01/19/1989
IWDM Study Library
Dallas, TX

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and we bear witness that there is none to be worshiped except the one Lord, Ashadu anla illah illallah, wa ashadu anna Muhammadan rasuulallah. And we witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. To Allah is due the praise, the Lord of the worlds and He's the forgiving, the loving, the glorious owner of the throne. He is the doer of whatever He wills or whatever He wants. For Allah is our obedience. We owe our obedience to Allah. We ask Allah for assistance and we ask Allah to forgive us for all our sins and our faults and correct us and make us fitting. We believe in Allah and on Allah we depend. We witness that Allah alone is divine. There is no divine except Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. The prayers and the peace be upon the noble messenger and whatever else is appropriate in this excellent salutation, excellent salute to Muhammad the messenger of G-d. We appreciate the opportunity to be here in Dallas to address you on this topic we have chosen: To Make It In the Land of Plenty. Honorable gathering, Imam Yahya Abdullah, distinguished persons again, we wish you peace and the blessings of Allah. We have to acknowledge the good work and the very effective work of Imam Yahya Abdullah and his assistants, his associates. We are very, very pleased to see the great reception and the good attention that the work of the Muslims got in the press, in the media. I have to tell Imam Abdullah, I'm amazed and I am. I am amazed. Honorable gathering. The world is loaded with goods and delights. There's a saying of the Prophet, peace and the blessings be upon him, about Allah's creation and the change that took place in that creation. The saying goes that Allah invited the angel, the great angel Jibril, to witness his creation and when Jibril beheld the creation of Allah, he said, how can anyone go wrong in this creation? Allah then showed the great angel Jabril his creation after the Satan had altered it and Jibril said, oh my Lord, how can anyone go straight in this creation? So we live in a world created by Allah but altered by the enemy. We live in a world of natural creation and artificial creation, artificiality. We live in Allah's creation and also in man's creation. Man's creation is not always good for us as we know because there are issues now of environment and so many other issues that are very important issues now because of man making mistakes in his works and sometimes being careless in his works and not considering the good future of humanity, of life in general. We have to understand too that the world that we live in, and these are just common observations, ordinary observations that we should make, the world is serious and it's comical. The world is sensible and it's foolish. The world is both decent and nasty. The world is kind and cruel. The world is peacemaker and peace breaker. Though the world accommodates honesty and preserves honesty, that is work to preserve honesty and cannot live without honesty and must promote honesty, the world is both honest and deceitful. The world is not incapable of converting Its every utility, charity, blessing into instruments of war. America stands out among the nations in the most peculiar character of all the nations, the most safe as I see it, the most safe and also the most dangerous land. Be strong and be decent and the mighty arm of the world will not break you. But understand you have to be prepared to make it in the land of plenty.

There's a need to keep an eye on what you want from yourself and what you want from the world and in this case from America. Keep the eye on what you want from yourself and on what you want from America. Many of us don't give any serious thought to what we want from ourselves and that's the big mistake. Muslims, religious people are influenced by the religion to keep an eye on self, to present self at all times in a way that will please your Lord and maker, Allah. Believing that we have to always present ourselves in a way that pleases our Lord, puts us in a good situation for progress in the land of plenty. I believe that the great religions influenced that same kind of disposition in its following, in their following, pardon me. Since our disposition and attitude have a way of telling what we are prepared for, it makes good sense to be prepared then within internally. I remember my father and the late leader once saying to the great gathering of his people, I see how beautiful you are dressed without, but how are you dressed within? It is in spiritual expression, spiritual expression where the force of sensitivities will be maximized, concentrated, and directed. Religion wants us to come into the proper spirit, into the proper spirit. Into that spirit Allah intended for His human creation. Question a person's morals, passions or intelligence and a spirit may take control of that person, may take control of the matter at hand. As situations grow around us and in us like the affluent society we call America, especially Dallas, the situation becomes more serious, more complex, less simple, that is for us to manage and the more complex and more serious the situation becomes around us, within us and around us, the more we have to sharpen our sensitivities, our senses, and sensitivities. By the expression, sharpen sensitivity is meant, we must have more experienced sensitivities. Many people go on living, live long lives but never have matured sensitivities. Those sensitivities don't seem to improve much through the experience. That is because they are people who are absent-minded, people who have no real cares. As Allah says, He has given us so many signs in the heavens and in the earth as well as in ourselves, but most go on heedless, unaware. By sharpened sensitivities is meant, disciplined sensitivities. Experience permits us to come into discipline. I was watching a program on television recently and a teacher, an instructor, in music, was praising a student, a young student that showed exceptional ability at a very young age. And this teacher said of that great ability that was displayed, demonstrated by this youngster, all I did was channel the natural instincts that were already there.

