09/13/1987
IWDM Study Library
Islam in North America Today

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Iman W. D. Mohammed: Peace be on to you, As-Salaam-Alaikum.
Audience: Wa Alaikum salaam.
We begin in the Name of G-d, Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim, the name Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. We pray that peace and blessings be upon the last universal messenger, Prophet Muhammad, upon his descendants, his companions, the pioneers of the worldwide religion with our Prophet Muhammad, may G-d be pleased with them, and we pray, peace and blessings be us, Ameen. 
We have chosen to speak on Al-Islam commonly called Islam in America today. And we hope to bring before you the concerns of Muslims that we think should be before us today as Muslims, especially as Muslims in America. But before doing that, I'd like to refer to the book of G-d for Muslims, the Quran, and read some note from Quran.
Allah that is G-d most high, says in the holy book Quran that, “He Almighty G-d is the one who sent Muhammad, the Prophet, the messenger, with the guidance and with the true religion, that it should become the most prominent of all religions. Even though that be disliked by disbelievers”.
In the beginning of my talk, I want to say to the Muslims, whether we realize it or not, the influence of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, Al-Islam, are more prevalent, more widespread in the world than the teachings of any other religious representative. I'm not the one who first said that that, that has been documented by Muslims and also a non-Muslims who have studied the influence of the personality of Muhammad and his teachings. Many may visibly appear to be in greater numbers than Muslims, but when you look at the content of faith and practicing people, people who practice their religion, Prophet Muhammad has the greatest number.
And also, when you look at his influence on the real-life of man, as one author established, his influence is greater than the influence of any other man. He named not only religious figures, but he also named men like Alexander the Great and others as documented in the book by qualified author. That's not the point of the talk is just to say to Muslim, this is to Muslims. I'll be talking to Muslims and non-Muslims. This is to Muslims, to let you know that one prediction has already come true. In fact, many predictions have come true, but one of the great predictions in the holy book has already come true, and that is that the religion of Al-Islam, or Islam as commonly called, will become the most prevalent religion, the most prevalent religion, though people detest it.
I go so far as to say, many people who identify under other religious labels, as Christianity and others are in a real sense motivated more by the teachings of Muhammad the Prophet, than they are by those teachings they got from their religion. Muhammad the Prophet stressed rational life, he stressed rational life, intellectual pursuits, he stressed many things that stands before the Western world, as Great Western values. You should understand that those values are not Great Western values before the advent of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, who brought enlightenment to the dark continent of Arabia before enlightenment came to Europe and thereafter to America.
Continuing now with the Word of G-d in the holy book, G-d most high says, "Allah most high, then He says, “You haven't been sent except to be mercy for all the world”, that's the Prophet Muhammad. Knowing Muslims that our holy book says this, how can we separate ourselves from the world of man when our book tells us that our Prophet has been sent as a mercy to all worlds. To all the world and we know from the study of historians both Muslims and non-Muslims, that the message of Quran and the period of enlightenment that came with that message, the sciences, math, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, we can go on to name that again awaken the intellect of the Western man, European, the western man, we know that that was a mercy to all the world.
We may not be in tune with it today ourselves, maybe we have lost the importance of that interest and that intellectual concern, but we know that before us, many centuries ago, I would say eight or 10 centuries, 1000 years ago, there was a great glorious spirit of intellectual activity for the followers of Muhammad the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. And that made possible the reawakening of the intellects of the Western man in Europe and that great excitement of the mind came to America and America took the lead.
We should look at that and understand that the Prophet that we identify as our Prophet may not be the Prophet for the other people; the Christian, the Jews, and others, but we must accept that he came to be a blessing on all of them. And again, Allah most high says, “You have not been sent except to be good news giver and a warner”.
Now we know the gospel is the good news for the Christian. By it being the good news for the Christians, and we know the good news giver was G-d, but G-d through Jesus Christ, the Prophet peace, and blessings be on Him. So, he for them is the good news giver, and the good news is the gospel. We must understand Muslim, that our holy book also contains the good news for us, good news for the Muslims. It is not only good news for us, good news for the world if they will accept it.
Good news giver, as a good news giver and as a warner, we must understand that the Prophet came to warn man, to alert man for his best interest. And again, Allah most high says, G-d, says again, the word warner. “You have not been sent except as a complete blessing to all people, a giver of good news and warner”.
Prophet Muhammad is identified in our holy book as a complete blessing, a sufficient gift to all people. I was at a meeting once; I was invited by The Lions Club. Some of you might know about The Lions Club. It's a society that does a lot of good. Like the Shriners, the Masons, the Shriners does a lot of good but it is also a secret society, a closed organization. They invited me right after I became leader. You made me leader in 1975 of February. Right after I became the leader, they invited me. It wasn't but a few months. They invited me to come and address the Lions Club in Chicago. I addressed them. The first question they put to me after I made my short address, I wouldn't make a longer address before them. Anybody got secretes, I don't want to talk before them too long.
After I made my short address, one of the first question they put before me was, how do I see the two great figures Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Jesus? Peace be upon them both. I thought about it and I wonder how can I answer them with all these thoughts running through my mind. Because when they asked me, right away I was just overwhelmed with thoughts. I had never thought about it. I said, “well, I can't tell them what's really stirring at me. So, I told them, I said well, "Prophet Muhammad, is reported that he said one day the people will see him and the Jesus Christ together." I prefer to leave them with that than to drop the heavy load that I wanted to drop.
The great difference is the most considered concept of Jesus is the concept of Jesus as a sign. But for Prophet Muhammad a living reality in the history of man. Please be patient with me. I won't be here too long I don't think. I won't bore you to death today, I don't think. Let me continue now with the Quran first. Natheeran, a warner. I have taken these quotes from Quran that are very similar stressing why Prophet Muhammad had been missioned by G-d. And you see that what is stressed here in these references to his mission, is him being a warner and that's what we need now a warning. We always need a warning.
Now we know that Prophet Muhammad was not the Prophet that, he was no doomsday preacher. He was a teacher. A very rational, I would say a very obviously rational teacher. He emphasized the rational need in man's life. He built upon the rational need in man's life. He called the mind of man to respect the rational, the rational life of his mind. And he considered men dead if they weren't rational. Mentally dead that is, if not really dead. We know that the Prophet was not the warner that kept preaching fire and brimstone, “repent from your sins, repent, repent, destruction is at hand”. He was not that kind of warner. He was the more sophisticated warner.
He warned man that if he expects to have a good life on this earth, he has to respect all that G-d intended for him to be. And if that's not similar to what the Americans uphold, then what is? I hear them saying it all on Television, be all if you can be. Some people don't like me, they say, “a Muslim ain't supposed to show similarities between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims are supposed to just project what the Muslim is. We ain't supposed to be embracing no infidels”. Well, why embrace your brother Muslim when he's an infidel? Some of the biggest infidels are Muslims. Or at least the people call themselves Muslim, pretend to be Muslim.
I heard that just as I've been here that Imam was on the way to deliver his Friday Sermon the most important message of the week, the Friday prayer. The Friday prayer, the Jumu'ah, the sermon. He stopped and robbed the bank before coming to the masjid to deliver a prayer. Now while we worry about Christian infidels and whatever, we are overlooking these much more terrible infidels right under our nose leading us in the player. I'm not saying that that can't happen for other people too. I'm sure it does happen for other people too.
