07/31/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Brainstorming Greensboro, NC

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
... Rabbitul, form alliances, make effort, believe, be conscious, believe. Make effort. Be persistent in making an effort, the right effort. Don't let up, keep the drive but also form alliances to be successful. And that's what this occasion here, this conference invites us to. This conference by its very presence and the makeup of this conference, the persons who are here, their resources, their personal experiences, knowledge, experiences and resources. What we have in the conference itself invites us to make alliances, to form alliances. When we come together, if we follow a certain procedure for our sessions, I think we can get more of the results that we are looking for.
And I think if we just make it a formality to assemble and have the general concerns addressed and then identify persons who are supporting politics or more political awareness in the community and more involvement on the part of our community, business, Da'wah, Invitation to Islam, Da'wah and whatever. Identify these separate groups and then have these separate groups meet. Even in this open room here, we can do that. These tables can be separated, that you are sitting at, this table, these long tables, they can be separated, and you could go and sit in separate tables and speak low. We've done this, I've done this with others who have invited me, big workshops, conferences I've attended, and they have done this. This is what I'm suggesting to you. I've learned, I've learned from others, from participating in the conferences that others have been responsible for, that this is the best way to do it. And I've been to conferences that didn't follow this procedure and they don't get as much done.
So, address the general concerns. And the person who addresses the general person or persons, and I think a female should be included. This community is a community, and a community needs to hear from males and females, not just males. And you're doing that. This is not in the spirit of criticism. This is the spirit of sharing information. Yes. So male and female should address us and address the general concern. And then someone who is knowledgeable of the makeup of this conference, the persons and the skills, someone should know all of us, should have a pretty good knowledge of all of us and what we have to offer. If we don't have this, we can grow into this. We can grow into it. Maybe I'm speaking beyond what we have right now, but that doesn't mean we can't do this. We have to grow into it if we don't have it. We have these persons, a person who's familiar with each and every one of us and know who to select or who to suggest that the group select. So, suggest to the group, the political group.
I suggest, we suggest that you select such and such person or persons to chair your meeting. I'm using chair for want of a better word. Chair does not necessarily have to be that word, you see. To chair your meeting, or to chair your committee meeting. Maybe committee, I don't know. And for want of a better word too, committee, maybe that's not the word. Your team. Team, I think that's the word we're looking for. To chair the team or to be the moderator for the team, you see. And I think we'll get more done. This is a beginning for us and a great beginning. I went through the materials. I'm very much impressed with how materials have been organized, the focus, what has been included for us to focus on. I'm impressed with all of that very much. And even more impressed with the faces that I'm seeing that we don't usually to see at meetings.
You have attracted people here that we need, and there's just more of an atmosphere of sanity in this room than I've experienced in a long time. Yes. So, this is very good. That's why I said in the beginning, "Congratulations." And that's very sincere. Congratulations.
I only have a few comments. But really, what I want to see happen is what you are doing. Not for me to speak to you or to address you or to tell you anything. I believe like David Hassan believes, and he had really spearheaded this effort really with me. He's the person I'm aware of that has spearheaded the effort. And I'm going back months and years, three years ago in fact.
Few years ago, he said, "Brother Imam, what you need is in this community." He said, "We have to find them, bring them together." He said, "That's all we have to do." He said, "We'll find them and bring them together," say, "We'll have results, we'll get results." That's what he said, and that's what I believe. If we just can come together, the people who have the interest, strong interest and realizing the vision for this community. If they can just come together, they will find ways to do what has to be done. That's what he believes and that's what I believe. And I believe that's what most of us believe. And so, the baby step have already been made and that is us coming together. Yes.
Let me say that I feel very good in my soul to meet here in this facility after being told that it's owned by African-American. That makes me feel even better to be here. That helps my spirit. Islam is what we're about. We are Muslims, so Islam is what we're about. But Islam is the Religion that G-d gives us to compliment and assist our natural life. Says the Religion, "Al Latee Fatara Nasa Alaha." Is the Religion that man was originally formed upon. The original, the Religion that man, humanity, people who originally formed upon.
And G-d says that He perfected your Religion. Now, that tells us that Religion was not coming from G-d to us. The Religion was already with us. And G-d was just helping us with it. Says, "He has perfected for you your Religion and completed His favor on you". So, G-d was obligated to favor humanity with the good life. And they already had life but they needed assistance with it. G-d had created life for them, but they needed assistance with it. And they strained with their brains, with their souls, with their spirits, with their brain to better their life. And G-d responds to that when that is being done by a sincere person, G-d responds to that.
And we have the Prophets and Messengers of G-d as our leaders, and they were the persons who's trained in their souls and in their minds to make improvement upon their life. And G-d guided them, and they came into the light of truth. The light is light on their own life. The light is light that they need to live their own lives. That's the light. So, this is no strange thing, no spooky stuff. It's no strange and spooky stuff. It's just G-d responding to His creature that He made with this great soul and intellect and heart to strain for improvements, to have improvements on his life so that his life is always growing better and better and better.
And he's realizing more and more of the life that he has been created to manage, created to manage. And when he doesn't realize more of that life that he's been created to manage, then he feels sad. His spirit is low, he feels denied freedom, et cetera. All that comes about because this is a natural urge in man. So, G-d is not addressing anything outside of us, G-d is addressing the natural urge in us, and G-d is just assisting us with that urge so that we come into the full beautiful life that we already created for. We already created for. We already have the interest and the spirit and the properties for us to realize its life. We have all those properties, but they have to be discovered, they have to be cultivated, they have to be built upon, they have to grow, et cetera.
So, this is the way we should understand Islam. Islam is life. Islam is the call to life. The prayer call is the call to life, Hayya 'alas-Salah. Hayya 'alas-Salah. The word Hayya means living, life, and it's given grammatically as the word Hayya is an invitation to life. Hayya, come to prayer, it is translated, but it really means wake up in your life. Wake up in your own life, be conscious in your own life and come to worship G-d. Hayya 'alas-Salah, come to prayer.
And prayer, what is prayer? Prayer for a Muslim is recitation of Qur'an. That's what prayer is, recitation of Qur'an. So, prayer is really education. Prayer is teaching, training, education revealed by G-d. It is the word of G-d, and it is the word of G-d for direction in our life, for the treatment of our life, et cetera. So actually the Qur'an itself, the Word of G-d in the full text of the Qur'an. I'm using the word now referring to the full body of words in the Qur'an, the word itself, the Qur'an itself is the life, is the life. And that's what G-d said, this is the life. It is the life. And it is addressing our lives with assistance to our life and for our life. So, this is the life. The word is the life.
And G-d says He have created us so that we should grow. G-R-O-W, grow. G-R-O-W, grow. And He said He has created us as a plant. That means He created us to have a patterned growth. Plants just don't grow, they grow according to their own inherent pattern. They have an inherent pattern. And they grow according to that pattern. And then G-d says that He Fatara, that He has given you a Religion, the one that you will originally patterned upon. Then you should understand that this Fatara also has reference to this pattern growth, pattern growth. But not some pattern that's imposed upon our life brought from outside our creation and impose upon our creation. No. It's a pattern that is revealed in our creation, a pattern revealed in our creation. And then G-d gives us assistance for it.
And life is growth and if you don't have that growth that G-d intends for your life, than really you don't have freedom. So, we about freedom. We want to free ourselves, we want to free our life so we can have more growth, more growth, and responsible growth. We want to be responsible for ourselves. That's what Khalifa is. Khalifa is responsible person, or responsible order. The Khalifa is really type. The Khalifa is a personal type or type for a collective group or ordered group that's responsible for the environment of human beings or for society, as we say, for human society. So, the Khalifa is a responsible, organized body and working according to the will of G-d and following the guidance of G-d to reach more and more growth for the human society, growth in accordance with the plan and will of G-d.
Yes, Khalifa. We are just not growing with no perception. We are growing with a perception. And our perception is community life. Community life. Our societal life. Community life. We must grow as a society. We grow as a human organized group, organized to realize more and better life. More and better life with the environment, in the environment and with the environment.
G-d says, "You are the best community", "Kaira Ummatan UkreJa Innas . You are the best community evolved. The word literally means brought out. It means brought out. And the plants are brought out. G-d says of the plants, the things that grow, the things that are cultivated on the earth. He said He call that something brought out. Same word, Ukreja, means come out of something. The same word, come out. And He speaks of us as a community Ukreja, brought out. Brought out how? Brought out as a growth. Brought out as a growth, a growth that follows a pattern, a pattern of growth. Brought out as a patterned growth.
Now when you see people not productive and not managing much and not having a representative life with other societies, it's because they're not evolved. They're not brought out. They're not brought out in a patterned growth. That growth is not a patterned growth. They may have a lot of boats, they may have a lot of money, they may have a lot of one or two things, but their life doesn't show a patterned growth in accordance with what is good and best and proven to be good and best for man living in society or living in a group, man living in society. They don't have that.
And Islam wants us to have that. We are not just after business, we are not just after politics. We are after patterned growth for society, the Islamic society. We want patterned growth for that Islamic society. And we want a patterned growth that's in accordance with the best patterned growth that we find in the study of society. In the history of society, when we study history of society, when we find the best. G-d says, "Wami Bil ma'ruf"- "And command or honor or instruct with what is standard, proven to be good and excellent." That's what ma'ruf means, what is known. You know Arafat? I know several of you, you know what I'm talking about. You know Arabic, you know Arafat. So, you know Maruf, Arafat, the verb Arafat means to know, and Ma'ruf means known, what is known. Wami Bil Ma'ruf.
Now, if you are not an educated student of the Qur'an, you won't know what this Ma'ruf is talking about. You'll think Ma'ruf, oh, this what is known, like some or a lot of the stupid Imams around the world, what is known. They think yes, we have to stick with what is known, what our G-d has given us. And they think it's limited to Qur'an. It's not limited to the Qur'an, it's talking about the history of human society. What has proven to be excellent and worthwhile for the human society as standards for living, standards for living, how you live your life. The best standards for living life in society. This is what Ma'ruf is referring to. Wami Bil Ma'ruf.
And stay away from those things that have proven to contribute, that have proven to be things that contribute to the voiding of that life. V-O-I-D-I-N-G, the voiding of that life. Wan-nah? ?an al-munkar. And stay away from the munkar, those things that have proven to be things that void that good life, void that good life that we get by following proven standards for society in terms of this organization and how it should go forward, which is organ, or with this organized life. So, these perceptions are very, very essential. These perceptions are very essential for leaders. If you want to be leaders, you have to have these perceptions. If you don't, you can't help us very much. You can't, really. We can use you but you can't lead us.
And you can't lead yourself really. We have to watch what you're doing, and we have to interfere with what you're doing at times because you don't know the direction unless you know what I'm telling you right now. And all you have to do is just listen to me. I'll give it to you in one hour, but it takes you 10 years to get somewhere else really because I've gotten it. So it's easier for me to give it to you.
