12/04/2005
IWDM Study Library
FIRST SUNDAY SPEECH 
Pt. 2
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:02 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: We are very pleased to be addressing our radio listening audience today. We are not here to force anybody to change your way of thinking. We're told in this religion, although most of us are not aware of it, especially those who are running about in the streets, to let other people know they are not Christians, they are Muslims. They are not aware, I'm sure most of them, that G-d tells us in our religion that we should not impose or force our religion on anybody.

00:45 S?: That's right.

00:45 IWDM: That the way is open and free to all. Let him who has a will choose the way, and let him who does not have a will refuse it. This is our religion. We have a whole chapter that is devoted to that permission or that situation that we find ourselves in where we so strongly believe in what we believe, and we love so much what we believe. We are just compelled almost by our own feelings to push it on somebody else. But that disrespects the gift. If you had to push it on people, you cheapen it. And G-d says He has given us our religion as a gift. It's a gift from Him. A gift that He formed of our own human values. And He formed that gift of man's own human values, of people's own human value, He formed it for us and He gave it to us to please our souls, and it does please our souls.

02:07 IWDM: But there are others who have their own religion. They have their own values, and they are devoted to their highest principles and most decent values. We don't want to disturb their life by insisting that they come over with us and be Muslim. If we were able to do that, and we're not, we would cause Christians to lose, and we'll cause Muslims to lose. Yes, both sides would lose. Pretty soon, one side will end up with the unwanting of the other side and will become confused and we wouldn't be able to work together with good people from each side. So we want to do the best and the wise thing, and that is, recognize our common values. We have common values that connects all of us. You believe in a higher authority, an authority over man? We believe in a higher authority over man. So we have that in common. And that's the first condition we need in order for us to be friends and work together. If I got G-d over me and you got the devil over you, we're going to have a hell of a working relationship.

[laughter]

[background conversation]

03:55 IWDM: Well, we have other values in common, principles in common. They are many that we have with the Christian world. And we must understand that we live in America, predominantly Christian. We are a minority. When you're outnumbered like that, you're not supposed to be thinking about forcing the other side to do anything. You're supposed to be thinking about ways to get along and help one another.

04:36 S?: That's right.

04:39 IWDM: We're going to get there, but we have to face our own ignorance, our own mistakes. We've made some mistakes, we have to face them and start over again in a better way. And that's what Imam, my Imam... I have others too, but the closest Imam to me is Imam W. Deen Mohammed. And that's what my Imam have me doing. I'm working hard not to push good people away, but to show good people we have too much in common not to be knowing one another and not to be assisting each other's good works. We have with us in the audience today the Mayor of East Hazel Crest, Hazel Crest. Yes, there's East Hazel Crest and there's Hazel Crest. My office is in East Hazel Crest, but I know Hazel Crest also. We have... No, what did I say? No, hey this is really good situation. The business office is in Hazel Crest, but my office, the mosque here is in East Hazel Crest. We have the mayor here, and I hope we have a minute before our time is up for the listening audience, the radio listening audience. Because I'm inviting the man to come right now and greet us.

[applause]

06:43 Speaker 2: I want to say assalamu alaikum.

06:49 S?: Walaikum assalam.

06:50 S2: I have two very close friends here, and that is my friend Rod Bashir and Amatullah Sharif.

[applause]

07:05 S2: Rod has been with me for well over 10 years. He was with me when we did our first two elections. And he told me to just hang in there and don't quit. And I'm sure Imam and Muhammad have talked about don't quit and stick to it and all of that. So what has happened, Rod and Amatullah, the section of town where they live in, is what we call Dynasty Lakes. And in Dynasty Lakes, they're the ones who elected me, because I received most of my votes out of Dynasty Lakes and that's why I'm here today, because of Rod and Amatullah. Now what I did, I did not forget them, I put them on two of my commissions. So we have Amatullah on my house and she's a housing commissioner now, she is Commissioner Sharif, and Rod is a judge. So if you get a ticket in Hazel Crest Housing, you going to in before the judge and that's Rod Bashir.

[applause]

08:25 S2: Also, I have been in contact with Donelle Green and he's going to come back because he has been calling me. And whatever I can do to help with the church here, I want to do that here in Hazel Crest. You are welcome in Hazel Crest. And you just let us know what we need to do...

[applause]

09:00 S2: We have some friends over in Homewood. We have some over in Marcom. And I see on 159th Street, and I'm very proud to see this, that you all put in a shopping center up in Marcom. I want you to consider Hazel Crest now.

[applause]

09:20 S2: See because what I have learned, and this is about I think my third time, and I'm coming more and Rod is just like you said, "Don't try push him in" but Rod is working on me very hard.

[laughter]

09:35 S2: So, we have three sections of property right in Hazel Crest, Rod, on 167th Street. And with the CDC, I believe you all could look at that and help us develop that. You know what I'm saying? You might want to consider that, because it's right east of the Wal-Mart they are putting up. 167th Street, we got about 35 or 40 acres in there. Bring the delegation over there, Rod. So, I just want to thank everyone and this will not be my last time coming. I love coming, and I learned a lot today. And I am going to be back to see you, and I'm looking for, again, Donnell to come this week to talk to me and we are going to see what we could do to help out. Thank you very much.

