09/24/1997
IWDM Study Library
Does Religion Unite or Divide the Races? 
Orlando, Florida

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Chaplin: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters. Peace be unto you all. I rise this evening to introduce to some and to present to others our speaker for the evening. First, however, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the University of Central Florida, the Muslim Student Association, the Masaajid and centers of Central Florida, and especially, the staff and ministry of available Warith Deen Mohammed, and Imam Mohammed for making this evening possible. We just like to thank you personally for that and as well for all of those of us that work to make this evening possible.
Now, for the business at hand, it is indeed a pleasure and an honor for me to be privileged to introduce our speaker for this evening. Our speaker is the son of the Honorable Elijah Poole Muhammad and Clara Evans Muhammad. Our speaker succeeded his father as leader of the then Nation of Islam on February 26, 1975. Our speaker is the leader of the Muslim American society an estimated 2.5 million Muslim Americans and is recognized as Muslim American spokesman. Over the past 22 years, our speaker has through very inspiring and visionary leadership completely transformed the foreign nation of Islam.
He has transformed the largest indigenous group of Muslims in the Western Hemisphere and to it nationally and internationally respected Islamic society. As leader of the Muslim American society, Imam W.D. Mohammed has been and is at the forefront of leadership in promoting inter-faith dialogue religious and ethnic tolerance education and the development of our created human excellence. Among some of his most significant recent activities are May 1995, he was invited to make a presentation to the annual Forbes Forum in Naples Florida. December 1995, he visited Saudi Arabia as a special guest of King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.
May 1996, he visited Malaysia as a guest of the most prominent Malaysian youth movement. October 1996, he led an American delegation of Muslims to the Vatican to dialogue with Pope John Paul the second and other Vatican Cardinals bishops and other officials. The list goes on but in the interest of time, we say that on August 31st, 1997, he gave his annual state of the Muslims in America speech and was joined by Dr. Robert Schuller host of the hour of power television program view weekly about over 20 million people and past of the Crystal Cathedral Church.
This brief introduction and highlight of some of Imam Mohammed's most recent activities is inadequate to express the importance and benefit of his untiring efforts and bringing humanity together in moral excellence with truth and understanding. Suffice it to say that this humble servant of G-d and humanity would probably not have said as much as I have said about himself. He would I believe simply have said, all praise, honor and glory is due to G-d alone. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank G-d and praise Him as I introduced to some and present to others Imam W.D. Mohammed Muslim American spokesman. Imam Mohammed.