So that instructor was paying a compliment to the nature created by Allah and that's what we want to understand, that no matter what our present situation is, we might have been shortchanged by the world. We are all created in excellence. Allah has created us with the same excellence. But that excellence has to have a condition, circumstances for its coming forward, just as the plant has to have the condition, the circumstances, for its coming forth from the earth, from a dead seed, from a dead seed. But is the a seed really dead?

The seed is not dead like a stone is dead. You put the stone in the earth and the rain comes, the warm come, the warm weather comes, the circumstances come and nothing happens. But you put that seed that appears to be as dead as a stone and many seeds are called stones because they appear to be dead like stones. You put that seed in earth and something happens when the circumstances come for its coming forth from the earth and growing into a beautiful plant, a useful thing. Likewise it is for us. This is the kind of appreciation you have to have for your own creation to make it in the land of plenty. Many of the failing people, those who fail in the land of plenty, they have no real appreciation for what they are naturally, in their creation. They're fascinated and distracted, so much so that they just follow as our key speaker, keynote speaker said last night, shadows that are cast by things that they cannot even identify. They just follow influences in the confused atmosphere of a degenerated cultural life. They follow those influences and take their minds and personalities and behavior from those influences in the confused culture around them.

So how can they make it in the promised land? It is impossible to make it in the land of plenty, with that kind of weakness in you. So, we are especially happy. We are excited about the fact we have come into Al Islam, that we are Muslims, that we have a situation for our life that is good. I remember making a trip to China, to mainland China with a group of Americans as friends of China and America. Chinese people, American people. And when we arrived there we were met by a Chinese host and finally they took us to the big man who was going to address us. And the first thing the big man said was "The situation is good in the heavens." Well, I feel, as a Muslim, that the situation is good now on earth. I used to believe, I don't know whether I understood what he meant by the situation was good in the heavens, but I used to believe that the situation was always good in the heavens. That was set by G-d and I felt that the situation was always good in the heavens, but now I feel the situation is good on earth and it's because I not only realize that I have a good religion.

I don't only realize that I have a religion that can please me, but I realize now that I have a religion that can please humanity. I have a religion that can answer all the needs of man of my color or some other color, wherever we are on this earth. I have a religion that can accommodate my greatest desires, my greatest aspirations. I have a religion that can open doors for me that I haven't yet seen and I can go on and on and on. That's why I feel so wonderful and I say with all of my heart and spirit, the situation is good on earth. Continuing, now there's a need for discipline sensitivities. That is sensitivities that through experience become more fit and better prepared to survive moral, social and financial and political confusion, in the land of plenty. We are going to have plenty moral confusion, social confusion, financial confusion, political confusion in the land of plenty. If we were in a small country, we'd go to some of the beautiful resort places for tourists in the Caribbean area or anywhere or we don't have the same situation. So, we are not threatened so much by moral confusion, social confusion, financial confusion, political confusion, and the like. In the land of plenty, we have great, great challenge to meet from moral life as it is influenced by the land of plenty, and by social life, financial life, political life and on and on. Overly played up moral concerns reduced the likelihood of us making it in the land of plenty. Now here, here's the overly played of moral concerns. Can we, we can't be too moral? Yes, you can. In our religion the rule is G-d against the extremes because the extremes are bad. The extremes spoil the thing, spoil the thing. The extremes take the thing out of its true nature. When you go to moral extremes to a certain point or degree where you are overplaying moral life, you are overplaying it. You have taken the moral life out of its true nature. So, we have to be careful not to go after moral extremes to the extent that we overplay the importance of morality. You've heard of the holy of Holies down here on earth, not in heaven down here on earth, his holy, holy holiness and never get tired of holy, holy. You can just keep going. Holy, yeah, he goes to sleep on his feet. Holy, holy, holy.

So, we can overdo that. We can give too much attention to that kind of concern. And you've heard of those who hold their head high, ain't got a penny towards Job's Turkey and don't have much discipline either. Hold their head high because they think they're morally better, have a moral spirit better than other people, moral arrogance. So, we must be aware of moral exaggerations.

Moral excellence cannot be established without a situation for combined functional life of morals and intelligence. You have to have those two things working together. And if you don't have moral concern focused in the sphere, the sphere, the area for your functional life, then you are subject to take your moral life to extreme that will take it away from its moral nature. Allah says if the earth had been populated by angels, He would've sent an angel as a messenger. Now this is not to criticize or to reject angels. No, we know that angels are high in the creation of G-d, high in the creation of G-d, but Allah has kind of deemphasized the exaggerated emphasis that were put on angelic behavior by religious leaders before our Prophet to make people think that the highest goal for them is to become angel. No, the goal for us is not to become angel. The goal for us is to become human, obedient like the angel, human, obedient like the angel. But don't become like the angel and turn away the wife, turn away the husband, say, well, we can be friends with no more in the bed. I'm too holy for that.

