October 22nd 1995
IWDM Study Library

Montgomery AL Address: Part 1
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed


Allah [restored 00:00:05] upon the prophecies be upon him, a message for all of humanity. This is the role that Imam Mohammed has been involved in, is trying to make us see, that this religion is not for a little, small part of the world, or a little, ethnic people or a little Arab people. This religion is for all of humanity. Even those who do not decide to be Muslim, this religion can benefit them and help them, and can bring the world to the point of its potential, that G-d would have it to reach.

This is not a small message. It's in the Qur’an and [Alliah 00:00:56] is not a small man because he has embraced the Qur’an. He has embraced the leadership and the prophet-hood of Prophet Muhammad. He has embraced the obligations that all of us have, is to bring this message as clear as possible, and to live it to its fullest. We are blessed to have him here in Montgomery, Alabama, in the heart of the Confederacy, right below some of the worst racists we've ever seen. That day has gone. That day is dead and gone. He is a man that brings us to see the ghosts that are still haunting us, so that we can go about living the life that G-d has laid out for us and has invested in us. We thank Allah much, and we present to you the spokesman, Muslim American spokesman for Human Salvation, Imam Warith Deen Mohammad. Takbeer, takbeer, takbeer.

Peace be on you. [Arabic 00:02:04]. The praise is for G-d, the Lord sustainer of all the worlds. We witness that He's one, for all people. The Lord created us everything. He witnessed that Mohammad of Arabia, who received the Qur’an is the last prophet, the seal of the prophets, a lost servant, and messenger. The prayers and peace be on him as we say [Arabic 00:02:42], and what follows of that salutation.

We believe that we have a future in America today. When I was a young boy and a young man, I never thought of Muslims having a future in America. I never thought of blacks or African Americans, really having a future in America. I thought that this country was against Muslims and against blacks, and there was no way for me to think that Muslims or blacks had a future in this country. As I lived, learned, experienced, and witnessed changes in this country, I've come more and more to believe that we should, ourselves, claim our future in America. Whether it's offered to us or not, we should claim a future in America. Not just blacks, the Muslims should claim a future in America. Allahu Akbar.

When I have finished this presentation, made by parts, I hope that it'll be clear in your mind, how I can be at ease saying that Muslims have a future in America. We know the glorious time of Islam, been active for a few centuries, and then that glorious day was gone. By the time America was discovered of here, the glorious, bright parts of Islam, had gone receded into the darkness, which is history. We wouldn't have known anything about this religion, had it not been for certain persons who believed that they could sneak Islam into America.

I'm not going to name any of those persons that did this sneaky job. I just thank Allah that I came up in an environment and thought myself to be a Muslim. I know in my heart, in my soul, and in the good intent of my mind, that I was a Muslim. Many of you were also Muslims. In our thinking, we were far away from what is truly Islam. You know they say, and I'm a witness, they planning a [Arabic 00:06:17]. They planning G-d's plan. You know? In the Qur’an, a law says, G-d is the best of planners. Yes.

Another thing is that the ways of G-d are sometimes very hard to understand. G-d acts in mysterious ways. Well, I do believe that the only true G-d, the only One, the only true G-d took us up as His interest, because of our innocence; because of our innocence, G-d took us up into His charge, because of our innocence. G-d was going to see that we be given what our souls wanted. Our souls wanted the truth. Our souls wanted to know, what is the right way. G-d answered that wish in our souls, and has blessed our now to be followers of the Word of G-d. The Qur’an and the messenger of that Word, Muhammad the Prophet. Prayers and peace be on him.

However, I don't think the world has changed enough for Muslims that we could say now, that bright torch light of the Qur’an and the [Arabic 00:08:08] Prophet, the lifestyle of our prophet is in the world again for people to see.

Throughout the Muslim world, there is trouble. Political trouble, spiritual trouble, religious trouble, throughout the Muslim world. Some nations of Muslims are better off than the others, but if we want to describe the whole of the Muslim world, it is a troubled world. The Muslim world is a troubled world. Its soul is burdened. Most of the Muslims are not satisfied with Islam as it is. Heard, as it is heard in their ears, in their own nations. It's no strange thing, nothing to raise the eyebrow, if we are not all pleased with what we're hearing in America of Islam, they're not pleased with what they're hearing in their own countries.

Islamic public, globally, is terribly dissatisfied with the way their religion is given to them or presented. There's desperation too, that goes along with that troubled soul, that is a burden in that troubled soul. That desperation is seen in the support that the strong leader of Iraq received from many Muslims around the world, particularly in these United States.