Imam W.D. Mohammed: Thank you. As Salamu Alaikum.
Congregation: Wa Alaikum Salaam
Imam: Muslims greet each other that way and it means peace be unto you, or peace be upon you. We thank G-d always for this opportunity to speak to you here on this campus. We appreciate the support we receive to make this possible, to make this visit possible. Thank you. From the administration of Central Florida University and particularly from the Muslims working with the students the MSA Muslim Student Association and the students that have helped to make this visit possible for us.
I'd like to begin by saying that religion is I would say not for everybody to interpret. The religion if it's interpreted by those that are not guided by G-d, will come up with wrong reading of religion, and that's where the problem lies. The problem is in misreading religion, and that's how come I would say and I do strongly believe this that religion has contributed to racism, but it's the ignorance of the people who misread religion, they are really the ones to blame. In Al-Islam, we are given a picture of the beginning of humanity or beginning of the human people, the human race.
As I understand this beginning-- Well, I should come straight from the Scriptures. I believe that G-d wanted a superior race. G-d says in our holy book that He told the angels of His plan to create man, human being. He said to the angels, I am-- One translation says, "I'm about to create or put a Khalifa in the earth." "I am about to put a Khalifa in the earth." When you read the Arabic, the Arabic says, G-d speaking "I am making in the earth a Khalifa. I am making in the earth a Khalifa." So it's not something that was completed at that time, but G-d was introducing what he was doing at that time making in the earth a Khalifa. Khalifa means any things. Khalifa means ruler.
Someone to be responsible for the rule of the order of society or government ruler, but this ruler in Quranic language Arabic, and Quranic language is a ruler that's G-d himself is making. He's not making himself the people don't make this ruler, and this ruler can't make himself, G-d makes him. We believe that the man that G-d was making and this is Adam that G-d is speaking of the first man. I understand from that reading that Adam was not made complete. Adam is the beginning of this Khalifa that G-d is making.
Right now the learned then I guess they have been doing this for 1,400 years, as long as Islam the learning in Islam, they know Muhammad as “Rajalun Kamel” The perfect man. Also, he's called, "Kamel." These are names of Muhammad. Kamel, it means complete. He is not only a perfect creation, but Muhammad is a complete creation. He is the last of the prophets. He's a sign no you're not to see him only in himself this meaning only in Muhammad, but Muhammad is the focus for Muslims to see this meaning. We are to see mankind as a creation that G-d was completing and perfecting, just as He was completing and perfecting Revelation scripture. Perfecting and creating and creating and perfecting.
This special creation of man human being that G-d's making, his type is the superior type, and people in his type or after his type would be in my opinion the superior people. Scripture is introducing a superior people, a superior species, a superior creation of human people. This idea about a superior people has some foundation in Scripture, it has some real foundation in Scripture. Now, none of us would think of ourselves as being equal to Muhammad in human quality, in human worth, in human perfection or whatever it could be. None of us would dare say we are equal to Muhammad.
No, Muhammad is superior to us and we are inspired to or we are encouraged to and inspired too and emulate Muhammad's nature, character, behavior. We are to take on his life as much as we can. We are to form our life or conform to his life as a human person as much as we can. That's why G-d says, obey G-d and obey His Messenger, not just obey G-d but, G-d says to us in our holy book, "Obey G-d and obey His Messenger." We just can't follow the word, we have to know the model. G-d want us to conform to a model human person.
He wants us to see the human being that He created us for. He created us for a particular human being, a particular human life that is, and that's what G-d has revealed to us. There is a superior person, there is a superior people, the people who conform to obey the Word of G-d and mold themselves in the image of the perfect and complete man that G-d has given to us in the focus we have as “Uswatan Hasana”-the best of models or the most excellent model, then we have the most excellent people or the superior people. This confusion in reading and religion, the reading of religion has been really discussed by a lot of people.
I want to say to you that I have been helped myself, firstly, not by Islam not by religion, but I was helped firstly by writers in the 50s, who began to write as objectively as they possibly could I guess on the problem of race. One of the books I remember influencing me or affecting me to appreciate what this writer was saying is Race and Democratic Society. I think the writer was named Franz Boas. I didn't even include this in my notes, but it so happened that I just picked it up I thought I should mention that to you.
There were so many writers back then in the newspapers columnists. We're trying to reason with race-minded people are racist minded people and they did a lot of good, they weren't paid much attention because there was just too much trouble going on, too much happening, but they did a lot of good. I believe in academic circles they were appreciated men like that, like I almost thought of this one name just then- Franz Boas, and who wrote the Race and Democratic Society I believe it came out in mid-50s around there. Another one that I appreciate very much it's really a member of our association of Muslims.
I say our association because we belong to the community of Muslims on this earth. All Muslims are one community, all Muslims are one people, one group. The community who follows Muhammad the Prophet. We are all one. I speak of our association to identify those who are with me and who identify with me like the celebrities here that you mentioned earlier. We have among us a brother who did his paper for Ph.D. thesis, for the Ph.D. on just this problem in religion. The problem of language, metaphorical language, and religion. That's misread and used to support racism.
His name is Rashid, James Rashid. He recently wrote-- When I say recently I mean like maybe six or seven years ago I believe, he wrote his thesis and received his Ph.D. Obviously, somebody respected what he was interested in. I believe he was very objective all the language is very complicated, the metaphorical language in the scripture is very difficult to understand, I don't think you can understand it fully and correctly perfectly without G-d guiding you. That's what the prophets are for. They were to read G-d's revelation, to read G-d's signs.