They have had people among them claim to be true religious people but was just imposters, pretenders and when weakness and when the opportunity came to test their strengths, they couldn't pass it. They did a terrible thing. In fact, I've read in my lifetime. I read some terrible things that people of other religions, leaders of other religious have done but I don't think anything can be worse than that. An Imam stopping to rob a bank before he come to the masjid. Well, thank Allah he got caught.

And I told them I said, "Well, if you're were like me and if I didn't have so much to lose because of the position I'm in, the law wouldn't have to worry about him long." That's right, I don't care. You say, "Hey. You aren't supposed to do that. This is serious what you're saying, Imam. You ought to protect your welfare better than that." I love to protect it just like I just protected it. By saying that he wouldn't be a problem for the law enforcement long, if I wasn't going to have so much to lose myself. I'd be waiting for him. As soon as they let him out of court. The problem would be over.
Again, it is said in our holy book of Prophet Muhammad, “You indeed have in the Prophet a most excellent model of conduct”. So, here G-d established for us in the holy book, that Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet, according to the revelation of the Quran the revelation of G-d to us, we have the last prophet established as a model of human behavior for us, for the Muslim. Anytime, we are worried about how Muslims are behaving, the first thing we should do is call the misbehavers to the behavior of the Prophet because G-d has established for us.
Allah in the holy book has established for us that He has given us Muhammad the Prophet as the most excellent model for human behavior. And again, we read in the holy book to make a connection between two great prophets Abraham and Muhammad. Here is the same saying. In Prophet Muhammad, we have most excellent model for human behavior, for human conduct, for the conduct of man in society. It also said in the same book, our holy book, that surely there was given in Abraham, Ibrahim, Abraham, and in those who follow his Sunnah, the way of Abraham, a most excellent model.
And we are told that this is the order, the millah of Ibrahim Hanifa. This is the order, Muhammad's order is the order of Abraham, the upright in faith. There's much to be said on this. Believe me, much to be said that I wish I could say but this is not the time and the situation for it. Some of you will be bored to death. And again, it says in our holy book, of those- not the Prophets only but those who followed the Prophet in his example, his companions, his close associates, Abu Bakr, 'Umar, Ali that the Shia exult too high. And 'Uthman and many others. Many, many others that are given in the hadith, in the collected hadith of Bukhari and Muslim and other hadith.
We read about the great companions of our Prophet Muhammad. How they supported him in the most excellent way, how they lived the life of Muslims in the most excellent way. So, Allah has given us Muhammad the Prophet as a model for us to look at, to see how He desires for human beings to behave on this earth, at home with his family, in the marketplace, in the position of authority, over an army, over a city, over finances, over charity et cetera et cetera et cetera.
So, He has given us this great prophet, the last universal prophet as a model. But He has also told us in His Holy Book that we also have models in those who followed the example of the Prophet, his companions and that we should follow in the excellence that they established. So, muslims of America, understand that we are to join the Muslims of the world in this sincere study of the life of the Prophet and the life of his companions, the early ummah, the early efforts to establish this religion on earth.
Those who follow in the excellence of them, those who followed Muhammad the Prophet, those who follow in the excellence of those who follow the Prophet Muhammad and of those who followed Muhammad, G-d says, "Radi-Allahu anhum." They have G-d's favor, they have G-d's pleasure. G-d is pleased with them. Because of that, we say when we mentioning any of them, when we mention 'Umar or even the women, when we mention Khadijah, 'Aisha, we all should always say, "Radi-Allahu anhum." May G-d be pleased with them, for them, all of them. The males and the females because they were all models of the excellence that Allah wants demonstrated in the lives with His creature human beings.
So, if we want to continue this religion, if we want to further the religion, if we want to be a good contribution, a good representative, then we should know the life of Muhammad the Prophet and we should know also the life of his companions. And we should look to their examples and we should try our best to measure up to their excellence. First of all, the excellence of Prophet Muhammad but also we can learn from the many ways that that excellence was presented to the world to those who were in close and direct contact with the Prophet and embraced him and embraced the religion, embraced him completely and also demonstrated that same excellence that Allah wanted through themselves, they demonstrated it. That same excellence.
We should understand that we human beings, we are not going to be the messenger of G-d, we are not going to be the prophet, there's no need for it. We are not going to have a Quran revealed to us unless it's the same Quran that was already revealed to Muhammad. And then it will be revealed to you in the sense of interpretation, in the sense of insight. But not as a fresh revelation. So, we know we're not going to be Prophet Muhammad, we're not going to be any messenger, our religion is a living religion. Is a living religion. It is not a religion that comes to die so that the secular world can live. It is a living religion but it is also a constant religion. It is a constant religion. It is a complete religion; it is a finished religion.
Many of the Westerners, they have a problem with that. They say, "There's no room for dynamism, there's no room for invention." I say no, that invention is forbidden. We can't invent. The West have taken on this kind of mind, that's why the Pope has to come here and say, "Hey, will you come back from all of your makeshift religions? You Catholics, especially you Black Catholics, will you come back from your makeshift religions and again identify with the established religion." I believe the Pope would love to hear the Muslim way of handling this. Are you interested in what I'm talking about?
Audience: Yes, sir.
Imam W. D. Mohammed: I know some of you are. If you're not interested, just tell me because I've got other things I can be doing too. I'm just joking. I always do this. But look, once I had a girlfriend, tell you the truth she was more serious than a girlfriend. She told me, she said, "Why don't you try to please me sometimes?" I said, "Hey, I'm trying to please you all the time." I said, "If you're serious, I'm not going to try to please you again." What I'm saying is this, that when I do a thing, I try to do my best. If I come out and speak to a people, I try to give them my best. And if I'm wasting my time, I'd rather just go home. Why torcher you and myself too?
On that note, we say that we have to understand that Muslims are a people established by 
G-d in the Quran, in the Holy Book to be motivated toward excellence. The Prophet in agreement in fact only reflecting the Holy Book, because his 'Aisha, Radi-Allahu anhaa, may G-d be pleased with her. She said that her husband the Prophet, if we would know him and understand him, he was the living word of G-d. He was the word of G-d lived in the world, active and living out the meaning for human beings. Yes. What he had said is nothing but a reflection. Whatever he said, that's a true saying of Prophet Muhammad must be a reflection of the Holy Book itself. It must be a reflection of an ?yah or something in the Holy Book itself. If it's not, it has no validity as a saying of Prophet Muhammad.
And Prophet Muhammad says, "The believer when he engages in a work, when he enters a work, endeavors to do anything, small or big, he seeks the perfected. He seeks the perfected." He also says, "When you do the halal, prepare the animals and slaughter them. He says, "See that your knives are sharp", because G-d has prescribed excellence for everything. That's what he said. Not for one thing, for everything. G-d has prescribed excellence for everything. Therefore, a Muslim should be concerned how he goes to bed. He should be concerned when he wakes up. He should be concerned how he speaks to the members of his family in the morning. He should be concerned how he walks to the house. He should be concerned about these little things because many times it's these little things that break up the family. Somebody ignorant they're not considerate of the other member in the household can bring a hell on a house can bring hell in the whole family. We have in the Western songs that say little thing mean a lot. When they start piling up onto you, you're going to realize that. We wanted to stress that point, that Muslims ought to be motivated by excellence. And American society has that as one of its greatest national values, excellence. Excellence in education, excellence in the workplace.