Crowd:
Takbir.
IWDM:
Allahu Akbar. And I didn't get it from a Professor. If got it from a Professor, it take me maybe 10 years to give it to you. And I didn't get it from a Professor. I got it from searching and straining to get it. And G-d helped me. And G-d helped me to get it. So, I can give it to you in a few minutes.
Where to focus, how to perceive what is to be perceived, perceiving correctly, focusing correctly. Perceiving correctly will permit us to be directed correctly and have the right attitudes.
But we don't have that. We just don't have it. I'm thankful to Allah that we got better minds coming forward in this community. And we have some very good ones who have been with us and working. We should really reflect on our own life here and our growth here too. You know we are doing things that we never did before, that we have really grown. As I'm standing here right now talking to you, the Convener of our Shura, Imam Plemon El-Amin, is perhaps talking to very important persons, educators in Bangladesh right now. And one of our sisters who didn't do nothing but type for my father and try to understand his Religion and do the best she could, she just come from a high level, World Leadership Level Conference in Egypt. She was invited, not through me. They found her, and they invited her, not through me. I never knew. She thought I knew something about it. She said, "Brother Imam?" No, I didn't know anything about it until she told me.
So, this is a new day. A new day. Now why are we getting this kind of attention? There's an explanation for it. You should look for that explanation if you don't know it. You should ask yourself, why is today, we got an Imam here invited to Bangladesh to talk to an educator, a man who has established Universities, he's in fact, he's building one. He's established and he's organized, heading up the organization and planning of a University, got the money for it already. And he's interested in talking to our leader from Atlanta.
It's a new day. It's a big day. Big day. And Imam Warith Deen Mohammed appearing on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. It's a big day. Right. Really, really. It's a new day. That's what it is. Now, I didn't get a lot of calls from you. I guess you're so stunned by it you can't even respond.
But Christians called me, Christians. Yeah, called me and congratulated me and said, "That really thrilled me to see you on there on the Sunday paper." Tony Brown, he had to call the office and get an interview on his show. And he introduced me on the show before I spoke. That's what he said, said, "Mr. Mohammed appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal." That was great news. Big news. Yeah.
And believe me, if you don't register your own progress, how can you benefit from it? We've also benefited spiritually from the progress that's being made. If you don't register, how can you benefit spiritually? And believe me, the most powerful help that you have for your life is your spiritual power, your spiritual force, your spiritual life. Your spiritual power. That's the biggest help you have for your whole life, for your mind, for your work, your physical work and everything. If you don't have a strong spirit inside of you, you're not going to go very far with anything. So, benefit spiritually from what is happening to us in this new day and time.
So, we need to focus for more and better clarity. Clarity for what? We need to focus to see Muhammad, the Prophet clearer, try to study him. Think on him. Put your attention. Put your mind on him to see him better, to see him clear because he is important for our life. He's important for our whole life. For our whole life. He is most important for our whole life. Believe in G-d and believe in His Messenger, Muhammad. Obey G-d and obey His Messenger.
And when you meet to decide on matters, when you have differences, consult G-d, that is the word of G-d, and G-d in spirit with your prayers, and His Messenger. Not just G-d, and His Messenger. And you will not be successful until you make the Messenger of G-d an arbiter in your affairs. This is what G-d says. So, they don't say your spiritual affairs, in all of your affairs.
So, we know the life of Muhammad, the Prophet. We know his Sunnah. We know we have his history, his Seerah. We can consult this to see if we are proceeding correctly with our business, if we are proceeding correctly.
Principles protect us more than anything else. Principles. And the guidance is to establish principle. G-d's guidance to us, the Qur'an, the teachings, that directs our life is to establish certain principles. And these principles protect our life. So, we can study the life of Muhammad, the Prophet. Peace be upon him. And we can see his principles, what he stood for, his principles that governed how he responded to people and what he did, how he made decisions, what he involved himself in and what he stayed out of. So, we can study that and we can use it to protect all of our interests. Political interests, business interests, whatever it is. And that's what we have to do is we are going to Islamize our life and have really a Muslim society. We have to do that.
So, this is no easy task and this can't be left to Imams. This is the responsibility of all of us. Imam leads prayers. And G-d says, on the day of Jumu?ah, says, when you hear the call to Jumu?ah prayer, leave off business and respond to the call to Jumu?ah. That means come to Jumu?ah. Join the Jumu?ah, congregational prayer. And after you have finished the Jumu?ah, then return. Leave the avenues of interest, business, profit, whatever. Profit, maybe that's a strong word, especially in a capitalistic society.
But return to your business interest. Return to your business interest. What does that say to us? That we come to the Jumu?ah, and we listen to the Imam, and the Imam gives us the Qur'an, and the way of our Prophet, the teachings of our Prophet. That's what he has to give us. If he doesn't give us that, he's not qualified to be Imam. We will tell him, "Imam, will you shut up. Stop, Imam. You are not teaching the Qur'an and you are not teaching the Sunnah of the Prophet. Stop. Stop. Someone else have to continue."
Right. So, we will stop him. So that's what he's supposed to do. He's not supposed to teach economics. He's not supposed to teach politics. So, when the Jumu?ah's over, you are supposed to go back in those areas. So, who's going lead you? Your representative. Maybe it's yourself. You're going to lead yourself.
Setting priorities, focusing and setting priorities. We focus on the life of Muslims and we see that the life of Muslims is life in community. That's what the life of Muslims is, life in community. And advancing life in community is our obligation, to support that, to lead it, if we can. All of us are obligated to support it. All of us can't lead, but all of us are obligated to support it.
And to form alliances, firstly, among ourselves, you are to form alliances. But we don't stop there because we know the Prophet formed alliances with non-Muslims. This is his history. He formed alliances with non-Muslims. And so, it doesn't stop there, but it starts with us, form alliances. You have like interests, you have similar minds and similar interests, so form alliances, know each other, seek out each other, search for each other, find each other. This Conference is so helpful because it brings so many of us in touch with each other that we never would know if this Conference hadn't been called.
Yes. The term is used now is networking, but isn't networking Rabbitu? Isn't that what it is? That's what networking is. Rabbitu could be a translation of networking. Rabbitu. Form alliances. I'm having this interest. You share this interest. We can strengthen this interest and get better results for this interest by working together. So, we come together, we form an alliance. Networking is a common word now. This society has seasonal language. So, the word now is networking. If you could live 10 or 15 years from now, it won't be networking anymore. It'll be the same need, but it won't be called networking. They'll have another word for it. But right now it's networking. And for me, it's Rabbitu. Teamwork and alliances. And we say brainstorming, we come to brainstorm. That's what you've been doing. I've been listening to you, you are brainstorming.
But we need to practice more. We need to believe in G-d more. We need to believe that G-d will reward our mental efforts. Say Bismillah before you start thinking, before you start brainstorming. Say Bismillah "Bismillah," if you are Muslim or Believer, say, "Bismillah, In the Name of G-d," With G-d's Name. Say that and believe that G-d can help your thinking and improve your thinking and give you assistance to get better results for what you are after. And then your brainstorming will be the brainstorming of a Muslim group. Yes. People of faith, brainstorming of people of faith. And believe in creative powers, creative power. G-d has created our brain, soul and brain in such way that once it's touched or stimulated it by an influence, by an influence. I'm using influence because influence is the big general, big general term. It takes in everything- A word, an idea, information, a piece of news, a happening, an occurrence, whatever reaches your mind, it has an influence.
So, believe in the nature of your mind that G-d has given you and made for us that that nature is such that it can be stimulated, and just as a seed get the right water and the right consistency of soil, the right things in the soil and the right temperature and everything, it bursts into life. It bursts into life and it starts unfolding what was hidden in itself and from a little thing you couldn't hardly see, now a big beautiful thing comes up out of the earth, rooted standing in the earth. Same for your mind. Believe that the same thing can happen to your mind. You are looking for the right ideas and look how consistent a plant is.
Some lecturers use a plant as an illustration to go by when they deliver their lecture. They'll put a tree or a little plant and they'll call the root something, the idea of something or that thought that they want to develop. And then they'll call the trunk of it, the main branch that holds it up, they'll call it the central ideas, and they'll branch off with everything else they want to say. And they'll take a diagram and they will talk from a diagram and you will thank, you say, "Hey, that guy really had that speech together." The diagram kept his speech orderly, consistent and following the pattern he wanted to follow, the diagram.
So, believe that G-d can do that for your mind, that G-d is straining for better ideas, for better perception, better focus, whatever, for better things to work on, for more things to work on. Believe that G-d can give you assistance and something will happen while you are straining. You'll have a burst of ideas, beautiful burst of ideas, and they will take logical forms. You will be able to put them in logical forms, and this is really growth.
You think business world doesn't use that? The business world uses that. I read how the business world put a team together, put them in a room, in a beautiful, peaceful environment and then they even sometimes play certain kinds of music very low to help rest the mind so that the mind can have this burst of creativity. So don't misperceive who's talking to you because I don't have college degrees. Don't misperceive who's talking to you.
Yes. So, the sessions that we have, they should follow the general kind of form that I gave you earlier. And we should be working with our minds to help the vision that we have for our community. You call it the vision of W. Deen Mohammed. It should be our vision. It's the vision of this community. Although I introduce things, but this vision, it's our vision for this community. And you should also be straining to recall or find more resourceful persons, resourceful persons like yourselves to be invited to join the teamwork. And you should be straining also, especially you who are familiar with Qur'anic text, the book Qur'an. You should be straining to find more Qur'anic support for what we are doing. I like what you put together there in the paper, the package for us, our package that we have. A lot of Qur'anic references have been selected. And that's what we need. That's what we need.
Also, understand that the Qur'an is not just a Holy Book. It's a generous Book. A generous Book. It is a Book of enlightenment. It is a Book that informs us, not just spiritual. It informs us. It is our first education. Our first and highest education is the Qur'an. It prepares us to get the best advantage from all other knowledge. So, believe that and you'll be more successful.
The life of Khalifa is life lived in accordance with divine plan. G-d's plan created him and he has an inherent plan on his life or in his life. In the constitution of his life is an inherent plan. And something just automatically happens for him when he is blocked from proceeding on with his life in accordance with that plan. As long as he stays constituted as G-d created him, believing in help from G-d, he will get help from G-d and help from his own nature. In fact, G-d's help to him will be help from his own nature. His own nature will come alive and assist him more and more, for him to have life and proceed with the life in accordance with divine plan.
G-d made the man, the Khalifa, the order, the order for the society to be responsible, a responsible order, to be a responsible order. And really freedom for us is growth in the management of responsibility. The more we can pick on responsibility and manage it successfully, the more satisfaction we have, not only in our minds but in our souls. The more freedom we'll be realizing. This is the real meaning of freedom. The real meaning of freedom is freedom to grow into more and more responsibility that benefits you and the society. You and the society.