Don't become angels and operate in the dark. Man is made with eyes that see in the light.

So, we don't want to become angels and go away from our human destiny. We want to pursue our human destiny and the human destiny is to be functional in this world, functional for the good of humanity itself. Allah says of the Muslim community, and you are the best community raised up for what, Allah says It, raised up for the benefit of all people. And the Prophet peace and the blessings to be upon him, he said, and the best of you is the one who is most useful to the people. The Prophet said it. Who is best? The one who is most useful to people, to humanity, to the nations, to the people. And we know in the history of civilization and the history of civilizers, we find no one that has come with the benefits for humanity equal to that, that our Prophet brought. Peace and the blessings be upon Muhammad.

We don't only have this excitement and this appreciation for his great successes. Western writers write too that there is no one in the history that has come and did so much in such shorts span of time and had so little to work with. The Prophet came to a backward people, a people during the dark ages who perhaps were as backwards or more backwards than any other people at that time, the people called jahiliyah of Arabia and he came with the message of Al Islam, with the Qur'an and with the excellence that Allah had created in him and the revelation and the Prophet transformed that backward society and brought it to be the brilliant jewel of this earth in a time of ignorance, savagery and all kinds of abuses of human life and human excellence. So, we know what religion can do, we have it in history, we have a clear history of the successes and power of religion, but we are happy to be in this religion and we invite those who are not in it to examine it, to study it, to look at it.

We are not the demagogue; we are not domineering people. We are not people who will deprive you of your freedom of thought or will ask you to just believe because we believe. No, we don't want you to believe because we believe. We want you to believe because you have used your intelligence and your virtues. You have come with your good virtues and which your good intelligence and you have examined it for yourself and you have decided upon the test of your virtues and upon the test of your good intelligence, you have decided that this is the virtuous religion and this is the intelligent religion that you would like to be in. Then we will be happy with you joining us in this religion, Al Islam. I receive many letters that I don't answer as you know and I've explained it once and I'm going to explain it again. To answer all the mail, I would have to need about a thousand times more than what you are donating because we need a big staff of typist and readers to read the correspondence and to type the answers. It will just be too much. Some people think, well he's the Imam, I'm supposed to be writing. I'm supposed to be able to write him and get an answer.

Yeah, he didn't answer my letter. Believe me, as important as I think I am, I've written some people that's important in the United States and I haven't gotten an answer, but if the matter is serious enough, you should get an answer. Now sometimes you don't get an answer as you expected it, but you should get an answer. You don't always get it out of the mailbox. But sometimes I read a letter and the person's not even asking me for an answer. Nothing in the letter that says answer this and those letters are the best letters I get. Really! They're the best letters I get. I have one here right now. This person says, it greets, he starts off, Dear brother. Didn't say Dear man, he didn't say mujeddid. He didn't say Your holiness mujeddid, Imam Muhammad. Just dear brother, what a lovely letter, dear brother. I said, he says, and he goes on to tell me something about himself and what occurred at that particular day when he was writing a letter. He said, I've just finished sharing this article that you had in the Journal with a Christian friend and I felt so good and strong in reading it. I have shared this article along with your December 11th, 1988 Atlanta address. Beloved brother, what can be more appreciated than to give praise to Allah? Now look, he has interpreted the articles that I write as praise to Allah and that should be our whole life. That's the point. Our whole life should be glorifying Allah. Whatever we do, it should be testifying to the glory and greatness, praise of G-d, Praise G-d. Isn't that what the hymn say? Praise G-d with your life, praise G-d with your life. Praise G-d with everything you do. Now it's a Christian hymns I believe that says that. Yes. So, I really love to receive letters like that. Now, you may flood more of them, but don't expect answers.

