09/01/2001
IWDM Study Library 
CPC Meeting Chicago, IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Mr. Cooper:
... it's still divine providence when we come together, irrespective of our, well there's not really any difference, because there's only One G-d. And we, when we gather and unify ourselves, the more of us, there is more strength. We are presently working on a fish pond. We're going to have an office supply store that serves the whole state, mostly in the Black area. And our largest project which will be a... what it's called in the agricultural world is a vertical integrated system, which is actually chickens all the way from Genesis to Revelations, from the hatchery all the way to the processing plant.
Mr. Cooper:
And, that project will cost approximately $100 million. Now, we don't want your money, but we want your help. And that's why Bishop and Mr. Mohammed are gathering and meeting on several projects and we welcome you to come. We have about 7,000 acres of land, a few motels, and a few, like about 10 stores or so. So, we welcome you to Greene County, Alabama anytime you're in the area. Look Greene County up. Greene County has made the map before Bishop, but we made it in the Civil Rights movement [...] the Civil Rights movement because we elected the first Black probate judge in America. Thank you. (Allahu Akbar. Clapping).
Speaker 2:
Thank you, Mr. Cooper, thank you, Sir.
Mr. Cooper:
You're welcome.
Speaker 2:
Brothers and sisters, let me say that Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem. Al-Hamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. As Salaamu Alaikum. We are grateful and thankful to Allah for allowing us to be here this evening. We should be overjoyed. We should be happy. A lot of wonderful things have happened this weekend in this 2001 Convention. I have never seen the spirit in a long time like we have seen it since Wednesday. We started on Thursday, but the spirit been hitting all along, but Wednesday all the way up to now. Something major is going to happen. Something major has already happened. I just mentioned to you earlier, that in our stomach, is Halal. And who don't feel good when they know they did what Allah has said do? And have said what we should eat, have fulfilled that obligation.
That's what I'm happy about. Nothing else being said, Brother Imam, I'm happy, because we're fulling the obligation Allah is telling us to fulfill. Allahu Akbar. Brothers and Sisters, I know Imam have a busy schedule, I'm not going to be long on the time. We have Imam's here, as I've said, it certainly looks good that the Imam's, the Investors, and the Distributors are in here together. Man, you sure look good out there. (Allahu Akbar) Sisters, you sure look good out there. Let me bring before you the President and CEO of CPC, Imam W. D. Mohammed. Takbeer, Allahu Akbar. Takbeer, Allahu Akbar. Takbeer, Allahu Akbar.
IWDM:
Thank you. [...] Great. Yes. Again, As Salaamu Alaikum. (Wa Alaikum As Salaam). I was just talking to Imam David Hasan about the beautiful banner that he has been using to introduce the Shea butter and he brought it with him. And really, for this meeting I thought it was going to be here so when I looked, I didn't see it. So, I asked him where... It's on display at the in area where the vendors are, the booths, right? Okay. So, we will get a chance to see it. Yes. We have a representative from ComTrust, CPC, ComTrust with us. The lady that has been really supervising the office workers and doing everything she can to make us very successful. And that's what she told me when she came and joined us. And that's what I have seen in her that she just wants to do whatever she can so that we will have success.
The products are sold, the products are presentable et cetera. And that's with Sister, this fine lady here Baseemah Salah. Baseemah Salah. And by the way, her family will be here. They were here last year too. No, no, for Memorial Day. They were here for the Memorial Day and they will be here. One of them, her sister Jamie, am I pronouncing that right...Jamie. She's a preacher, a woman preacher and she is also a singer. And she was to sing at a church of one of the workers in CPC who's a Christian. Of course, it was a church, you know, because she's a Christian. I shouldn't have had to say that. And something happened and she couldn't go to the church that, the next day to sing. So, I was anxious, I told her I was going to be at the church to hear her sing. So, she gave me a private performance for me. Just for me. With her sister and my son, my little Muhammad and I really enjoyed it and liked it so much. And it was, nothing was in the language, it was universal kind of language. It's nothing in there to make a Muslim feel uncomfortable.
So, I have invited her to sing on Sunday. We going to have our great theme song for the Convention, "We Can Not Stop Now"'. With that terrific music Brother Bilal has put together with his terrific friend that compose, write and composed a piece, music, for the piece. And we will have, we will hear from this fine Christian lady, the sister of our Sister, Muslim Sister, Sister Baseemah Salah-Zaid, insha'Allah. There's a wonderful program and it was suggested to me, said, "Well, since you want her to sing on Sunday at the Public Address at the MAS statement, pardon me, MSA statement on the state of the MAS, the Muslim American Community, why don't we have her sing also at the Banquet?" So, you might hear from her tonight. There's a possibility, right? Yeah, we might hear her sing also tonight at the Banquet.
Getting back to our business now, the business at hand. We are realizing progress for the facility that we have in Markham, Illinois where we have our CPC office and also ComTrust distributor working as really, a business, a business operation for CPC. As you know, we didn't just start this. We began, I think it was at about the beginning of the fall, around this time in 1996, or maybe earlier with the concept that we had, this concept, Collective Purchasing Com. And we were selling whatever we could sell. So, we had Shea butter at one of the main events for us, back then in the 90s. And they sold the Shea butter, and all that burden was on myself and on my assistant at that time who was Brother Rafah Shamsiddeen Muhammad. And we, what we did, we sold the product not as CPC, because we didn't want to involve CPC and investors in tax obligations and et cetera.