The reason why this country has the blues now is because it came through a period of moral decadence and lost this excellence, this pursuit of excellence. Praise be to G-d, the conservatives, and I don't mean the republicans. They are conservatives of a political nature. The conservatives who want to conserve the good life of the American people. They have been working hard during the last five years or more, and they're bringing the mind of Americans back to an appreciation for excellence. You were right I've been right in there with them. I've been doing my practice well since 1975. Even before the best I could, but you all gave me room to work.
I did a little more after 1975. Again, we have something we share and is concerned that we should stress for Muslims in America today, or whatever we stress for today it looks toward the future. It looked into the future. Men should be aware of time. G-d says, "Be aware of the hour”. The gospel, the Christian book, be aware of the hour. Old Testament, be aware of hour." Call to be aware of the hour. A time that is going to bring different situations about. Don't be ignorant of the time today because the time today is an indication of what's coming tomorrow. So, man should always be considerate of the time. Surah Asr, “Regarding the time hour surely, humanity is lost. Except those who are faithful. Have good work and cooperate in the advancement of truth. And cooperate in patience. Look how G-d has presented it to us. Excuse me for digressing, but that's my trait. My trait is digressing. If you can charge me with anything you say, "Hey that's him. He's a digresser”. So, don't you be apologizing to anybody. If you look to the natural workings of things like the ancient thinkers did and like the people of the people were called to do, for G-d asks us to reflect.
To look at the great works of the universe, the artistry. The great, marvelous work of creation, to look at it and learn from it, get sign and understanding from it, insight that is. Now when you look at situations for human life, the physical life itself, the mortal life itself on earth, on land we feel best. Even a swimmer, you throw him in the water, he doesn't feel that safe. He feels insecure right away, you throw him in the water. The situation of water is similar to the situation of faith. Now a lot of us don't like to live in faith because it's not as comfortable as living with practical reality. “Oh, man don't tell me about that. That's too heavy, That's too much for my mind”.
Well, that’s what you need to develop your muscles that you're not using, that you need. You need to be put in a situation where you have to trust more than your knowledge. More than your intellectual ability. More than your rational ability because your rational ability hasn't done too much for the world. Right? I'm speaking of the average of us. We have those exceptional men and women whose intellect has done marvelous things for the world of man, but for the most of us our intellect hasn't done much for the world, hasn't done much for our family and for many hasn't done much for us as individuals. And we're going to put that up and say, "Hey, this is more important to me than faith”.
I think you should look at it again. You ain't no Einstein, you should look at it again. Look at your little pee of intellect, knowledge, weigh it with the benefits of faith. And some of us need to go and jump, get a complete baptism. We need to jump in the water and go under it completely. We need to get a baptism like some Baptist give you. We need to just jump in the water and get it all, don't have no land or no material supporting you. Just hang right there in mid-water until you learn respect, until you learn fear. Until you get a sense of insecurity. Sometimes it is a sense of insecurity that saves you from insecurity.
Many of us we live in a world and the most insecure situation that a human being can live in, but are not aware of our insecurities. We're not aware of our insecurities. We going on like everything's okay and we just about at the last step in our road. Well, so much for that. Now, look at another element of situations they really make us see ourselves in the world. Some of us we like to play with fire. You need a whole lot of sense to manage fire. They tell little babies don't play with fire. Give me those matches. Right?
Congregation: Right.
I better not ever catch you with matches again”. Here we got so many among the common masses of America that had just gone crazy over playing with fire. “Let's do the funk, let's get way down. Let’s let it all hang out. Let's love until we die”. That's playing with fire, isn't it? That's what it's doing, you’re playing with fire. Children playing with fire. After a while man looks at you, and he got more sense than to play with fire. He looks at you say, "Well hell, we got to go out and stop the children from playing with fire. This thing then got out of hand”. And if you ain't prepared for the time you haven't been watching the hour you're going to be lost. You're going to be left out. Discarded as something that can't be used. Then some of us like to give ourselves to emotion.
We think the Holy Ghost is the wind of human beings. The Holy Ghost ain't that kind of wind. The Holy Ghost is intelligent wind. It's a peaceful wind. It's a wind with a direction, with a constant direction. That's the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is a wind with a constant direction. We think there's only emotionalism that takes over blacks and some other races, some other minorities occasionally, but it keeps up, we always under it.
We can't go to the White House unless we all geared up in emotion. “I want to talk to you Reagan. You better listen to us now or you will listen tomorrow.” The wind won't even let him go to the White House correctly, in a decent manner. Embarrass himself, embarrass all his people because of his wind.
G-d said that He breathed into the man of His Spirit. He breathed into the man of His Spirit. And Allah says in the holy book for Muslims, when He created the man and the angels looked at him and some of the angels weren't impressed with him. G-d says, "Wait until I have breathed in Him of my Spirit." Then G-d says, "I have given every creature something of My Spirit." We have to have a wind in us superior to our own winds to save us from the destruction of our own winds. Because some of us live in a constant tornado. The emotional makeup is nothing but a constant tornado. Tornado that won't spin itself out.
A hurricane that doesn't know it's supposed to stay out in the water. It keeps coming on the land drowning all the things that people trying to construct. So, this brings us to another part of our address today and that is the burden of human life itself. Allah says in the holy book that He created the universe, He created this marvelous creation. And He invited the angels and the mountains themselves to accept the responsibility for upholding the order that G-d had made. And the angels they refused. The only one accepted was man. Man accepted it.
And Allah says, "Surely man is fool hearted, given to be hasty and ignorant." Now I thought about this. When I have glanced over mythology, Greek mythology, et cetera, seeing these pictures of man holding up the world. I say, "I guess that's the fool G-d is talking about." Charles Atlas got the world on his back. And sometimes I think the church make a mistake in believing that Jesus supposed to carry the world. “And the government shall be on his shoulder”.
That’s speaking of Jesus as a sign, sign of responsibility that everybody is supposed to accept, if they are alive and awake. Because He said, "I, in you and you in me." So, what He was talking about was a common thing in many of his preaching, he was speaking of himself. He was speaking of a common thing, a common property that not only he has but all men have.
When he asked that His shoulder take off his burden, He was asking to do something that you had the capacity to do and don't be looking for no superhuman being, no G-d to come here and carry human burdens on the shoulder for us raised up among men. G-d is not raised up among men. 
G-d is before men, and He raises men. And none of us should be so fool hearted to try to carry the whole burden of society on our one back or one shoulder. We have to work in conjunction, association and cooperation with other men and women. It should start right in your immediate association.
Yes, now isn't that a beautiful religion? Now, no problems with the pope. That's his thing. I respect him and honor him. I have great respect for the Catholics, great respect for Pope John Paul II, great respect, so much respect and admiration. I've been thinking how I could meet him. Going to the Vatican asking for an invitation one day. Still might do it. We have to respect anybody in positions like that. Even in smaller less important positions, we have to respect them because they carry the heavy responsibility for many, many people. And especially, when they serve goodness, serve justice, serve excellence in the life of man.