We don't have enough money. I have another letter here. These letters are very encouraging. Now this is a sister, she's way up in age. She's so old, I could take her as another wife and it wouldn't shake the house. She says Dearest, she calls me dearest and I love her. She says, dearest, please continue propagating in these worried times. That's all. Thank you. A check is enclosed. Those letters are really nice. Aren't they? We have to appreciate working for the pleasure of Allah, because when you work for the pleasure of Allah, you're working for the maximum good of self and others. Now what makes us, I would say sometimes ineffective, pardon me, ineffective. We don't get results. So, we say, yeah, I've been doing it, but I don't see any results. We are not prepared to get the results. We have here an Imam Yahya, a young leader, a young Imam, a young leader, Muslim brother who has never been satisfied with his preparedness. He always wants to become better and better prepared. Now with brothers like Imam Yahya Abdullah, we do get results and the proof of it is the way that the media has addressed and presented us, last evening and this morning at 10 30, at 10 o'clock, 10 to 10 30. So, we encourage you brothers and sisters to never be satisfied with your preparedness. Always make an effort or at least desire because the desire itself, if it's real, the desire itself will bring about action in time. If it's real. Don't lose the desire, nourish the desire, love the desire, and in time the desire, the power of the desire, the power of the desire will bring about the right action. So don't be satisfied with your state of preparedness. Our society doesn't value children and doesn't value parents. That's a quote. That's not my saying. That's a quote. I am quoting Dr. Barry Brazelton, pardon me, who was on public television, TV 11. It was hosted by Bill Moyer. Our society doesn't value children and doesn't value parents. This is the first time I heard it put that way. First time I heard somebody really address it that way. I have felt that, in fact I have been complaining myself, in my public talks. How can obedience be expected of children when parents are discredited. All the respect, credit is taken away from parents. Seems to be an intentional effort to break the bond, the respectful bond, that holds parents and children, children and parents. Address the children on matters as though the children are grown and independent from positions and schools on the campuses and also from television or from the media. Speaking to youngsters and telling them that they have to do something to protect themselves. You have to buy condoms, you have to get sex education and they will come out sometimes and tell the child that you do this, whether your parent approves of it or not, you have this right. And again, I have witnessed them changing the behavioral spirit of children by telling them, if your parent denies you something, speak too harshly to you, they don't have to beat you physically, but if they are guilty of abuse, even just verbal abuse, you can report them to the law. So that ain't the way you do it. You have a meeting with parents first and you try to educate parents first. And if you can't educate parents and parents just defy every attempt to educate them, then you tell parents, now we are going to have to address the children, over your head or against your will.

But still respect the parent and tell them we're going to do the best we can to keep them respecting you. We will word our language in the best way we possibly can. We hope that they will still respect you enough to come in the house and not defy you after we have told them what we believe that they should be doing, that you are not telling them. I mean if they want to go that far, but it's never necessary to go that far. If the same effort had been made that they have made to get these teenagers to do things and to come into the new mind and come into the new spirit, come into the behavior that they wanted to come in. If all that money and all that attention had been directed to parents, to the adult parents, they wouldn't have had to do that at all. It's never necessary. Our religion teaches us never to go in by the back door, go in the front door, never to call on the household and not address the adults, address the adults. You don't speak to children and the adults are there. You have to respect the adults of the house and that's what our society has not done and that's why our society doesn't value children. It doesn't value parents. It's because they have lost its good senses of respect for established roles and established values. G-d established that when He created us, He established parents in their role of dignity, in their role of respect, He established that. The children are to be respected. Our religion doesn't leave us without proper regards for children, but it's stresses obedience from children and most of all respect from children for their parents. Allah, most high says in the Qur'an, if your parents tend with you to get you to believe in other than G-d, to reject belief in the G-d, do not follow them.

However, keep good relationship with them in this life. Now there is a G-d. Now I hear some things on television that make me, I'm surprised that they would think that our religion is a religion for fanatics. Our religion is a religion for rational people. Now here's Allah, the Lord of the worlds. He's, how many of us in our positions of authority and power or leadership, how many of us can say if your child doesn't accept my leadership, pardon me, a child, if your parent doesn't accept my leadership, then don't follow them. Don't follow them in that, but still remain in good relations with them. Try to keep good relationships with them. How many of us would say that? Most of us bigheaded rebels and rebel rousers, dictators and fanatics in the power of leadership, most of us, child come and say, my parents said that you should be rejected as a leader. Well, you have to arm yourself against your parents.

That's what they thought. Isn't that what the revolution says arm yourself against your parents. Isn't that what the revolution has done? I'm not going to point to any country. I don't want to do that today, but the revolution has done that, arm the youngsters against their parents, those teenagers under the age of teens, arm them to go and fight their parents to declare physical war on their parents because their parents wouldn't support the revolution. We have a revolution. You think Al Islam is not a revolution. It's the best revolution. It's the most civilized revolution that ever come upon earth. Al Islam. But we are not asked to go out and kill parents or to fight parents, to attack parents physically because they won't say La ilaha illallah. Allah says if they don't say it and try to get you to reject it, don't follow them. But however, try to keep good relationship with them in this life.