Then preach it and teach it to us, preach and teach that to us, and Muhammad told us in plain language about race. When he gave his farewell speech at the great pilgrimage in Mecca at the holy place. He said, "There is no superiority of a white over a black, and no superiority of a black over white." He ended that. For Muslims this is finished, we don't have anything to discuss. In Al-Islam, there's no superiority of a one race over another. Allah says in the Quran and Muhammad was actually reflecting or making a reference to what G-d said himself, and what G-d says because it's still with us, is the living into eternal Word of G-d.
He says to us that He have made us tribes and nations not that we should think ourselves superior to the other but so that we will know each other. Want to get acquainted with each other and G-d says and the most honorable of you with G-d is the one who was best in his obedience to G-d, that's all, that's it, that's finished. We know we don't have racism in Al-Islam is very clear it's not metaphorical, it's in plain language from G-d and from the prophet who received the revelation. For Al-Islam is finished, it's finished, no racism and that's it. No racism in Al-Islam, that's it.
I believe for those Christians who inspired or who have been innocent and raised correctly in their religion, they will say the same thing of Christianity, they will say no. There was no racism in Christianity. We can't be racist and be good Christians, and the Jew will say the same, the good Jew. He will say the same if he has been guided rightly in his religion, he will say the same. So how come we have all of this, this stuff is still in the air, and it's still affecting us. It's still affecting all of us, it affects the black man, but why because the ancient world started it.
I see the ancient world, the Aryan world. The Aryan world, they started it. The Aryan thought themselves to be superior and they used it and they knew how to I would say deceive people and get people to even think their own knowledge was saying the same thing that the white is superior to the black. The white is superior to the black, and the west the modern West also contributed to this ignorance because it once pretended to be science but was not science it was pseudoscience was saying that we were inferior social sciences in the West, in America was saying that the black is inferior. Black people are inferior.
This was a proper idea for a while even in these United States in the history of education in these United States, but that wasn't the only mistakes they made. They also made the mistake for a long time they thought criminality could be inherited, that you were born a criminal, and it was it had to take time for them to learn, study and an experiment enough with science and get enough knowledge just to condemn that. Today, no that's condemned, no institution, no penal institution, no branch of penal law in this country holds that a person is born criminal. If they caught you, you committed a crime you would have to submit to be sterilized or to spend your life in jail, stay in jail.
Be sterilized or stay in jail. To protect the society from you having a child and producing another criminal. They thought it was genetic. This is factual, this is American this is the growth this shows how we have grown in America as a people, and American people have really grown and that's the truth we have really grown. Just as we had to grow out of that ignorance, we had to grow also out of the ignorance of racism. I see things in Scripture that make me believe that these were serious issues in society long time ago.
In the Old Testament language like this is used of white says that your whiteness is not the white of purity, but the white of leprosy, the white of leprosy. Here is something being addressed and I'm sure different preachers, or different readers of scripture who are posed to be educated learned in Scripture they will come up with different explanations, but the explanation I come up with racism was existing at that time. It wasn't just talking about a spiritual purity, it was talking about color because some people think that white skin makes them superior to others because they have been misguided.
The scripture in Old Testament is telling them don't think all skin that is white just the white of the color of skin making the whites color makes that skin good. Look at the leper he's whiter than you in his spots, but is he healthy or is he sick? Racism is an ignorance, it's an ignorance. You can't address it with wisdom, you address it with common sense because it's just ignorance, it's ignorance, it's pure ignorance. You address it with common sense and that's how scripture address is it. The writer of that book who's trying to help us used science to address it. Try to explain how scientifically what makes a person have white skin? What makes the person has black skin?
Gives scientific explanation for why a person has white skin. Why a person has black skin? Why one has a blunt nose, the flattened nose, a fat nose, and one has a sharp nose? Why one has straight hair another has the shriveled hair. I said shrivel hair because now I want to point back to scripture again. I learned that in India, the Indians scriptures in the Indian scriptures, they have a figure called Rama, R-A-M-A, Rama. They explained the African having nappy hair in this story of Rama a picture of the god Rama throwing this third Sun disc, the Sun, and when he threw it this particular time, he threw it too close to the African people.
This is what is I read it myself I know what it says. He threw it too close to the heads of the African people and the Sun came so close to their heads it shriveled their hair. Now, if it's shriveled their hair it also darkened their skin. Without saying it darkened their skin, it says that the god Rama punished the people of Africa by burning them too much with the Sun, shriveled their hair and blackened their skin. It is in religion there's no doubt about it these things are in religion, but I again repeat that they are in religion because we misread. The religion talks about light and darkness, and in Scripture, there are many meanings for light and darkness.
There are many meanings for I should say several meanings instead many. Several meanings for light and darkness, several meanings for black and white. G-d says that He made the darkness and the light. He made the darkness for rest, but He also says that he made the darkness to be an oppression, a burden. Which darkness is this? One is talking about the darkness, the natural darkness, the Sun setting and darkness coming. The other one is talking about darkness in the mind or in intelligence, in the intellect, darkness in the intellect, darkness in the intellect oppresses, but G-d also wants know even if even the darkness in the natural world can become oppressive.