Muslims are obligated upon our Muslim principles whether we differ with them concerning the content of faith or the content of the religion or not, we're obligated to show them the greatest respect and to identify with them in their commitment to those principles that we share or that we have in common. To the extent that if they should call us, we're obligated to come. Yes, if they should call us, we're obligated to come. Now, how much more important it is to join your Muslim brother in common interest in the support of the excellence that you both want for each other or want for yourselves. Yes, business or whatever it is, how much more important for you to join your fellow Muslim brother.
Many of us go along and we don't even consider that there are other Muslim brothers and sisters who have our same business concern, et cetera. And we should fine them because together though operating separately, together you can do much more. Ain't that a fact?
Congregation: Yes.
Yes, together you can do much more. That's how come many other nationalities have such great advantage over us because they trust each other, they seek out each other, they find each other, and they're more selective than we are. We will let a man come into the important club just because he says, “hey my black brother”. "Hey, man, you look like a brother, you can talk like a real brother, man, come on in, man, let us show you what we're doing." The white man is more selective. The red man is more selective. The yellow man is more selective. He wants to know his family.
He wants to talk with him a long time. He wants to see him in different situations. Then one day he says, "Hey, we like you, we want to introduce to you what we're doing here. We think you'd be interested in it." They already know his life. They have enough indication from his life over a period of time how he behaves with his family, how he behaves in situations that he was charged with responsibility and trusted with valuables. They know him. Prophet Muhammad say, "You don't know a person unless you have had dealings with them."
You don’t bring nobody into your confidence to share your business plan, to share your ideas, et cetera, to invest in your company or whatever. You don't bring them in without thoroughly searching them out, searching their record, establishing that they can be trusted. “We ain't supposed to be suspicious of each other”. Buddy, all of us are not authorities on the subject of logic, fiqh, and jurisprudence, et cetera. So, don’t take something and run away with it. Suspicion is of two kinds. There are suspicions without ground. That's the kind of suspicion that's condemned. Suspicion without ground.
But when you have a suspicion upon ground, they're basis for your suspicion, and you act cautiously out of respect for what you see, for what you know, for what you have strong idea that this is the case. Man, you ain't doing nothing but practicing intelligence. You are respecting intelligence. They don't call that suspicious, but you know how we are, we stretch everything. We take one word and give it every meaning in the dictionary. Yes, we do. Say, "Hey, wait a minute, what are your qualifications for this teaching job?"
"Well, you see me, you've known me. I've been around here a long time. I'm as intelligent as you are in a conversation, why do I have to bring some credentials to prove something? You questioning me, you're suspicious of my qualification? The Quran say you're not supposed to be suspicious, brother." And I'm sure the Lord in some kind of way, we don't see how He does it, but I know He lets the strap down. “Well, here is one I have to give a lashing”.
They get it. We don't recognize it but damn sure they get a lashing from up upstairs. Or from a distance long place away they get a lashing, I'm sure. Again, we should understand that Muslims have been motivated by the word of G-d and the life of the prophet, peace and blessings be on him, to have high regard for family life. G-d says in our Holy Book, family has a priority with G-d, before G-d. What does that mean? It means if you neglect your family obligation and perhaps you took care of the masjid.
You took care of the whole mosque, a whole mosque by yourself but you neglected your family obligation, you neglected your family, G-d's going to say, "Look, your obligation to take care of that building there is not before your obligation to your family."
Said, "Didn't you read what I said in the Revelation. Family obligations have a priority before 
G-d”. How are you going to be any good to the mosque or to the society if you neglect your responsibility in your household? You're going to become a burden on the society. In a Muslim society, you're going to become a burden on the Muslim Society. You're going to be a burden on the mosque. If the Imam had some sense, he will say, "Hey, get the hell on. Stop sweeping and wiping up and putting rags down in here. Get your A-S-S home and take care of your family." Excuse me, please but I still have these unpolished ways of driving the point. I'm trying to straighten it up. I'm trying to clean it up.
Most of the problems that we have as minority people in this country today can be traced back to our neglected home. Many of our minority start their first day in high school and college at a great disadvantage. And we've been told this. This is no discovery of ours. We've been told this by the educators here in America, by the social workers here in America. They start at a great disadvantage. Even the poorest families. Even poor families before the spirit of decadence came in America. Even the poor families, the majority of those poor non-African American people, they wanted a home environment to be most conducive to the good future of the members of the household.
You would find a drunk every now and then but that wasn't a way of life in America. There was a strong Christian influence in this country, in the general public. There was a work ethic. Christians believed in a strong respect for lawful employment, activity that benefits society, yourself, your family and the general society. Involvement in work that benefits the whole society. Christians had a great appreciation for that. So strongly that they almost made it a commandment of G-d.
In fact, I think it is almost a commandment of G-d for many Christians that you must have work. You must have a job and perform honorably on that job, have respect for the opportunity to work. Now, that spirit and quality in us as African-American needed a lot of attention, needed a lot of cultivation because of the damage done to our forefathers during the long period of slavery, chattel slavery, physical abuses in this country that almost destroyed the appreciation, the right spirit for work in industry in the company of the blacks of this country.
So, we know that. But we know even in spite of that, despite that, many of our fathers and mothers, our aunts and uncles, our relatives, they didn't let that defeat them. They didn't let the abuses and the animal treatment under segregated culture, segregated world or society America, they didn't let that defeat them and destroy, the excellence in them. Excuse me, destroy the excellence in them. They kept that in them. Even though they were performing for a white man that they disliked. A white man who was a segregationist, a white man who was a racist. Even though they were doing work for him, they would do it with an appreciation for the opportunity to work.
They would do excellent work even for that man that looked down on them as four fifth, a two-fifth of a human being. Yes, they did that and we are products, many of us are products of the loins of those people, those excellent forefathers of ours. Some of them are not far behind us. My mother was such an excellent person. My mother appreciated opportunity to labor. She would talk admiringly about how her hands hurt from working so long, doing common cheap labor. But she was proud at least to be doing something constructive, to be doing something that benefited more than Clara, that benefited other people. Yes, they're right behind us.
So, dear people, we have to understand that our religion obligates us to appreciate work, to value the place of work in the life of man, to appreciate family ties, to regard our family ties with a sacred regard. That's what G-d says. G-d says, "Be regardful of G-d, and also of the family ties." Maybe some other religions say that too but I don't know of it. I know that our Holy Book says to us, "Be regardful of G-d and also of the family ties."
Here G-d has asked us to reverence not only G-d, divine but reverence also family ties. He has made family obligations second only to Him. That's right. Family obligations are second only to 
G-d. You can't even follow Muhammad if you don't have respect for your family. I know somebody said, "No it's G-d and then the Sunnah”. Well, you wait for somebody to invite you on the Supreme Council.
You have to know when to see, when to recognize that it is G-d and the Sunnah. And you have to know when to recognize, when it's G-d and my family. That's right. Prophet Muhammad before he was missioned as a prophet, he established that he was honorable as a family member. He established in his own life before he was missioned to be a prophet that he was honorable, that he was excellent in his treatment of family members. And that's why it is said of him in the Holy Book that he lived a lifetime among you even before he was missioned to be the prophet. Meaning he had a shining life of excellence, of human excellence, even before G-d missioned him to be the prophet.