How can any religion that has that kind of balance, that kind of sense in it and sensitivity in it for the good of the family, the good of the family relations, how can any religion that sensitive and that balanced be guilty of teaching people to go out and kill people just because they don't say La ilaha illah or just because they attack the religion That's wrong. People can attack our religion. People attack the Prophet Muhammad. People attacked what he believed in. People attacked his own credibility. They did that and the rational answers came back. They called Jesus a buffoon. Peace be upon him. They called Jesus mad, a mad man. Peace be upon him. The same thing was said of Muhammad, peace be upon the Prophet. But they didn't come out and they kill him.

And when he was able to really kill his enemy, what did he do? He announced a period of forgiveness and mercy and said all offenses of the past are forgiven. There were people before him when he made that address upon coming into Mecca victoriously. There were people, his own town Mecca that had rejected him, that had persecuted him, that had done cruel and horrible things to him and his family and his friends and his followers ,the same town. He came to the people and he said, all past offenses are forgiven. Let there be no more bloodletting. Praise be to Allah. This is the way of our Prophet. So, we are missing, we are missing the true picture of our religion when we as a spokesmen, so-called leaders, and I believe many of us do this in ignorance. We have lived so long in an atmosphere of crusaders, in an atmosphere of crusading where the sword is in the conflict with crescent. We've lived so long in that kind of atmosphere that all of us have a kind of a cross and crescent phobia. Certain Christians, not all Christians, certain Christians its the way that Christianity is presented.

Christianity can be presented in a way that it will condition the people who are just shallow minded in it. They ain't got deep in it, they just shallow minded in it. That is they haven't studied the logic of Christianity. They haven't studied the wisdom of Christianity. They haven't studied the natural basis for many things in Christianity. They're natural basis for many things in Christianity. They haven't studied it. They haven't studied the historical references for Christianity. They haven't studied, haven't done any studies. So, for them Christianity is superficial, shallow, just on the surface and that's most of us. You hear what I'm saying? That's most of us in Christianity.

So, we have to be aware, I'm a student of psychology. We have to be aware that a people that come from slavery like we did and then come into the religion that was popular for the people that enslaved us, come into the churches that were the churches of the people that enslaved us, pick up the book and read it after the people that enslaved us. What I mean by that, they read it and we heard it. We didn't read it first. They read it and we heard it after they read it, then we read it. See, I can read something to you and I will influence your reading if you accept my reading. Now it's okay if I'm your friend because my influence of the reading will be good for you. But if I'm not your friend or if I'm the guy that's diametrically opposite you, I'm 180 degrees turn from you from what you are in yourself.

So, when I hear it from that person, from that kind of person, I get a reading that might not be good for me. Now you may not like it, but Christianity on the whole has weakened the African-American people. The influences of Christianity on the whole have made little dependent children out of most of the African-American people. Now I will go so far as to say that it has made that in a degree, it has had that kind of effect on the European white man. Especially the European white man that buys that Christian message where Jews speak to Christians addressing them as their little children. That's how the Jews that brought Christianity to the Europeans, address them. My little children, my little children. Now, I do believe and I say some things that I know people don't like and I know some of you can't stand me and you have to leave. That's okay. I've done this so long. So, it's okay.

In many ways the African-American people have white father, white father, no African-American father. The father is a white father, is a European white man, white father. Now what do you mean? How is that? No, I'm not talking about boss man. Not that. You've gotten away from that. You talk fancy to the boss. Now you even threaten the boss. You might lynch the boss. You've gotten real bold and notorious here lately. I'm not talking about that, but a religion that gives you the image of a man, a European looking man, they say he's Jewish, but he looks European on most of the church walls. They give you a man and say that he is the Lord, the Lord Jesus, son of G-d, G-d in the person after you came from slavery. Now here you just came from slavery. You are fresh from slavery. You are fresh off from under the slave master that looked just like the Lord. And then they tell you that's the Lord. Boy, that's some heavy, that's some heavy voodoo. That's heavy voodoo that sent the slave, right out of slavery, now he just got through looking at a man looked like that. That was his master, that was his slave master. Now he got another one that he has to look at and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, G-d in the flesh.

So, I think by the mere fact that we accepted, that religion and accept, and I do believe that a lot of Uncle Tom was working in us to make us accept Christianity when we accepted it from slavery, I do believe that that was a lot of fake conversion. I believe a lot of those blacks were just lying. And in time it became acceptable and normal for us to say we believe in all that. But I believe a lot of the first ones were just outright lying. They didn't believe that. How could they believe it. The man looked just like the man that just got through whipping me and beating me for nothing. How could they sincerely believe in that? That's not normal for the intelligence. Now, let me put it this way. Suppose black man had done that to white man, say to England or not even a white say to China or Japan or to France. Suppose we had dominated France like that and treated France like that during the domination. And then after we got through, we say, okay, we're going to free you now. That was wrong and that will no longer be allowed in our nation, in our government.

