06/30/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Jumuah - Ephraim Bahar Center Harvey IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Al Hamdulillah hir Rabbil al amin, la sharika lahu wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu, salla Allahu alayhi wa salam wa ala alehe wa sahbihi ajma'een, ammaba’.
With the name of G-d, G-d's name, Allah. The Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer. There is only one G-d, there is no other G-d but him. We witness that he is one and there is nothing to be worshiped along with him. And to G-d...
And we witness that Muhammad to whom the Qur'an was revealed is his servant and his messenger. And he has said in the Qur'an, of Muhammad, G-d says of Muhammad in the Qur'an, that he is a mercy to all the worlds. Rahmatan lil a’lameen, a mercy to all the worlds.
And G-d says of him that he is a model human person for any who believes in G-d and the last day. Who believes in G-d and believes in the last day. That is to say they believe in G-d and also believe that they owe their obedience to G-d. That they have to face G-d one day. And G-d is going to conclude everything. This life, this world, our situation in it, whether we have been treated fairly or unfairly. And our own conduct, whether we behave with a conscience or haven't had any respect for anything. And G-d is going to judge the world and us.
So, we, along with other believers, we believe in G-d and we believe that we should have a behavior that conforms to the instructions to the way of G-d, what G-d has given to us as a way of life. To G-d's commandments, to G-d's instructions to us.
And Islam, Al-Islam, this religion is the life, it is the life. And when you violate this life, you invite death. You invite death hereafter and death here and now. The call to Islam is a call to life. It's the call to life.
G-d says in our holy book, to those who hear the invitation to come to Islam, and also those who've already professed with their tongues that they're Muslims. The question is asked by G-d, "What is the matter with you? That you don't respond?" When you are invited to that or called to that that gives you life, that gives you life. Life here and life hereafter.
So, G-d wants life for us and G-d wants the best life for us. He wants the life that He created every human person for. And that life will please us, it will please our souls, it will bring our hearts to happiness and peace. It will put our minds at rest where our minds won't be tormented all the time. It's the peace, it's the life and it is the peace that G-d created us for. He created us for a life and He created us for a pleasant state of mind, a pleasant human condition.
It is the life and it is the peace. Al-Islam is the peace, and Al-Islam is the life.
When Muslims in Muslim countries, or in a Muslim neighborhood or a Muslim environment, begin their day, they begin their day awakening to the adhan. And you just heard the adhan. And their dawn begins with, "G-d is greater." That is to say to us, "G-d is more important than anything else. Wake up." This is what you hear before you get out of the bed, Fajr time. Before sunrise. The mu’ath-than, the one responsible to make the adhan, he says, "G-d is greater." Or in some translations, "G-d is the greatest." Says, "G-d is greater," who repeats it. "G-d is greater."
So, we are to awake whether there's an adhan being called or not in the morning. We are to awake and the first thing we should be aware of is that G-d is greater. Soon as you open your eyes and you're aware that you're awake you should say, "Allahu Akbar." This is Islam.
Now let's go to the call of life, let's get back to the call to life. Islam is a call to life. It is called da'wah. Islam is called da'wah, it's one of its names. And G-d says, "Call to the way of G-d. Id’u ela fee sabillillah, bil hiqma wa mau e-thatu hasana. With wisdom, with logic, with logic, not guesswork. Bil hiqma, with the logic. And mau-e-tha, a preaching voice that is, hasana, hasana. Hasana means beautiful and excellent. Beautiful and excellent.
Many say the excellent but might not be beautiful to my taste, just to your taste. But hasana is beautiful and excellent to any person's taste. If any person sees it or hears it, "Was that beautiful?" "Yes." And if he's an intelligent person, "Was that excellent?" "Yes." Some of us just can see the beauty, we can't see the excellence.
But this word is both, it combines the both, beauty and excellence. Mau-e-dtha tu hasana. And G-d tells us to argue with the people who are not stating the matter correctly. Arabic .... bil lati heya ahsan "And debate them, or argue with them." But, Bil lati heya ahsan" With that which is most beautiful and excellent." Islam is a call to life.
And Christianity is supposed to be a call to the life. Yes. I can't speak for them but I know what they believe, or what is indicated in their teachings, it’s a call to life.