Isn't that an appointment that we can accept that G-d reached out? He didn't take a wine head up and say, "I'm a make this man a saint. I'm a make this wine head a shining saint, a star in the heaven. No, He picked a man up who already had established his excellence, who on his own, on his common ability on his common human ability, he had been devoted to excellence and had established his excellence at home with his family members, in the public, everywhere. That's our prophet, Muhammad. Then G-d looked at him and He said, "Here is the best. Here is the one to lead the rest." Doesn't that make sense.
I couldn’t understand how G-d looked down and picked a wine head up and make him a saint and send him to the people that had the strength to resist those things. I know that's heavy for some of you. "Well, why are you our leader? Because you made me your leader. That's why and you tell me why? You have to explain it to me. I think you loved my father. Because you treat me bad some of you now since he's been gone. Some of them don’t even want me to come to their city. I'm not joking but look, prophet Muhammad was told in the Holy Book, "Tell them that you are a free man in this town." G-d didn't establish Muhammad only on the basis that, "Look I have made him my messenger, so you have to accept him”. No, “you also have criteria too. So, on the strength of your own criteria. You're born free. He’s free too, just like you. He's a native son just like you. He has the same freedom that you have”. And I tell you Muslims, do not let any other bully frighten you away from his turf. He has no turf. Allah says, “the earth belongs to me”. And if he's a true Muslim, he regards the earth as Allah’s earth. He regards the whole situation as Allah’s. They don't tell me this. Nobody approached me directly with anything like this, but I hear it from a distance. They will do it from a distance.
They won't come directly anymore. When I first became your leader, a lot of that stuff came to me direct. “Well, this is my turf now. You come here, if you come here such and such”. I never regarded any turf.
Why? Because I'm a free man in America. I insist upon exercising the freedom to the fullest. That is accorded every citizen of America and no town belong to anybody. The town belongs to G-d first and then it belongs to the American people. The residents of the town have no authority to tell you don't come in this town doing your thing. They have no authority like that. His authority he has goes no further than his house.
He can tell you don't come to my address. He can say don't come to my address. That's authority. That's his Milwaukee. Or that's his Detroit, his Washington, D.C. His address in that town. We got some, we got some right now. Right now, working, they see me as a greater danger than the dangers we're facing from the ruined society. They're not addressing dope problem and crime and broken families. They are not occupied by that. They are occupied day and night with the thought that "Hey, he might come here in this town and when he come here, he going to have to come through us”. That's what they're working on. That's what they been working on all the time. And when you go and look at them, they got nothing. About 14 people attending their mosque. Just a few people attending their mosque. Man, begging for light bill money. Begging for phone bill money. Begging for rent. Something to pay his bills. Begging a few people for money. All the time. And he doesn't know all he has to do is join me in this freedom. Join me in this freedom of mind, in this freedom of thinking.
In this freedom of sharing. Join me in my thinking. I say my thinking because I'm among you. I'm in association with him. Join me in my thinking and invite me. Rush to invite me to come into your town. Not through your door, your door too small. Tell me, “come to town Brother Mohammed but please don't come through my door, my door is too small. Be the guest of the city”. And then he will see people interested in the life that we are all supportive of. He will see them come from nooks and quarters and closets et cetera. He didn't know even was in this town then. As a result of him doing that, he will have more associates when we leave town.
It'd be easier for him to pay his light bill when we leave town. But he has not that sensitivity. He has not that innocence. So, his own wrong thinking and attitude blocks out the good that would come to him from G-d. So, we are going to keep working. We are not going to let that at all. In fact, that just excites me more to work harder. We going to keep working hard and I have some good workers with me who understand what we need to do and they're making it possible. I didn't have to come to Milwaukee to do anything. Others came here and they told me everything has been arranged. People are waiting for you to come to Milwaukee. We're not destitute, we’re not out of answers. We have a lot of good answers.
A lot of good answers. A lot of good work. But I'm saying this because I think it needs to be said and especially here in Milwaukee. Some of us think that the religion depends on one little address in our town. You got to get rid of that thinking. In Chicago, we have several nice Masjids built from the ground. Over the last few years, they have built nice facilities. Both immigrant Muslims and the native African-American. On 47th and Woodlawn, brother Jabber who managed Muhammad Ali has used his own private money to build one of the finest Masjids in Chicago.
I joined them in the Jumua service a couple of weeks ago. As I said, there are several. Do you think we see it as a threat that someone has a mosque? “Hey, this is my turf?” I have to forget my whole religion to think that. I can't think that way. And the only reason why you think that way because you came from the criminal days and you didn't put down that mentality. No Muslim should be thinking that way. What has happened? We go to the Mosque on 47th street, they have people that we would never see on Stony Island. They come to Stony Island. They see people they will never see on 47th Street. I'm looking for the days when we will have 1000 mosques in Chicago. I think there's something in religion that says.
I believe it's Christian. I’m not quoting it because I can't recall it. But it says this in effect, "You don't prepare an invitation from G-d”. G-d invites people to faith. G-d invites people to the life. “You don't prepare on the observation that you yourself make. You make your observations and then you prepare according to your own observation, what kind of reception you should make for the people that will come to G-d”. So, the average one would prepare hardly nothing because they don't have faith that people will come to G-d. You're not supposed to prepare based upon your own observation.
You should prepare with the belief that G-d can call the many if He want. So, if you have the means to build a Mosque to house 10,000 people. If you have the means. Don't do it if you don't have the means, don't take from the families. Don't drop the family life to the gutter or to the poor house. Send them to the poor house. Send the family members to the poor house. Don't do that. Don't abandon the school program. Don't just destroy the other essential things to do that. But if you have the means to do that, you are not supposed to say, "Ain't nobody in this town interested in being no Muslim.
That'd be a waste of money." You're supposed to act upon faith, that G-d can get the many. And maybe that's all they need to see is that they're somebody who puts the material value on their religion as well as the spiritual value on their religion. And are willing to spend some money to produce fine facilities for people to come into and worship G-d. Yes, that might be the answer for all you know. So, don't be that way. Let us prepare. Let us be energetic. And preparing a way for people to come to the truth, come to the calling of Almighty G-d. Let us be like Christians. They don't come in a town and build one church. Christians put churches all over town.
Sometimes they have more churches on one block than we have mosques in the whole state. And don’t think they all are filled. Sometimes, I go past the church, they have two or three people sitting in there. But the man got faith. You saying, “Hey, I thought the man was going to come here, he is supposed to be telling us where Al-Islam is going. Where Al-Islam is today”. That's where it is. That's where it is today. That's what I'm talking about. Where Al-Islam is today and where it should be going. I'm showing the neglect on our part. The oversights on our part. Which serves to point us in the right direction for today and tomorrow.
Another important point I want to mention is that we live in the most difficult situation for preserving the human life intact, that can be found anywhere on earth. America is the most difficult situation for keeping human life intact, in the order intended by G-d is the excellence through the excellence of nature itself. Yes, the most difficult situation but on the other hand, the same most difficult situation also has an opportunity that is not available. That is not there anywhere else except America. What is that opportunity? Opportunity that came with Muhammad. Came with the great liberators. Came with Moses. Came with Muhammad. Came with Jesus Christ.
Peace be upon the great liberator, the prophet, but have been lost from the world and now it is only in America where people are still upholding the right of the basic freedoms. The essential freedoms of man. The right to congregate. The right to assemble the freedom of speech. The right to have your own word in print to say what you want to say to the public by way of media. Freedom of the press and all of those cherished freedom. They are here in America for us. We know hell hath his mouth wide open, come on in. 