So, we should be straining to build more in accordance with Islamic contents of our life. And when we say Islamic contents, we're referring to character, Muslim character, content of character. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, "A man should be joined... judged," pardon me, "Not by skin but by the content of his character." So, we are talking about character, the content of character. When we say the contents, or Islamic contents. But we are talking about more than that. We are talking about the content of our own minds, our own mindsets.
What is your mindset? Is your mindset Islamic? Is your mindset in accordance with Qur'anic guidance and the life of Muhammad? Or is your mindset taken independently with no thought of Islamic guidance? No thought of Qur'anic guidance, no thought of how Muhammad would live. You are just you now, you have come to a mindset. You have a mindset. If that's the case, which it will be in this habit world of ours, in this fashion world of ours, in this seasonal fashion world of ours, it most likely will be the case that the mindset of many of you all will be a mindset that you came into unconsciously. You didn't think it out. You didn't select it carefully with intelligent thoughts. You just conformed.
So, content should also be the content of our minds. The content of our minds. The mindset that we have, we should question it. And lastly, we should be straining to improve the projects that we have, correctly perceive them so that we can contribute to them and not harm them. And then strain to come up with more projects. Life continues from one person to the children, your next generation, and it continues on, from that one will come more young ones and the generations continue. The generations continue like that. You should use the same kind of vision or perception when you're thinking about increasing the life of this community work or your specific work that you're assigned to or will be assigned to. You should see it as children of parents.
So, we have a parent project, don't we? We have a parent project. That's the community. The community is our parent project. So whatever projects we have in specific areas of interest, they should be seen as the children of the parent project. So, children should look like their parents, shouldn't they? And children should have the good behavior of their parents, as children should have the good spirit and good mind of their parents. You see, this is the help that comes from Religion that has put Jews and Christians over the world. And Muslims will get their place back once they get the thinking right again. We once had it too. We don't have it now, but we once had it. In fact, it was the Muslims who gave the Christians life again. And the Jews, the Muslims gave all of them life again. We should have a sense of urgency...
These things happening to us right now. We're about one month from the Convention. And if you are not registering that as an urgency, then you are not awake. You're sleeping. Or you're dead. Or you're crippled. Or lame. Or retarded. Something is wrong. Something seriously is wrong if you are not registering the urgency of the Philadelphia Convention. And if I were you in your place and I would look to Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, I'd say, "That man, he cares about nothing more than he cares about leading us in this community, to the right way and to productive life. That man wants the Convention to come back to that City, Philadelphia, where he lived for three years and had his first child. I'm going to do everything I can to support that Convention in Philadelphia."
That would be my decision. That would be my decision. And if it was something wrong with the decision, write it in the Shura, bring it to me and say, "Look, we don't think Philadelphia should be the choice. We think some other city should be the choice." But we have this problem and it's good for me to share this with all of you. We have this problem where leaders, when it comes to me, leaders are afraid to confront me. They're afraid to confront me because they're afraid that they'll lose support from you. But they will quietly withhold support and sometimes not even quietly. They'll do it with a noise. They'll withhold support, but it won't be directly at me, directly. It won't be pointed to me directly. They'll just withhold their support and say, "Well, let's see how it's going to succeed without us."
Now, that's stupid. That's childish. That's stupid and childish. So please, you all grow up like I'm trying to do. I'll question my own behavior. We have to. We're only human. I question my own behavior and I don't like inferior behavior on my part. And I certainly don't like defective behavior on my part. So, I question my behavior. You all think that I work with you because I like all of you all? I work with you because I like the cause, I like the work and I like your help to the work. I like that part of you. It doesn't mean I like all of you. I like that part of you that's giving itself to the work, to the cause. And that's enough for me to embrace you and work with you and be faithful and loyal to you. I'm not going to work behind your back and hurt you behind your back. I won't do things like that. No.
So let us think about that. Let us think about what we are doing and our own positions that we take. Let us question those things. In fact, rethink everything necessary. That's what victory is. Victory is recalling the Names of G-d and rethinking them again because maybe the second time, thinking over them again afresh may bring out more or may bring you to see more than you saw the last time, the time before. So, this is what it is, progress. Looking for progress all the time. And we need to rethink. We need better focus and better clarity on matters, but we also need to rethink our own perceptions.
Rethink your perception of me. Yes, you need to rethink your perception of me. How do you perceive me? Some of you say, "Oh, he's not important. He's done everything. He put us on Islam, on the path of Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet. So, his work is finished. We thank him for that." How was I able to do that? How was I able to do that, when the immigrant Muslims weren't able to do that for you? The Ahmadiyas and all those others that have come around, they weren't able to do it for you. How was I able to do that? How was I able to get you all from The Nation of Islam to the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet. You say, "Oh, I thank you for doing that." Just like I said, just like you didn't know there was a Qur'an existing and you didn't know their was a Muhammad the Prophet existed, Peace be upon him. And I just came and said, "Let's follow the Qur'an and Muhammad."
"Oh, thank you for that." How come you wasn't following it before? You knew about it. You knew about the Qur'an and you knew the difference. You knew the world didn't agree with what you were believing and you knew Muhammad was not seen by us, like he was seen by the world of Muslims. So how come you didn't do that before? So, what happened with me and you that brought you to make that great change? So, you play down even that.
I'm not speaking to you innocent people. You play down even that. You say something lightly and you don't even register the gravity of what you are talking about. Here's a man who brought you from those strange ideas when nothing else happened before to bring you from those strange ideas. Did I do it just because I was the son of Elijah Muhammad? That had a lot to do with it. But there was sons of Elijah Muhammad you wouldn't listen to also. And there was sons of Elijah Muhammad that couldn't even come this way by themselves. They had to come this way after I come this way." Right. So, you underestimate what you are even talking about. "Oh, we got the Qur'an and Sunnah. He gave us that." So that's it. If a leader can bring you from what you in to Qur'an and the Sunnah, you should follow that man and everything. You should even ask them how to pee in the toilet. Yes. If you don't know or if you wet those shoes, then my advice is sit down like the little people, if you're wetting on your shoes.
So, we have to register urgency. Register the urgency. Right now on the calendar, the urgency is the Convention in Philadelphia. And for the first time we have a sister who's not bringing me any problems from Philadelphia. She's bringing me nothing but moves of more and more success. Sister Amatullah Rashad. Yes. So, we're blessed by Allah to have her. Yes, we're blessed by Allah to have her and we should be giving her support. But the Imams are so turf conscious. "Oh, this is my turf. Are you a hoodlum? Are you a gang banger? Or are you an Imam? There's a difference between them. Now if you are gang banging we understand your complaint, but we don't have gang bangers in the community.
If we rethink our perceptions, it doesn't mean we're going to change your perception. But rethinking your perception will contribute to you improving your perception. And sometimes our perceptions may be incorrect and rethinking our perceptions will help us find the right perception. And once we find the right perception or improve our perceptions, then we can also improve our position. Our position. Our perception of relationship. I'm an Imam. I'm related to other Imams as a coworker, we're related to each other. Imams are related to each other as coworkers. We're Imams, so we're related here. Rethink our perception of each other. This relationship that we have, we should rethink that relationship. What is this relationship that Imams have with each other? What is its value? What is it supported by? What has formed this relationship? We should think about these things. What is its value? And what is the value of an Imam to another Imam? How should we value an Imam? How should an Imam value an Imam?
Don't disrespect him because he disagrees with you. Push him in the back. "Get along, brother," like he's an animal or something. Rethinking our perceptions will also help us reshape our attitudes. Correct perception permits correct attitudes. Incorrect perception invites bad attitudes. Incorrect attitudes, bad attitudes. And also, we should rethink our works. What we are doing, our projects, the production we are looking for, and our relationship to our work. What is our relationship to our work?
Your work is always bigger than you. Even if I'm just a common worker, not a professional man, a common worker, I go to work, punch a clock, eight hours, 40 hours a week or whatever, that job is more important than me because that job is taking care of me. And if I'm married, it's helping me take care of my wife. And if I have children, it's helping me take care of my children. That job is providing a living, a home environment, a living for more than just myself.
So, when you work, even the artists, when he's drawing, trying to draw a nice picture, a painting or something, that painting is more important than him. He's not more important than the painting. The painting is more important than him. The work is always more important than you. And your work should always benefit more than just you. Peace. Thank you. As Salaam Alaikum.
Yes. Thank you. Praise be to Allah. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1:
Well, I guess that ends this particular climax to the session. It couldn't have ended with a better climax. All Praise due to Allah, and that we are looking forward to assembling here tomorrow and break off into groups. Break off into groups according to the categories that have already been discussed.
Speaker 2:
Sir.
Speaker 1:
Yes?
Speaker 2:
Can I have a question?
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Bismillah. As Salaam Alaikum. Brother Imam, I'd like to, before Allah and before this distinguished group here, to say openly so I can be held accountable. And if you don't know it, I really support your leadership and I want to pledge my support once again to your leadership. I believe we need some help on, a clarity on your vision. I mean this community vision that Allah has blessed you with. We have already made some steps in progress on trying to come up with a mission statement, but what we really need is a clarity of the vision. So, if you could give us that, personally I would appreciate it very much.
I think some of the things that we discussed was a priority, starting with the model community concept. A priority of what should be done and what is the first step that the person should take toward to establishing our model community.
Speaker 2:
Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 1:
Yes, sir. That was for the interview. That one's not working. Here you go.
IWDM:
I'll just take it like this. I'll hold it and be brief. Yes. The brother asked me for clarity on the vision. On the vision for the community, the vision for the community. The vision for the community is a model. A model. A model of community life. A model of community life. Community life in the broadest picture, community life in the broadest sense. Nothing that we value in community life is outside of this vision.

G-d says to us that we are a balanced community, a witness or model that should be existing as a witness for all people, for mankind. A witness that this is the community life that G-d inspired man to grow into. This is a community life that G-d approves. This is a community life that G-d has had an involvement in and that G-d has helped man to find and to establish this community life, supported by G-d. And approved by G-d. Community life. So, in this community life as Muslims, we can't have in this model, anything that's haram. If we have anything that's haram, it won't be this model. It won't be a witness to mankind or for mankind.
And we've been conditioned to want this. We've been conditioned, we've been prepared to give assistance to this cause. The Nation of Islam, I don't know how affected you all coming from Christianity and other ideas or other street ways and whatever, but I know how it affected me being raised as a baby on my mother's breast and a boy, and a youth and a teenager. I know how it affected me. It made me want to be responsible for life in the biggest measure. Not just for life at home and my family, and not just life on my block. It influenced me to want to be responsible for life in the biggest measure. Life in the full context of National society. National society.
