Christ was called both the son of man and the son of G-d. And Jesus Christ wanted his followers to know him better, he said, "Who do you say I am? Who do you say, I, the son of man, am?" He didn't say, "nah, I'm not the son of a man," but he let it be known that to keep you imams from going astray or from missing me while you were fixated. He said to his imams, he said, "Who do you say, I, the son of man, am?" And, and one of those imams said, "You are the son of the living G-d." And he (unclear).
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
You all keep being numb in the head and hearing me and saying something I didn't say, I'm open me up a church. I'll do a better job in the church. If you imams don't straighten up. It's time be in accord with the Quran, in accord with our holy book all the way, not part of the way, and be in accord with the life example of a Muslim in Muhammad, the Prophet, the model man, and the model Muslim, all the way. You can't make a little small business of Islam. The Muslim world won't like that. And we won't like that. We don't like that.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
When we know Muhammad the Prophet and know this religion, then we are situated to be appreciated by other people. You see how other people appreciate you and your imam, Christians, Jews, Buddhists. I meet Buddhist people, and they've heard of me. When they meet me, they're smiling and they're showing affection. That's love. Nobody loved me so much because they learned in my history that I came from the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, a man who was very sincere and his work of helping his own people, but a man that did not have Islam in its true and universal pitcher, but they knew that he wasn't responsible for the incorrection, the incorrect representation of Islam. That whoever had taught him wanted him to concentrate only on improving the conditions in the black man's life. So they excused him for his error and their love and appreciate him for his sincerity and his great work of trying to uplift the life of poor, neglected African-American people.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And we who followed him in sincerity, we love him still. We appreciate him still. To tell you the truth I appreciate him more now than I ever did appreciate him. Because I realized that giant of a man he was. The thing that he did to help me made him a bigger man in my own eyes. He told his chiefs, his top officers of the Nation of Islam in my presence after I had differed with him. And he had rejected me, putting me out twice out of the Temple of Islam, the Nation of Islam. He told them, says, "My son can go anywhere he want to." And then he looked at me because they had bought a tape by me. I had a radio interview. They brought the tape up. I thought,... they're probably going to get me busted again, get me put out a Nation of Islam again.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
But the tape did not affect him as it affected them. He liked the tape. He said, "and son," looking at me, he said, "son, go, and you preach that gospel." He called it gospel. It's with no serious weight to it, but that's how we talk, preach that truth. He didn't mean preach... That mine message would be a gospel, something fit for Holy book or something like that. He didn't mean that, he only meant go and preach that truth that I'm hearing from you. He said, "and go and preach that," That's his exact words to his supreme captain, to his assistant minister in Chicago and to about 20 other staff people that was in that room when he spoke these words to me, he said, "and preach that gospel." So what was he telling them? My son is not obligated to preach what I taught anymore. He's free to preach what he has in his mind and heart now. And that's exactly what I did. That's exactly what I did.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And who made me the kind of man I am? Who made me fit for the Quran and fit to follow Muhammad the Prophet? The Hon. Elijah, Muhammad.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He did. He told me, he said, as he told all of the other ministers and you too, who followed him, he said, "don't take what is on the surface." He said, "but look deep into it. Study deep." He said. He told me to use my own intelligence. He freed me to use my own intelligence. He freed me to question even what he gave me when he said, "don't take what's on the surface, but look deep into it." He freed me to question even what he gave me. And in questioning what he gave me, it made me fit to follow. Muhammad the Prophet.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He had already given me a sense of obedience to G-d. I just didn't conceive G-d correctly, but he gave me a sense of obedience to G-d. And he also gave me a sense of responsibility to self and humankind. He made me industrious. He taught me to be industrious. He made me truthful. He taught me to be truthful. He told me that the penalty for lying, he told me, as he told, you said, "say, my word is my bond. And my bond is my life. And I give my life before I let my word fail." So he prepared me to accept the Quran and follow it and follow the Prophet of the Qur'an Muhammad [inaudible 00:14:57] prayers and peace be upon him. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad did that.

1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 5
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

W. Deen Mohammed:
So one day he was questioning me, and he was a master of human psychology. He knew I was having a hard time out there, Wallace D Muhammad. No job record anywhere, but in the Nation of Islam. Born in the Nation of Islam. So he knew I was having a hell of a time. So he took two little suit cases, that he used to carry, some of you remember him carrying, one and he opened them up and it's full of money. I guess like the mafia leader would do.