Yes, we’re in America and the mouth of hell is biggest in America, is the biggest in America. There’s nowhere you go in the world you’re going to find a bigger mouth of hell than in America. But at the same time in this situation, in this trying situation for human life, for human nature and human life, for the content of man that G-d wants we also have these precious freedoms defended by the people of this country, by the constitution that have had its tainted days, but its purity has survived, huh?
Yes, they wrote in that constitution that we were only a percentage of a human being and justified and gave freedom to the savage, the real savage, the racist, the segregationist, the savage among them, the real savages among them, to brutalize us, to mistreat us, to hang us in their courts with no justice, huh? All of that evil was done, but that same constitution, because of its essential spirit, because of its consistent nature, its consistent principle. That same constitution has survived the ugly days that painted with the ugly mark, that blacks are not even full human beings.
It has survived all of that, it survived the time when they interpreted constitution to eliminate women, that women are not supposed to be given the rights of men, that women are not supposed to even be given the right of public education, huh? Not the right to vote, et cetera, et cetera. We know they wrote their women off and they wrote the blacks off in a horrible way. But the intent in the founding fathers, the purity in the founding fathers went on the paper and has survived to this day to outlive and overcome all of the interruptions, huh?
And today we stand in this country and we declare ourselves free, free as any other man, we declare that we have the same citizenship with the same citizenship value that every other man has. We know it. The courts are obligated to hear us the same way they hear any other man. They can't look to our face and say, "You're black, we have to deal with you in a different way." They can't say that. If they say that this whole country will be destroyed. It will be destroyed, because nobody will have faith in it anymore.
If they go to such extremes, the American people, the whites themselves will not have faith in the country anymore it will bring this country down all of a sudden, if they would try to do something like that. Many of us say, "Oh, a Reagan's in the White House, the time is going to roll back." No people are going forward, they can only roll back time so far and people won’t trust them anymore and people will overthrow that government that will allow time to be rolled back. Don’t fear, don’t fear Reagan in the White House, fear Reagan in your heart.
A Reagan in your house, a selfish, narrow-minded conservative in your own house that’s looking only to protect what is and not looking to bring about things that are not, huh? See that’s my motivation to look at things that are and protect them, but don't take away my attention from working for the things that are not. I want to be bigger tomorrow, I want to be further ahead tomorrow, I want to be better tomorrow. I want to be richer tomorrow. Can you hear that? I want to be richer tomorrow. Say, "I didn’t know you were rich." I’m not, lot of times I haven’t got enough gas to put in my little car, 4-cylinder car. But I never think of myself as poor. No, I never think of myself as poor.
I may have $4 in my pocket, but that's not, because I can't get more. I can have $4,000 in my pocket every day, but I don't want to sacrifice principle to have it. I’m going to wait till the time present itself when I can have $4,000 with honor, with self-respect. But don't think I want to be poor. I want to be rich one day and I'm 55 almost. I still want to be rich. And any person that doesn't want to be rich, there’s something wrong with him. Saying, "Oh, I’m a Muslim brother I don't put my values there." Hey, Allah says, "Work with what I have given you for the hereafter, for the end promise, but don't neglect your share of what's here now." That’s the teaching of Allah in the holy book.
The Prophet says, "Those people are best among you," and I’m quoting now the book of Mehdi, his name is M-E-H-D-I. Mehdi Nakosteen spelled N-A-K-O-S-T-E-E-N. I believe how you spell his name. This well respected, who died recently, well respected scholar in Al-Islam. He gives this quote from Prophet Muhammad in his book, called Islam and its contribution to Western education. He gives this quote that I'm about to give you from the Prophet in his book. After he already established that the great, learned, the bright, intellect of the early days of our enlightenment as a community of people on this earth, the new religion. He refers his readers to Al-Ghazali that some of you I'm sure are well aware of. I know some of the scholars I'm looking at right now they are well aware of his history. Al-Ghazali and his beliefs and the levels of knowledge.
He's quoting the levels of knowledge which we should understand, because I see it as a great important focus that Al-Ghazali had. Where he says, "The levels of knowledge" and some of us are hung up in one level of knowledge. He says "The level of knowledge, divine revelation, number one." The second level of knowledge is science, the true sciences, second level of knowledge. He said the third level of knowledge is intuition. Some of us we're so much about what we going to come up with on our own, "Where that come from brother? What you base that upon?"
And according to Ghazali I can say upon intuition from my own effort, in my own intellect. From the nature that G-d has put in my own intellect, I have come upon this knowledge. And according to Ghazali, you have to prove that my knowledge is not knowledge. You can't say I'm not entitled to speak that. Yes, and not only Al-Ghazali, but many other scholars. In fact, most of the intelligence among the intellectuals of Al-Islam will stand upon that. We have to understand that one level is science, but what is the first step in that progression? Common sense, the great ability to use in an intelligent way, common sense.
To rely upon external information to dictate what your mind should do. And the beginning of that exercise is right at home we learn from mama the good lesson of common sense, huh? She's the mother of that school of thought. Yes. Praise be to Allah. Much to say on these things, but we’re just leapfrogging through the evening today. We like to spend more time in these areas I wish I could spend more time in these areas, but we’re just hitting upon concerns. So, dear Muslims in this day and time we should understand that we are to respect the intellect of man as it has been established for us in our holy book and in the teachings of the Prophet.
Don’t be around here watching each other and afraid of everything someone says, "What's your authority for that?" This country is stagnant right now, because it has to have a credential, an authority, a media support or somebody’s support for everything that a man is trying to do. Many good works that can change the city of Chicago are ignored because the man didn’t have the credentials that they look for. Muslims shouldn’t have that kind of mentality. We should have the Islamic sense, the Islamic mentality to look at something for its worth and not associate it with personality.
A man can come up although he might be the slowest person in the Masjids, he might be the one that hasn’t impressed me at all, but when he come to me and speak, I'm not going to see his personality. I’m going to hear his word. Because, "Out of the mouths of babes comes perfect praise," and that's not Islamic that’s Christian. Huh? I believe that's what they say. "Out of the mouths of babes comes perfect praise." Sometimes it’s out of the mouths of those that you look down on that comes the excellence. There are groups that will look at another group, in fact, there are many groups looking at us right now. "Hey, hey what are they trying to do? They think they can come about this knowledge on their own. They think they can rise as a star of Al-Islam by themselves, they need us to tutor them. They need us to be their shepherd. They need us to walk with them hand in hand. They need us to lead them as babes until we make them men”. 
That’s their attitude many of them from Saudi Arabia, from Egypt, from Pakistan, from all over the Islamic world, they're looking at us and just because we're African-Americans and just newly embracing the religion, they think that we don't have nothing going on for us unless they give it to us.
Allah created us, and He gave us the ability to come into the levels of knowledge, Quran, science, and intuition. He gave us the same capacity that He gave them. So, if we have faith, if we're sincere, if we wrestle hard, if we endeavor to make strong endeavor to comprehend what G-d has put in the Quran. There's a possibility for us that we will have intellect born among us that will rise up to their level and maybe surpass them. And understand this, that another concern we're bringing to you today is emphasis on distinction. Allah has created unity and harmony, but Allah has also made things to multiply by diversity.