The term Nation of Islam and all that, it affected me to want to be responsible for life in the fullest, broadest perception of life in society. So, I have been prepared and you have been prepared for what G-d really wants of us. And that is for us to establish a model Muslim society, independently of other societies or within other societies. He didn't say, "Well, if you don't have land of your own, I excuse you from this." He did not say that. If you follow the Qur'an, G-d says, "If you are persecuted in one place, my earth is spacious. Go somewhere else." And here in America we have this opportunity. We have the opportunity to build our model Islamic life. Some Christians they don't want to have alcohol in their neighborhood. They have alcohol-free neighborhoods. They get the law to support them. They have the numbers. They have the political clout, so they get the support for it. They have church neighborhoods, no liquor sold in the neighborhood. So that tells us the precedence has been set already, for us to have Islamic community life with all the haram outside of it. All we need is the majority and support, and the citizens want that, they can have that. If one township or district will support the Christians in disallowing the sale of liquor in their town, then how come we can't have the disallowance of selling liquor, and pork, and gambling, and whatever? The precedence has already been set.
Are you understanding what I mean now? Is the vision clear? So why should I mention all the details? The details are too many to mention. We want to be responsible for Islamic community life and we want to establish not one model of Islamic community societal life, but several models around the country. I've looked at land in Florence, South Carolina. I've looked at land near Miami, Florida. Recently, I looked at land in Louisville, Kentucky. Looked at land in Chicago area, southwest suburbs. And if Allah bless us to get some assistance for the nonprofit projects, none for-profit projects, from philanthropists, Islamic, Muslim philanthropists. If we get assistance from them, we can draw up the essential structures for that nucleus, for that model, for the nucleus of that model.
And then you business people can help me put the businesses there, put the housing there, put the for-profit operations there. Wouldn't that be wonderful if G-d bless us with $50 million? Or $500 million? Or half a billion dollars coming from Muslim philanthropists? So, we can throw up schools and businesses to assist those schools? Not for-profit businesses, where the profits go right back directly in schools to support the schools, the management of schools, the expenses of the school, et cetera, wouldn't that be wonderful? That we get that money from them to do that?
Philanthropists, that means they don't want their names known. They identify themselves to me as philanthropists. That mean they don't want credit for it. They don't want their names published. We can have this maybe in three years' time, who knows? And if we work sincerely, as mature men and women behind the business effort, we're going to have some big money coming in very soon from our business effort. So just have faith. We will be responsible for the whole model of Islamic society. That's what the vision is.
That means we want the police station to be Muslim, managed, operated by Muslim. We already have policemen in high places. So, we don't have to say, "Okay, can we manage that?" We're already managing it. Within the system of this country, we're managing it. We want a Mayor. We got people qualified to be Mayors. So, we want all these people to be us. All the positions to be held by us. Yes. Hospital, healthcare, everything under us. And it starts with one step. Make one step. That's all you have to do. Have the vision, make one step. The one step will put you in a position to make two more steps, maybe 10 more steps. And step by step, you'll get the whole thing. You'll get all of it. Have faith in yourself. Don't be doubtful.
These things are not the works of genius. You think this town of Philadelphia is the work of a genius? No. It's the work of people answering people's needs.
Audience:
That's right.
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
So, if we want an Islamic society, and we're willing to answer people's needs, we can have it. It'll happen automatically and naturally. It doesn't mean we won't have any help from non-Muslims. Yes, they can come in, but we'll be the majority. It'll be our vision and our project. They will be just supporting it, and enjoying it, and benefiting from it, with no discrimination against them. Are you with that?
Audience:
Yes, sir.
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
Thank you.
Audience:
Thank you.
Audience:
Thank you.
Audience:
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3:
Allahu Akbar. Well it's clear. We have a dinner here at 7:30, and so we're going to have to take a break and then come back and be ready for the dinner. Which will be at 7:30. And then after dinner we'll discuss what we will do further during this particular conference, which is so needed and so valuable. And with Imam's comments tonight, we see how valuable and worthwhile your presence is here at this particular conference. The first of its kind and the only one that can only be added to, never duplicated.
Speaker 3:
So, we will dismiss. Imam Omar Shaheed will say a du'a and we'll be dismissed. We'll see you back here at 7:30. Don't forget your dinner ticket.
Speaker 4:
Yeah. And those who volunteered for dawah, please see Brother Khalil. Can you raise your hand? We need the addresses, the names, of those person who volunteered for dawah.
Speaker 4:
And we would like to close that with a short du'a. I think we have, I know we have about how many Journals left? It's about 50 Journals left. Brother Saheed has them. So please if you have not gotten a Muslim Journal, there's about 50 left.
Speaker 4:
Just want to add that supporting the Convention does not just mean going to Philadelphia. The satelite sites, what do they call them? Down sites? Down sites in the various areas that you should also support in the various areas. Say again?
Speaker 4:
Okay. That was following my instruction from the big boss.
Audience:
Now it's already been tested. This is not the first year we've had the satellite showing. Viewing by satellite.
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
This is not the first year, we've already tested it. And I've got nothing but encouragement from the believers. I had pioneers tell me, he said, "Brother Imam, say it was just like you being there. They say it was so clear, the picture came through so clear and the voice was so clear." In fact it's better than me being there. So, it shows me in huge image and I'm not that big. So, it really is. It works very fine for us. Everybody's pleased with it, you are present. And we encouraging those who are from the regions to go to the satellite showing in your area and save money, save expenses for traveling, especially when you live long distances.
Save that money and look at what you saved. Say, "Well, I was planning to go to Philadelphia, I would go to California, I'd go to LA," or wherever the Convention would be held, and look at what you are saving dollar wise. And send $200 to.....The information, the address is in the Journal, Muslim Journal, to the NCC bank account. It's a New Africa Convention Center, it's called NCC. Send that $200 to the Convention Center because we are saving that money for the building of a first Convention. And we shouldn't look at just one Convention Center. We should pick an area for the first Convention center, and we get more money we go to the next area until we have Convention centers in the main major regions. So, when we have a Convention, we won't have to be paying hotel all that money and because the Convention center could also have hotels, should have a hotel or motel, right along with it.
So that's what we working for. It's no small thing, it's a big thing. It is going to bring great relief to us and great dignity to us. Financial dignity and community dignity to us. To achieve what we are trying to achieve. So, give it, give it all that you got. And give it justly. Nothing that comes from me will be to burden you. I follow the spirit and word of the Qur'an and Muhammad the Prophet. So, nothing from me will be to burden you. I'll be looking for ways to unburden you or to make the burden light. That's what I'm looking for. Hard, I look very hard for that. I'm not asking those who can't afford to go, that didn't even have plans to go, to send $200.
Only those who had the money to afford to make the trip from where they are to the location where the live broadcast will be, our live event will be. Only you who will save money by not going, we are only asking you to give $200 of that to the building of the Convention Center. You can give more than that. You can give more than 200 if you want.
And if you can't give more, can't even give the 200, we'll accept what you can give. But please, you who can't afford it, and you couldn't even afford to take the bus there, don't say, "Well, I want the Convention Center. I want to," don't hurt yourself and hurt yourself with your family. We don't want that. Believe me, I don't want that. Don't hurt yourself with your family and take chances on not having your rent money. We don't want that. That doesn't help us. You can't pay your rent, that doesn't help us. You get put out, that doesn't help us. Your children are hurt because you not keeping the lights on or something, that doesn't help us. Thank you very much. I think you got it clearly.
Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin. Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. Maliki Yaumideen. Iyaka Na Abudu Wa Iyakan Nastaeen. Ihdina Seeratal Mustaqeem. Seeratal Lahdina An Amtah Alahim. Gharil Maghdoobi Alahim Wa Lad Daileen. Ameen.
Speaker 6:
As you know, the Convention is in Philadelphia, it's at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza. We started off with 400 rooms. Now we have 600 rooms. The hotel itself has 700, and of the 700 we have 600 for that weekend, Praise be to Allah.
Speaker 6:
And this year, in the workshops, we're having workshops on Friday as well as Saturday. Because you at the hotel and you have wasted time Friday. So, if you at the hotel, why don't we utilize every minute of that hotel that we have. So, Inshallah, we are going to have the workshops on Friday and Saturday. We have asked the Masjids that support the Muslim American Society to buy an ad in one of the Journals. And the reason that we asked the Masjids, we wanted these monies to help support the media package that we are doing to promote this Convention. And as of the date, let me tell you something about the media package. As of to date, we have three billboards, four billboards. We had two in Philadelphia in prime areas. One, if anybody know anything about Philadelphia, we had one on Broad Street and they told me in the course of a day, maybe 35 to 40,000 people pass that billboard each day.
We have one at 69th and Market Street where it's over 50 to 60,000 people pass that billboard each day. We have one in Chester and one in Camden. We are taking the Convention advertisement to television. We have 750 spots on USA, ESPN, TNT, BET, A&T, Lifeline. And yeah, that was it on the cable vision. And we also have spots on Comcast. That's the cable network that's in Jersey, Delaware, and Philadelphia. We have spots. And these spots will be through the month of August, that we have.
And in planning and doing this, we didn't have any money. We have a project, but you have Carte Blanche but you don't have a credit card to go with it. So, we had to come up with ways when the support wasn't coming in from the Masjids in some other areas. We had to come up with other ways to be instrumental in supporting what we did. And one of the things we did, we sold Imam W. D. Mohammed. We talked about him, we gave his tapes out to the necessary people. We brought him in for the luncheon on July the 20th. And from that media just jumping overboard. They called us and they want us to do a press conference with our Imam and the Mayor of Philadelphia. They're calling us. We don't have to call them anymore, they're calling us. So, these are things that when you make your Peace with your Lord and you go forward with Allah's help, he'll send angels to help you to do whatever we need to do.
And I tell them that this Convention is planned by the people. People have come together for their love for Imam Mohammed and for this Religion, to help put this Convention on. And if something should happen that we really don't have this Convention in Philadelphia, Labor Day weekend, this Convention is a success today. And we thank Allah, and we just asking you to support us. They asked me, a lot of Imams have called about the satellite site. And we haven't came out really a lot of talking about the satellite site because we've been trying to get the best price that we can for the satellite site, and thank Allah, I think we have done this. So, Wednesday of this week, we should have the final fee for the satellite sites across the area. Now my recommendation for the satellite site is a one-day event in the regions.
And why I say this, because we set the procedure on how to deal with the Convention with Philadelphia, and the satellite sites should reflect what we are doing. This Convention is family friendly. You can bring your family and go to the grand banquet for what one person could do in the past. You can bring your family, your mother, your father, five children, and yourself and your wife. This is a family friendly Convention. And the regional sites should show the same thing. The regional sites should make it easy on the people. And we should have, don't try to have many Conventions across the country.