So, Al-Islam comes after Christianity, I should say after Jesus Christ. Because really there was no Christianity until after Jesus died. Then there was Christianity. But while he lived, he didn't call his religion any Christianity. Jesus never did that, nor did his disciples while he lived. This is record. Bible record and Christian record, Christian history record.
Okay. So, we are to debate them, argue with them. But from our good spirit, and good sentiments, and good feelings. If you're already angry with them you can't argue with them, bil lati hir ahsan. No, you can't do that, you can't fulfill that. Because you are not even in a state of mind, you don't have the spirit, you're not in a condition to fulfill that requirement, "Let your speech be beautiful and excellent." And excellent speech.
This religion is a religion of peace, it's a religion of love. It's a religion that won't deceive the human beings, all living as one big beautiful family. This is Islam.
Now we have come by strange routes to this religion. So, we have to, now, can't escape the truth any more. No, time out for the falsehood. Time out for the gambling, throwing the dice to see, what is the answer to this scriptural question. Time out for that.
The clear truth has come, it's here and the world knows it. CNN, they put it everywhere. If we don't say what is Al-Islam the media will tell the world public what is Al-Islam.
So, time is out for hiding and pretending, we have to come to the truth and see the light. And see the light. And live the light, live this religion, live the truth and beauty of this religion. Not just its truth, its truth and its beauty. Al Islam has a beauty and a truth. And it's revealed to appeal to those who have an appetite for beauty and truth. Not just for truth but for beauty and truth.
The human being is a creature of beauty and reality, not just reality. Beauty and reality. Beauty is real for us, that's part of our great reality. Beauty. You don't look for a baboon when you're looking for a wife. You don't want her lips over here, you want her lips where they're supposed to be. You're not looking for something deformed.
So, you have a sense of correctness, you have a sense of beauty and correctness, G-d created you that way. Then he gives you a religion that helps you to come into more appreciation of greater beauty. Divine beauty and truth. The call to the life. Call to the life.
And it's no accident that Muhammad the Prophet in the call, the adhan, comes before the real call to prayer, worship and success. We say ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu, pardon me, rasulula. Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulula. And we say it twice, Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulula. Twice. Then we say now, hayya ala salat. And G-d says that every creature, He created all those creatures, knows its mode of prayer. Every creature knows its mode of prayer, this is in the Qur'an. G-d says it in the Qur'an.
And here's Muhammad, a man that kept the excellence that G-d created him for. Every baby is born with that excellence. There are no criminals born from the mother today, all of them are innocent. And all of them are Muslims, according to the teaching of our Prophet Muhammad. So, every child is born a Muslim and becomes something else because of the circumstances that child is put into. Christian, Buddhist, a Jew or something like that. Becomes that because of the circumstance.
But the correct life for every human being is Muslim. That's what his nature is, original nature is Muslim. That we find... Whenever we find any baby just born, we find a Muslim just born. Ready to obey G-d, ready to follow good instructions. Until we get older, then the mind changes.
So, it is a call to the life, this religion, a call to the life. And Muhammad is the life. The Qur'an is the life. The Qur'an is the food for the life. That makes the life anew. That increases the life of the life. A baby is born and it takes the milk from its mother. Later it takes the food that we all eat, the grownup food. And as it takes food its life builds up. The frail or weak creature becomes a strong, strong creature. And the creature that had no mind develops into a great mind with time. If the situation is good for it. Internally and externally.
So, Islam is the breath of life. Islam is the water of life. Islam is the food of life. But not from you, not from me, not even from Muhammad, salla Allahu alaihi was salam. From Qur'an, from G-d himself, the word of G-d in the Qur'an. If we are not called to the Qur'an, and the Qur'an is the life, why do we say, hayya al salat, hayya an falah. And we began reading Qur'an. So that must be what I was called to, because this is what we began to hear and to give our attention to. The Qur'an, the word of G-d.
So, when Allah says, "Come to life, to prayer. Come to success." G-d is saying to us, "Come to the Qur'an. Come to my word. Come to the Qur'an. And come there to have life." Because the word that says, "Come," the Arabic ...they used that word before. That's Islamic influenced term. It comes from living which means hayyuun. Hayyuun Is living. Hayyuun is living. Hayyee ala salat. Hayyee Is the order, the order, the imperative. Hayyee ala salat, the come to prayer. Hayya ala salat, come to success.