Now here you accept the Lord, Jomo Kenyata as your savior, as your personal savior, as your Lord and savior. Confess all your sins to him and if you believe on him you'll be saved. And the uncle Tom's among the French will say, yes, we believe because they want to be saved from more punishment. So, some of you, you don't want to tolerate me when I'm talking like this. I'm going to hear something, it’s going to come back to me later on. Say Imam should stick to Qur'an and hadith. That's what I'm sticking to. This is Qur'an and Hadith. Qur'an and Hadith teach me to be intelligent and to intelligently assess the situation, to look at it and study it, measure it and weigh it and let my intelligence and also my good virtue decide what I'm to do in that situation. So, I am following Qur'an and Hadith. So, I ain't going to be no wound up toy. Yeah, that's what a religious leader is, that can't do nothing but just read what is already written and recite what already has been recited. There ain't nothing but wound up toy. Either one of those little dolls with a round on it and a record on the inside. You wind it up and it is talking to you, but when it winds down it can't see a thing. You have to wind it up again,

But it winds down, it can't see a thing until you wind it up again, then it starts talking again. Hello, my name is James. As salaamu alaikum. I'm Imam Yahya. Al hamdulillah. Now all of you recite behind me. He recited and remember this Hadith, remember that Hadith, this report and that report and when he finished, he didn't say nothing but what was already said and recorded and you could have brought the materials there and just read it yourself or turned on the recorder and just heard it all yourself. Same way he gave it. If you ask him to address an issue that wasn't in the recording, he stops. Well, that's not Islamic. That's not Islamic. We are not supposed to discuss those things. That's racism. It's not racism to talk about race problems. It’s not racism to be concerned for my own race. It's not racism to tell you to wait 2000 years before you walk down Broadway with a white woman. That's not racism. That's concern for the dignity of my own race.

Again, the beauty of our religion. The Prophet says of Allah says, Allah is good and does not accept any but good. He's good and He won't accept anything that is not good. And he went on to say that Allah does not have any double standards when it comes to ordering Prophets and ordering the believers, ordering his messengers and ordering the people. He says what Allah has ordered for the Prophets or the messengers, He also ordered for the believers, no double standard, no double standard Allah didn't send the Prophets to live up to one standard of virtuous life and then allow the people to live on a much lower standard. He didn't send Prophets, allowing them to violate laws, to violate laws to do wrong and then obligate the people to be holy and righteous and to do right. No, Allah doesn't have that kind of double standard.

That conflict, ain't no moral conflict there. There's consistency, unity, and consistency all the way. So whatever Allah has ordered for His Prophets, He ordered also for the people, for the followers. Eat of the things good and pure. He ordered it for the Prophets, the messengers, and also for us, the people. And Allah says that He's going to put in the earth a khalifa. What is this Khalifa? A Khalifa. What is Khalifa? Someone with responsibility for himself and for the society. A Khalifa, a person whose responsible for himself and also carried a responsibility for the good state of society. A Khalifa. Simply put, a ruler, a ruler, someone trusted with authority and rule. Allah says He's going to put that kind of person in the earth. And that was questioned, the Satan questioned it. He wasn't called Satan at that time. He was called Iblis. Iblis, the one who rebelled.

He questioned it. And Allah says when I have breathed into him of My spirit, when I have given to him of My inspiration, then you make obeyance into him. That means submit that he has that authority and that position in the earth. And in another place Allah says, and when I have breathed into him or inspired him from Myself, that's what we need and that's what our religion gives us. And again, Allah says, and He has given everyone something of His inspiration, something of His inspiration, something of His spirit. He's given everyone something of His spirit. So that's what we need. We need to come into the spirit that Allah wants for us. What does it mean, having, something of G-d's spirit, something of His inspiration. It simply mean that you have to be disposed internally to serve the will and plan of G-d. You have to be disposed in your heart and soul and spirit to want to serve the will and plan of your creator. And that's what Allah created in creating a Khalifa. He created one who was disposed. He was disposed. He was moved by spirit in nature to serve the will and plan of the creator.