Utilize the one day. You can have your vendors there, you can have a luncheon, a dinner, you can do a whole lot that one day. But make it easy on the people. Don't burden the people who can't afford to come to the Convention. Because if they could afford a three-day event, most likely they would be in Philadelphia. I don't know, I talked to some of the regional Imams, and I told them they should look into having one or two sites in their area, whatever they can afford when the fee is out to pay. And believe me, we'll have a contractual agreement, you will not get that information to pull that site down until all the money is paid. It's nothing personal. It's all business. And we got to keep it that way.
And the other thing I had a lot of people call me because we haven't came out about the New Africa Convention Center. And I'm one that does everything in structure. And we need to have, when I ask people to donate money, I want them to know a little bit about why I'm asking them to do it. And I talked with the Imam today, at the table, and told him my concerns for the monies for New Africa Convention Center and he said it's okay. So, once I get back, we'll be putting in the Muslim Journal how the planning committee for the Convention City, how we should handle the funds for the New Africa Convention Center this year. It'll also be in the Muslim Journal on the satellite sites too.
But if any Imams that are here who are in charge of their regions and they can let us know how many sites they would like to have in their region, you're welcome to let me know and then I'll let you know. You can tell me what you wish and then I can let you know your reality. I thank you, As-Salaam-Alaikum. Oh, I should open up for questions. I'm sorry. Yes, yes sir?
Audience:
Are the TV spots National spots?
Speaker 6:
The TV?
Audience:
Yeah.
Speaker 6:
Oh, yeah. They're national spots. It's the cable vision and the disk. So, if you can get the cable, you'll see these commercials on TV. If you got that satellite disk on your roof, or in your yard or somewhere, you'll be able to see these TV ads for the Convention. And oh, the other thing is the Jumu'ah prayer. We're going to, Inshallah, we'll have that on the internet. Because that day, it's a working day, and it'll be a lot of people that can't come to Jumu'ah, but they can sit and take their lunch and listen to our Imam give the Jumu'ah prayer at their desk, at their conference center.
Okay. At their conference center or wherever they are. They can listen to the Jummah prayer. That's something that will bring us straight into the nineties. We have to utilize all the media coverage that we can. And when we're doing something of a national level as we're doing with the Convention.
Yes, sir?
TBS, USA, ESPN, TNT, BET, A&E, Discover, and Lifetime. That's where they're going to carry our ad. And then let me share something else with you. These spots are kind of expensive, but after our Imam came in, they sit down and they talk with us. Each spot they're giving us for $3. Each spot, $3. So we have 750 spots and it came to $2,142. And then the gentleman that we're negotiating with, he said, "Oh, that's too much money. Let's just do it for a flat $1,400." So, he gave us an even discount on that, he took off what, $742?
Our billboards, they're normally two or $3,000. Our billboards are $500 and $400 for that month. So, you see, Allah is shining on us with this Convention. This Convention, through Imam W. Mohammed, is blessed by Allah. You can see that. Because the prices that we are doing, when we go in we make du'a to Allah, and we go in and negotiating. And Allah's opened up all kind of doors. So, it shows what sober minded people who trust in Allah, and make their Peace with their Lord, before they start an event can do. And when I started this, I made Peace with my Lord before I got started. And Alhamdulillah its a good thing I did, because I've been catching it from that book. Allah has helped me and sent the angels. And working with me are a group of about 60 believing Muslims across the tri-state area.
That's Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. So, we all come together. I travel and push it and they stay in the back and try to help to do what we can do. And, on August the 14th, the people said we should have something to support what Baltimore is doing, but in the Northeast region. So, G-d's willing, we're putting together a rally to do just that. Where it's going to be at, I don't know. They got the 30th Street station where they've done a lot of renovation work and they said bring it here. What a better place than the 30th Street station. People can get off the train and they're right here at your rally. They don't have to go anywhere else. And then other places that said we can do it there. So, Inshallah, we'll come up.
It is not like we had to do before. We had to go out and say, "This is what we need, this is what we want." And they said, "Well, we don't know if you all can do that. You all Farrakhan. We are not sure about you all." Now they're calling us. We have restaurants who say we want your people to come here. One of the prime restaurants in Philadelphia, Bookbinders, sent me a $75 gift certificate for me to bring our Imam there to have dinner, so that our Imam can taste their food and give them the approval that you can go there. So, I have a $75 gift certificate to take Imam W. Mohammed to Bookbinders.
And then there's other restaurants, there's other businesses in the area that's asking us. The hotels, Sister Rahema she can attest, when we started out, we was asking them and trying to get them to give us rooms. They said, "No, we done sold out the hotel." Now they're calling, "Here. Here are your rooms. We'll do $69, 70. Whatever you want, you got it." So, this is Allah. Allah has really, really showed us what we can do when we listen to Imam W. Mohammed, and what Allah has blessed him with. And the only thing I can say for Imam is takbir.
Allahu Akbar!!
Any other questions?
Oh, yeah. We have three levels of sponsorship. We have, the lowest level is the $200 sponsorship, which everybody seem like they're jumping on board for now. The $200 sponsorship will give you a page in the registration journal and then we're going to have a banner at the locations that would list all of the sponsors. We have the $1,000, $3,500, and $5,000, which will give you a little bit more. And tomorrow we'll have all of the information on the different levels of sponsorship. And the other thing is, I gave the Imam my wishlist today and he'll give me my reality for his time for that weekend. But Thursday we would like to have an appreciation dinner, so that the people in the region who helped us can meet our Imam, and shake his hand, and see what he's all about.
In Philadelphia they love him. The banks showed out on July the 20th, they love Imam W. Mohammed. They want a follow-up of that luncheon so they can talk more because they didn't get a chance to talk to him like they really wanted to talk to him. That's right. That's all I can say is Allahu Akbar.
But anyone here who is not registered?
IWDM:
Every year we advertise in the Convention Journal, the publication. So, make sure you put us in there WDM Publications.
Speaker 6:
Yes, sir. Okay. You all see the Imam done already said it, you all come on board now.
Now, you said the magic word. When we get that check at PO Box 30488, then we know they're on board. Until we get that money, it's just a hope and a dream.
Okay. But let me tell you my reality. Like I said, once that check is at PO Box 30488 Wilmington, Delaware, 19005, then that's a hope and a dream that they'll be on board. But once we get that money, and maybe I should say once they're clear, because sometimes we get checks that's bounced a little bit, I thought one was going to meet the Imam in Chicago one time. So, once we get all of that, okay.
And we also sent out a request from the Executive Shura Board to buy an ad in the journal, and we asked them to do a Gold page because this is their leader also. And they should come on board in the highest level of sponsorship to support what Imam Mohammed sees in the area of Philadelphia. Any other questions? If you're not registered, and. Oh, yes Imam?
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
Regarding the internet site.
Speaker 6:
Ah, yes. Our internet, the website is www.99islamic-Convention.org. And that's where you'll be able to pick up the Jumu'ah, at that website. Inshallah. So, if you're not registered, and believe me, I know who's not registered. And I can give the Imam the registration list tonight and then he'll know. And if you're planning on coming, I suggest you register because probably you won't be able to be in the host hotel because you blew. But we can put you somewhere near in the surrounding areas. Inshallah. As-Salaam-Alaikum everybody.
Speaker 6:
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, Dr. Saluki going to kill me.
At the Convention, we're going to have a survey. And we're going pass it out to everyone who registers for the Convention so we can get some demographics of our community, because they say that we got a hundred thousand, we got a million, but we really don't know. But with doing a survey then we'll be able to pull those demographics and let the Imam know exactly what we have. You're talking about a model community, you're talking about a lot of things. But if you don't know what you have, how can you plan for what you need? Can't do it. Yes, Imam?
Oh, yeah. I'm sending it out to the region so you all can do the same thing and send everything back, and then that's when the work will start for Dr. Saluki. She wanted this, so she'll be the one to put it all together after you get it in. Inshallah.
Is that it?
From the Wyndham, we're going to the Embassy Suites and Crown Plaza. And then from that point on, everyone will have to go for what they know. But we will have decent rates at the Crown Plaza and The Embassy. Inshallah.
Speaker 7:
You all know she has registration forms with her, so if you haven't, we want to encourage everybody to register before you leave. One of the things, poison has a tendency to build up in humans. And we found out that humor has a tendency to release it. It gets rid of poison. One of the things that we wanted to do here this evening was... Well, let me do this before, we want to thank the catering service for... Yeah. They've done a wonderful job and we got a couple of more meals to deal with us tomorrow. They're going to be picking up the utensils and things as we sit here. We'll be here just for a few more minutes.
But one of the things that we really wanted to do here this weekend was have a comedian here at the dinner. We wanted to have a comedian at the dinner. But we said, well, we don't really have to go that far because we probably have some comedians in the audience. What we want to do is have some clean case comedy right from amongst us. If we have somebody in the audience that's got some clean comedy, want to give them a... Oh, well, we've got somebody. All right, here we are. Here you are. Oh, let's see what we got here.
Speaker 9:
I know all of y'all in agreement, and this is not a joke, that I hope every year, we have a Sister in charge of the Convention. Every year. All know is one joke. Most of the jokes I know, I can't say tonight, no way. But I do have one joke about this guy. "Oh, G-d," he was begging, "Oh, G-d, G-d, please, just give me some money. If you give me some money, I'll promise you, I'll be forever in debt with you. I'll pay charity. I'll spread it to the needy. I'm telling you, I'm a man of my word. G-d, G-d, please just give me some money." He kept walking and lo and behold, G-d, He sent him some money. It was a big wad of money too. Might have been about $100,000. I mean, it's, "Oh, thank G-d. Woo, finally, I got some money."
And he got to thinking about it. He said, "Well, G-d, I know I told you after I got this money, I was going to be real charitable. And you taught us that charity begins at home so I'm going to keep that piece." Then he said, "Well, I said that I was going spread it to the needy, and I don't know nobody more needy than me. And then I told you I was going to be forever in debt with you, so whenever I see you, I'll give you what's yours." It's a long joke, but it's the only one I got.
Speaker 8:
Anybody else got one? We want get... Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 10:
I was just finishing up that good chicken. Which one, one with the what? No, that was your joke. I don't know that one. All right, I think I got two. I think they're short enough for this. This one's about a bird, about a talking bird. You ready for that, huh? Some of y'all heard this. All right. This guy buys this bird and this bird is one of those canaries. But this canary had been taught to just use nothing but profanity. The guy buys the bird, but he didn't know he had this foul mouth before he got him home. He got the bird home, the bird was only saying like, "Hello, hello, hi there," when he first bought it, but when he got him home, the bird, "You rotten, so and so and so." Then he said "And you so and so and so...."
Guy snatched the bird out of the cage, took him to the freezer, opened the door, slammed him in there. The bird said, "So and so and so". "I believe I've made an error. If you would, please just let me out and I will correct myself and I will never use such foul language again." And he said, "You promise?" "Oh, but of course." They opened the door, let the bird out. "Oh, thank you so much. And might I ask what the chicken did?" You see the chicken is in there like that with his head all cut off. Little slow, but you caught that one, right? When he saw what happened to the chicken.......