W. Deen Mohammed:
Well, he wasn't saying, "I got enough to hire somebody kill you." He was saying, "Here's a lot of help, my son, if you want to straighten up and fly right." So he opened up those two big cases, all that money in there. I'm looking at it.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And he told me, he said, "Son, I heard that you don't believe in our savior." And I'm the son of a master of human psychology, right? So the son of the master of human psychology said, "Daddy, I can more easily accept you as my savior."
W. Deen Mohammed:
And he tried to pretend that I didn't strike him, but I knew I had struck him. So he said, "Well son, you know what this means?" I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "It means you can't call your mother. You can't write her." Now, he didn't say us, me. He knew how to be a master of human psychology. He didn't say, "Son, you know you can't call your father. You can't write to your father." He said, "Son, you know you can't call your mother. And can't write to your mother. And you're not to associate with any of the members of the Nation of Islam. That's it. And you're dismissed." Oh, he could execute his law now.
W. Deen Mohammed:
But I walked out knowing that I had struck him. And I said to myself, "I'm not going to obey this law." I said, "I won't write to mama." Because I know mama. And I ain't going to put her in trouble. "I'm not going to call her. I'm not going to write." I said to myself, "But I'm going to write to you."
W. Deen Mohammed:
So whenever I saw the opportunity, especially on Savior's day. On Savior's day, I said, "Uh-oh, here comes Savior day, he's getting ready for it." I'd write him saying, "Dear daddy, I just want you to know that I know that you're getting ready to observe Savior's day. Your Savior's day," I said. I said, "And I wish you success, and I hope that you have a very successful meeting and get very good results and have a big, big turnout." That's what I would tell him.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And he just couldn't stand it for too long. And he said, "Who [inaudible 00:03:27]." This is what my brother told me. "Have you all seen Wallace?" So one of my brothers told him, "Yes daddy," he said. "I saw him on the street once. He was looking pretty bad." Now, you know a brother, brother helped his brother, right? I wasn't looking that bad. "He was looking pretty bad." Get in touch with your brother and tell him, "Come on back home."
W. Deen Mohammed:
Came back, didn't ask me, "Son, you have to confess the belief in our Savior." No, accepted me back without asking me any questions. I was accepted back. One day... I'm skipping over some of this because we don't have that much time. One day... This is important for you to know. The imams, the leaders of this time, you should also know the man that's responsible for you having these people here with you.
W. Deen Mohammed:
He said to me one day, sitting at the table with his staff again on a Sunday after the temple meeting. He said, "Son, here's sister Shirley here, she's a good looking sister and a good secretary. And she doesn't have a husband. She's single." But he knew I was married, and my wife's name was Shirley. Now he's introduced another Shirley to me at the table. So I just kind of dropped my eyes like that. And he looked at me and he said... and my eyes raised up to see him. He said, "Well son, I didn't think you would want that." He did that just to say this to his staff. He said, "I wish I was the man my son is." That's exactly what he said. And you who know me, you know I don't lie. He said, "I wish I was the man my son is."
W. Deen Mohammed:
That made him the biggest man I ever seen or heard of, except Muhammad the prophet that I came to know later. And his full role and image. Yeah, but the men that I have known before the Hon. Elijah Muhammad became bigger than them. What a man. I don't even know if I could do that. Would tell his staff that has to support him, that my son that has differed with me and this little old man that have nothing to his credit. This little Wallace D Mohammed, he had nothing to his credit, he hadn't built a nation. And saying to them, "I wish I was the man my son is." He said that to say to them, "I repent my actions that you are aware of. And I'm proud of my son, who's turning down Shirley Hazziz." That was her name. Shirley Hazziz.
W. Deen Mohammed:
Yeah. That made him a big man. Isn't that a big man? That's a big man, brother. And let me tell you, he had to be a big man with a big spirit, a big, big, big soul, and a strong spirit, to do what he did and to stick faithfully to the teachings and plan of his teacher, Mr. W.D. Fard. He had to be a big man. No small man could do what he did. A big man, a very big man, a very big man, a giant of a man. And I agree with those who were saying, even non Muslims are saying this, from African-American Muslims. That he's perhaps the greatest leader that the African people in America have given birth to.