So, we actually sold the product and CPC got their money right off the top. We put the part of the money into CPC and we took a small percentage for our labor, our work. Very small percentage. We were selling the product; we couldn't sell it for nothing. We had to, you know, we had to get something for it but it was a very percentage we got. And what we did, we purchased products from CPC with our own money and sold those products. We didn't make much money but we knew the future was great. Now, we are in business. We weren't in business then, we were just trying to build a concept, now we're in business. We're in business, we have thousands of pounds of the cleanest Shea butter I ever saw, and we been handling it since 1996. We have the cleanest and the best Shea butter that I think you can get anywhere. We are distributors, distributing right from the source in the area of Mali, Africa. You know Mali use to be a great Islamic state or Kingdom there. And we have also made some other steps to connect with Africa. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had the desire for us to connect with our Motherland. On the Muhammad Speaks use to be arms reaching African Americans...African Americans arms reaching out of America, over across the world. And the African man reaching from Africa and the hands meeting and gripping each other to show that the tie is to be made, the tie is to be made. Well, thank Allah the tie is being made. We have, we are importing great quantities of Shea butter and we have an African sister whose been working with us for the last maybe two years now almost. And, we have set up an operation where we would have garments made on the soil of Africa and it will be our garment factory. (Allahu Akbar) Yes, making garments.
Not just garments that are worn in Africa by the Africans, but we have designers here who design very beautiful garments that can sell anywhere, downtown Chicago, anywhere. And they're going to give us their designs and we're going to give the African sisters and the men that we're working with. And the brothers in Africa, they will be working with them. I think, its mostly women working in this factory. These designs, and they're going to produce them for us. And like big businesses in America, they go to Asia, they go to Africa, they go to where the cost is low and they produce those items and bring them back to America, Europe, wherever so that they can always compete in the world market, compete in the world market. We are going to do the same thing. Why shouldn't we? I often say, even ET had a place to go, (laughing). He said, "He had to go back home". Well, we came from Africa, we want to go back home. The Irish come to America, but he goes back home.
And he does business with his brother in Ireland. That goes for every other people. The polish people, the Jews, all the people, the English people, they all have connections with business, back home where they came from. So why shouldn't we have business with our Motherland? We have to have business back home, too. Business connections back home. Especially when it's to our advantage. We are not there like comfy businessmen. I don't think most American businessmen are there in Africa just to get rich. They're there to make a dollar, to make a profit but also to help poor Africa and we have to start getting used to that language. Poor Africa. Africa is rich in minerals still I think, but the business and the resources are not in their control yet. Insha'Allah just like the Arabs came into control of Aramco oil and he got big money and operation got into their hands, Insha'Allah soon the diamond mines, and everything, and gold will come into the hands of the African, native African people again and they will have that wealth. But right now, they don't have it and we have to recognize that they are a poor people.
They are poor people. Few are rich, you know that's always the case. Few are rich but the great many are very, very poor. So, we are not there in Africa establishing or opening this garment making factory to hurt our African people or to get our big dollar at their expense and not do justice by them. So, we are Muslims too. We are trying to deal with Muslim Africans. We are not trying to [...] Africans who want to do business with us, we are trying to reach the Muslim Africans and we are telling them that we, our pledge to make a contribution to their established and respected charities to help their people, their poor people who are Muslim. A contribution of 10% of the 15% of what we expect to gain or realize from our business with them. And they like it and I like them. Yes, they look very good. That's just one connection that's in Senegal. We can have that connection in time in Sudan, I said Sudan first because I want to hit you in the mouth. Some of you all, as soon as the white man say something bad, you join him. It's bad.
And you're harder on your own people than the white man. Yes, so I said [...] Sudan first because I got loving beautiful Brothers in Sudan. They are my real friends. That's not to say there's not problems there, sure there are problems there. There are problems in some parts of the United States still too. Everything ain't roses everywhere. Yes, and we should not get involved in internal conflicts unless we know what we are talking about. It's internal conflict going on there between Sudanese and Sudanese. Sudanese in the south and Sudanese in the North. And all of them are not Christians in the south and all of them are not Muslims in the North. We don't know the whole story. We've been over there for delegations and we saw Christians in the leadership of the government. And the Christians were not taking the side of the Christians in the south. Now they could've been Uncle Tom's, I don't know. But I'm not going to draw the conclusions because I don't know, okay? (Laughing).
But don't just take everything somebody said about another people until you investigate. And that's the advice of the Prophet too. The person, you know, if a charge is made, ascertain the facts before you make your judgment. Yeah, and we have not [...] the facts. The information coming out of Africa and coming from all parts of the world or what's going on in Sudan is influenced by evangelist people, by missionaries, by those that want to make all Africa Christian if they can. And they don't believe in what we believe in "La ikrah ha fee deen"; "Let there be in compulsory in religion". They don't believe in that. They would use all kind of high-pressure sales tactics and everything to get people to convert. Most Christians of the world are not fanatics like that, you see. But they can be influenced by reports and we don't know, when it hits the paper, you don't know who’s behind the reports and what motives they have or anything. So, you just read the paper's information. I don't believe Sudan is a bad government, the Sudanese government is a bad government. I don't believe that, I won't accept that. I've been there and that's not what I saw.
And I had members from the Community that went with us and even the Christian was with us. And that was not what we saw. Okay, so much for that. So, one day I hope we have ties with Sudan, cultural ties with Sudan, business ties with Sudan, academic ties with Sudan, et cetera. Those are our people. Our family, our people came from there. So those are our, some of our ancestors are there. We were children of them. So don't forget that. Now, I will try to quickly bring my talk to conclusion because really, I didn't come to address any specific business for you. I'm leaving that to our representative. But I will say we have made great progress and I owe; I say owing first to G-d of course. But through you who believed and wanted what we are doing, you believed in what we are doing and wanted what we are doing and Allah has blessed us in the area where we're operating now to have people walk in that door. They are coming in there and they're coming in there to buy the products. And they're African Americans. They are Africans. They are Spanish, they are European American or white American.
They're trickling in but if we please them, they say the best advertisement is a satisfied customer. So, and it's looking really good. And I want Sister Baseemah Salah to give us the picture. (Takbeer; Allahu Akbar).