Imam Khomeini, may G-d give him paradise. Imam Khomeini, the great support that he got, was evidence of a lot of that desperation, in the global group soul, of the global Muslim community. Desperate to have a new voice, strong new voice, so desperate to have a strong, new leader. Speak against the present or what is and promise something else to come. Desperate to have a voice, a strong voice, a new strong leader, so Khomeini got the great support. Anyone who will stand up in the name of the religion and express disapproval for what is the established way for Muslim presently, will get great support from the Muslim publics throughout the international world, great support.

What has caused this burden on this group soul of the Muslims? Muslims of the world, the Muslim [Imam 00:12:03] of the international world. Personally, the loss of genuine Muslim leadership. There's a lot to be said about that genuine Muslim leadership was lost, but know this, that the Prophet knew it would be lost. As in peace be upon Mohammad the Prophet, he said that his community was going to go to sleep. He said that it will be returned by those who supported it in the first. The scholars all accept that he meant that he was saying that it won't be the rich, powerful, and the wise, but it will be the poor that will support the new awakening of Islam. The poor. Not only the poor in material means, but also the poor in spirit, and the poor in intellect, in mind, in education, in knowledge.

I do believe that every competitor of Islam did whatever they could to remove Islam from the competition. The Christian society of the world, under its land greedy, power greedy leaders, the Jews, [its 00:14:00] selfish leadership, that wanted to harvest whatever they could harvest from the world of mankind and others, all conspired together, befriended each other, supported each other to get an Islam, the religion of Muslims, out of the competition.

The great, glorious day of Islam was soon gone. I think the last of the Muslim, great Muslim nations, and really this nation is nothing to Muslims to admire, when it was powerful, was Turkey. Turkey, the country Turkey. I think it was the last one to hold power. It lasted up until 1920, I think or so. It was still a powerful nation. Still a competing nation with the other nations. Turkey, but finally Turkey lost its power. All of them came under Western power.

Western power says ... I would say the turn of the century almost, 18th century to the 19th century, the Western power had been in power. They have been in power. Up until that time, Turkey had a piece of that power. Yes, a strong country, a great strong nation. In ancient times, in medieval times, and in modern times. Turkey is something else. The Turks was strong in ancient times, capital of [Ayatollah 00:15:42]. They were strong in ancient times, medieval times, and strong in modern times. Islam gave them the shot in the arm to bring them back to a power as, well an empire, as an empire, leading power in the world.

Then, after that came occupation by the West. The West occupying the lands they conquered, or the lands that fell under their power. Many of the Muslim lands fell under Western authority, under Western power, many of the Muslim lands. Today, a lot of that burden in the soul of the Muslim population of the world, is caused by colonial domination. By Christian authority and Western political powers imposing a way of life on them, that their souls didn't want. Some places education was completely taken over by the occupiers, those foreigners who occupied their land. They didn't send their children to the schools of their choices. They sent their children to the schools of the new bosses choice.

Many of them became Christian. I have talked to individuals who were made Christians after they were born Muslims, because they were raised in Christian schools. Christian schools on their land, in their land, on the Muslim land. If they wanted education, they had to go to Christian schools. They couldn't get education unless they went to Christian schools. In fact, I know a gentleman right now, who has a high position in his country, he's a Muslim now. He's a clad Muslim now, an openly clad Muslim. He told me how he had to go to school and get an education as a Christian. All he had to do, recite the Christian lessons, Christians lessons that they gave him. He told me that, "Before I learned to recite [arabic 00:18:00]", he said, "I was reciting the Christian lessons."

We have to understand what has occurred since the time of our prophet and the great leadership of Islam, to bring the Muslims to the mind that they have today. Colonialism, colonial domination and colonialism, is one of those things. Christian takeover of their culture, of their religion, teaching of their religion and their culture.

Another thing, Jews influence in their education, another thing. Puppet leaders, who would obey what they thought those that put them in power wanted them to do, were also part of that problem. They too, were leading their people wrong and forcing their people to go along with a government order and a cultural society or cultural environment, that their souls were against.

Many fell victim of all those different, different kind of developments in their life, that was un-Islamic. Many of them became Christian. Some became Jews. Others, just were lost, just lost. Still call themselves Muslim, but most of them lost. When Imam Khomeini began to get popular, not only the Shiites, or the followers of Khomeini and those that associate with Imam Khomeini, but Muslims who call themselves Sunni Muslims, [Nachi 00:19:55], and many others began to think that maybe the rebirth of Islam is here.