If you have that, I guarantee that you'll be successful in the land of plenty. Guarantee it. You will definitely be successful in the land of plenty. Because once you have that natural disposition for you it’s natural for you. The Lord that created us is closer to us than anything else. The Lord that created us is the Lord that gave us our nature. So, the Lord that gave us our nature shouldn't give us an inspiration that will be in conflict with our nature that He wants for us. But that inspiration should be compatible, should be compatible. It should assist and support the nature that Allah wants for us. So, we are not talking about something unnatural, no reason to get spooky and float up in the zone that we can't find when we say to you that Allah has given you something of His spirit. No, something of His spirit is the orientation to obey the best in your human nature.

That's all. When you want to obey in your spirit and the will and soul, the best that Allah has created you to be, then you have something of the spirit of Allah. You have something of the spirit of Allah, you have something of Allah's self, His own spirit, His own inspiration has come now into you and you will definitely be successful if you come into that state. Now, no one can give you that state. You have to have the makeup in yourself to come into that state. No one can give it to you, but once you have it, you are safe and sound and you will make it in the land of plenty.

There are so many conditions that are necessary for improving our situation to make it in the land of plenty. We have touched upon some of them, and I'm going to close it out by giving you what I think is a rounded picture of this religion, following the Prophet himself who taught the religion. Islam has been built on five pillars or five bases, five principles. The first is testifying, witnessing, being brave enough to say to your friends that don't know you're Muslims. Being brave enough to start say to your relatives that haven't learned that you have been converted. Being brave enough to say to them, I believe in one Lord and creator only, even though it'd be different or opposed to what they believe in. Even though you take the risk of being rejected from the house, turned away as a relative, you have to be witness to testify to that.

And you don't make that testimony. You don't make that declaration just upon shallow faith or just upon a sensation. Pardon me, just upon a sensation. You heard the religion and you felt good. So, you say Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah. No. You have to do more than hear the religion and feel good. You have to hear the religion and study the Qur'an, hear the religion and study the five principles. Study those five principles. And when you study those five principles and they appeal to your intelligence, they appeal to your virtuous side, they appeal to your human side, they appeal to your social ambitions and you love them and you say that this is what I need. And then you are a witness. You are not a witness until you can intelligently recognize the benefits in a thing. Yes. We don't want you to come up here and just cause you feel good say I'm a Muslim, I want to be a Muslim. Let me take that declaration. No, we want you to sense with your intelligence that this is a good thing and this is a good way for you and a good foundation for your life. Then witness it and you're the right witness. And you have to also witness, we have to also witness with this same pillar and this same pillar that Muhammad is the messenger of G-d. Muhammad is his messenger. A man uneducated by the authorities of the world. A man that didn't go to the schools of the so-called learned, the Rabbis, the so-called learned, but a man that was unlettered, uneducated but had great virtues, perfect virtue, perfect human excellence. His own natural spirit did not lead him to follow corruption. For Allah says of him, and you've already lived a lifetime among you, speaking of the time before.
He was missioned as a Prophet and saying in effect that that lifetime that he lived among you establishes him, that he was a human being on the highest standard of excellence. He was so excellent in his nature before he was made Prophet, until the Arabs though they were very ignorant, they knew that such a man should be the man to trust. They called him El Amin, the trustworthy one. And when they would travel away distance from their homes, many of them would come to him and they treated him as though he was the bank. They would leave their precious possessions with Muhammad because they knew they could trust him with them. Not only that, we can go on and on and on to show how they trusted him in every way. He is called El Amin, peace and the blessing be upon him. We are to testify that he is the messenger of Allah.

Now you say, well, what is the purpose for that? Well, the first purpose we should see is that Allah did not give this to us directly. Allah chose a messenger. He chose the one that He intended for that and wanted for that. He chose him and He gave him the message and he gave us what he received from G-d, Allah as revelation. That's the first thing to understand that he is the messenger of Allah. And not only that, what does it say when every time we say la ilah illallah, Muhammad ar rasuulallah, what are we saying to us ourselves in the world? We are saying that there is no messenger coming after Muhammad. We don't have to say there's no messenger after Muhammad. Every time we say la ilaha illallah Muhammad ar rasuulallah, it says he's still the messenger of Allah, that Muhammad is still the messenger of Allah. He's the messenger to the end of the world. He is the messenger of Allah. La ilaha illallah Muhammad ar rasuulallah. But what is it also saying to this world that have made messengers G-ds with G-d, it is saying to them that our Prophet is not a G-d. He is the messenger of G-d. La ilah illallah.