W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes. They're saying that now. Some of them are saying that. So I have to agree with them, a great giant of a man. And we should never make our job for the community. And believe me, your job for the community is your job for G-d. Yes. G-d says, "Your sacrifices don't reach me." You make blood sacrifice, you sacrifice wealth, you sacrifice your children." G-d says, "Your sacrifices don't reach me, only your consciousness reaches me." Called Taqua. This is the special consciousness for a Muslim, obedient Muslim in Islam. He said, "Only your Taqua reaches me." And G-d says of Taqua, he says, "[foreign language 00:08:04] Taqua." That your righteousness is Taqua. Righteousness is Taqua.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And then G-d tells us what righteousness is. G-d says, "Righteousness is not rituals, turning your faces to the East or to the West. But righteousness is to believe in G-d and in the angels and in the revealed books." And et cetera, it goes on to say what righteousness is. And righteousness doesn't stop at just believing in G-d and those things that G-d has established us to believe in, but righteousness translates into action. It says righteousness is to spend of your money. (Arabic), the money, wealth. Spend of your money out of love for Him. So you're supposed to be motivated by love for G-d. The love of G-d. You're supposed to be motivated by the love of G-d, to share your wealth.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And G-d addresses a rich man. He says, "Be you kind to others as G-d has been kind to you." So out of a love for G-d, the rich man with his wealth, he realized how merciful G-d has been to him. G-d has been kind to him to create him with his talents, his productive talents and whatever, his energies and everything. And then make available to him, helpers us men and women to help him, a market where he can sell his product. An open field for his expression of all of his creative talents. So he's supposed to, for the love of G-d, then share that with those who are not so fortunate.
W. Deen Mohammed:
He says, "Spend of your wealth on the needy." Out of love of G-d, spend on the needy. On the homeless, on the widows, on the orphans. And all of that has given under... I can recite it by heart. The long passage of the Qur'an in the chapter Al-baqarah. The passage is titled Righteousness.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And it begins with [foreign language 00:10:20]. And it goes on to say that righteousness is not to turn your faces, the ritualistic turn your faces, east and west, but righteousness is something real and sincere. To have sincere belief, beginning with the belief in G-d, and then to translate that belief into your actions, by helping others that are less fortunate than you. So that you serve the will of G-d. That's what you will be doing. Because G-d created the many people, like he created the many lands. All of these lands are not equally productive. Some of these lands are not productive at all. But G-d wants to test the people. Test the people, to see if the people of the fertile land and the productive land will be as kind to their brothers and sisters in humanity as G-d was to them.
W. Deen Mohammed:
So G-d has to leave opportunity for us to earn blessings and earn rewards, and to test us, so that we serve others as G-d has served us. This is a test that G-d has created for us and we can't escape it. So never think all your people are going to be productive. You're always going to have some people not productive. You're always going to have some that the strong have to care for. And that's Al-Islam, Allahu Akbar. And I know. I didn't say it for you to say it, but good that you said it. I said it to make a statement. G-d is bigger. And the bigger serve the smaller.
W. Deen Mohammed:
That's not just to say to us, G-d is bigger. All of us know G-d is bigger. Even the primitive man, who has a primitive concept of G-d. He knows G-d is bigger than he is. It's not just to tell us that, it's to establish a behavior in you toward the smaller. Now, G-d is bigger, he provides for the smaller. His creation was smaller, small, nothing almost.
W. Deen Mohammed:
Now you are big, are you going to be like G-d? And will you also serve those smaller than you? The bigger's responsible for the smaller. The stronger'ss responsible for the weak. You're bigger in strength. The rich are responsible for the poor. You're bigger in money. That's how we have to read that statement and apply it to our life. Allahu Akbar obligates me. If I'm bigger than someone else, to care for them as G-d has cared for me.
W. Deen Mohammed:
You see the closeness now, of Islam and Christianity? And that's why G-d says in the Quran, you'll find the nearest people do to you to be those who say they're Christian [foreign language 00:12:58]. The old name for Christian. Yes.
W. Deen Mohammed:
So the time of our prophet, getting away from the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and all that, I think I've said enough about that. I pray for him and my mother all the time. Yes I do. I pray for their soul. I believe in the eternal life, and I pray for their soul.
W. Deen Mohammed:
And I think I'm more an African than I am an American. I do, and the more I live, the more I realize that I'm an African. An African. I am an African. I am. That doesn't mean I'm not a citizen of the United States. I'm firstly a citizen of the United States. That's a government, that's different. But people in continent, I'm African.