Speaker 10:
One more, okay. Now, this one is about faith, since Amatullah was just showing us so much about faith. I love this humor about faith and about having real faith and having your faith tested. This guy was walking along on a ledge. He's on a hike and he got too close to the edge. And when he fell off, he just barely caught a branch. He looks down, nothing but death. And he's going, "Help, help, somebody help me!" And he just didn't know what to do, he was screaming, screaming. And then he hear voice. "John."
"Who is that?" "It's the Lord, John." "The Lord? Oh, Lord. If you get me out of this, oh, I swear, I'll go to church, I'll give my charity again. Just let me..." "John, John, John, slow down, just one thing at a time now." "Lord, what do you want me to do?" "Let go." "Let go? You see all of that?" "Let go, John. I'm the Lord." "Lord!" "John." And John pauses. "Help, help, I'm stuck, help me, help me!"
Speaker 8:
As Salaam Alaikum. I have an excellent piece I'm going to present that you're going to like. And Imam Mohammed, our leader, has indicated that he was sent to Philadelphia by his father. And he believes it has some significance that he would like to share with us tonight. Imam, we can bring this to you and you can come up.
IWDM:
I just clip this on my shirt, right?
Speaker 8:
Yes, sir.
IWDM:
All right. As-Salaam-Alaikum. Yes, Peace again. Can you hear me out there all right? Oh, okay. Yeah. No, no. He said, I was looking at the man all the way against the wall. He said yes, they can hear.
Yes. I wanted to tell you something about significance for me. The interest that I have in Philadelphia is not just because I lived there. I did live there when I married, I was about 24, 25 years old. And I got married for the first time to Sister Shirley Mohammed. She was Shirley X something then. I forget her X's, but she was Shirley X something. And we got married and then had our first child, Laila, born in Philadelphia in 1959. I went there in '58 and I was there in '58, '59 and part of '60, a total of about three years I lived in Philadelphia.
When my father approached me about going to Philadelphia, he said, "Son, now, mind you, I hadn't had any experience as an administrator or a Resident Minister responsible for the congregation and paying the bills and all that. I hadn't had any experience like that. I was just a young Minister given the opportunity to speak occasionally in different places, mostly in Chicago with the Minister, James Shabazz. He was the principal of our high school so he knew me as a student. He was my teacher, too, as a student. We had a good relationship and he was watching me develop. He was helping my development. That's the kind of relationship I had as a Minister, no real responsibility except just to get up and speak.
Here my father comes to me and he said, "Son," he says, "The Minister in Philadelphia, a good man." He said, "Good Brother," said, "But he's gotten into something and I have to replace him. I want to send you to Philadelphia," he said. He said, "Philadelphia is number 12." I'm a young Minister so number 12 is just 12 to me. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. He says, "Philadelphia is Temple number 12." And the way he put emphasis on it, it stuck in my mind. But for me, again, it was just 11, 12, a number, just a number.
I go there and as a Minister responsible for it, it was just easy for me. I didn't know it was going to be so easy. It was just easy, natural for me to take over responsibility. The officials cooperated with me. The pioneers are called the pioneers, the senior citizens pioneers for the Nation of Islam. They received me and welcomed me just like they did, the love they had for my father, they expressed it to me. And the support that they wanted to give him, they gave it to me. They were actually reaching him through me or actually saying, "We can't get him, but here he is, here his son is." And they was giving me what they would give him.
I got all kind of support. I remember the first meeting we had, I think the attendance was 67 people. 67 people, less than 100 people. But within a few months, we went to 100, 200, 300, 400. When I left there, our attendance on Sunday, if we worked for it, if we made an effort, 500 people, easy. 500 people. And we had good press, good press. I did something there that felt that my father would feel good about, but I felt he would say, "Son, you shouldn't have done that." They were raising some money for a Civil Rights personality, Daisy Bates. You remember that Sister? Daisy Bates, they were raising money there in Philadelphia. And I heard about it and it was brought to me, at my attention. I said, "I would like to give $50 to her." I didn't know it was going to hit the newspapers, but when they found out I'm going to give $50, they insisted that they take pictures and everything.
My picture is in the paper now, giving $50. That opened up the people, the Christians, that opened up them, that opened up their hearts to us. I had a good time there. I had ease there, no problem in Philadelphia. And the following grew, the spirit grew, the following grew. And we have a big following in Philadelphia. Where we have a big following, a sincere following, like those people in Philadelphia, I can't forget the place like that. That place is very important to me. And we have it in a few cities around the country. We have a real big following. New Jersey area, big following. I didn't make that following. Those who followed The Honorable Elijah Muhammad made that following. James Shabazz, who was killed, and Hussein Shabazz, who succeeded him, very responsible for that big following out there. And since them, Imam Ali Muslim, they're responsible for the big following.
And many brothers and sisters who have helped spread the word, helped spread the word, they're responsible for the big following. Big following, people who have been influenced, they're not Muslim, they don't even think of themselves as Muslim. But they have been influenced to come this way. And I feel that we're obligated to follow that up, do something about it. Philadelphia, I'm not superstitious, I don't believe in any superstition. I'm a rational man, but I'm a man of faith too. And I believe that some things happen in our lives, personal lives, and also our life as a community. Some things happened in our life that are signs of G-d's interest, signs of G-d's interest. Not just our interest, but G-d's interest. And I have seen, since my father told me Temple number 12, and he emphasized 12, I've seen certain things happen that have made me believe that Philadelphia is not only our interest, but G-d's interest. I believe Philadelphia, Allah's interest is there too for us to stay in Philadelphia.
Now, please don't buy Chinese food and break open that little cookie and read and be looking for something. But I just happened the other day, we bought Chinese food. And I looked at that little white slip that they had dropped on the floor. I don't like things on the floor. We had dropped it on the floor in the kitchen so I picked it up off the floor, I didn't pick it out. I didn't get it out of the cookie. Somebody else got it and dropped it on the floor. And I looked at it and I read it and it said, "Do not depart from the fate that has been assigned to you." Do not depart from the fate, f-a-t-e, that has been assigned to you. That's what it said.
When that was written, I say, well, Philadelphia certainly is that. Yeah, I know myself. And I believe the fate that has been assigned to me is to continue to bring our people close and closer to the home, to the home that our souls want so that we be free and in good condition physically, materially, and spiritually. I believe that's the fate that has been assigned to me. And when I picked it up and I read it, I said, "Well, I'm just going to have to work harder, work harder. And Philadelphia is definitely in this work." I say, "Well, I'm going to have to give more attention to what we're doing here."
Philadelphia is the first Capital of the United States. See, he said 12, but 12 to me has spiritual significance. But he said 12, brotherhood, 12, brotherhood. Jesus had 12 disciples at the table of the Last Supper in the story of the Bible, Peace be upon him. And those disciples were brothers and they represented the brotherhood of mankind, the brotherhood of men on earth. They represented all the people. I know 12, to him, meant the spiritual life and brotherhood. But it has political significance. It was the first Capital of these United States. The first government was set up there. That's where the first Christians, persecuted, they landed in that area. In that area, that's where they landed.
And the first government was set up there so it has very significant. And if it has that kind of significance, and Honorable Elijah Muhammad sent his son there, and I have an attachment to that city, a mystical attachment to that city that's based upon some rational interest that I have because anything that I don't find a rational base for, I leave it. I don't think there's anything spooky is happening. Here, nothing spooky is happening for me. But I do have a rational interest at the base of this thing that is something that's above me and above this rational interest that I believe is involved.
I want you all, I want to share with you all my deep and personal interest in Philadelphia. I believe Philadelphia has a place in our history, a real place in our history. When our history is finished, Philadelphia going to be a real star in our history. Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, New Jersey, the Newark area, Washington, DC, Washington, DC, Harlem, New York. These places, we've spent money, blood, et cetera, in these places. These places have great, great, great meaning for us in the now and even greater in the future.
I just want to share that with you so that you can feel more comfortable supporting my interest in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not a tourist town or anything, at least not for the nightlife people. They're not going to Philadelphia. It's not exciting. You know, why Philadelphia? But it's called the City of Brotherly Love, the City of Brotherly Love. And the people there have responded to our leaders in great numbers, in great numbers. And if they have been left without leadership, then that responsibility is on us. If they have been misguided, that responsibility is on us.
I think I said all I wanted to say. Now, let me give you a little joke. I have a lot of jokes too, but most of the jokes I've been told have came from nasty people so I can't tell you most of the jokes that I know that'll really make you laugh, now. Redd Foxx can really get you to laugh, but he's a nasty man. This is a joke that I'd like to share tonight. I know you didn't ask me to tell you a joke, but I feel I have to since that's what was going on before I came up here. I came up here and interrupt that relaxed atmosphere with some serious stuff so I'm going to leave it like it was. I'm going to put it back like it was.
Have a nice, little, clean joke. This man lived in a rural area and his wife had died and left him with a son. His son was about eight or nine years old and they lived very poor, very poorly. They were very poor. The son had never gone to town so his father decided to take him to town. And he was walking and walking and walking so long. He said, "Daddy, where are we going?" He said, "I'm taking you to town." He said, "What's there?" He said, "More houses than you've ever seen." He says, "More lights than you've ever seen." He said, "More people, more talking, more noise than you've ever heard." He said, "Oh, I'd like to go to town."
When they got into town, there were people around the casket and the casket was being carried by the pall bearer. They were just walking to where they had to take the dead body. This little fella said, "Daddy, what is that they carrying?" He said, "It's a dead body." He said, "Where are they carrying it?" "To his final resting place." He says, "How does this final resting place look?" He said, "Well, it's dark, no light. It's cold, no heat, and it's empty." He said, "Why are they taking him to our house?"
Speaker 8:
Y'all want one more? Huh? One more before we go? Huh? You got one?
Speaker 11:
There were two men. There were two men, they were up in age and they was talking about how it feels to become forgetful. He said that one guy told him, he said, "Now, you know, It's getting so bad with me now," he said, "I dialed the telephone and I forget who I'm calling. They answer and I can't think of who I called." His buddy said, "Man, I don't have it that bad. I'm glad I don't have it that bad." He says, "Let me knock on wood." He said, "Who's knocking? Who's knocking at the door?"
Speaker 8:
What, we got... We got another one? Hold on, hold on, hold on. We got another one, we got another one here.
Speaker 12:
I don't know this, I'm kind of nervous about this one. I need three volunteers, three Brothers. Can I get three Brothers up here? Yeah, I need three Brothers. And yeah, it's good. We got Tom, Peter, and Charles up here. Now, this is a joke about three little mice, little mice, so exploring the house, always trying to find something to eat. Tom here, Tom ran into the living room and went to crawling around. He said, "Come on, Peter and Charles, let's go out and find the food. They all going to sleep now." He said, "Well, okay, let's go." They all went running into the front room, looking for the food.