[applause]

10:50 S?: Thank you.

10:58 IWDM: I think that the radio broadcast hour is over. But in case it's not, I want to give our greetings of peace and best wishes to all of you all out there for a Happy Holiday Season and for a very good year, a better year in 2006. Peace be unto all of you. As-salamu alaikum.

11:19 S?: Walaikum salam.

11:43 IWDM: If you were listening for that almost an hour, well 40 minutes. The whole broadcast time was an hour, but I was late. Announcements were made for the first 10 or 15 minutes. If you were listening to the address, you know that it connected spirit with earth and with the natural creation of the natural world. You know that. So let us continue in that vein and in that spirit. Now, but I'm speaking out to a Muslim audience, so I come from Muslim language, from Muslim text in Muslim language, which will benefit everybody because our language is universal and we wouldn't... Muslims are told, "If there's three of you, let not two of you speak over the head of the third person." This is Islamic instructions. "If there are two of you, let not the two of you close out the third person." So I don't know how many of us we have here, but if we have 1,000, I say we have one. If we got two Christians, I'll say we got one Muslim here and two Christians. I count all of us as one. And I don't know where their minds are so I have to count them by their numbers. So there's two Christians here and us, there are two Christians here and one Muslim. Okay? Yes.

13:30 IWDM: So I'm not going to talk to one Muslim and close out Christians, the third. [laughter] So whatever I say, it's going to be speaking to Christians' ideas, Christian religion as well. It'll speak to their religion and their ideas as well. Now, and I could give it to you as Mr. Farad said, "I can give it to you in a twinkling of an eye." There will be absolutely no time passed. [laughter] No more than the twinkling of an eye. We have to understand our religion. Reason why the world of our religion is doing so poorly today and having so much internal trouble and also external problems from other nations, especially from our nation in the person of President Bush. And I say our nation in his presence because he's doing a lot of things that high ups in our nation are not approving right now. In fact, his popularity is weaning fast. He's losing a lot of support. And I didn't vote for him. I want you to know that.

[laughter]

15:06 IWDM: No, I voted for the democratic leader, not for Mr. Bush. And it wasn't because of my allegiance to a party. I'm not committed to either party. I'm committed to supporting excellent leadership, that's all. Leadership that we can feel comfortable with. Or if we have choices, I want the choice that we can be most comfortable with. And that's how I vote. Yes, so beginning this address to you now, I'm going to use some quotes from Quran, from our Holy book, the number one authority for Muslims and those who would represent Islam, the Quran. The Book of G-d, the final revelation who came to Muhammad Ibn Abdullah of Arabia, the land of the Arabs. To a man who had already been recognized by his countrymen as a model of the excellence of life. The excellence of life.

16:31 IWDM: They called him As-Saadiq. In English it means the truthful, the one who does not lie. And they called him El-Amin, the honest, trustworthy one. The one that will not disappoint you or fail the trust, but he keeps the trust. These are two names that he had. While he was not knowing the Quran, our religion as such, our revelation, but he was a person who obeyed his highest and cleanest motivations. Who respected his noble soul and did not disappoint it. This is Muhammed the Prophet, Muhammed the Prophet of Arabia. And he represents as Jesus Christ does, also. He represents the common, G-d-given life and excellence of all people, of all people. And that's why I guess he was worthy of the title of mercy to all people, mercy to all the nations.

18:03 IWDM: This perception of our religion as a religion of the original nature of the original excellence of matter itself that manifests its support to human excellence in the biological body, in the human chemistry, and in our intelligence, our emotions and intelligence and everything. Yes. G-d wants us to be connected with that and to see that he did not bring us an alien life to replace our human life that was born or was birthed out of the Earth, this matter out of the Earth.

18:56 IWDM: No, he does not offer us anything from the heaven or from the sky or from distances out in space and say, "No, your life is not able, your life is not fit, your life can't bear my work that I want you to carry. I have to change your life. I gave you a new life. I'm going to give you a spirit from outer space somewhere and you going to become a divine creature, then you'll be able to bear my work and carry out my orders." No, that was not the case. G-d was very pleased. Contrary to what some religious authority say, G-d was very pleased with his human creation. I'm a student of both the books, Bible and the Quran. I'm a student of both these holy books, and I think I'm qualified to debate anybody on earth.

[background conversation]

20:05 IWDM: I'm telling you what I feel. I won't back up from anybody. I think I'm qualified to debate anybody on this earth and I'll stand on the grounds, on the sacred pure grounds of the Bible and Quran. And they will find that they will not be able to prove me wrong. No, what I don't feel comfortable with I don't say. What I say, I stand by. And I know the same idea that I'm getting ready to give you from Islam is in Christianity. Same idea. Only in Islam is brought more to view, is brought closer to the eye and is put more in the big focus whereas in other religion, they put it in big focus but shrouded in language that you can't understand so you don't get it. You don't see it. And they've mentioned it in little small verses in language. They mentioned it. So you're re-reading all about other things and there it is hidden in the language in a little small word, you miss it. But both these religions have as their main message, the message of creations supported human excellence. I repeat it. Creations supported human excellence.

