1984-September-21

A.M. Journal

Imam Muhammad's Jumah Khutba at the Washington Monument: Part 1


(Editor's   note:   Following  are   excerpts from Imam W. Deen Muhammad's Jumah Khutbah at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. on August 24, 1984.)

Praises be to Allah, the Guardian Evolver, the Cherisher, the Substainer of all the worlds. We seek Him for assistance and put our complete trust in Him.

I bear witness that nothing deserves worship except Allah, alone. There is nothing like unto Him, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.
Peace and the blessings of Allah upon Muhammad, the last of the Prophets, upon his descendants, upon his companions, upon the righteous — upon all be peace. And all Muslims, upon us be peace, Amin.

Glory is for Him in whose hands is the Kingdom. And He has power over all things. The One who has created the life and the death to show you which is best in His works.
PRAISE BE TO Allah, who has given us the last complete revelation, the Quran, upon the heart of Muhammad, the last Messenger, as a guidance and a mercy.
Allah Most High in the Surah by the name Quraish, has revealed this Sura to us through Muhammad, upon His heart, and for the protection of the Quraish. Their protection is assured for travel through both winter and summer. Therefore, worship the Lord of this house — the Muslims know the house, the Kaabah.

Therefore, worship the Lord of this house. He who has given them security, safety from hunger — and security — safety from fear.
Like most of the human creatures and the lesser creatures that Allah has made, if they are not under the guidance of God, they are under their appetites. And their appetites bring them under the passions of hunger, greed and fear. Allah says, in Quran, fear only Me if you are truly believers. The believers fear only Allah, We say surely my prayers, my sacrifices, my life and my death are all for Allah, Lord of all the worlds.

The Prophet Ibrahim, peace be on him, said, I turn my whole self to the Lord of all the worlds. That is to say, that no part of the Muslim life is to be dominated by anything except God. Not his rational faculties, not the faculties of his heart, and not his emotions, are to be dominated by anything but God.

IF HE IS A Muslim and a believer, the human being should be dominated by Allah, and Allah alone. We fear for Allah's sake and we are courageous for Allah's sake. We say, Allahu-Akbar, Allah is Greater.
You see in these surroundings the Washington Monument. That's nothing new — ancient Egypt had plenty of those. In fact, I think this one came from there.
It is standing straight and tall on the hill. Ibrahim stood straight and tall on the hill and also in the low place. Praise be to Allah.
That is not meant to cast any bad light on the symbol here on these respected grounds. It is only to remind the Muslim of his upright life and his upright condition.

Dear beloved Muslims — in the Surah Al Quraish, Allah brings to the mind of the believer the requirements in his nature and his life for success. If we don't have a dominant influence in our life, then our life will be given to various influences, and these various influences will rob us of a successful life.
Muslims have as a dominant influence in their life, the reverence of Allah — the One God. As a dominant orientation in His life, the Muslim has respect for the community life. We know that this Surah in Quran, Al Quraish, brings to our mind the essential beginnings and nature of community life.
People are bonded together because of their closeness to one another as family members; that is, by blood relationship and also because of their closeness with one another in an environmental situation.

THE HOUSE OF God, the most ancient house, directed to the worship of One Lord, stands in the center of an environment that is sacred to all Muslims; an environment that disallows the violation of the rules, the ordinances of God; an environment that requires us to display our best manners, our best behavior in that sacred environment.
An environment that also represents a place where a community was started — a community of believers in the One God. Under Ibrahim the Prophet (peace be upon him), and his son Ismail (peace be upon him), a community was started — a community that established life as sacred to all believers.

We orient ourselves to that particular symbol as a sign that the community life of man is best protected by a reverence for God. If he fails to reverence God, then man's community is in danger.
It is God that has led man to see the essential basis, the essential make-up of his natural community life. Therefore man must build upon what God reveals in order to progress; without that he cannot be successful for long.
Also in this great symbol is a sign of the wholeness of life, the wholeness of creation, the unity of life, the unity of creation. For Ibrahim says, I have turned my whole self to the One who originated the heavens and the earth.

He has orientated himself in devotion and worship to Allah, the Creator, who is responsible for everything in existence. The God that brings you into peace with the creation itself when you who reverence Him, devote yourself to Him.
AL-ISLAM IS the religion that brought man out of his narrow nationalism and out of his narrow racist ideas to accept the universality of man, the universality of life — a religion that doesn't allow any man to establish his ideas or his principles of society upon fanatical nationalism, or fanatical race consciousness.
This is the religion of peace, and I understand that. I absorb —I believe, to a great measure — the words of Allah in Quran: And He Guides whomsoever He wills to the way that is straight.
