12/18/2004
IWDM Study Library
Conversation with Imam W. Deen Mohammed

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

00:04 S1: We're grateful to have this opportunity to spend with you this evening, Brother Imam. When we consider that next month, January 2005, marks, or Inshallah, will mark 30 years since you accepted leadership for this community, we can look back and see that Allah has inspired you in so many ways over those past 30 years, in ways that we can't even begin to enumerate. But one thing is for certain, that inspiration, the effect of that inspiration can be seen in the life and works of these young people assembled here before us today. One thing that distinguishes you as a leader is that you never separate yourself from the people, and that's evident in your participation in this session today where we have questions that have been submitted by people who are attending this conference. So, without further ado, and given the fact that we only have a limited time, but a few dozen questions to attempt to ask you, we want to go ahead and get started.
01:09 S1: The first question submitted was, because problems of the world, such as single parenthood, children using drugs, adultery, etcetera, now significantly affect Muslims, in what ways should the community as a whole help raise awareness of these problems and work towards helping the families that are suffering from such problems? Considering all the negative effects that we're dealing with.
01:36 Imam W. Deen Mohammed: Yes. Well, you know, we have to see ourselves... And they say, a good driver nowadays can't just drive obeying the rules of the road, you have to drive defensively. Well, you have to live defensively. The road... Problems that we have today on the road is really a way of looking... Looking at that is a way of looking at our life, the problems that we have, just living, we have to live defensively. It's not as easy to keep your morals, to keep your good decency as it used to be long time ago, when temptations to take us away from the good life were not just everywhere, everywhere. Television coming into the home brings a lot of things into the home that we were not exposed to as children when there was no television. And there are so many other developments that we could name that have made this world much more complicated for an innocent person to live in, and keep the good morals.
02:49 IWDM: We just have to work harder, life is jihad, life is struggle. We have to work harder to keep our good life, and we have to stay in touch with the best... I would say, the best that the community provides for us as defense and as help for our life. We have to stay in touch with our religion, we have to attend Jummah prayers, we have to go to the Jummah prayers and join the prayers, and try to find a good khatib, a good Imam that is aware... A good Imam who is aware of the conditions that we are facing, and also to choose our company. Old advice from our Christian parents is good for us now, it's the same advice that we should give our children as Muslims, "Keep good company." If you associate with people who've got diseases, most likely you're gonna catch a disease, so you try to stay away from unhealthy people and choose the healthy people to be around, and it's just... The world that we see is a good indication of what we are exposed to and how we have to live to protect ourselves.
04:15 IWDM: I travel, and when you travel you go in public places, you ride the public transportation, you're in touch with tourists. Doctors tell me and say, "Look, Mr. Mohammed, you gotta take better care of yourself, you have to watch your health more closely, because you're exposed to too many people in the public who are carrying viruses and other problems." And this is the life we're living, live defensively, that's my point. You have to live defensively, you have to defend your good life and know that the world is filled with trouble. You're like driving on a highway, people trying to drive you off the highway, or get you to kill yourself, you know? There are people who will get you killed. They're driving, but their way of driving is not to be courteous or helpful, their way of driving is to help you get in an accident, or help you get killed if they can, you know? 
05:07 IWDM: And they're doing it unconsciously, it's just a habit, just a habit of driving on the road. And life is the same way, whether you're living it in Chicago or Washington DC or any other place, life has to be lived defensively. People are weak and they wanna pull you down. So, I can't tell you more about how to stay away from drugs and these things than you perhaps have already heard. You have received good advice, so my point to this... In replying to this question, is just live defensively, defend your good life.
[background conversation]
05:50 S1: With many interests being elsewhere, what can we do to help young adults reignite their interest in religion? So for those young adults among us who have not successfully lived defensively, how can we reintroduce a spark in their lives, that longing for religion? 
06:10 IWDM: Well, [chuckle] you know, you're talking to somebody that have had a lot of pain, a lot of heartaches, looking at youngsters around me go to hell, and I've done everything I could to keep 'em from going to hell, and I couldn't help 'em. So, I'm gonna say the first thing you do is pray for 'em and pray honestly, pray very sincerely and pray hard. G-d answers prayers. Pray hard and long for them. But it's... Except for praying for the youngsters, let us work hard to have our investment in a neighborhood model in all these big cities, so that we change the physical circumstances. If they have a social outlet that we provide for them, maybe that will help them. If they can go to a tennis court or something that we provide for them that will help them. If they can go bowl and skate, and we provide the facility, that will help them.
07:26 IWDM: So the Satan influences the environment through man's appetite for sin and corruption our weaknesses... Or through man's weakness. So we should be competing with the commercial world to establish models of community life that will protect us, our children, our youth, our young people from what they will be exposed to if we don't provide 'em with that. So it should be the number one priority for us when it comes to business and construction, investing in real estate and business, etcetera, our number one interest should be to provide a better environment for our youngsters, for our children that will come and take our places.
08:09 S1: Well, let's transition into the business topic.
08:11 IWDM: Alright.
08:12 S1: In what ways do the Quran and the conduct of Muhammad the Prophet and the Sahaba encourage Muslims' involvement in the business world? 