Baseemah Salah:
Thank you, Brother Imam. As Salaamu Alaikum. A'uuthu Bilaahi Minash-shaitaanir-Rajeem. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Al-Hamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Ash hadu an laa ilaaha illallah la sheerkala. Ash hadu anna Muhammedan abduhu wa rasooluh. Peace. I greet you again, As Salaamu Alaikum. (Wa Alaikum As Salaam). I would like to open up with an Ayah, Yusuf Ali translation; "It is He who has made the Earth manageable for you, so transverse ye through its tracks and enjoy of the sustenance which He has furnished; but unto Him is the Resurrection". And with ComTrust and CPC, that is what we're doing. We're laying tracks. And we are working for you. I have two questions that I want answered. I only want two people to answer "What is it that you understand about our business?" I want a person to answer. Okay up there, hand in the back. [...] Okay, thank you. (Clapping. Big answer). The other question is, "What is it don't you understand? What is it that you don't understand?" Okay. [...].
Allhamdulilah.
So, who are we and what are we doing? Our objective is for our people to come out of the poor showing in business. And our goal is to be persistent and keep working on what we are committed to until we realize what we are working and hoping for.
Whatever we get from G-d, we should feel an obligation to G-d to manage it well and to respect it and to fulfill every obligation G-d places on us and that's what we're doing. We're managing it and we're working on bringing us out of that poor showing.
Halal is an economic opportunity reserved for us. Our Imam has said that. The Muslim, it is a built-in guarantee that we have in our hand is wealth in our hand. Eating Halal is also good for our health. And in a minute, I'm going to tell you all about my telephone call today about how good what others are saying about our product and how healthy it is and how good it is.
So, if you join us, this will make your life easier and more prosperous. Our goal is only to help you to come on board and so you can see where we are and the things that we have done for you so that you will feel comfortable in calling us up, placing your order, and purchasing this product.
We notice in certain parts of the country, there are some of you that are slow in participating. We want to find out from you how we can assist you so you can purchase, regular. We have new machinery. We are the top of the line. German. Hochman machine that makes the links for us. And if you all ate some of those turkey links, I ate it before I left out. It was outstanding. So, if you're at the breakfast in the morning, you will have the EggMate turkey links for breakfast. Very good. You don't know what you're missing.
We have a vacuum seal machine that vacuum packs our meat, our product. It's beautiful, too. The meat is beautiful and when that pressure gets in and seals it in, you look at it, we don't eat raw meat, but it looks so good, that's how good it looks in that pack. It looks very good.
We are working for you and we, our lives need to be enriched and that, the only way that that can happen is that the Spirit, you have to feel the Spirit to want this, to put that meat in your stomach and say, "Oh Allhamdulilah. This is what I've been waiting for. This good meat." Because you know that mad cow is out there. (Laughing).
So, we have a new refrigerated truck and a lot of the believers saw the truck. When it delivers the meat here on Thursday and the brother who was driving the truck, he said they was taking pictures of the truck. He said he was on the highway and people were blowing the horns at the truck. And, you know, he was expecting, everyone that works with us is not Muslim, he's Christian. He was excited. He said, "Oh, they were blowing the horn." He made another delivery at 45th Street Arena. He said Muslims got by the truck, had cameras, they were taking pictures.
Excitement. And the excitement is what will stir us and motivate us to do, and this is what we want, to show you the physical, so that you see that we're not wasting money, we're spending your money wisely and we're putting in place the things that is needed to run a prosperous business.
We’re working on importing catfish and shrimp from Peru and Vietnam. Those governments have already been... We're talking to them. They're sending us information. And, we're doing this so that the product can come in at a good price so that you all can purchase wholesale at a good price and then you can go out and take the products to the market.
We're talking about getting rich. I'm tired of being poor. And Halal is money in our hands. So that's the new thing. We're saying we can't stop now, but put Halal with that. And the more that you seek it, the more that you stir and move the other people in the community to insist on Halal, because we have a Halal store that carries the product.
We supplied 14,000 pounds of catfish nuggets to BJ's market at the Taste of Chicago. That's one of the big cultural festivals here in Chicago. It was 10 days and when the news critic did an article in the newspaper as far as, you know, all the food vendors and all the booths and everything, BJ's market was number one. And they were talking about our catfish nuggets.
So that was one of our first outside sales that we did that wasn't Muslim and we are still serving BJ's market. We're serving JJ's Restaurant. We're serving Solomon's and we've just taken on a Shark. These are owned by Arabs who are, the sister said they're Brother and cousins to each other and instead of them buying a franchise of JJ's or Solomon's, they started their own fish market. Why can't we?
We have the product. You can get it from us. And you know where they are? They are in the most depressed neighborhoods in Chicago, on the corner with their fish store, restaurant and the sister said the brother was so nervous. He had all this money piled high from the African-Americans coming in, buying fish. Now you all know we eat fish. We can name a fish chain and have our own franchise. Set it up.
This is business. Okay? I thought I was in the right room. Investors, Imams, work it out. Set it up. We have good fish. Imam says our catfish is Halal, so we have good fish, so you all think about that and decide on how that can work and call us up. We'll work with you and we'll get the products that you're needing to supply your store.
What will we do now? We need you to be financially independent. So, we can be a representative in this United States. You need riches to build your Masjids and your schools and your daycare centers. We can't do it being poor. To take care of your families, to pay the light bill, pay the water bill, pay telephone bill, buy some food. We've got to have money. Eating Halal will give that to you.
It's been too long. I'm like the Imam. This is the day that our ancestors have been praying. They fought for this for us. We should be excited. He said he be wanting to shout, be jumping around. That's the way I feel, that this is a great day for us. The Sister came in the store and said, "We are in Heaven now, right now. Today. We are in Heaven and I'll meet you in Paradise".(Takbir. Allahu Akbar).