G-d says what if G-d would prolong the night over you so that you couldn't have a day that physical light would become an oppression wouldn't it? Yes, it would become oppressive, it will oppress us to become a great burden on us. Ignorance is the same. Ignorance is a burden on society and ignorance oppresses us, but the same if G-d did, if we leave it like G-d did it that oppression is to pressure us into using our intelligence. Even the thing that seemingly is designed to oppress us or to harm us, or to hurt us, in the long run, it proves to be a help to us.
We know darkness is good for eyes. If the little kittens are brought right away into the light, they'll be blinded. They have to be protected from the light until their eyes get strong, and we know that really darkness never blinded anyone, this is common sense talk I'm talking. Darkness never blinded anyone unless you stay in there long, long long you have to be in the dark a long long time to lose your sight. Like for years and years. You have to stay in the darkness long time yet, but you can come suddenly to too much light and be blinded instantly. Light blinds. We know light blinds not darkness.
Darkness rest the eyes, light blinds the eyes. See how G-d says for those who think they know everything and they think they have the right interpretation of everything. G-d says you ask all of these questions of G-d, why don't you ask some questions of yourself? If we just question the way we think, we can come to some sense. Another thing caught my attention in religious language and because I had seen it, I took a course in English, College English I'm not a college man. I don't profess to be, I'm not. I'm really a man who have done a lot of self-study, a lot of study on my own.
Formal education is not that much, but I did take a course in college English and I did pass just so I could handle speech and writing. I wanted to handle it better so I did pass the course with a C. I think that was pretty good for a person who grew up in a house and hearing nothing, but "is you ready? I ain't going with you now". That's the house I had so I had to unlearn English first. I had to unlearn my English so I can learn the right correct English. Yes, I learned in English two not English one. English 102, second English course I took that to color something means to corrupt it's meaning, to weaken or corrupt the meanings, to color it.
You take it out of it's true meanings, you take it out of it's pure expression out of it's pure meaning, you color it. Then, I studied Arabic grammar and I learnt that they call defected words, colored words. The pure words are the words that are black and white, but all the words with color they call-- They don't call white and black colors, they call the what's between what we call exact pure colors in scientific language. The pure colors are not black and white, black is a hue and white is a hue, and the colors are the colors of the rainbow. These are defected colors in Arabic grammar.
I said to myself, now I can see how scripture is really revealing something to us about man, that if he looks to the beauty of creation and don't try to see the basis of it all what is fundamentally true of creation, what is essentially and fundamentally true of creation, because you know you can't really know a rose by saying it's red because there are yellow roses.
You can't know these things by their color only. The more important knowledge is not the color of the thing, but the true description of the thing, the nature, the inner nature the inner workings of the thing. I think that's what G-d has been saying to us all along with Scripture is that man tend to look just on the surface and he comes up with what you think is knowledge, and his knowledge is defected, like one who takes the color of the thing to be the real thing and it is not. It's just a superficial appearance, it's not the real thing. Now, I go back to this idea of the super race, and I'm going to bring this to a conclusion.
I'm going back now to the idea of a super race. When I say race, what do I think of? You buy what I say, you don't buy it, buy what you want. You pass by what you don't want. You take it with a grain of salt or with a whole spoonful of salt, it's up to you, but I'm telling you what I think. Yes. The super race is the human being that G-d created, that's the super race, and the rest of people are no match for that creature. They will do best to follow that creature. What is this? Is that Muhammad only? Is that Christ Jesus only? Peace be upon them. No, it's a type in all of us. G-d says to Muhammad says, "say to them".
G-d telling Muhammad say to them, "I am a mortal human person like you." Over and over again we were reminded. Don't take these prophets for angels, they're not angels they're human beings like yourselves. No matter how high we look up to Jesus Christ in his human form, we have the same within ourselves. No matter how high the Muslims look up "oh no I can't get" to Muhammad in his human creation, the same is in ourselves. G-d has put the same in all of us, but some of us don't realize it to the extent that others realize it. The ones who realize it to the highest degree G-d has selected them to be models for us and to put them in our eyes so we can see them, but they're in us too.
Jesus said I in you and you and me, peace be upon Christ Jesus. Muhammad said the same thing when G-d taught said say to them "I am a human model just like you “Anna basharoom mithlukum” I see Arabic speaking people in the audience that's why I'm saying this. “Anna basharoom mithlukum”. He could have said “anna basharoom” that would have been enough wouldn't it? I am a mortal, human mortal, but no a problem had been created for people. They were thinking that yes, a man can be a human mortal, but his excellence is not human his excellence is divine.
We wanted to kill that idea for once and for all by saying I'm a human mortal like you not like an angel, not like a god. No, no G-d, no angel, human mortal like you. That's the super race. When G-d says He's creating man, he's creating the Khalifa. He's creating a responsible person, a responsible creature, or responsible being to G-d. Responsible to G-d. Firstly and lastly, responsible to G-d, for what? For everything. For my own life, making my own life conformed to the will of G-d, for the environment, my home life. If I'm a businessman, my business. If I'm the mayor the city. If I'm the governor of the state. If I'm the president, the nation.
If I'm the Khalifa, the world. Thank you very much. Peace, As Salamu-Alaikum.
Congregation: Wa Alaikum Salaam