This prayer invites you to life. And this success is a success in the life. That's why hayyee is used in life. Living. It's not a call to the dead to come to life. Not the dead to come up, to rise up from the graves and come up. No. It's not a religion inviting zombies, the come to get up, the come to worship. No. It's a religion inviting you to be alive in your human nature. In your best human nature. Be alive. And respond to G-d in your best human nature.
Now isn't that natural of us, that we respect G-d? Isn't it natural for us to want to come to G-d in our best human nature? We don't want to come sweaty and nasty; we want to wash up and be feeling clean. We don't want to come with dirty clothes on. And G-d says that when you come to the prayers, come with your best clothes, come with your most beautiful garments. And you look good here. Oh, my G-d look here, you look good. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. At every prayer time, at every Masjid, G-d says come with your beautiful garments to worship.
G-d is just helping us to get where our own best human nature wants us to go. But to conclude this: Muhammad the Prophet is called Uswatun Hasanah "Most excellent model of a human person." And not just for Muslims, G-d says for any who believes in G-d and in the last day. For any.
So, our Prophet is a model human person for Christians, Jews, for all decent human people who believe in G-d and believe that their life should be a life in accordance with G-d's instructions, or G-d's revealed words. Yes.
So, to understand that, that Muhammad the Prophet is not the man that you take into a little small room, and say, "This is mine." No, he's for everybody out there. He's for the whole human family. Asia, Africa, Europe. All the lands, all around the globe. He's the man for all of them. And whether they recognize him or not, G-d has said, "He's a mercy to all the worlds." Rahmatan lil-alameen.
So, unless we see this religion in its complete picture, we'll always be Muslims half-fed. And if you're half-fed you're going to be half-living and half-dead. So, we thank G-d that we are here Al Hamdulillah hir rabbil al ameen. We thank G-d that we are here in this day and time. When Allah's bringing about the conclusion of things. Yes, the G-d, Allah. He's bringing about the conclusion of things and we can't hide. We have to be true or be condemned as false. Yes.
And the Christians? We love them. But we know the G-d that they should worship is the G-d that Solomon built a temple for. This is in their Bible. And when Solomon built the temple he said, "G-d, I know this house can't hold you." He was building it for G-d. So, Solomon says in the Bible, he said, "G-d, I know this house can't hold You." He said, "Not even the heavens of heavens can hold You. The whole universe is too small to contain him." Now that's the G-d of the Qur'an. Allahu Akbar!
And that's the G-d that we're talking about when we say, with G-d's words, "And say to them, your G-d and our G-d are one and the same G-d." We're only talking about that G-d that's in their Bible. All right.
So, we ask G-d to guide us always. Rabbana atena fid dunya hasanatan wa fil ahkirati hasanatan wa kina athaban nar.
Al Hamdulillah hir rabbil al ameen wa salatu wa salaamu ala rasulilahil kareem salla Allah alaihee wa salam wa ali wa sahbihi ajma'een ammabah. We praise G-d, we witness that He is one and there is nothing to be worshiped other than Him. And we witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger, most honorable and generous messenger of G-d. His servant and His messenger. Prayers and the peace be upon him. And on his family, his descendants, his companions, the righteous all, ameen.
In concluding today's khutbah, I want to bring a concern to your attention. And that is our youngsters. Our teenagers, especially our girls who come into puberty, and they feel desire for sex. It's natural, it's nature. And they live in an environment that is always, always questioning and undermining what decent people of religion want for their girls, for their young girls.
So, we are aware of this. This is not to make you alarmed. But this is to tell you something and invite you to think about it, that I told you a long time ago, when I was your Imam on Stony Island, 72nd and Stony Island. We have our own life as Muslims. What's expected of this public, of the American public, is not what is expected of Muslims. So, in this American public it's expected that a girl is going to, hopefully, she's going to go finish high school. And if she could qualify the parents want her to finish college. And then think about marriage. That's what they hope for.
And it's very difficult for the average girl to finish college and not have a baby, or violate the religion. Have sex out of marriage. It's very difficult.
And when any of our children survive this, oh we're so proud of them. And we should be, we should be. Very proud of them. Because we know that they are not the average, they are very, very special, when they can survive the sex drive and still do high school, go through college. And wonderful if they can do that.