Now I'm going to tell you about my telephone call today. It was from a distributer, one of our distributors. We had serviced them a couple of months ago. They rejected the product. They supplied the product to a grocery store. The butcher rejected our product, sent everything back. Brother called me up and said, "Baseemah, this, this, this, this, this".
I said, "Okay. Send it back. Send me a letter. Put it in writing."
He said, "I ain't trying to make no problems for you all or nothing like that."
I said, "No. You're not making a problem. We need this. This only helps to make us better, so all your comments and concerns, your constructive criticism, we want. It helps us to grow and to be better."
So, he wrote the note, sent it in. He was our first folder that we made for comments and concerns, so I said, "Give us 10 days. We'll have... I can fill this order." I said, "I'll get with my butchers, we'll talk about it, we'll work it out, we'll give you what you're asking for."
They didn't want their product frozen. They wanted fresh meat. You know, they had a lot of stipulations that they wanted. We sent out their meat on Wednesday. They called me this morning. And I had to write it down. I said, "Slow down. I got to write all this down."
Said the butcher, he's been a butcher for 15 years in the store. He said, "This is some of the best quality meat he has ever seen." He's really, really impressive. This is what he is eating. This is what the brother said. He said the tenderness of the meat, he pushed it and he said it was so tender from just touching it so he called the other Brother in and said, "Come and look at this meat, man. I want to show you."
This is a butcher talking to one of the distributors, one of our distributors. Said, "Come and look at this meat, man. I want to show you." He said, "I ain't never seen meat look like this before and I've been a butcher for 15 years." By looking at the meat, he could tell the different between Halal slaughtering process as opposed to the other process. The meat is not stiff. Very tender. They were pushing on it.
You know, and it showed something different to him that he had not seen before. He said the meat smelled better, it tastes better, and the texture of the meat is different after it is cooked. So, all of you that are not eating Halal and purchasing our product, you're missing out on a good thing. The meat is good. EggMate is good. We're constantly revising EggMate, but it's good. We're there with EggMate and you'll see in the morning when you eat those turkey links.
Now, the other thing. This is an Ebony magazine and we are in the big league. (Allahu Akbar. Clapping. Allahu Akbar).
We are not running a mom-and-pop operation. Just in case some of you all didn't know that we're not and we're working hard. I'm a servant for G-d. And then I'll work hard for Imam because I want to see the job done. It has to be done because I know the benefits, how it'll benefit me, my family. So, at the same time, if I know that, I know how it'll benefit you all.
So, I work for you all and I'm putting faces with the names now, you know, learning different people and I'm excited and I want you all to be excited and I want you all to call and order our product and talk to us. Look at our meat. We're having a cookout on Monday. We'll have some of our beef ribs and some of our fish. We have some Chinese catfish that's really good too.
Also, some of our... We talked about trying to do some EggMate on Monday. I don't know if we can. Can we, Raheem? Okay. So, we'll try to have some EggMate for you to taste on Monday, for those of you who haven't tried it out. I appreciate you all. I love you. (We love you too). Let's keep working. I told Imam this morning, I told him about the call that I had and I told him that we cannot stop now. (Clapping. Allahu Akbar). As Salaamu Alaikum. (Allahu Akbar. Clapping).
IWDM:
Well. Wow. She sure gave us that picture. And that's a beautiful and wonderful promising picture. It promises us money. Big money. Good homes. Friendships in all walks of life. (Clapping. Laughing)
Praise be to Allah. Yeah, I had to school a lot of bad niggas to get where I am. (Laughing. Clapping) Yeah. I knew they wouldn't accept me if I showed my face way back there. They wasn't going to accept me. They was going to stop us if they could. But thanks be to Allah, what was required of us to do to defeat them was best for us anyway. Get our religious life back and now we can take care of the business. (Laughing) Praise be to Allah.
Yes. We have some more good news and I want our representatives, who have been talking with me for, well, for now over a year about the possibility of getting suits and other products from Thailand, Thailand, factories. Two persons that he met in the United States in his city, I believe, in the area of San Francisco or in San Francisco, and two of our brothers, representatives, went to Thailand and they discovered that there is a possibly for us.
So, we're going to have Imam Abu Qadir come and quickly share with us the news of their visit.
Abu Qadir:
A'uuthu Bilaahi Minash-shaitaanir-Rajeem. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. As Salaamu Alaikum. (Wa Alaikum As Salaam)
Al-Hamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Praise be to Allah, The Guardian Evolver, The Sustainer and Cherisher of the World. I thank Allah for this opportunity to be a part of this Community and to see this day and I thank Imam W. D. Mohammed for his great leadership and the sacrifices that he's made to bring us to where we are today.
Just to give you a brief report, we were blessed to meet people in the San Francisco area who are from Thailand, some of whom are members of the San Francisco Muslim Center and also our other friends in nearby cities from Thailand who told us there were opportunities for our community in the garment industry there.
We visited, myself and Muhammad Abdul Aziz Sharif, went to Bangkok, Thailand on the 13th of September. We spent 10 days there visiting a variety of factories. The quality of workmanship is good, the prices are good, and the opportunities look good for us. It's affordable, not only for us to purchase and dress ourselves, but to go after that market, that $500 billion market African-Americans spend.
Their preachers, they wear suits. Sometimes when I meet with Christian preachers, I'm a little embarrassed because they get sharp. And if you ain't got no money, you can't get sharp.
But just to let you know what the opportunity is like...
IWDM:
They get Dapper Dan.
Abu Qadir:
Dapper Dan. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Allhamdulilah. So, we want to compete.
Great opportunities there. And on the front page of the Bangkok times, there was some shrimp so big. We tried to get out to visit the shrimp farms, but it was a little too distant for the amount of time that we had. But it a very rewarding trip. I've given Imam the full report. We're doing some follow-up information and we think that it's going to be a great opportunity for our community. They make the clothes to your design.