Let me tell you, don't never absorb yourself into another race, don't absorb yourself into another people's culture, into another people's ethnicity. Be distinct as African-American people and rise up in the excellence without losing your distinct personality as a group. That's more precious to me than all the money that they can give me from all the oil in Saudi Arabia. Because I sense a great future. My father and mother turned me on. They turned me on. They gave me a great hope. And many times, I couldn't see, they left me in the dark. In many situations, I was in the dark, but they didn't leave me without the light of hope in that dark.
They have just excited me with such great hope that one day the African-American is going to do what Marcus Garvey said would be done. He's going to take his place in the constellation of the stars of heaven.
Audience: That's right.
Yes, I have a strong belief. And I know Allah G-d the Almighty, the Lord of us all, He is with us. We're going to get aid. Don't turn down aid from anybody. If an immigrant will help you, Alhamdulillah, thank you, we embrace our brother. He's the same as us. If he's a Muslim, he's the same as we are. We love him. We embrace him, but we're not going to be dependent upon him to the extent we look to him to know how we're to breathe, how we're to eat, how we're to smile, how we're to walk, how we're to talk.
We follow the sunnah of prophet Muhammad not the sunnah of Egypt, or the sunnah of Saudi Arabia or the sunnah of another nation. We don't follow their sunnah, we follow the sunnah of Muhammad. And the sunnah of Muhammad is a type put before me to tell me what the capacity is that G-d has given me, that here is- G-d has brought this out. This is your potential. Muhammad is your potential. Come on grow, follow it, grow into your own potential. I can follow prophet Muhammad because he doesn't represent a race, not in his uswa, in his model, he does not represent a race. He represents the common excellence of man.
I can follow that common excellence, but I can't follow if you put an Egyptian label on it, or if you put a Pakistani label on it, or Saudi Arabian label on it. You say Saudi personality. Well, Saudi personality belong in the desert. I'm not criticizing. The Saudi come out of the desert and go to Egypt, his personality is going to change. But some of us are so putty-minded, the Saudi comes over here and impress us with his Islamic language, his Arabic tongue and pretty soon the brother that came out of these clothes and its five below zero on Lake Michigan in Chicago. And he's walking down there in sandals in his long white Saudi robes, and how come nobody pays attention to him when he's talking Al-Islam. Well, he's situationally insane.
Audience: That's right.
He might not be clinically insane, but he is environmentally insane. Now, this is not to invite us to go back to those extremes where we think we're some special specimen of G-d's human creation, “the black man is created to be G-d”. That's insanity in every circle. That's insanity everywhere. That's clinical insanity. We don't want to degrade ourselves after stepping up to the excellence of the universal human man, to go back and pick up that narrow, shrunken brain idea. No, we don't want to do that. We ain't going to do it. In fact, I have brothers that tell me they're going to go to physical blows with some of you all if you ever try to impose that on the ignorance of our society.
I didn't tell them don't go to physical blows either. I was silenced. Because I have great appreciation for the progress that we have made out of a narrow race consciousness into a universal sense of race. See, we still have great race pride, but it's a universal sense of race. It's no black mythology that even the thinker didn't dream of. You're coming with a black mythology that even the thinker didn't give you then you're in trouble. The gambler gave you that mythology, not the thinker. You had Yakub history, the 50,000 years and separation, the deportation. That was the gambler because he said, "Oops, I missed that time." That's in the theology.
He said, "Oops, I missed that time." That was a gambler. The gambler trial and error bring a lot of good, but sometimes what it leaves on you make you suffer for generations. Yes, especially when you don't have the sense to come out of your mistakes. Trial and error, is hit and miss. He says, "Oops, I missed that time." Well, that's all right when you have nothing else. You can't condemn a man for throwing the dice when he has nothing else. I don't mean the dice, the gambling thing.
I mean you can't hold against a man for trusting chance when he has nothing else. And I believe Allah says that to us. That He excuse us for trusting chance before the enlightenment came. He says, "But now, will you trust such after true guidance has come to you." He excuses us for trusting chance before the enlightenment came say, "Now you trust such after true guidance has come to you." I look like a fool. I degrade my own self to step into that kind of thing again. You all ought to be ashamed of yourself to be longing for yesterday. Some of you are doing it. I'm told, I know.
I meet some of you. I excuse you too. Longing for yesterday. You have to understand that man must always live in the present with a view on the future. He treasures the excellence of his past. He treasures the lessons of his past, but he lives in the present and looks toward the future. Really if you understood it, it might be too philosophical for many of you. But actually, man is always a creature of the future. Because the present is gone before you can think about it. Is that not a fact? I said being philosophical, the present is never there for as soon as you think about it, it's passed.
So, man has been created to be a creature of the future. Now that doesn't mean that we don't have interest that we have to take care of now for the present, certainly we do. But we have to have always our eyes looking toward tomorrow to be better tomorrow, to increase. Some of us think that we can't increase, can't grow. Allah says in the holy book, “He created you to grow”. He created you to grow not to stand still, to have no progress, to
remain the same. He created you to grow. Those are profound philosophical statements of the holy book. They should motivate you even if you are not philosopher minded.
They should motivate you to follow at least the spirit and principle of the book. If G-d said He created me to grow then I must feel obligated to make progress in my life. If G-d said He prescribed excellence to His prophet. He prescribed excellence for everything then I must have an excellence to my credit. Though it be excellence on a level of the common worker. I must have excellence.
I must have excellence to my credit because many times it has been the excellence of the common worker that has brought the wealth to the town that made the town grow. Yes, common worker. Cooking in the kitchen, come up with a recipe that she introduced to the local town.
It catches on in local town, pretty soon in the nation, factory build in the local town to produce the product to be shipped all over the nation, the local town is put on the map because of what a common worker did in the kitchen and brought it to the city. Yes, these are real cases in the life of man. Don't underestimate this. Many things that we'd like to talk about, but I will try to sum them up and close for today.
The most important thing that is needed for attention in the Muslim concerns. And I keep saying attention, I say attention because as far as the ordering of Muslim concern, that's already established. No matter what time we live in, or what country we live in, what situation we are in, G-d has already established for us the order of our concerns. The constant order of our concerns.
He has established where the emphasis are also for our concern. But changing times require that we give attention to certain concerns in greater degree or in lesser degree. Sometimes we have to give less attention to the concern because of changing situation, changing circumstance et cetera. But sometimes you have to give more attention to certain concerns. More attention, but a Muslim should not be looking for concerns outside of the Quran, and outside of the life of Muhammad the prophet.
All of your concerns are already established for you in the Quran and in the life of Prophet Muhammad. “Oh, what about our concern for this new music they got?” It's in the Quran.
It's in the life of Prophet Muhammad. It's there. “What our culture, this pop culture, the problems we have?” It is in the Quran. It’s in the life of Prophet Muhammad. “What about our concern for getting some racial dignity?” It is in the Quran, it’s in the life of Muhammad.
“What about our concern for having our own banks, our own banks, some financial power. We need some dollar power? It’s in the Quran. It’s in the life of Prophet Muhammad. You can't think of nothing, Allah says nothing have been left out of the book and I believe it. I have searched the book. Allah says, "Why don't they search the book?" He makes the statement and then the people are, oh, they are amazed.