He said, "No, let's go over here. Let's head into this other room. I smelled something in there." They ran into the kitchen but wasn't no food in the trash. There was nothing, all the garbage gone. Peter said, "What about that little room way back there in the back? We never seem to go back there." Charles said, "You mean that little one back there in the corner?" He said, "Yeah, I often see them go back there and they stay a while and they come back out." He said, "Well, there must be something in there, then. Let's go back there."
All three of them went running into that little room in the back, straight to the bathroom. They get in the door and they open the door. Peter's there, "Well, kind of strange looking in here. These three white things." He said, "There's one over here, there's one up there, and there's a big one over there." He said, "There's got to be some food in one of them." Peter said, "Well, okay. I tell you what, let's explore all three of them. Charles, you take that one. Peter, you take that one." And Tom said, "I'll take that one." Charles jumped over in the bathtub, Peter jumped up in the sink, and Tom jumped over in that other one.
Speaker 17:
A few things that I think we need to be very, very conscious of in leaving here because that's really where it's all going to happen at, when we leave and it's warm here right now when we get outside it's going to be cold because we're going to go back to our separate situations. But prior to me doing that, I wanted message to you that the health committee left this morning. We've developed- Where are the positions? Please stand those positions that we have here.
Okay. Yes. We have, I think it was six of us. Dr Ramadan. Dr. Diaz, Dr. Ahmed, Dr. Saluki, Dr. Muhammad. There's someone else.
Oh it's Dr. Ali from New Medina. We got a chance to get together this morning to develop an alliance so that we can look at the issues of health, relevant to the community. And what we're doing at this particular point is soliciting, or we want to know who's actually a part of the Muslim-American Society that is in the field of healthcare that can pull these people to the table so that we can organize ourselves. And listening to them this morning they came out with some very, very good ideas from developing our own healthcare plans, and those type of things.
So, our potential for the future is extremely big, and the future is very, very bright for us. So, as we go into the future, you'll be reading in the Muslim Journal and hearing more from us as we develop this committee.
One of the other things about this committee that we wanted to, we had to get some kind of focus in terms of what we really wanted to do in getting started. And so, we came out and said that we wanted to be the most respected and effective group of people in the Muslim-American Society, and for that matter throughout the world today, in terms of working and the cause of Al-Islam to get something done.
Respect and efficiency were the two things that we were highlighting more so than anything else. If we wanted you all to see us in a light that would be encouraging for you to help us do what we are seeking to do related to the vision of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. So hopefully we haven't let you down at this particular point and we're going to do more to just embellish what we've already done to bring into existence his respectability that we would like to have.
And we know we have to work for it. It's just not going to come because you all know us, and we have assembled ourselves to make something happen. We're going to have to produce something. So we hope that we will become the most respected and effective group, and I think that's good conversation for all of us as a group. We should all be seeking to do the same thing as we break them down here this morning.
I think this is going... I'm sure Imam can tell you for himself, a lot from his heart to see us come together like this after he has worked so tirelessly for the last 25 years to bring us to where we are in time. And I think he knows that at this particular point, we are committed, we're committed to going with his vision, in respect to what Allah wills, as we move into the future.
And we know G-d will do what He wills to do, but it's always good for the leader to know that someone has picked up the vision, has the vision, and is willing to carry it out and make it a reality. So that's why we have assembled here today, and you've been asked to come here because someone saw something in you that believed that you had the same type of thinking that we did coming into this vision.
This effort also is a team effort. It's not just us, those of us that came together as an organizing committee, but it's a team effort, we expect that at this particular point, you all are part of our team. You are part of our team to make this happen. So hopefully, everybody settles in somewhere in this conference and we do intend on following up. And talking to the Imam here earlier. I think more importantly than anything, what we have to do is publish.
We've got to publish. I mean we can't, we've come together, we've talked about some things and we've written some things down, but we've got to publish some things. If we don't publish it, if we don't write our history in publishing. Somebody else is going to do it for us.
And as the Imam was saying, there are people who, covertly right now, are doing it, he thinks he believes that immigrants are doing it right now and covertly writing our history. And nobody can tell that history as we can tell it, and we should be the ones to publish it.
So, we have to leave here, realizing that the work is just beginning. We've got to publish, take this information, you're part of us, committee, we have a responsibility and obligation to it to make sure that it becomes fruitful, that it goes on and becomes successful.
Okay.
Let us hear something from Sister Amatullah. I listened to you all last night about her in terms of tireless work, this work, I mean she has a spirit of work, like the Imam has. We all know, I mean, being here this week is work. This is work for the Imam. To leave home and come here and be here with us. This is work. Sister Amatullah is like that. I've met her this year, and as I told you last night, I've seen her in Durham, I've seen her in Miami, and she's here. I've seen her in Chicago. She's working, tirelessly. And we all know there's no payroll. That's commitment. That's loyalty to the cause. That's what's making it happen.
Speaker 18:
As-Salamu Alaykum. It came to my attention last night about the satellite, I wasn't too clear. So, I have Imam Clyde standing behind me. So, if the sister isn't really clear, then he'll pick up the clarity for me, Insha Allah. On the satellite, I had suggested that... I don't know if there are any other Regional Conveners here, maybe after we can sit down and meet and they can tell me how many they would like us, the more satellites you have, cheaper it'll be to implement. And I had suggested that it be one day, and to make it easy on the people. We don't want a burden to people no more than necessary. And I don't think it's necessary to do it.
And they were talking about to see how we could come up with... You see, last year, I know where I was with the satelite. Everyone had to register $50, in order to attend the State of the Muslim Address. And I questioned it, and understood it, but I didn't agree with it. Because if we didn't try to implement a Convention in the region, then we didn't have to do all of this. We need the masses to experience a core experience of the Convention, and you get out to all the people, it's the State of the Muslim Address. That's what we should do.
Once we can secure in order to have that message sent out across the country, and then at the same day, you can have your vendors, you can have a dinner, a luncheon, whatever you want to. But to secure the equipment, to have the Imam's message sent out to the people. That's the most important thing that needs to be done in the satellite. That's the purpose. Even if we get our new Convention Center up and going, we would still have satellites, because it'll be people that cannot afford to come to the Convention.
If there's any clarity, that's the clarity that I can give on it. And like I said, I really think we should have the same, the more sites you have, the cheaper it'd be for you. And each Regional Convener can let me know. I know Imam Faheem Shuaibe talked to you earlier on, and he was looking at two. Imam Sabree, he's got two or three. And then I don't know if Imam Ansari or Imam Hasidine is here. And then they should let me know what their interested in having as a site. But my suggestion, and you don't have to do my suggestion, but the Convention success depends on how we treat the people. The Convention, like I said, is family-friendly, it's the inexpensivest Convention that I've seen that we've had. If I'm wrong, then somebody tell me.
But the Imam is telling us how to treat the people. He doesn't burden the people, and for us as leadership, as leadership position, shouldn't do the burdening of people either. So, like I said, if I wasn't clear, Imam Rafa is here to help me with clarity, and after the meeting, those recently Imams here can sit down, you can let me know if you have any sites you're thinking about having, and we can go from there, Inshallah.
Speaker 19:
Thank you.
Thank you. In closing here, I've made my remarks. Only thing I can do now is say to that the future's very, very bright. It's really in our hands in terms of the community, as long as we keep faith in Allah, and act with His guidance and then labor. And I just believe that ultimately we're going to see what will actually delight our hearts. At this time I want to introduce to you, our leader Imam WD Mohammed.
Speaker 20:
Takbir!
Congregation:
Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 20:
Takbir!
Congregation:
Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 20:
Takbir!
Congregation:
Allahu Akbar.
Congregation:
#####################################################################################
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
Again, As Salaam Alaikum.
Bismillah Ar Rahma Nir Raheem. We thank Allah. We praise Him and we thank Him for giving us forgiveness and guidance and refuge. We thank Him for the Qur'an, we thank Him for Muhammad, who lived the Qur'an for us, so that we would know how to live as Muslims. We thank Allah for our conversion, for Islam, for our being Muslim in this part of the world, in this Democratic America. A very special situation for anybody who believes in G-d and believes in following G-d's plan for him in life. This America is a very special situation. And Muslims are coming here from all parts of the Muslim world. And they are finding that here is the place for them to go to work, to build up Islamic life, their lives. In their own countries, they don't have the freedom, most of them, to really live Islam as it is given in the Qur'an, and in the life of our Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him.
We are here and we have been here. We're not migrants. We're not immigrants. We didn't emigrate. We're not migrators. We're here, and this is our land, this is our country. And Allah has blessed us to open our heart and our mind to all people and as citizens. That's the condition, to benefit fully, as citizens, with citizenship in this great land, in this great country. I see all of this as part of the divine plan to bring the work of G-d to completion. To conclusion. And G-d says, "Give them the word, concluded in justice."
What I would like to say at the conclusion of this very, very successful conference, initiated by Dr. Nurideen, who immediately had his helpers that he knew and was in negotiation with Imam Omar Shaheed and David Hassan, and others who joined them. Imam Hassan, Kareem Hassan of Los Angeles.
What I would like to say to you is firstly, congratulations again. This is a big thing that's long been needed. What I see here, is the answer to a request that was made years ago. And that is for us to form an intelligentsia. An intelligentsia to watch the interests of this community and serve the interests of this community. By monitoring which happens in this community, monitoring our production, our good production in every area. In every area of our interests. Monitoring our good production so that we would be able to catch up if we are falling back, we'll be able to benefit from what we have. We'll be able to be in touch with what we have. Benefit from what we have. And use what we have to go further. To go further on the road to progress.
This is very, very important. No society, and we are a society, that's what was emphasized yesterday. We are society. No society can progress without an intelligent body of people, composed of both males and females. Cannot succeed with males only. Composed of both males and females, to monitor the life, activity, more importantly, the progress, the productive work of the society. So that the society has a driver at the wheel and at the controls. That's real leadership. The leadership is not in Imams only. The leadership is in the resourceful people that represent the productive might of that society. Of the Islamic Society. For us, the MAS, the Muslim American Society.
I would conclude by mentioning certain issues that we have to be aware of, and that is, Number one, the issue of freedom. This society became the great American society it is, because of people valuing their freedom. And being prepared to die for their freedom, called liberty, freedom, liberty. As Muslims, we have to know that freedom is just as valuable to us as it is to Christians of America. Freedom is no less valuable to us. And we have to be aware that everything that's done in the name of freedom, in the society, everything that society takes up in the name of freedom and does in the name of freedom is not necessarily the freedom of the people who fear G-d and are pursuing their destiny in accordance with the guidance of G-d.