They called it a resurgence, Islamic resurgence. This is how it was described. Maybe the rebirth of Islam is here. Most of those that we saw, on television, were part of the desperation that was burden in the soul of the Muslim world. They were really factors in that desperation. Principals, elements, strong elements, factors, in that desperation. Imam Khomeini himself, was desperately battling to get Islamic life back to his country, after the puppet [DeShah 00:20:58] had gone along with the West, even beyond what they expecting to do. Yeah, and let his people leave Islam, making it easy for his people to leave Islam, and making it hard for the children to come up knowing Islam, the real Islam.

Imam Khomeini was a desperate man himself, and he lived that kind of live, dealing with desperate situations until he passed from this world. May G-d give him paradise, I repeat. Just giving you some information that we need before I present my observation. This is just history, you see. When you study the history and see what the Crusades did, the confused idea of Islam in the world's mind. The Muslims were also fighting the Christians, Christians fighting Muslims, Muslims fighting Christians. They too, had something to do with that ugly image that was left in the world of Muslims and Christians.

It's an ugly page, long ugly page in the history, for Muslims and for Christians. That two people belong to religions claimed to believe in the Almighty G-d, just slaughter each other up mercilessly and slaughter, slaughter, and slaughter without end. Thinking that one would be given a dominance over the other. The Christian powers, they won out over the Muslim powers, but Christianity certainly didn't win out over Islam. It's more numerous now than it ever was, in numbers, in the number of people that claim they are the followers of Islam, or followers of the Qur’an and Muhammad the Prophet. More numerous now than ever. The numbers didn't decrease with the victory of the Christian win over Islam. Our numbers didn't decrease. Our numbers continued to grow, even right now. [inaudible 00:23:36]. Their own people began to defect and go Muslim, go to Islam, and their outranked.

It was a political victory. It was a material victory. It was an economic victory, etc cetera. It was certainly not a religious victory. It was not a religious victory, and that's what they were supposed to have been fighting for, to see which religion was going to dominate. G-d is the best knower. G-d is always in charge.

If they had a victory, the victory is in the Muslim's ignorance of their own religion. They haven't taken the Qur’an and Islam, and the Muhammad out of our hearts. No victory there. They're confused the real picture for us of here, in our minds. Even popular leaders that stand up in the name of Muslims, most of them are not doing anything to help correct that. Rather they are contributing to more confusion, keeping our idea, the real idea of Islam, more confused. What has the [Sudan 00:25:11] to make us understand Islam? Nothing. He put a burden on us, he's put another burden on us. Nothing.

Now we have many voices, I don't want to name any of them by name. Many voices standing up and screaming in the name of Islam. Now, we have noise pollution. Islamic noise pollution. It is heavy. Islamic noise pollution, burdening the global soul of the Muslim community.

We have many misconceptions. Many wrong ideas of what Islam is. Many given to emphatic Christians. Many Christians, right today, they haven't been corrected for them. Many Christians today, think that Muslims are anti-Christ. Peace be upon the Prophet Christ Jesus. Think that muslims are the anti-Christ, that we are on Earth to try to deceive Christianity. That we do not accept the Prophet Christ, Jesus. That we're against him.

That's the propaganda that's on the Christians. Then on the Muslim side, we got those that say anyone who don't believe like us, are [catfsih 00:26:55], and we are not to be their friends, they are our enemies. Who are these [catfish 00:27:07]? They are Christians and they are Jews. That's a difficult way to introduce Islam to me, buddy. I don't like all the difficulty you put me in, when you introduce it to me that way.

Now, I got to start out as a Muslim in a Christian society believing that all these Christians in my family, next door neighbors, and all these people that are Christians, are [catfish 00:27:41] and are my enemies. I can't sleep with my [inaudible 00:27:51] any. They'd drive me crazy. If I believe that, I got to go, I got to get my passport, and go somewhere. I got to find me a place that's not Christian. I don't want to live among Christians, all of them are my enemies? I don't want to live among them. Now, what the hell you all come here from? Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Pakistan, and India, what the hell you all coming over here for, to be among all these enemies? Something wrong with them. Something's terribly wrong with them. I don't see you over here, setting up mosques. I don't see you over here defeating these enemies. All I see you doing is joining them to go in my pocket.

This must be a scheme of theirs, that they want sell to one people, African Americans. Yes. I believe that they have targeted only one people for that kind of teaching. The African American, so they can eliminate 30 million of us from the competition. They say, "Well, we got 30 million of them eliminated. All we got to do is compete with the other 200 million or so, of Americans. We've eliminated 30 million. They ain't in the competition."