Imam Mohammed: Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
Audience Speaker 2: Chaplin will now give a small presentation.
Chaplin: Brother Imam come forward please. Imam Mohammed on behalf of the messages, and sinners, and the community here at Central Florida I'd like to take this opportunity to present an appreciation to you this Plaque which reads "an appreciation to Imam Warith Deen Mohammed for you untiring efforts and the cause of Al-Islam from the massages incentives of Central Florida on September 23, 1997, here at UCF."
Imam WD Mohammed: Thank you very much.

Chaplin: We would be remiss if we did not take the opportunity to recognize some oh and you know whenever you get into recognize, and guess, and providing thank you's for doing something you always leave someone out. We are given this disclaimer Alice that if I left you. We love you, we appreciate you, we think it all works it a good. Okay. All right, but we want to start by Said Mustapha from the Muslim Student Association here UCF. We provide them with a certificate of appreciation presented to the Muslim Student Association, in recognition of your service as a supporter of Imam Warith Deen Muhammad Central Florida visit.

The rest I'm just going to read out the names and I give them to you later so we can get right to the question and answer. Ruben Rodriguez here at UCF the Director of Student Activities very instrumental in this evening. Rana Shahed from the Imam's office. Naim Mohammed Wali Shabazz of us for their efforts, the Islamic Center of Polk County. The Islamic Society of Central Florida, we want to recognize Dr. Gibbs on Islamic Center of Central Florida because he's also the MSA advisor here. Dr. Gibbs raise his hand over there.
The Islamic center of Brevard County, Masjid Aisha Blake Islamic and cultural awareness Center out of Fort Myers, and many more of you individually and collectively helped and we appreciate that help. We thank you for that. At this time, we're going to entertain questions at this time. Brother you were going to handle those questions.
Audience Speaker 2: Any questions to the Imam may at this time be asked. Anyone who wishes to ask a question please raise your hand or stand up so that I may call upon you. I would now like to open the discussion to the floor. Right there? Green.
Speaker 1: My question is, what is your relationship to the nation of Islam and do you think the nation of Islam is Muslim? What's your opinion Minister Farrakhan.
IWDM: I feel perfect comfortable asking the question, I used to be one of them. In fact, I was born under their teachings. I know the intent of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad my father, who was responsible for really guiding us into an idea of Islam that was not Islam. Some say that that Islam is not correct. No, we weren’t given Islam we did not have Islam. We only have something to attract us to believe in ourselves. We have an exaggerated idea of black people's worth as creation or as human beings and we have also an exaggerated picture of the worth and power of white people. A lot of us, we thought it was a put down to say that the white people were doing us wrong where we thought that was putting the white people down.
They are devils. They are the Satans. No. If I call a white man a Satan then white man is too much for me to deal with but if I don't believe he is Satan, I believe he's just a human being I can deal with it a little better. Really it put us in a worse situation to tell us the white man is Satan. It made us less able to deal with the only problem. If he is Satan, I can't do anything about it and that's what we were really told.
Not to try and do anything about it. Leave it to G-d. G-d is going to save you from this white man. To me, it's wrong to teach me to be a soldier in the fruit of Islam. The militant unit of the Nation of Islam. It is wrong to teach me to be a soldier, to think I'm a soldier, that I'm a fighter, that I'm a man, I could fight and then cripple me like this. Tell me that white race is really a super race. That's what they're saying already. They're super already.
If you tell me they’re Satan, then they are super race. Even though they're equal. They're equal to too much evil for me to deal with and you and me can't beat Satan. G-d can only beat Satan you know. I thought they really were doing a disservice while thinking they were doing a service. I believe in that idea and don't let anyone tell you that they're teaching Islam in the temples. If they are, they recently started doing it. No.
We were taught Bible - Christian Bible - and was given the Bible out of context. We were taught to believe that what the Bible says great about Jews is really not Jews but us. That we were the Hebrews. That the original Hebrews were black people and they still have some people calling themselves black Hebrews and they believe that. They really believe that the early prophets of the old testament were not white people, they were not Jews or white people but they were Africans. Black people. That's what they believe.
The world of white supremacy was so oppressive on us and prevented us from really being free as human beings to think as free human persons. There's a desperation was created for us. We were made very desperate so if you even find intelligent college level blacks, buying that idea because a very abnormal situation that was created for us if we really take racism as seriously.
You can't deal with that as a black person without having your mind warped. Luckily, I grew up not in the church. I grew up in these teachings so it was different for me, the others who came from the church are from the streets of Christianity and Christian influences into the temple, they came from a state of mind that was produced by that world. By me being born and raised in my father's idea, I didn't come with that problem of an outsider. I just had the problem of inside.
I wasn't escaping the outside to be rescued by what was given to me on the inside. I was born in the inside so to me, the inside isn't horrible, the inside is just a normal so by me being a normal human being, I started questioning. The older I got the more I questioning and the more I asked questions, the more ridiculous I saw it. I should answer the white gentleman there. I should answer him and answer really this question.
This is a question all of us need to ask. The question he asked. They're not teaching Islam. We were taught more Bible than Quran. In fact, we were not taught Quran, we were taught Bible and we were taught to see ourselves not in the Quran but to see ourselves in the Bible and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad would justify this by saying, "My people died in the Bible." He means mentally. Their brains became dead, he said, in the Bible, so they had to be resurrected in the Bible.
That's an excuse he gave but I think the real reason for it is that his teacher didn't teach him to study the Quran and didn't teach him to prepare himself to teach the Quran but his teacher obviously had good intentions too. He told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad-- I'm using the Honorable Elijah Muhammad exact words he said brother. His teacher called him brother. Would G-d call a man brother?

His teacher also made him believe the teacher was G-d. The teacher did that. The teacher told him, "Your people had no help. Nobody cared for them." and no help came to them until the coming of the son of man in the person of W. B. Fard. That was himself. He called himself the son of man Elijah Muhammad is a Bible man. He is a son of a preacher. Not church going person but the son of a preacher. His father led the church, he met someone else