If you can conceive the idea, they can make it. And the quality of workmanship is good, and the price is right, and we are very excited about this opportunity. As Salaamu 'Alaikum.
IWDM:
Well, well, well. They say if it rains, it pours. Blessings come that way too. You wait, wait wait, wait, wait but when the blessing started coming in, man, looked like the heavens just opened up. Yes.
Now one of our butchers, and I want to say a few words about him because he looks now almost exactly like he looked many years ago, when I saw him working in "Your Supermarket". For us...for us back then. And he was a butcher and I noticed that he was always pleasant and busy and comfortable with his job. We are very proud that we were able to employ him, he was already employed, but he wants to see this success a success. It has been his dream, like it has been our dream. So, let us hear now for my brother Fareed.
Fareed:
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Ash hadu an laa ilaaha illallah. Ash hadu anna Muhammedan abduhu wa rasooluh. I bear witness that there's One G-d. And I bear witness that Prophet Muhammad is the last Prophet and Messenger. I greet my brothers and sisters in the greetings of peace. As salaamu 'Alaikum. To Imam W. D. Mohammed and to the CPC investors, I thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to work for your investment. It's a great honor. And it's a blessing that Brothers had enough faith in an idea, in an idea to put up $20,000. I mean, that's, that's faith and we can live to see not only the idea that was presented back then, but we're living to see the reality of the birth of that idea right before our eyes, and Allah is blessing us.
I'd just like to give you a little background on myself as a butcher, as a meat cutter. I've been a meat cutter since 1962. I used to work at the Sheraton Chicago hotel and I left the Sheraton and went into Jewel. And I started working at Jewel supermarket as a butcher. And when I accepted Islam in 1969, and they said they needed a butcher, and at that time I was making $196 a week. That was a lot of money in 1969.
And when he told me he needed a butcher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad needed a butcher, I quit right away. I went and told the boss I'm gone. And I started working for the supermarket and I can say this, I have no regrets, Allah is my witness. I have no regrets. And I can say that since I've been in this Community, I have never said that anybody killed my spirit. Allah is the control of our spirit. And when you say somebody has killed your spirit, then you're making a partner with G-d in your own mind. (Allahu Akbar).
You know, when Imam Mohammed started, I wanted to invest. I didn't have the money. We had Bilal Plaza and many of y'all been there and they came, you ate, and supported us at Bilal Plaza in Markham. And it was not our, I'll put it this way. It was not us in that small place, I don't believe, that was supposed to establish Halal meat throughout this country. I believe that G-d gave this job to Imam W. D. Mohammed. I believe that in my soul, because if he's not in the leadership of it, then it dies down in our little area. Allah had to put him in charge of it.
And he has been trying to put us on the same page since 1975. You know, when we were in school, the teacher would look out, she says, "Johnny, what page you on?" Why? Because Johnny was all confused in his head, you know, and a good teacher is able to see the confusion. And she told me, "Okay, Johnny, get on page five. We're on page five, Johnny." And that's the way our leader is. He's been putting us on the same page since "La illaha illallah". We got on that page. We got on every page he be putting us on right, and some didn't, but we're not going to worry about those. So right now, he's putting us on the page. But before I say this, if you study history, every religious community that established the Oneness of God and the proper worship of G-d, G-d blessed them with economic independence. Every community. If you look at the Arab people, once the establishment of the Oneness of G-d was there in Arabia, Allah bust the ground open. That's a fact. That's a fact of life.
So, when Imam Mohammed, before he asked me to come here, I started going volunteering over there and it takes me two and a half hours to get from my house to ComTrust. And I'm doing it every day on the bus thinking and reflecting on the gift that Allah has given us. Then he asked me, he said, "Fareed, I need you to come and work for us." That's no problem, Imam. I was ready to do it anyway. I was working on the job I had, I was a supervisor, I had 40 people working under me. And they...when I went back, they said, "Well, why don't you take a leave of absence?" I said, "No, no, that shows doubt. No leave of absence. No, no, that shows doubt." So, I said, "No, I'm gone. I give you two weeks." (Takbir).
Allahu Akbar. I'm trying to paint a picture because sometime a picture will convey the message better. You know, and so I came, we started work and I saw a brother who had been working day and night, Brother Raheem. This is a hard-working Brother. I mean, he worked night and day. And anytime they need him, he's there. And I thank Allah for blessing me to be there with him, to support him, and to work with him. Allahu Akbar. All praises be to Allah.
And we work very good together, our spirit is good. You got to have the right spirit. If I meet people with bad spirit, I'll hug them and greet them and love them and push them away. I'm going to tell you because you can't go anywhere without the right spirit. And you can't make progress until there's peace. Progress is not made under war; it's made under peace. And if your soul and your mind is not at peace, you're spinning like a Yo-yo or a spinning top. Allah give us peace in the soul. That's the reason we're making progress with Imam. His soul is at rest and mine is too. Allahu Akbar.
Yeah, we got to. I just want to talk to you about the meat industry. When they told us that [...] told us we had an order from this hotel, they were going to buy all the meat from us, Raheem and I got together and say we're not taking a day off.
We worked seven days, 15 days straight, 10, 12 hours a day. Imam didn't have to tell us that, because he has already told us, "When you see what needs to be done, do it." I would be embarrassed if he'd come and tell me, "Fareed, I want y'all to work Sunday. We got to get this order out." That would embarrass me, because he's already taught us well. I'd just like to really paint your mind to see the gift Allah has blessed us with. And we really need to thank Allah for the investors in CPC. We need to give thanks to all of those who have invested, who make it possible. Imam has set the direction and a good follower looks for the direction of the leader.