No, G-d not Muhammad nobody. No G-d, not, not your idol, not your Prophet you made G-d. No G-d except the Lord creator. And Muhammad is a messenger, not a G-d. All of that is says, that declaration. And now what is the second of these basic pillars or principles upon which the religion is built. The second is that we pray to that Lord, we offer prayers to that Lord Salah. And the third is zakat. That we be charitable and that we spend for the benefit of self, family, friends, neighbors, and others. That we practice charity and yes, it’s the fourth, pardon me. Yes. Prayer and the zakat. Fasting, pardon me. Fasting during the month of Ramadan, which is coming soon, now is approaching. We'll be fasting for a whole month very soon, and charity. And the last one is pilgrimage to the first house built to worship Allah called Kaaba, the Bait, Al Bait, the House in Mecca.

Visit or pilgrimage to that house that bring Muslims from all nationalities, from all nations, from all around the world to that one place at that one house, acknowledging one Lord creator who's over us all and submitting ourselves as brothers and sisters before that Lord. Not as masters of each other, or lords over each other. We all are brothers and sisters of one another. We have the same basic nature, the same G-d-given excellence, and we pray at that place showing the unity of man. The unity of the human family, of the planet earth. We pray there and we go through the rituals there and we return with a sense of renewed life, a sense of renewed life. We have the opportunity there on the most important day of that visit, which is called, it's the day of Arafat.

We have an opportunity there to rub shoulders with brass and gold. You know It says rub shoulders with the brass? Well, we have the opportunity there to rub shoulders with the brass and the gold too and the silver, all the finest things that can be in people. We have the opportunity to rub shoulders with them there, and to hear them address concerns of life, of family, of the world and ourselves, have freedom and opportunity to address those concerns before them while they're in the audience. A little man like me, a little man like somebody else that's much smaller than me, maybe, can go there and at that great assembly there at Mount Arafat, that person can speak and address concern of human importance, can address them there, social concerns, political concerns, whatever can address them there and call the attention of the Muslim gathering to those concerns. Yes, that's the great picture of unity and equality for the Muslim family, which is the human family.

Yes. Now I have gone over those basic pillars of the religion, and now I give you this expression from Qur'an where G-d says, Allah says, khairun thalik taqwa, the best preparation is reverence of G-d. So, I return to my point that we, if you want to be the best, if you want to be situated best for success in the land of plenty, then hold in the highest reference, in the highest regard the Lord creator. And also have the same sacred regard for those important things that He has established for us to give that sacred regard to. Among them, respect for our parents, respect for the relationships of life and society. We have to respect that. Respect for the resources of the world, the natural resources. Respect for the power in those resources, respect for the utilities also in us and for the power in us to realize those utilities. Respect for everything that Allah has created and made deserving of our deepest regard and respect.

But first of all, before any other thing or any other person or any other idea or whatever, reverence the Lord creator. Regard him with the regard that is due Him and that will make for success in the land of plenty. Success in the land of plenty is more difficult than success elsewhere. The more rich, the more abundant a society is, the more affluent a society is, the more complex it is, the more challenging it is to the morals of man, to the spirit of man, to the intelligence of man, to the nature of man. It challenges the nature. It tends to give the nature of man, its greatest battle, its greatest battle, and we can't make it alone. We can't make it with our own little small resources. We have to turn to the help that G-d gave us for these terrible times, for these trying times and also for times behind us, which were less taxing on us.

If Allah revealed His word as guidance to us in times gone by when the world was not so complex and not so technical and not so perplexing as it is today, then we must understand that now in the critical time, in the time of plenty, we have to rely even more seriously on the guidance of Allah. So dear Muslims, be happy to be Muslim. Be happy with your situation as Muslim and improve your condition as Muslim all the time. Improve upon your condition as Muslim. Work to keep your virtues growing in better form. Work to keep your intelligence healthy, healthy, healthy. When intelligence gets sick, the whole body is sick. Work to keep your intelligence healthy. Work for excellence, because this religion motivates us towards excellence, Allah motivates us towards excellence with the Qur'an from the first verse to the last. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be on him,

He said, pardon me, Allah prescribed excellence for everything, Aly kulli shay. Allah prescribed excellence for everything. And the Prophet also says the Muslim, whenever he endeavors to do anything, whenever he endeavors to do anything, he seeks to perfect it. He seeks to perfect it. We should have that quote on the wall of every classroom. The Muslim school should have such quote on the wall of every classroom. The Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa salam, said, whenever the Muslim endeavors to do anything, he seeks to perfect it. That will motivate our children, our students, to aim for perfection. Look how the Japanese now are just going and just taking the world of industry, pardon me, technology and et cetera. Why? Because they are people by the nature of their culture and their past life. They are people that always aim for excellence. They aim for excellence. Well, disciplined people aiming always for excellence. Thank you very much. That's what it takes to make it in the promised land, the right sensitivities, Allahu Akbar, the right sensitivities, the right alert up here, the right alert in here, and we'll make it. As salaam alaikum.