But he's the son of a preacher. He knows the Bible. He's familiar with the life of the Bible so when this man called himself the son of man right away my father said that he's saying he is Christ. He is G-d in the flesh so my father believed that and I think his teacher wanted him to believe that but at the same time his teacher, the one who put the seed in him as he was, a common man.
When he would speak to him as a person, he would say, "A friend." He referred to himself as brother. He said, "Brother, don't you try to teach the Quran. Leave that for your children who will come up after you." That tells me that this man had a plan and he didn't think the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the situation for blacks at that time was good for us to have Quran and that it was too much for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to try and do Quran.
Juts go with what you got. Just go with this rejection of the white race, this rejection of Christianity, rejection of the church. He just told him, "Reject everything." Prepared him to reject everything and to teach his people to reject everything but in time this man knew that conditions for race relations wouldn't stay the same always in America. It was going to improve down the road. As they improve, the problem would ease, the problem would go away and we would start to look at each other with more sober eyes.
We would start to look at each other and think more rational and that generation would be able to appreciate the Quran, learn it and teach. That's exactly what happened. No one thought would come to my lifetime. I was taught that I could of me that I would just be wanting to help my father and Mr. Fard.
I was told that I was supposed to be a helper to Mr. Fard, his teacher and him. Just to help get us a little closer. Who would have thought we'd come all the way around 360 degrees?
No one thought that but conditions in the world changed enough. Condition in America and condition in the world changed enough for us to do that, thanks to Almighty G-d. So no, the religion in the temple of Islam and what is called religion of Islam is not religion of Islam. It's not Islam. There's no Islam there. What they give is religion. What they're attracted to spiritually is not Islam.
G-d, yes. They do have an idea of G-d but it's G-d in man in a human being. That's the idea of G-d. I believe it's better to have some idea of G-d as your G-d superior than to have no idea at all as G-d, okay? I'm not completely condemning them. They have a chance.
Everything has developed just like the amoeba.

From simple life to real developed complex man. I don't know where they are. It would probably be amoeba all the way to complete man. I hope I answered the question for you and I answered for a lot of others.

Okay. Thank you.
Audience Speaker 4: As Salaam Alaikum 
IWDM: Alaikum salaam.
Speaker 2: I'm very grateful that you've come all the way here in Florida and shared your knowledge with us. We are very grateful for that.
IWDM: Thank you. I feel honored as my community. My community is honored.
Audience Speaker 5: Thank you. You have most recently traveled to my country which was a dream of mine to go with you but unfortunately, I couldn't make it. Maybe we'll go next time and you went to Islamic Republic of Iran. I want to see if you could share with your brothers who you think of that country of mine. What experiences that you had been there. Besides the good food.
IWDM: First of all. The food? Very delicious. Very delicious. If they had an Iranian restaurant in my neighborhood I would be taking some of my money away from the Chinese restaurant.

I must say this. I went to Iran-- and I'm a Muslim, and I'm also a representative of a good number of Muslims in this country. I should be informed. I should be just like the average American having hardly no information from the sources overseas. I should be informed. I was somewhat informed, I would say, but I was still a little apprehensions. I was a little nervous. I thought I was going to meet a different people. But when I met them, they were just like the Iranians I know in New York. Warm. Very human. Very warm human beings. Another thing, I thought I was going to meet people very radical in their thinking, very extreme in their thinking. Extremists. But, I found them very rational.
I'm still trying to understand the Iranian people. Because here is the picture we get in the world is the picture of a people who are extreme and given to emotions rather than reason. That's not the case. That's not what I found. I wouldn't think of you as being humane but I went there and I saw what the Iranians are doing and what they're planning for their future. Very humane people. Very spiritual people. Very creative people. Beautiful artwork there. Some of the most beautiful artwork I've ever seen, I saw it in the sacred quarters. You're familiar with what I'm saying? Yes. Inside the sacred quarters there. That town is called-- what's the name of the town?
Audience Speaker 1: Qom?
IWDM: Hmm?
Audience Speaker 1: Qom?
IWDM: No not Qom. The other one where the beautiful glass work is on the side.
Audience Speaker 1: Mashhad?
IWDM: Yes. Mashhad. I saw it there, Mashhad. I'm sorry I know this name but I'm under pressure now to think and to-- so I can't bring these words up. Yes, the most beautiful artwork in glass I've ever seen anywhere. But most of all, your leaders were not like I thought. I had an-- I said, in fact, I was fortunate to be very close to Sheikh Khomeini. I sat very close to Sheikh Khomeini.
I observed him. We had a chance to speak to each other. His lecture to us, very rational, very sober. Rafsanjani, the president, honorable president of yours there. He's not now. He had been replaced now, but when I was there he was still in office although the new president had been elected, he has not taken office yet. The speech he gave he was very sober, very rational, very well-balanced. It made me feel comfortable as a Muslim and made me also feel comfortable as an American citizen.
You know I go to the State Department. I told them that. They know. They know what I saw and what I observed. In the future, I hope to speak to them in more detail about this. We plan to have more talks. I hope they will see what I observed and will make them feel even more comfortable with the Iranian government that we have now. I say we because I'm a Muslim. It's your government.
Audience Speaker 1: Thank you