Well I thank G-d, they just can't mess us up enough to make us buy that lie. Only a very few of us will buy lies like that. The Christians are [catfish 00:30:07]. All the Jews are [catfish 00:30:10]. All the Christians are [catfish 00:30:10]. Well, who are the people of the book? Who are they people who got food I can eat? [Allahbik 00:30:20] and I hold a book that there are people who believe, that have faith in G-d, and their food is permissible for me to eat if I don't have my own food. Now where are they? Boy, I'm telling you, this world is strange. Here we have the lies, the propaganda, the false propaganda, the misconceptions from the Crusades, from Colonial domination, but we also have them from our deceitful leaders, our so-called Muslim leaders.

They can only get a few though. They don't have that many. I travel a lot in these United States. I meet a lot of people from different parts of the world, because I'm your leader. [Arabic 00:31:23]. I also have had opportunities to visit countries. I'm still visiting countries abroad. I have some knowledge of the state, the spiritual state, of the Muslim world.

The Muslim world, not satisfied with this Islam as it is being given today, by most of the popular leaders. They're not satisfied with the Islam that they have in their countries. In most places, they don't have much Islam in their countries. The governments are afraid of Islam. The Muslim government, the so called Muslim government, they are afraid of the religion of Islam. Without naming any particular nation, it is known that there is a Muslim nation, that's known in the international world as a criminal nation. A nation of thieves, hijackers, highway robbers, murderers, dope sellers, and dope dealers, I'm talking about a Muslim nation, numbering in the millions. A Muslim nation got that kind of reputation today.

Where is it religion of Islam, for the citizens of that nation? It's locked up. It's persecuted, it's denied them, by a strong force of gangsters. Yeah. A fellow coming from a nation like that to America and having nothing to say to me but negative things about America, right away I'm angered. Right away I can't help it, right away I'm angered, because I know that this is not a true Muslim talking to me. A true Muslim would be saying, "Brother Mohammed, I want you know that Allah has blessed you all with a better situation in this non-Muslim country, than we have in our own Muslim country." That would be a sincere person, but they're coming to tell me negative things about America, turn me against America, and his whole nation look like the crime syndicate. The crime syndicate isn't a part of the American scene, it ain't the whole scene, but the crime syndicate is a whole scene for his country. Ain't nothing there but crime, crime dominates, crime ruining everywhere.

All of this burdens the soul of the Muslim world. When you would ask a Muslim [inaudible 00:35:02] a Muslim? I don't care how notorious that criminal is, if he calls himself a Muslim or if he's known in the public, the media, "Oh yeah, he's Muslim. That's a Muslim brother, a Muslim. Don't speak out of against our brother, Muslims are not supposed to speak out another Muslim brother." No matter how notorious he is, a criminal, as long as he says, "I'm a Muslim", I'm a Muslim. That's enough.

In the days of the Prophet, the person who came back and said that criminal was a Muslim, would be killed on the spot, or he would have to give his word that he was going back and kill that person. If he didn't give his word he was going back to kill that person, he'd be killed on the spot, for lying.

We have no really popular, healthy opinion in the Muslim society of the world, do we? Where is the healthy opinion for Muslims? Any and everything goes as long as it's against the West. You can be dirty, nasty, filthy, diseased, liar, thieve, dope pusher, be anything, just be against the West, [Arabic 00:36:53], Blame Muslim leaders, blame Muslim brothers, support this great Muslim brother". You didn't have to agree with everything I'm saying yet, but I'm leaving history and getting into my observations.

That's the popular picture I've given you. That's the popular picture, but there is a Muslim revival going on. There is a resurgence of Islam that is happening, in the world. Oh, yeah. It's not published like the notorious ones that are published. You won't get any prime time media to bring them to you. You have to hear about them on sincere Muslim grapevine, or you just have to be around where they are, to know what they are doing. In Iran, even in Iraq, they're all parts of Africa, Asia. Everywhere, there are Muslims that are thinking very seriously about their religion, and how to get back to its original purity. They're scholars and ordinary common thinkers, common sense thinkers. That has been going on now in a very impressive way, ever since the rise of Khomeini, Imam Khomeini. Yes.

We do have the rising of new Muslim leadership in the world, but we haven't yet seen them become popular though, for us to know them. They are not popular enough yet, for us to know them. You'll find that they are the ones that are not pointing to the differences so much, as to the similarities. For Islam and the true scientists. For Islamic sincerity and Christian sincerity, for Islamic sincerity and Jewish sincerity. They are pointing to the similarities, not so much to the differences, to the differences.

There are Muslims now that who are very highly educated. They're meeting together and forming groups. They're devoted to the study of true Islam and the West, looking for the compatibility, the agreement, the similarities, and the news of their findings