But as I said, most of them don't do that. The great majority of them don't make it. Even our children don't make it. So, what are we going to do about that? I want you to think about it again. We have girls, they start feeling their sexual urge, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Those are very trying years. Thirteen, fourteen fifteen, that's very trying years.
Why don't we go back to the best of the human behavior that many of us had in the South? That's really our Muslim behavior. Our original Muslim behavior. That is, this girl wants to have sex, and with this boy. And this boy wants to have sex with this girl. We think they can make a good husband and wife in the future. So, let's have these two youngsters marry.
And we know they'll have to finish school so let us support them. The family was an institution, working to do the best for their descendants, for their children, that’s coming. And the mother was taken care of by the eldest in the family. The grandmother, if she's living. She would take care of that girl. And she would take care of the girl's children. She would help her with them. And let her go to school and be educated. How come we can't do that? It's Islamic.
In Muslim countries do you think that the brothers and sisters, husbands and wives over there tell their children, "Well you've got to finish high school. You've got to finish college. And when you're 35 you can get married." Now some of us take that long to finish high school or college. The intention is not humor. The intention is to make us sensitive.
Yes. We can do that. All we have to do is have a meeting, and the majority of leaders decide... our leaders decide that this is what we want to institute for our community. And we'll make it, in fact, we have a big convention coming up in September, Labor 's Day. And if we announce a position on this during the Labor Day week end when we're having our convention. Believe me, it'll be heard by a lot of Muslims. And non-Muslims too, because it's going to public, some of it's going to be live broadcast on the radio.
A lot of them will hear about it, and you know a lot of Christians will be thinking that too, that's how they originally thought. The best of the Christian families used to think that way. So let us think about it very seriously, brother Imams and our leaders, the rest of our leaders, our business people and educators. Let us think about this very seriously for the next couple of weeks. And get back to me and let me know what you think. And if you approve us, calling for this this attitude and position we'll announce that Sunday our position, the position of M.A.S. Muslim American Society, coming on Labor Day celebration of our community, Islamic convention on Labor 's Day week.
Yes. I'm prepared now, I don't want my son, who will be old enough to look for his wife in a few years... I don't want him, nor your daughter or anybody else's daughter, that's lazy. Her spirit is always outside, out of the doors instead of inside in the home. Uh-uh (negative). I don't want my son to have a woman like that. Now he may want a woman like that, when he gets older, I don't know what he's going to like. But I know I don't want that for him. Okay?
And if he likes that, I don't want him for a good girl. I don't want him for your good girl. I'll tell you, "Brother, you're making a mistake. Your daughter is too good for (my) son." We're supposed to be each other's brothers and sisters. And we're supposed to tell each other that. "I'm sorry brother, but you're making a mistake. This daughter of yours shouldn't be married to this son of mine. All he wants to do is just hang around in the house and look at television until it gets dark then he wants to go outside. Stay outdoors until it gets light again. Yeah, he ain't looking for no job."
Yeah, we used to help each other. And I'm prepared to do that. If I got told somebody who was looking at my daughter, I'll say, "Well, you might be making a mistake. Yes, because he's a much better than my daughter, this is...I'd just have to admit it. He is a much better person than my daughter. Probably, you might be making a mistake."
This is Islam. I'm not instituting something, that's not just something... It's not mine this is Islam. Yes. Allah said, "The virtuous for the virtuous." Isn't this Qur'an? Yes. "Mates of like nature." Ah. Thank you, thank you. So, help me with this community. But we've got to save our children. We're going to save ourselves. But when they go to hellfire in this life, they take us with them. Yeah, they take us with them.
So, we say to Allah, "Save us," and Allah says, Ya ayuhal lathina amanu, oh you who have faith, oh you who believe, Qul anfooseekum wa ahleekum nara. Save your ownselves and your families from the fires of hell."
Allahuma salee ala Muhammadan wa ala ali Muhammad, kama salayta al Ibrahima wa ala ali Ibrahaim, wa barakala Muhammadan wa ala ali Muhammad, kama barakta al Ibrahima wa ala ali Ibrahim, fil alameen. Innaka hamiduun majeed.
Iqaama for the Jumu'ah prayer
Leads Jumu'ah prayer