“How can any book have all of that? How can any book, do all of that?” G-d says, how come they don't research the book? I have researched the book, I am convinced. Not only me. I'm just joining a lot of other long train generations of converts. And Al-Ghazali was one, a great one. We are not to be looking out here in space for concern. That's what we have a habit of doing too. We just like the typical of the ignorant masses of America.
When they want to get into something to advance themselves or to lift themselves up in society, most of them have a tendency to go and to guess. Guess zone for their future.
Go into the guess zone, I mean guessing, not the guest, the invited, you know, the one invited. Into the guessing zone. They have a tendency to go into the guessing zone for direction to the place they want to go in life. That's terrible.
Look, just because they say it excluded us and rejected us as a people in this country. And many others have been excluded. Indian American, rejected before we were, and Hispanics, a lot of them are rejected, believe me. A lot of you may not be aware of this, you see it all the time, but it doesn't register on you. That some of these whites will not live next door to no Hispanic. They don't want them around them.
You ain't the only one. There are other people too, they don't want around them. Not just us, but they have a way of dealing with us more effectively. They say, “Your old wooly hair blacks”. That's a sure mark man, ain't no way of getting around that. I can't get away from it. They have a way of nailing us down better than they nail other people down, but they have the same feelings, the same animosity, the same old racist feelings for other people like they do for us.
In fact, some whites they hate other races other than black. More than they hate us. Believe me, I know from experience with them. When they think you are not going to marry their daughter, they let you into a lot of their confidences. And that's one thing they can count on, I will never marry their daughter. Not because I hate their daughter, not because I think their daughter is inferior, won't produce me a good son, probably produce me an excellent son. But too many of my women need me.
I ain’t going to get no more than four. I am not going to break no laws. Let me clean that up. I'm just joking, I'm not polygamous. My life doesn't call for polygamy. Polygamy is a provision to block and help us overcome other threats and social problems in society. It is an answer, it is a remedial measure. It's not a principle of life for men in Al-Islam, that they should aspire to have four wives. Two, three or four wives.
No, it is not. It's a condition only allowed under strict, very strict I would say guidelines. Very, very strict guidelines. I'll tell you as I told you years ago, almost eight, nine, ten years ago. That most of us don't qualify. You got to treat them equal if you have more than one wife you are supposed to treat them equal. You can't say, "This is my first wife baby, I can't give you what I give her." No, once they are wives, they are all of the same statues.
They all have the same status. You can't go buy her a $ 200 ring and bring the other one something out of the Crackerbox, the Comicon box. You can't do that. You can't put one in the Econolodge and the other one in the Marriott. You can't do that. You know you are not ready. You can't hardly put two in a station wagon. That's a privilege for a very small minority in society.
That's right, a privilege for a very small minority of men in society. And it's given to them who can afford it to keep women that would otherwise go to adultery, fornication, and maybe even to prostitution. Take those women off the street and give them good decent environment. Some of our scholars they point to the provision in times of war. But they fail to understand that the situation that is brought about because of war brought about also because of unemployment, because of poor economy. Where women are at the mercy of society.
War is not the only thing that throw women at the mercy of society. So, they got to be aware of that, and apply that same logic to situations other than war. Really, we need a whole lot of rich men in the Black community to take care of our neglected women. Don't we? I know you thinking, “hey, that doesn’t sound like our Imam. Is that him talking?” Yes, it is. Your Imam grows up. Right, things that I couldn't say yesterday didn't have the strength to say and didn't want to look at.
Thank G-d I have the strength to look at today and I can say it. We need some rich African Americans to take on more than one wife. Some decent human minded African Americans who can treat their wives humanly and deal with them fairly. For G-d says, “if you cannot be just and fair by orphans then only one wife. If you cannot be just and fair by the orphans then only one. 
If he's going to treat one child, give one family a better situation than he gives the other. Have one suffering and the other one living fine because he's physically attracted to her more. Then even though he has all the riches, all the wealth in this country he's not qualified, he's not qualified. If we can find qualified men for polygamy, for the strict rules of polygamy who have money, the means to take care of these poor women who have no husbands. And don't say all the American women would never do that, I know better.
I can tell you some American women who already done that and they say they're happy with their situation. One lady told me she said, "Well, I never knew my father. See, I had sisters and brothers that i didn't even know were my sisters and brothers." This is an African American girl in this country. In fact, in the north. She say, "I didn't even know my own brothers and sisters and I never knew my father," she said, "This man that has taken me as his second wife accepts his responsibility, he lives with us, he comes to see us, he shares his time with us, he spends nights with us as well as with his first wife," says, "My children know their father."
She said, "Brother Iman, I wish I could tell the women that I appreciate the provision of polygamy in Al-Islam." I know how sensitive you are because you're American, you don't believe in sharing no husband, you believe in sneaking out with him until he likes you better than he likes wife and then taking him to your house and never let him go back home. You believe in baiting him, baiting him, no contract, nothing.
"In fact, darling, I want nothing from you. I just love you so much I'll give you everything. Take all of me. I don't need your money or anything. Hey, I'm pregnant what are you going to do about it? Are you going to tell your wife?" A new face after the bait, after the hook has been secured, got the hook in there. She feels the hook is secured now altogether a different person. "Okay, I'm pregnant you going to tell your wife or do I have to tell her?"

Don't touch me no more until you marry me properly”. He says, “Who is this? Who is this talking? Is this the same woman that came and told me, "I don't want anything just a chance to get you from your wife." We have to look at reality, don't we? Let's look at reality, stop fooling ourselves. The worst family life there is, is the one that's in America, the one that's accepted by America. You hear what they're saying now in the news? Oh, why talk about Harp?
Look how many presidents did the same thing. We can't be selecting men because they never committed adultery, never had another woman. We can't do that because we have nobody to select. That's what they're saying in the news. Now, which is worse? A restricted polygamy where everybody has protection, a contract and protection in a limit to four. No matter how much money he got he ain't supposed to have more than four. You're not supposed to be driven by lust even to get the second one or the third one.
Lust is not a reason to get any wife. You're not supposed to get the first one out of lust. G-d condemns that in the Holy Book. It's in the Holy Book. Yes, approach women and make a proper approach, be honorable, be upright, give them a contract, marry them but not out of lust, that's what G-d said, that's what G-d said. Wouldn't it be better for us to have Islamic way of life? Islamic way of marriage than to have all of this embarrassment, guy running a whole network, NBC and a whole crew laying behind the hotel waiting for the man to come out.
His son and daughter might commit suicide, sometimes that's so shocking, the sudden shock of that may cause the child to commit suicide. A bright child that perhaps would be president 20 years or 40 years from now, might commit suicide. So, don't tell me about this society. I'm ready to debate it anytime. Hey man, you think Al-Islam is best?
Hey, what about you? You think Al-Islam is best? As-salamu 'Alaykum.
Crowd: Alaykumu As-salam.
It’s nothing else for me to say, I got four witnesses, Al-Islam is the best, I'm through. Now that doesn't stop us from promoting and encouraging people to stick to their own religion if that's their choice and pursue a better life from themselves in their own religion, that doesn't stop us, that doesn't change that for us at all. And you should feel the same way. If you're convinced that your religion is the best, you should feel the same way. We should all cooperate for what is best for all of us, peace be unto you, As-salamu 'Alaykum.