Now, if the leader's going this way and you're going that way, something is wrong. Even birds got enough sense that when the leader go that way, they all go that way. That's just common sense. And we all agree, everyone here agrees that this is the leader. Is that right? He's the leader. G-d put him in His charge and we should be in his direction. You've established it. I don't have my glasses so bear with me. I'm trying to get as fast as I can to go through this. But I remember when Imam says, "Important things, you shouldn't rush over this." It's very important but I know time is critical.
To the investors, thank you Brother, we have established Al Islam throughout this whole country. A Muslim can go any place in this country on a Friday and go to Jumuah. That's established. Any place around the country, Jumu’ah’s established. Allah has blessed us to establish Jumuah. Allahu Akbar. It established because your consistency working at, it's been hard. Prayer and charity are established. Hajj is established, Fasting, Ramadan is established. Now it's time to establish businesses.
I want to speak to the investors and I'm not trying to lecture you because you know what you have to do. But if you had a thousand customers in your area spending $50 a month, just $50 a month. You have $50,000 coming through your distributorship. And not only the customer, now you have to look beyond that. Those thousand customers, if you open a supermarket will be your customer. They'll start coming directly to you because there are so many businesses that can be established from the meat industry. Not only the meat market, you can set up Halal steakhouses like Ponderosa all over the country. You can set up Halal chicken houses, just like Kentucky Fried Chicken all over the country. And it'd be your business buying directly from ComTrust. And if we got 50 states, just $50,000 coming out of 50 states, every state, then $250,000 will come through ComTrust every month.
Five million? One of my figures is wrong, but look at it just out of the whole state of New York. Just a thousand customers out of the whole state of New York spending $50, and we can do that. And I believe we could do it. I would like to speak down to the Imams. Brother Imam, I greet you in peace. As Salaamu Alaikum. I respect you. I've always had a good relationship and respect with Imam. It's a hard job, but if you are not motivated for this, motivating yourself to purchase and to work with CPC, then how can you motivate the people under you?
Start small. If you start small, just a thousand pounds and then we can motivate and we can work together. Get with the distributors in your area. Ask the distributor, "What can we do to help you?" Because when we help the distributor, we're helping ourselves, anyway. Get with those brothers and say, "What can we do?" And each Masjid get orders and take it to the distributors and say, "We got 5,000 pounds that we want to send to Chicago."
It could be done. Allah has blessed us. We have paved the way. Imam Mohammed has worked very hard to get this job done. When he asked me to come on, he said "Fareed, I need you to work four days a week." There's no way I can do that. No, we work until the job is finished. If it's six days, seven days. Why? Because this is ours. You have to take things personal too. I take this personal. I know it's business. But you can't be motivated if you don't take it personal. That don't mean you do your own thing, now, you got to follow instruction. But when you take it, it's ours, it's mine. That's what we had in the Nation of Islam. We felt it was ours and we were motivated to go get it and do it, because it was ours.
And I'd like to tell the Imam W. D. Mohammed and investors that every day I'm at that plant, I'm going to give you 100% every day that I'm there. I got a commitment to your investment and our understanding and I appreciate it. And I feel so faithful to Allah for blessing me to work in our community again. I feel faithful to Allah for that, you know, and I told Imam Mohammed that I would like to train meat cutters, and butchers. This is a big market, man. You got the prison. You got the jails that could supply Halal meat, too. The school system. But we must get our heads screwed on right.
Forget about the past, let's go right now. How many of us today is ready to make a commitment that we're going to support this man here in our effort? Stand up. Let everybody stand up. (And I got a picture) Now, sit down for a minute. How many of you in today, right today, is ready to support the distributor in your area? Stand up. (Alright) Sit down. How many of you are ready to tell the believers and support the believers to support the distributors in your area? Stand up.
So, we got to do it, right? But we got to have a positive mind on this thing. We got to think good and leave all the negative people. You got to brush them off, just like this. I'm telling you, and you got to feel good in your spirit, in your soul all the time. You got to feel good. I ain't had a bad day since I've been in the Community and I had ups and down. And those that know me, my spirit is the same as it was when I first walked in the door 30 years ago. And Brothers, I'm very honored and blessed to work for you. And I will train you, I will teach you, I will do anything I can to help you learn this meat cutting business. Whatever I can do, no charge. I'm willing to give everything I got to help this grow. So, I thank you Brother Imam, and I thank the Community. As Salaamu 'Alaikum.
IWDM:
There are a lot of giants over nations that I wouldn't kiss their hand. I wouldn't dare kiss their hand, but a common man with the spirit and soul and mind he has, the hand that he cuts that meat with, I'd kiss it all day long. Praise be to Allah. Now, I don't want anything from you except you just to... be listening. Don't go to sleep. If you listen and don't go to sleep, everything else be done. Because what's coming into your mind, it's going to give you hope, faith and energy. And by the way, if you don't have energy, see Raheem. He got a secret working day and night, I bear witness. He works day and night, seven days a week, and I got his secret right here. (Laughing, clapping) I'm ready to work all day long, way up in the night. Now, if you want to know what this is, you got to go to the same man I got mine from, there he is. And It's Halal too, really Halal. Good stuff.
Yes, I have to make a few acknowledgements. When we started, we had faith. You know we had faith. First of all, I had faith in you that you would support it and you did. You supported it with your investments. When we got enough investments, I said, "Well, I told them that we need to go into real estate. I'm not going to ask them; Can I buy this facility?" They done already...We had a big meeting outside of Illinois. And at that big meeting, it was unanimously agreed upon that real estate would be good for us to go into. So, we have bought some properties and the most profitable piece of property we have bought, we have bought about three or four now, I think, is the facility where ComTrust, CPC, ComTrust is.
Its future is great. I foresee that within a year to a year and a half, we're going to reach our capacity there, and Allah blessed us to buy that property on land that will enable us to put two more facilities of that size on that land.