Thank you.
IWDM: Yes. Thank you, and I plan to go back to Iran soon. And I plan to even ignore the sanctions.
Audience Speaker 1: When you like to go there?
IWDM: I plan to buy something. They can lock me up when I come back. It's okay.
Audience Speaker 1: When would you like to go?
IWDM: We plan to go soon.
Audience Speaker 1: Insha’Allah
IWDM: We plan to go soon.
Audience Speaker 1: Insha’Allah
IWDM: I'm in the State Department and I hope I'm going to be an influence, along with others, to have the government drop the sanctions.
Moderator: We have time for two more questions.
Questioner: As-Salamu Alaikum
IWDM: Wa Alaikum As-Salam.
Audience Speaker 4: There are about 10,000 members of the nation of Islam. I saw these ones as proper members. There's very few members-
IWDM: It's more, I think.
Audience Speaker 4: More than that?
IWDM: At least twice that, yes.
Audience Speaker 4: How many people are there who are African-American who are Muslims?
IWDM: In the temple of Islam?
Audience Speaker 4: No.
IWDM: In the nation of Islam under Farrakhan?
Audience Speaker 4: No. Under your leadership and under the general Muslims who are African-American's who are Muslim.
IWDM: Muslims that are American?
Audience Speaker 4: Yes. African-American Muslims.
IWDM: African-American Muslims. I believe well over 2.5 million people.
Audience Speaker 4: 2.5 million? And how many non-African-American Muslims are there? Immigrant.
IWDM: About the same.
Audience Speaker 4: You're approximate, approximately there's 20,000 say nation of Islam. There's several times more than that that's-
IWDM: Yes.
Audience Speaker 4: -10 times more than that who are not in the nation.
IWDM: That's true.
Audience Speaker 4: How come we keep on seeing Louis Farrakhan's picture on Time Newsweek? How can we still keep on seeing images again and again of the nation Louis Farrakhan, but we don't see images of you? We don't see images of other leaders of American Muslim leadership? Of, let's say, six million or five million, only 20,000 in the nation, why you're still asking this question after so many years about the nation of Islam whether they are Muslim or not. Why don't we hear about the real African Muslims and the real Muslims in America? Why is the media obsessed with Louis Farrakhan?
IWDM: Yes. Thank you for the question. More of us can identify Michael Jackson
than we can identify some persons who are really serving humanity in a more significant way.