08:22 IWDM: Well, Muhammad, the Prophet himself was an encouragement, because he was a businessman before he was called to be a prophet, called to be the last prophet and messenger of G-d. He was a business man. So his life itself is an encouragement to go... To do business. But in the Quran you can see that business is given priority, not number one priority, but it's given priority, priority only next to service to G-d or worship of G-d. On Friday, it says, when you hear the call to Friday prayer, respond and after you've finished the prayers, return to the avenues of business. So, this is the... This G-d is telling us that you owe it to G-d to put him over your business interests, to worship him and respect him and obey him, regard him above your business interests. But once you have done this, then even if it's on Sabbath day, go to work.
09:45 S1: Interestingly, we did have a question related to that. Should Muslim-owned businesses with non-Muslim employees shut down for Jummah? 
09:56 IWDM: If Muslim owned the business and they have some non-Muslim employees, well, I'll tell you what we have done. We tell them that you can use the prayer time however you like, just be back to work on time.
[laughter]
10:20 S1: Should Muslims seek to live solely within Muslim neighborhoods or throughout different neighborhoods for da'wah interfaith purposes and what can we do to have better relations with our Christian, Jewish, and brothers in those circumstances? 
10:34 IWDM: Yes, excellent question. Because it gives us opportunity to address two major concerns. One major concern for creating a neighborhood life is to have what I mentioned already, better environment, better neighborhood environment for our families, ourselves, our families and especially our children. But the other interest that we have is to support our Christian neighbors or our neighbors, whoever they are, to support our neighbors as... I would say people see your neighbor whether it's a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew or whatever, see your neighbor as your friend and as the protector of your interests. Because neighbors, if we are to... Neighbors got together, they live with each other, and they used to do that, that's natural, it's natural to wanna protect the interests of your neighbor.
11:47 IWDM: You didn't have to tell country folks, people that developed on the land and developed naturally on the land, what I mean by that, they developed human sentiments and love for each other and respect for each other, that came naturally, all natural, all naturally for them. You didn't have to tell them to protect the interests of their neighbors, it was just a natural development for human beings, that they protect the interests of their neighbors. But now people will live next door and they will see some harm coming to their neighbor's property or something and will just keep on going as if nothing happened. They see some suspicious character come up to their neighbor's house and walk in their backyard, they think nothing and do nothing. So Muslims should not only have models of... Maybe, it's not models for themselves, for their interests, Muslims should have also an education.
12:49 IWDM: Our da'wah or our teachings should also include an education of how in these times and circumstance, how to be a better neighbor. Yes, so, we should have that. So, if we have everybody in our numbers, in our community in Washington DC or Chicago or any other place, we have everybody wanting to live in that Muslim model, and everybody is saying, "No, I'm gonna live in the Muslim neighborhood," we won't be able to do what I think is a must, and that is establish on the record for the people of America, and elsewhere if they also witness it, that Muslims are good neighbors. Whether you are a Muslim or not, Muslims are good neighbors.
13:44 S1: What do you believe were the main qualities within the first who were khalifas that led to their leadership positions, and should we search for those qualities in today's leaders? 
13:56 IWDM: The main qualities that leaders should have. [chuckle] First of all, leaders should have Taqwa, [chuckle] and Taqwa is G-d consciousness. The leader should be a person whose life demonstrates to us without hearing him speak, his life tells us that he has Taqwa. He does not behave as persons who are un-G-dly. That's number one. He should not have the lifestyle or the behavior of the un-G-dly. He should have the lifestyle and behavior of the G-dly, those who have Taqwa. That's number one. Number two, we should know without him telling us that he loves every member of his congregation. I'm speaking of the the Imam now as a leader. Now, you say, "well, what about if he's a leader in some other field?" He's a political leader, or a civic leader, or a business leader. The same goes for him, if he says he's a Muslim, he should not have... We should not have to have him talk to us to know that he has Taqwa, as we should not have him talk to us, have some exchange with him to know that he cares about all the people in his constituency.
15:19 IWDM: If you're a business person, a lawyer, whatever it is, all the people you have to deal with, care about them all, care about them all. Take take them into your heart, then you're a better person to deal with them. If you don't have them in your heart... Human nature is first. Real true human nature is first, have human feelings for these people, and demonstrate with your behavior, your conduct, whether it's in business or not, or reverend... It's in religion or not, demonstrate with your conduct that you care about these people that are contributing to your interest, and you are serving them, or you are working for them, whatever, you know? You got to care about them. So, the Christians say, "Love your neighbor as yourself," that's the commandment of Jesus Christ they say. Love G-d with all your heart and soul... " I think it goes, and love your neighbor as yourself, a commandment of Jesus Christ. But we have the same commandment, Mohammed the prophet said, "love for your brother what you love for yourself." It's the same, it says the same, makes the same statement, you know? 
16:26 IWDM: So we have to have love. Leaders have to care about human beings. This country... I think the main reason why this country is the leading country in the world, when it comes to the economics, defense, military and all this, this country leads the world. And in terms of freedom or democracy, this country leads the world. I know we have all these sins and all these freedom for Satan, and freedom for bad people, we have that too. I am aware of all that, but there's freedom for me and you too, we have freedom too in this country. And I think this country... G-d has allowed this country to be this powerful, and to have this kind of influence now in the world, and the whole world... And in the world of affairs for all nations, because American people do not like... I don't care how bad they are, they don't like people mistreating another person. We are people who come to the defense of the underdog, run to the rescue of the person that's being mistreated by the powerful or by the strong. That's our human.