So, we don't have to move yet, but we've already got an invitation from business Brothers, good business Brothers in Detroit, and one in south. And we have studied very carefully, but if we are convinced that they'll be responsible to us for operating the same kind of operation that we had in Markham, Illinois, we will support them opening the same operation.
We are not here to hold everything in our arms. No. We want to let things go. As soon as we know it's good and it's good for everybody, we want to let it go and let everybody take it. There's no, there's no headquarters for this. The headquarters is where the best operation is going on. That's where the headquarter is. And it can be in your town or our town.
Yes. My Brother, Elijah Jr. or Elijah Muhammad II I prefer to call him, because in Arabic and among Muslim speaking people they don't say Jr., they usually say, the second like that. He helped me by bringing me a lot of valuable information. He had experience, knowledge and experience from the past as the Assistant Supreme Captain. He worked directly with the foot soldiers selling newspapers, selling fish and whatever. And he was also working in the bakery and in the businesses, and working with my father and sitting with my father in business meetings, and with Shareef, Raymond Shareef and the other business people. So, he's well acquainted with what went on in that time.
So, he brought me information that helped me a lot to know what is out there to help us. What kind of information is out there, etc. And he also brought me help in persons. He brought a brother who worked in businesses and who had previously had his own deli. And at the time, the brother was driving trains, driving the local trains. But he came and he helped us. He was also working in the big supermarket operation in the neighborhood where my father moved and where I grew up as a teenager... where I finished growing, I should say, as a teenager and young man.
The co-op, they call it Hyde Park co-op, big, big, impressive operation. I mean, it looks like it's a half a block or more the store. He worked there. So, he came and he looked at what was going there and said, "Well Brother Imam, we going to need this, we going to need that." And said, "If I was you...if I was you, I put a deli in that little space back there." And right away, he didn't have to say anymore to me, I instantly saw that a deli would be perfect in that space. So, we put a deli there and we started to grow a little bit right in that place...right in that place.
Then along came Brothers... Brother Rafah was instrumental in attracting Brothers, Rafah Shamsiddeen S Muhammad, who is my assistant, now he's not. But if he ever gets his health back out, I'll be happy to welcome him back. (Allahu Akbar). He brought us two Brothers that have been a big help to get us started and to keep us going. And if he's here, I want him and his wife, two wonderful people, business people got enough business to keep them busy. They aren't looking for work. But they loved my father, they supported him and they love his son.
And they're supporting me and you because it's the Community that we are really interested in. We didn't support The Honorable Elijah Muhammad just for The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We supported him because he said "We're building a Nation". And you're not supporting Imam W. D. Mohammed just for Imam W. D. Mohammed. You see, I stood when they said, "Who?" I stood like I, you know, and they're talking about me, right? Why? Because the private Wallace D. Mohammed, W.D. Mohammed, that private person would be right now sitting in a movie, eating some fresh popcorn. Or I'd be somewhere else. I'd be somewhere else.
I remember I was in love with a Muslim sister. Lorraine...Lorraine Washington, Lorraine X Washington. And the first time I saw her, I lost my mind. And that sister...that Sister, man, I loved her so much. I told her... one hot summer day, I was with my brother, Elijah, a former assistant Supreme Captain. We were working. Elijah told me how much he cared about his girlfriend, Sylvia, at that time. And I told him, I said, "Elijah," I said, "If I could take Lorraine and make her an ice cream cone," I said, "I'd suck her all the way down the street. All of it down the street." I was gone. Yeah.
But if she was here right now, she'll tell you, on Sundays when he had to go to preach, I don't care if she kept me crying all night long. And sometimes, she did. One time, my brother woke up and he was kind of smiling, just like he's doing now. Wasn't nothing but about 17. No, he had to be about 20, maybe. No, not that old. He might have been 19. Might have been 18, 19, because I was just about 17 or 18. Yeah, about 19 maybe. And we slept together in the same room at my parents’ house. And he woke up and he said, "You...you prayed all night long." (Laughing) And I... look, I didn't... back then, you know, we didn't pray the way that Muslims prayed. All I knew is that they put their head on the floor. Well, I started out like this. I got on my knees. I put my head on the floor in Sajdah. And that's where I stayed for hours. In Sajdah. You know I had it bad, didn't I?
But if she was here, and he can tell you too, if she was here, believe me, she can say no matter what kind of condition that boy or man, young man was in, when he went and spoke from, on that rostrum, no one could tell that anything was wrong. I wouldn't let it affect the bigger cause. That's what we all have to do. No matter what kind of problems you're suffering personally or as a family, don't let it affect the big cause.
Yeah, if they're present, we just want them to see you, please. We want to see those who ask us for nothing and give us everything that they can. Brother Naim Muhammad from Milwaukee and his wife Latifa Muhammad. Here he is, right here. I didn't see him. There he is. Praise be to Allah. And the wife, your wife with you? I know she's here somewhere.
Brother Naim Muhammad:
As Salaamu Alaikum.
IWDM:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam.
Brother Naim Muhammad:
I wish my wife were here. She's here, but she's shy. (Clapping and laughing)
All right. Praise be to Allah. These are wonderful people. And the business people and leaders, the business, you have investors and everything, you'll be seeing them. You'll be seeing them, Brother Naim and his wife, Sister Latifa.
Brother...the butcher, Brother Abdul-Raheem. He came in too, when it was very dark. But him making the major sacrifice that he... that the other three, the Butcher who was working with him already mentioned, joined us. We start seeing more and more light. Brother Raheem, please come and stand here please.
Brother Raheem:
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabeel Alameen. Ash-hadu an-laa ilaaha illallah wadahu la shareeka la wa ash-hadu anna Muhammedan abduhu wa rasooluh. I bear witness that there is no G-d but Allah. And I bear witness that Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, is His Servant, and His Messenger.
As Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. I'd just like to thank Imam W. D. Mohammed for giving me the opportunity to serve the Believers and the Community. And I asked Allah to bless me to do this. I asked Allah to bless me to help Imam W. D. Mohammed. And this was something, you know, 10 or 15 years ago. And I knew if you asked Allah for something and be patient, He would give it to you. Till I never thought that it would come, because at the time what I had in my mind is when we were going to Eljiahville. That's what I was, that's what I was asking Allah for. You, see? When you ask Allah for something, you have it in your mind that this is what you want, but that's not the way Allah works.
So, Allah, you know, blessed me to be here today. And that's why I say, whatever time that Allah give it to you, you have to be ready. So, He prepared me to be ready and I'm ready to give my life for the cause. (Allahu Akbar). As Salaamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi.
IWDM:
Praise be to Allah. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I'm going to change it from...after this Convention, it won't be, "We can't stop now." It'll be, "We can't be stopped now." Praise be to Allah. Praise to be Allah. Allahu Akbar.
When Allah had revealed to Muhammad the Prophet the Guidance and had exposed the satan and his schemes, and had made the Believers feel comfort in their hearts and souls that Allah was establishing them. The Revelation came and said, "Those who have desired to keep you from your way of religion, they have despaired. Of any hope...they have lost all hope." (Laughing) Yes. Praise be to Allah.
So, to put that in this real simple language, G-d was telling Muhammad and the followers back then, Peace be upon Muhammad, He was telling them, "You can't be stopped now." They have given up all hope of stopping you. And sometime, the worst enemy is right in our own hearts and souls, right in our own thinking.
Yes, we are living in a great time. And I can't say that enough. We're living in a great time for the minorities, for the little people. If you'll just have the courage to come together... See big fish in business and church everywhere, they say that big fish eat the little fish. That's true. The big fish does eat the little fish. But you let enough little fish get together, the big fish ain't going to bother. I guess if a whale saw two miles of little fish, that whale will keep moving, going on about his business. Because just the sight of it will turn him around, all those little fish together. Yes. So, in our numbers, when we have big numbers doing something as little people, our numbers make us a big fish. Separately, we are little fish. CPC is no little fish. And it's growing to be bigger and bigger.
Yes, specialization is a time that's here now. Years ago, I told you, when I was going to start out, I said, "If we support the collective buying, and you who get benefit from it, you back it, you are able to purchase at a lower price, get a facility. And one of you sell ties, another one sell shoes." I said, "And you all get together, you share the costs, you share the overhead, and you will be paying a small amount to be operating in a very nice attractive store." Well, that time is even greater for us now for us to specialize.
And the butcher Brother Farid, who's not only a butcher and a meat cutter, but he's also a visionary. He told me it was years ago that he saw the picture of how we can diversify and go in to different businesses as a supporter of the "Mother", whether that be called the Nation of Islam, but now it's CPC. The Mother distributor. Supporting it, we can do it.
Look, he mentioned certain things, but I know, I know myself, okay? I can't sell what I don't believe in. But I can sell what I believe in. I believe I could just take one product that we are having and get rich. And this is the time for it. See, people will go to jewels and those places, and they'll go to a restaurant that has everything on the menu, and some people love that. But the majority of the people, if you sell chicken wings, nothing but chicken wings, you become the chicken wing city or the one stop chicken wing, whatever you want to call it. (Laughing). Or Mr. Chicken Wing, you know, whatever. Believe me, you going to be successful. You'll have customers, you'll have customers.
So, we got several products. I remember a shrimp business. White shrimps. They were very popular. You remember white shrimp? Very popular. Nothing but shrimp. Then later on, they start having some fish. And I guess they added too much and they disappeared. Yeah, so people get to know you for one thing. They say, "Well, I know they good at that. That's one thing, they ain't doing anything but one thing." So, they figured that you the best at that one thing.
So, let's take it from W. D. Mohammed, Wallace D. Mohammed the lay psychologist, the lay psychiatrist, the lay scientist, the lay a lot. Take it from me. Go and into...take one product. No more than two, but make one your feature product. Just make one your feature product. If you have anything else, let it compliment it, but not... don't let it be the picture of your business. Let the one thing be the picture of your business. And you can support it with slaw and coleslaw and other things, and maybe even another meat product, but always keep that one low and behind. Keep one out front that you specialize in it, you'll be very successful. And we say insha'Allah, yes, insha'Allah.
But if you were Prophet Muhammad, and G-d says, "We are going to teach you so that you will know." Can you imagine Prophet Muhammad saying, "Insha'Allah"? That was G-d Speaking to him. That was the "Shaa". That was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit speaking to him. So why should he say insha'Allah? No, he wouldn't say sha'Allah. That would be stupid of him. He'd fall on his face and never wake up again. So, some things you shouldn't be saying insha'Allah. Allah's been waiting on us for about 1 million years to get our own selves and our own soul in the condition that we are in now. He's been waiting on us, to put us on top of the world overnight. So, you going to say insha'Allah when it's... the "Shaa" has been working for a million years? (Takbeer. Allahu Akbar).
Yes, our African American farmers, we are reaching out to them and we just didn't start. And we don't have yet relationship, business relationship, with them that we want. But we are not giving up. And Bishop Luke Edwards is one of the African American farmers that we have visited. And there is a possibility, a good possibility, that he will soon have his own fish ponds. When I say he, I mean his congregation under his leadership, under his great leadership. They will soon have fish ponds and they will soon be raising chickens. And Insha’Allah, we... I say Insha’Allah for this because it's a little different. Yeah. Because we have to be ready and they have to be ready. So insha’Allah, in the near future, we will be discussing a business relationship for CPC and ComTrust with Bishop Edwards and his...