1999 September 25th
Mosque as a Community Center: Part 6
Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Praise be to Allah. Yes, so the community of the Prophet, peace be upon him, was a community center. The mosque of the Prophet, correction, was a community center. That center was made a school. That center was a made a welfare station. That center was made a city hall. A place for the Council. Yes, sister, you would've met, right there, in the Prophet's mosque. If you were one of the political leaders of his time, you would've met right there in the mosque of Medina, the Mosque of Enlightenment, of the light.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
In the city of enlightenment, Medina and [foreign language 00:00:53]. In the city of enlightenment. You would've met there, and you would've been given a space there and time there to discuss the political issues. And you would've been meeting with leaders like yourself to improve the political life of the Muslim society. That place was everything. He made it a center for all these ... So really a mosque is not just a place to pray. And sajj?da is not just putting yourself physically down on the floor brother imam. Sajj?da is not just putting your forehead and face down on the floor.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
How do we know that? G-d said to the angels, who were not open to His invitation to them, to accept that He create man on earth, and give that man responsibility for himself and his descendants and his environment. They thought that that wouldn't work. Because the human being had a nature to agree and disagree. To obey and disobey. So they were not believing in human being, and G-d was. That's another thing we have to know. G-d is a believer. And a believer doesn't mean believing like we believe only. Believing means a trusting one. Because I believe in you, doesn't mean I trust you. So G-d was not a believer in that sense that we usually take the word believe, but G-d is a trusting one. And He's called al-Mu?umin, that's one of his names. The believing one or the trusting one, al-Mu?umin. The Imams know this.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So if He's called a trusting one, why is he called that? Because He trusted man to obey Him and arrive at the destination G-d created him for. He trusted man to do that. Gave him freedom. Freedom of mind, freedom of will. Freedom of choice. He trusted him. The angels didn't understand. They didn't have the knowledge G-d had. So they were frightened by this, and in our Holy book, they say, "This will cause bloodshed." They feared killing and violence and et cetera. And G-d says, "Wait until I have inspired him of my own spirit." But G-d acknowledged them, that yes, the man I'm going to create with free will, freedom of choice, yes, he's going to shed blood. He's going to do these things. But he's going to also earn my grace. My mercy and my grace, and I'm going to inspire him of my own spirit. And when my own spirit has become his spirit, my own will has become his will, then you," what he told them to do, He says make sajj?da say that to him.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So we make sajj?da only to G-d, we know that. But the angels were told to make sajj?da to man when he is following the will of G-d. When he's in the spirit that G-d wants for him, and following the will of G-d, G-d told the angels to make sajj?da to him. Now, do you think they make the same sajj?da you make? You think they put their foreheads on the ground like we do? No. What does it mean? It means surrender completely to my plan for man. And serve him with no hesitation. That's what it means.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Fall you down all together, is what G-d says. That mean, without hesitation. Fall you down all together, in sajj?da. Accepting my will. So this sajj?da is more. More than just us putting our foreheads to the ground and nose to the ground and palms down and everything on our knees. In the masjid. The masjid is called masjid after the word sajj?da. Masjid, the word mosque comes from sajj?da. Means to make sajj?da on the ground. So the mosque is a place for sajj?da. But we're not to just make sajj?da with our bodies. We are to make sajj?da with everything in our power and in our control.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Just like we surrender ourselves completely to G-d, by putting ourselves in the baby position. When he not yet have the strength to pull his head up off the floor. On his hands and knees, trying to get the strength to pull his head up off the floor. Surrender as little babies on our hands and knees. We're supposed to surrender our whole life that way. You surrender your money that way. You surrender your intelligence that way. Surrender your education that way. Surrender your professional skills that way. Give everything completely, surrender as a baby, surrender everything up to G-d.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
That's the place, that's the mosque. That's the mosque. So your education program should be completely obedient to G-d. Your curriculum for your school should be completely obedient to G-d. And everything else that you are doing in your life as a community, should be completely obedient to G-d. Your restaurants must be halal. Your life must be halal. Means meeting requirements to be called Islamic. All right? So this is the role of the masjid.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