This freedom to do anything is not our freedom. For there's two kinds of freedom. There's a freedom for everybody and everything, and there is a freedom for people who are pursuing their destination for destiny may have a ring to it that we don't want for Muslims. Their destination as people following the guidance of G-d. So, freedom for us is different. And freedom for us is the freedom of community life. The freedom of the community life so we can free our community life so we can establish our community life, that's our destination on this earth, that's our freedom.
So let us cherish the freedom of the American people, because that's the freedom for them too. The freedom of the commercial world becomes so popular everywhere, in the culture and everywhere, the freedom promoted by the commercial world. The freedom promoted by the commercial world has become so popular everywhere, that we lose sight on the freedom of the people that really open the world, for the commercial world. Yes. The People of the Book, and Muslims, we opened this world for the commercial world. We opened the society, the world, for the commercial world. They couldn't go ahead of us. They have to come behind us.
And they come behind us, and they invite the people to all kinds of freedom. Freedom to do any and everything. And this is not something that should occupy our time, now. Don't think that I'm listening to this that we should occupy our time in addressing the corrupt freedom of the world and of this society. No. We shouldn't waste our time on it. Just let it happen. Let them do what they want to do. And let us concentrate on what we are, and where we have to take our lives, as a society, as a Muslim society, as a Muslim model of Islamic society, or Muslim society.
As lovers of freedom, that freedom that I just described to you, as lovers of freedom, we have to also be aware of issues and not be mute among on issues like women's equality or women's rights. Children, the protection of our children, and their right to a decent environment at home and in the public domain. And we have to take all these interests very serious. The environment, the pollution of the environment. Pornography. All of these issues are serious issues for Muslims, and we don't have to do anything but just reflect on the Qur'an, and the leadership of Muhammad the Prophet, The Prayers and Peace be Upon him, to see that these are issues for us. We should be having in our focus, the future of our youngsters. We should be having plans to include them in our leadership. We should be searching among them to see what girl, what boy shows talent. What boy, what girl shows seriousness for this purpose that we are addressing. And selecting them and say, "Hey, you need to be with the men. You need to be with the women. We need you and you are ready to join us."
The Rabbis, they search for bright children. And when they find those bright children who have an interest in the future of the Jewish people as a society, they bring them into the circle of the wise, and let them listen and observe. My father was given very good advice from his teacher, WD Fard, or Mr Fard Muhammad. He on his own showed great wisdom by having me, before I was a teenager, I was sat in the company of Ministers. I knew to be quiet. I knew not to say anything. But he had me sitting in the company of Ministers before I was a teenager. Listening to him discuss with them the problems. They were grooming me. He was conditioning me for the future. And not only me, my other brothers and sisters, they were invited to do the same thing. Just sit there and be with us, and be with my father, when he was having serious discussions with the leaders of the leaders of the Lost Found Nation of Islam, as they were back then.
So that's what I want to stress to you at the conclusion here and see yourself as people responsible for this Muslim society, MAS. You might say, well, "What about Imam Plemon El Amin?" He will jump and shout when he gets this news. If he doesn't, I'll be disappointed. He's in Malaysia, he's taking care of his business. If his biggest contribution is his leadership in Atlanta for our schools, our pre-school, elementary school and high school in Atlanta. That's his biggest contribution, and his mission now. And then with that concern, Clara Muhammad schools. It's a great idea that was suggested to him by an educator who's responsible for heading up there to finance and build a University in Bangladesh.
He has held political posts, very significant political posts, this gentleman I am talking about ... And also has held very important positions in Universities. And that he would like to see the people of Bangladesh, the Muslims there, they don't have enough fine schools. Many of their children can't go to schools that their parents would like them to go to, because schools just don't exist. So, it's an opportunity for you all to have your family come to school in Bangladesh. So that's what the mission is all about, and we've discussed it with him, and I said to him, I said, "Well, one thing I would ask you to consider, to make this complete for me. We would like for you to staff a private school in America. And we would like for you to be responsible for that school, the curriculum and everything in America, just as you're asking us to be responsible for the curriculum, Clara Muhammad School, in your country, in Bangladesh. And these two schools would work together, and we would benefit from having your school in our country, and you'd benefit from having our school in your country."
So, they accepted that. And if that can be done, this is going to be a very, very big step for us in education. In education. Their will be cultural exchange, student exchange, there'll be a wealth of knowledge gained from us having this kind of presence in their country and they having that presence in our country. I imagine that benefits are going to come from that project that's going amount to the progress, and added beauty to our efforts here in education, but not only in education. Our efforts here even in business, and especially in culture. We can't overlook that either. Culture's very, very important. Culture, and we are in a society where we are completely surrounded by and saturated by a culture that's not ours. And don't say, "Oh, this is Muslim, this is Muslim." No, no.
This is true for any good believer in G-d. It's true for the good Jew, it's true for the good Christian, it's true for the good Buddhist, it's true for the good Hindu. When you're in America, you're in pluralistic society, and the culture is not in the hands of any one people. The culture's mostly employed by commercialism, by the commercial life. That's what the culture's mostly influenced by. And those who realize the threat to their own culture, to their own life, and they get involved, and they get in the media, the television, radio, stage, theater, gets in all of the media, to protect their own interests.
And the Jew has been very successful. The Jewish people have been very successful in getting into all these areas. I used to think that they were the ones making all the trouble. But no, I studied them very carefully over the years, and I know that they are not the ones making all the trouble. They are the ones trying to protect themselves from all the trouble, and they have been lining up and have had the foresight to make the step in time, to stay ahead of the problem.
Yes, so we have to do that too. We're small people, but we should think big. We're limited, but we shouldn't think as though we are limited. We should never think as though we're limited. So, I live having a big, big role in television one day. A big share of the media. Television, radio, and the newspapers. Magazines, everything. And the theater. Don't forget theater. And theater is something you can go into right away. It doesn't take much money. We should get together and every meeting like this should have our artists, our Performing arts people right here. And they should also be having their workshop. Performing arts people. And they should be helped to know where to go with their interests, by all of us. We should help them to know where they have to go with it.
And soon, we can ... if we see this strong leadership for this interest in the Performing arts, soon we can start financing our projects, where we would have theaters popping up in these big populations, cities of ours, be it MAS Theater, Muslim American Society. Big art theater. Theater of Arts. Yes, that's what's you need. And people would come and hear what you're saying, and believe me, G-d has opened our eyes, and G-d has put a us in touch with the word. The word, that's the key to open up the world. The key to open up the world.
So don't feel that you can't compete with them in language. When I talk to Jews, I'm not intimidated. I'm surprised that they've been open when I talk. And I do that when they talk. We're looking at each other, you know? So don't think, don't have any fear that we can't handle ourselves. We can handle ourselves. When it comes to language, there's few that can match us, believe me. Few that can match us when it comes to handling the language. The language of truth, the language of truth, and the language of culture. There are few that can match us. Very few that can match us. So, you're way ahead of most of the world when it comes to managing the language of truth and the language of culture.
And Allah has blessed us with this. You know, some animals, they'll be blind if they're not kept in the dark long enough after their birth. Bringing them straight into the light will blind them. Well, we were kept in the dark long enough for us to have healthy eyes and very, very sharp ears. All the blessings of G-d. All the blessings from G-d. It says that He's the one who made the darkness and the light. Not the light and the dark. And He's the one who made the darkness and the light. "Zulimati Al Nur". He's the one who made the darkness and the light. And the word for darkness is not Laitul. Laitul means the darkness of the night. It's Zuleemat. And Zulimat, from the word Zulimat , you get the word Zulman, which means oppression.
So if G-d would oppress the intellect of man, before He frees the intellect of man. He first oppressed the intellect of man with his fascinating creation. With His complex nature that he gave man. All this mystifies man, and he couldn't find the way that oppressed him, locked him up in the prison of darkness. But it only made him more determined and more anxious and to get more power to break out. It only made him want to see more. The more He oppressed him, the more he wanted to see. And the more effort he made to see. So, G-d made the darkness to oppress the intellect to bring about a strong urge in man to break out of the darkness into the light.
And he sent Muhammad to do what? "That he may bring you out of the darkness into the light". Into the light. Now, believe me, I listen to this world, and they do not confuse me. I hear every note so clearly. G-d has done this. I sit among the wise, they talk, nothing escapes me. And they know it. They know by the way I respond that nothing escapes me. So, they know much more about me than you do, believe me. The world leadership know much more about me than you do. Because you don't know what's happening in this thing like they do. All right?
If I didn't know myself I would say I'm Jesus Christ back on earth. I would. If I didn't know myself, I would say I'm Muhammad returned. If I didn't know myself. I didn't know myself I might say I'm G-d in the flesh. But thank G-d I know myself. Those are the giants and I am the small person. And I'm satisfied to be called Wallace Deen Mohammed. No title at all. I don't need titles. And the titles that were already been given to Prophets, no more titles to be given out to men. Not that title, Prophet. No titles to be given out to men. Christ. Christ has come and gone. Prophets, come and gone. Prophecy is concluded. So, none of those titles are for me. And I'm so happy just to be a regular man just like you. Oh, it’s so comfortable. Rafar's friend. Rafar's brother. Rafar's friend, you know? That's my compass. But believe me, I know the light, and I know it's on. And I know how to follow it. And you're blessed. You got that? You are blessed.
Takbir!
Congregation:
Allahu Akbar.
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
And that's not for me This is not for me, I'd be happy doing welding. As I am cooking in my kitchen. Looking at TV with my woman. That satisfies me. And I'm not joking, that's serious. Now, I thank G-d, you know, that's the greatest blessing of all. That this great opening of my mind, and reception that I get in this world, with the world religious leaders, does not affect me one bit. Does not affect my ego at all. Now that's divine protection. That's really divine protection. And I thank Allah for it. I'd rather be dead and not have leadership and not have anything. I'd rather be physically dead than to lose this common life that I have.
All right. Yeah, so I'm going to conclude with that. And we have to be aware of where the great minds of this Democratic society want to take their life. And if they're G-d-fearing people, it's the place we want to take our life. But we want a model for Islamic life, as a model, of what Islamic society should be. We don't want just freedom. We just don't want professional success. We want success for an Islamic society model. Congratulations again, and may G-d forgive us our error, forgive us our sin, strengthen us in our strength. Have mercy on us always, and give us the guidance, for without His guidance, we have no guidance, Ameen. As Salaam Alaikum.
Congregation:
Takbir. Allahu Akbar.
Speaker 1:
As Salaam Alaikum. The Imam has already spoken but...
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed:
There comes a point in time when we are seeing a need to benefit from it. We can't continue to just go on and on. There is nothing else to live for. We have to live and die for this. So, Brother Imam, we plan to support you in every endeavor.
Bismillah Ar Rahman Nir Raheem.
Wal Asr. Ina Insana Lafi Khusra. Ila Ladeena Amanu. Wa Amanu Salahti Wa Tawatsu Bil Haqq. Wa Tawatsu Bil Sabr. Ameen.