22:02 IWDM: So now I go to the language of Quran. G-d says to us, after revealing the language through Muhammad and to him for all of us, G-d says to us, "You are Antum, means all of us, all of us Muslims. Antum khairu ummataan, you are the best of communities. ukhrijat-lil-nas, brought out from all people. Brought out from where? . Ukrijat-lil-nas, brought out from where?" If I would say, "kharaju-lil-muslimuun," the Muslims they went ou from this place. If I say, ["inaudible]" I went out from here. [inaudible] I went out from here. There's a people that were in captivity under the ruling order of the pharaoh Egyptians. And they have been cut off from any roots un aware. This is both Quran and Bible. This story is both Quran and Bible. And G-d chose him. His people were expecting a deliverer. You catch enough hell, you're going to hope for, even if you don't expect, a deliverer. So these people were expecting a deliverer, and they were wondering would this be Moses? 

24:00 IWDM: Since we have this member of our group that has been accepted by pharaoh in his palace, Pharaoh has taken him as a adopted son. Maybe this is the one that's going to be our deliverer. They were having hopes in him, because he was in such a fortunate situation or good situation to help them. He was right there at the side of the ruler, the pharaoh. But Moses didn't have the knowledge, didn't have any understanding. But he had a spirit in him that was of his people. So when he saw one of the Egyptians mistreat one of his people, he hit him and killed him and G-d charged him with that. Yes, G-d finally got to him and talked to him and when he opened his eyes up, then he told him, "You committed a sin." It was enough to kill a man or woman. So as it goes, he finally gets communication from G-d in that mountain I was talking about. Yes, Moses went up that mountain and Muhammad went up that mountain and Dr. King said he went up that mountain.

25:44 IWDM: And seeing that his followers didn't hear him or they misunderstood him. I think they thought he meant he went up to the mountain of the Capital Hill. No, that wasn't what he was talking about. He was talking about the mountain that Abraham was once on. The mountain that Moses was on. He was talking about that mountain. He was talking about the mountain that Muhammad the prophet was on when he got communication from G-d. Same mountain by different names. Yes, that what he's talking about. So when I mention going up to the mountaintop, I mean rising up ascending in the best human light beam, up the best human light beam. Ascending upward in that light beam to make connection with the revealer that can reveal all things.

26:54 IWDM: Going up in that light beam, going up rising ascending the light beam, that's what I'm talking about. For the vision getting up high enough to have the eye of an eagle. Eagle can be way up there out of sight. His prey can't see him. He's too far away. But the eagle's eyesight is so good, he can see the prey crawling around on earth or flying around in the lower air. And he comes down like a dive bomb, sweeps down on him, takes him away. Eagle, yes. So we rise high and we can see better what's down below. The higher you go up, the more you bring into focus the whole picture down below. Yes, so this is what we are talking about, see. I don't know what you all are listening to.

[laughter]

27:55 IWDM: You all are strange folks, you are, you are strange folks. You are typical of the followers of Moses. They couldn't hear Moses for always anticipating what he was all about. They couldn't hear him for always thinking that they knew what he should say. And if he didn't say what they thought he should say, they didn't hear it. Now you go to school and you don't hear anything but what you think the teacher can say. You know you aren’t going to get a diploma, you will not graduate. [chuckle] Alright, so look at the language that connects the people of Moses with the following of Muhammad, the prophet, upon them be peace. There was no way for the people of Moses to come to the excellent life that G-d was himself directing them to without making an exodus. We're not exiting. They had to exit before they come into that light. Yes, it's called exodus. You saw the picture that Cecil B. DeMille, Seven Commandments? 

[laughter]

29:51 IWDM: No, Ten. Ten Commandments. Well, it's the same. If you know the language, Ten Commandments is the same as Seven Commandments because 10 represents a whole and seven is a whole. And the Bible's saying, "Keep my sabbath whole." And that's seven, yes. Elevation, seven elevations, seven firm firmaments or seven strong heavens is the language of the Bible and Quran, I'm giving you both together. Again, seven strong heavens. Yes, so they had to exodus, they had to come out of there in order to get in a situation that they could be in control of. They couldn't have their life that G-d wanted for them. A life different from that of the people who were ruling over them. Greatly different, they couldn't have that life there. So they had to come out of that life into a situation, or Exodus from that life so they would have a situation to begin developing or building their own life.

31:15 IWDM: Now most of us, we see pictures and pictures are good for communicating the abstract. The concrete, the visible is excellent as a means for communicating or expressing what is not visible, the abstract. So you will think of a certain geographic thought that the Hebrews had as their own, and Egypt expanded its power and became the authority and the power over their graphic area. Then you will see Egypt kingdom and Moses also in geographic focus. You'll see them as a place on the map, as part of the physical map. And you'll be thinking that the exodus was a movement over physical ground or physical land from that ruled by the Pharaoh to a wilderness, unpopulated, unruled and that is where they have the opportunity to build. Well, let me tell you very quickly, the movement was just from the mind that Egypt gave them to the mind that G-d was calling him to.