But remember as I told you in the beginning, and I've told you that now. Remember that G-d says of this first house, and Muhammad the Prophet, and G-d tells us and Muhammad the Prophet established it. It says that the mosque fit to pray in, is that mosque established upon taqwa? From the very first day when it was first built, it was built and established upon taqwa. [inaudible 00:07:19] Allah taqwa. Established from the first day on taqwa. And that taqwa is what? Some of us forget taqwa too. [inaudible 00:07:29] law. You know, it say, "Fear G-d." But it's not fear, because we know in Arabic, khawf. Khawf is fear. khawf is fear. And there's another word, there are about several words for fear. But taqwa is not fear, they translated fear. And they also translated piety. And they had translated regardfulness. So what is it really? It's consciousness. But it's consciousness upon Islamic knowledge. Consciousness in Islam, upon Islamic knowledge.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Now, you know people are conscious everywhere. And the consciousness that has been given to you really determines your behavior. Christian consciousness is Christian consciousness. So don't frown at them when you see them eating chitlins. That's in your consciousness, not in theirs. If you don't like the chitlins, just stay away from the house. Don't go there hurting people's feeling. "What, you eating those old chitlins?" I'm going to tell you something about the father of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. He told me, he said, "Son." He called me son, too. He didn't call me grandson. He always called me son. He said, "Son, I used to love those chitlins so much, you know your father's something if he can stop me from eating chitlins." He said, "I used to love those chitlins so much," he said, "I thought I could get one as long enough to start chewing on it in Macon, and go all the way to Atlanta". Chewing on that chitlins. That's how he loved chitlins, you know?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
But I was raised in a different environment, I can't stand them. I can't stand the looks of them, I can't stand the smell of them, but I sure wouldn't go to my Christian relatives' house on a Sunday, knowing they had chitlins, because I'm going to hurt their feelings. I'm going to hurt their feelings by telling them, "I can't, I'm sorry, I got to leave." But I can't stand the smell. I would say, "I'm sorry, I have to leave." So I wouldn't go over there on a Sunday. I let them, they're eating chitlins. I come on Monday. On a day when they not eating chitlins. That's in their consciousness, not my consciousness. In their consciousnesses it's okay to chitlins. Right. Oh, you smoking? You smoking and you're a Muslim? Don't offend people like that. Just be thankful that you're not smoking.
Audience:
[crosstalk 00:10:00].
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
You smoking and you a Muslim? That's not in his conscience. Ain't nothing in the Quran that say, "And do not smoke." The Prophet never said, "Do not smoke." But it's a logic then, that says, "Do not smoke." But who is so special in his study of Islam, the Quranic logic and the Prophet's teaching, who is so studious that he's going to know that? Only a very few. So we, the few, understand that logic it's our obligation to teach the Muslim community at large the logic for condemning the smoking of cigarettes or the taking of [inaudible 00:10:40] tobacco. Because it is harmful. It contributes to cancer. It causes cancer. It's got so many harms. It hurts the environment. And therefore hurts the health of the people. It contributes to the shortness of breath, the clogging of the ... and even breathing it from someone else is harmful. So we who know the logic, we should give them the logic. And what is the logic? Prophet Muhammad said it came from him. The logic came from the Prophet, peace be upon him.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He said, "If something has more harm in it than benefit to the people, it's to be condemned."
Audience:
[inaudible 00:11:23].
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Though he didn't say, "Don't smoke." And Allah didn't say, G-d didn't say to us [inaudible 00:11:26], "Don't smoke." We use the logic that Muhammad gave us. If the harm in it outweighs the benefit in it, it's rejected, it's forbidden. Sure I can [inaudible 00:11:38] and tell you that smoking is unlawful. Smoking is haram in Islam. But you can't condemn people who don't know that, who don't know that logic. You have to educate them first. Then after they have been properly educated, then you can condemn them. Then you can say, "Brother, you know that that's against Islamic teachings and behavior. Why are you doing this? Why are you insulting us? Why are you boldly smoking in our presence?"
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Then you can really get on him. And I wouldn't mind if some of you brothers throw a left hook at him or something. Whip him with your night stick if you got one, you know? It'd be different, he'd be knowledgeable. Consciousnesses is very important in Islam, consciousness. And G-d says, "Goodness, goodness," I'm finishing up this now. "Goodness." All religious people that I have become acquainted with in my life, who are really religious, I'm not talking about these new breed. This new breed of people. They believe if you're religious, you're supposed to be good, and you're supposed to be a doer of good, you know? You're going to be ashamed of doing something bad.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And G-d says that goodness, doing good is closest to taqwa. Closest to taqwa. It means if taqwa, which is regardfulness, consciousness, regardfulness or consciousness, or righteousness, is here, right here, then there's nothing next to it but goodness. But goodness. And why is that told to us? To tell us that people who are very conscious of doing good deeds, that they are close, the closest to the righteous. And the righteous is more than just doing good deeds. The righteous is believing in G-d and believing in what He has established for us to believe in.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
So what I have said here today in Tuskegee, Alabama, I hope that the leaders can work with each other and work with me to make our mosque more representative of this religion, so that the people will know us in our true image, in our true identity, and will not be afraid of us, and will not think we are narrow and cutting them out, and they will be embracing us as human beings, as people in humanity, knowing that we are here to be a mercy to all people and to have charity and help for all. Thank you, peace, As Salaam Alaikum.
Audience:
[crosstalk 00:14:18].