He's good showbiz. Farrakhan is good showbiz. People exploit that. I think our society has people who worked for good in the human way, and then people who think they're working for good in the Satan way. Shaitaan thought he was working for good. Yes. He was so much convinced that he was working for good that he argued with G-d. There are people like that too in the media, in Hollywood, in the media in Hollywood, and in many places, who believe that they're working for good.
G-d says there are those who think they are building something to their credit. But when they face G-d and the judgment, they're going to see that what they were building was something that will be used against them in the judgment. That they would have losses, not gains, but losses in the judgment. Many people are convinced that they do it. I'm convinced by my experience.
I have experience with media, media personalities. Some of them, they don't have the human sense and the human feel that we have. They are just going mechanically to do things. Purely mechanically, they're performing purely in a mechanical way. You can't show them the moral side of anything and they're convinced that they're in power too. They think themselves in power.
They are to a great extent. I was told by one we don't worry about this particular fella that you are worried about. Said. "The same sword that lifts him up, brings him down." They think they in control. They in control of these bad guys. They use them. They think they're using these people to our benefit.
Now, I would caution you who think that no you shouldn't even let us-- They shouldn't present Farrakhan to the public. Farrakhan can work quietly. If the public is not aware of him, that would even be more dangerous. Where I know there is evil in the media, there's evil. There's corruption there. They are working against righteousness. Not against Muslims only. Against righteousness.
They fear moral strength. They're really afraid of it. Not only in the media, in many quarters of our professional world. There are people who fear the moral person more than they fear anybody else. They don't want you if you're moral. They don't want you if you're corrupt either. But they don't want you if you're moral because they might want to corrupt you to get rid of it.
Audience Speaker 5: Do you think that there's basis to the claims by the Nation of Islam and others that the CIA has sold drugs to the gangs in the inner cities?
IWDM: I heard part of that but I don't want to answer it until the brother you could hear it better than I can. Yes, yes okay I thought that's what the question was, but I wasn't sure. Yes, the question is do I believe there's any validity to the belief that the CIA is involved in drug selling, drug trafficking, trafficking in New York City? Is that correct? I'm not sure if the CIA is involved but I'm very sure that some members of the police department in my town in Chicago. Because they have been charged with it. They have been discovered and charged with it. Only after pressure from the public comes on down on them. Yes, I'm a little bit overly suspicious too. I think we have two economies that are legit. But we service of G-d we can't buy one economy we can only accept one and reject the other. That's money from crime we can't accept it. Is that it? Yes, I can take one more thing. We didn't hear from a female. They're going to think we're prejudiced.
All right. Really, I didn't see the hand of any female. I was joking. I was just joking by the way.
Audience Speaker 6: Can you speak to Muhammad being a perfect man?
IWDM: Okay, my daughter told me to get a hearing aid. I think I'm going do it now. Because I heard you but I want to make sure. Yes, I thought that but I just want to be sure. Now let me respond to that now. When we speak of Muhammad the Prophet as a perfect and complete human, we are not saying that the Prophet Muhammad was an angel, or a god. Or that he wasn’t capable of making any mistakes of doing any wrong.
We're only saying as a human being he reached the maximum possible for us in human development spiritually, rationally emotionally in every way complete. He's a complete human and the perfect human. It's personal of a human to acknowledge mistakes. Muhammad whenever he made a mistake he didn't have any problem acknowledging his mistakes. Muhammad was given the position as the number one person in the human society of earth but that didn't prevent him from talking on a level that other was on and respecting people on their level and even respecting that they could make a contribution to his own decisions.
This is Muhammad the prophet. So, this is perfection. We don't see perfection as a god or perfection as an angel, not for human we are not god, we are not angel. Its perfection of the human and a perfect human is one who is perfect as a human being. Perfect as a human being. Perfect as a human being means that we can acknowledge our faults. We can acknowledge our mistakes. We could be so high above the person but wouldn't have any problem acknowledging a defect in ourselves. Taking the risk, that this person on this level may not look up to me anymore. But we are so perfect in our human creation that we have to take that risk. You may not look up to me anymore but I want to tell you, "No, I made a mistake." That's to us, that's perfect human being. That was Muhammad the Prophet. So perfect is not to be an angel or god. Perfect for a human being is just to be the best possible human person in your behavior. In your life and in your behavior. So, in that respect, Muhammad was complete and perfect. Complete and perfect. G-d said that the world had been populated by angels, he wouldn't have sent you an angel as a messenger. We are a human community; the human model must be sent to us. Not an angel. Not a G-d.
You want to speak to me? After we conclude? Five minutes? You can have it. Thank you.
Now, before we conclude, to really understand our perfection, we have to understand that we were created to obey G-d. G-d says that He neither created human nor Jinn for any purpose except to obey Him. To obey Him. To obey G-d. The one who is perfect in his obedience to G-d is perfect. Yes. But Muhammad was already humanly excellent before he was called to be a prophet. G-d says of him, he had already lived a lifetime among you. You don't have any charges against his character. That's not add, I'm adding it. That's what G-d is saying to them. Do you have any charges against this man's character?
Muhammad who lived among you for 40 years. A lifetime. No, you don't have it. You say he's excellent. You say he's Al-Amin You say he's As-Sadiq the honest. The truthful. That's what you call him. The pagans called him that. The idolaters call him that. The enemies of this time call him that. So, G-d is saying, you are already excellent before revelation. G-d created you excellent. When he selects one for the message, he selects one who is obedient to the excellence that He gave him by nature. G-d doesn't select criminals to be his messengers.

That's it? Yes, they told me it was closing at 9:30 that's why I stop talking.
Speaker 2: If I may I would like to said, add just one more thing to that with your permission.
IWDM: Yes, please.
Speaker 2: One of the scholars, one of the greatest scholars of Islam in his book, the opening of his book he said, all praise is due to G-d the Almighty, the most gracious, most merciful who has given me so many gifts. You could use many words but I'm just going to use gifts here. Who has given me so many gifts, and to thank him for these gifts, I have to use another one of his gifts. To thank him for the gift that I'm using to thank him. I have to use another gift. Man is always at a loss because we can never fully thank G-d. So, in that sense to reach perfection, in that sense, is impossible. No matter what we do, G-d's grace over us is much more than whatever we can do to repay it. I'd like to end on that note and thank everybody for your participation and very sincerely thank Imam Warith Deen Mohammed.
IWDM: Let me tell you something. You are Nafsan Lawaama. I am Nafsan Mu’mainna.
That's just to me and you. That's only for us. That's only for us.

Speaker 3: Also, at the same time, I would like to thank two people who are at the audience. Imam Mohammed Almasri, who is the leader of the community who has also contributed to this and that has given us a lot of support, and Dr. Ernest Gibbs who is the adviser for the Muslim Student Association. Both these gentlemen are sitting towards the front here.
I would like to give our sincere appreciation for their efforts and for their help. I would like to thank everybody for making this evening a great success. Al-Humdulilah. I would also like to say this is just the beginning. Insha Allah we hope to have many more events like this. I'm sure that there are a lot of people from out of town who are here.
I would like to promise them that we will bring speakers here that they would have to come back and visit us again. Inshallah. We hope to continue this active organization on campus spreading the word of Islam. Inshallah. Thank you very much once again for a great evening and I would like to hand it over to Imam Khatib who has to make any last words.

Imam Khatib: We would like to thank you all. There are tapes where you can find more knowledge and insight to the ideas of Imam Mohammed and the visionary leadership that he's providing. If you'd like to take an opportunity, again, those there out there in the lobby. We would like to just also once again thanking everyone for coming out this evening and sharing with us in this great opportunity. With that, we bid you goodnight.


