05/25/1997
IWDM Study Library
The Quran: The Light to Community Life

By Imam W. Deen Muhammad
Speaker: As-salamu alaykum, peace be onto you. We praise G-d, we say, Al-hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin. Praise be to G-d, the Lord cherisher, sustainer of the worlds who cares about all of His creation, especially His human creation. We witness that He's one, there's no partner with Him in the rule of the heavens and the earth. We witness that Muhammad, to whom the Qur'an was revealed about 14 centuries ago is the seal of the prophets, the last of the prophets, the seal of the prophet mentioned in the Torah, the book that was given to the Jews. Jewish people called Jews now.
Also mentioned in the Injil, that is the scriptures given to what is known as the Christian world today. The two scriptures, our prophet is mentioned in both of them. He's mentioned in those scriptures-- Well, the words of Allah, the words of G-d in the Qur'an says that he is the unlettered prophet. The unlettered prophet mean that he was not tutored or educated. He had no formal education. No one tutored him, he had no teachers, he had no formal education. He's an unlettered prophet, the prophet mentioned in the scriptures.
He is the one that comes, according to the Qur'an, to break all the bonds of slavery, to free us from all forms of slavery, all forms of slavery. We pray the prayers and the peace be upon him, as they say in the language of Islam or Quranic language. G-d says, salute him with the prayers and peace, and do it often. Salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, we say, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the prayers, and the peace be upon him.
We are happy to be here and very pleased to be here in Harrisburg and releasing our growing model community in this southern part of the United States. The New Medina model in Harrisburg. We congratulate the community here with your imam and your helpers who have been with you from day one, I think. I'm referring to Dr. Ali and the others who worked together to make this possible. It is a growing effort, I see it developing very nicely. A beautiful message you have now, big change from what it was when I was here last, big change. I see growth for the land also, growth for the center and growth for the land. Many more animals I'm seeing now on the land, and new homes, new houses on the land. We very much encourage. Again, we would like to salute you and your leaders and the efforts here in New Medina, Harrisburg.
We are going to be speaking on community growth and development under obedience to G-d, or through obedience to G-d. Where do we begin as Muslims to present this matter? We begin with Muhammad the prophet himself, prayers and peace be upon him, who was the persecuted man, persecuted by his own hometown people, the people of the city called Mecca. He was persecuted by them. They tried to really get rid of him and his followers.
They tried on more than one occasions to actually kill him and on another occasion, they tortured him so much so that the reports say that as he was walking they could hear the sound of the blood in his sandals. As his feet would press, press, press upon the sandal, they could hear the sound of the blood. He went away bleeding, they stoned him and told him to leave the city and he left bleeding.
That was from the city called Ta'if in the mountains. He went there to invite those wealthy people. They were more wealthy people of Ta'if in the cooler region there and where there was more agricultural growth, food orchards, they were doing better there. He went to invite them to Islam and they rejected him before they could even hear him out. They wouldn't even hear him out. They rejected him and tortured him, stoned him. The same man eventually had to leave Mecca. Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, he had to leave Mecca. They boycotted the prophet and his followers, they refused to sell him and his followers anything.
They barely existed and it was so hard on them and so the people who were old and fragile, many of them just died out. With those persons who were fragile was the wife of the prophet and at that time the only wife he had, Lady Khadijah, she died, may G-d be pleased with her. She died and the prophet finally received an invitation from the people of Medina who had heard about his message. They told him, "Why should you stay here and suffer like this and be rejected like this? Why don't you come to Medina? There are people there who welcome you. You can come and establish your mission in Medina." The prophet accepted the invitation to come to Medina and he went to Medina.
He had to really go out undercover-like because the Meccans were pursuing him, they were on his trail and they wanted to kill him before he got to Medina, but Allah's help came and saved him. They were diverted, they thought he was lost, they gave up searching for him.
What protected the prophet was as you know you read in Qur'an was a spider's web. He and his companion, his friend, Ab? Bakr a?-?idd?q, they had gone into this cave to hide from the Meccans who were pursuing them, on the trail after them. G-d caused the spider to build the web over the entrance on the mouth of the cave. When the pursuers came upon that cave, they looked at it and one of them said, "Well, he can't be there. He can't be in there because there this web over there. There's web there." That's where he was. That's where he and Ab? Bakr were. They were in that cave protected by the spider's web.
Finally, He came to Medina with his camel. They were asking him where would he like to stay, with whom would he like to stay, to pick the home or the homeowners that he would like to stay with and he told them wherever his camel would stop. He let his camel loose. He loosed his camel and he says, "Wherever my camel stopped that's where I will stay." Where his camel stopped, that's where he stayed. The work of building a society, the work of building the Islamic society, the Islamic community known by all of us as the Ummah. The work of building the Ummah began there.
It began upon his arrival in the city called Medina and now it is called Mad?nah al-Munawwarah, the city of the light. Medina means city. That name Medina means city and it is called Mad?nah al-Munawwarah, the city of the light. It is also called the city of the prophets. It was called both the city of the lights and also, city of the-- Actually, the word is not light, it's emitting light. Light that's coming out in rays, coming out and going in all directions. It really means the city of enlightenment. We know that the prophets had an experience that's reported to us in our Holy Book. Before coming to Medina he had an experience.
The experience is called the ascension and the travel. He was taken up by night according to the words of Allah in the Qur'an. He was taken up by night up into the seven heavens. He was shown Adam, the first man, peace be upon Adam, in the first level of the ascension. He was shown on the second level of ascension the prophets Jesus Christ, peace be on him, and John, peace be on him, in the second level.
He was shown the third level and there was the prophet Joseph, peace be on him. The fourth level, Idris, called Idris in the Qur'an. The prophet Idris. Some of the scholars say Idris is Ezekiel of the Bible but that's not concluded. There's no final word on that. He was shown the fifth level and there he saw the prophet Aaron, the brother of Moses. On the sixth level, he saw there the prophet Moses, peace be on the prophets.
He went to the seventh level and there he saw the prophet Abraham, peace be upon him. He himself was the eighth. He ascended up through seven levels and he himself was the eighth one and G-d says, "And eighth holds up the throne". This is the Holy Qur'an, Revelation, our Holy Book. "And eighth holds up the throne." The prophet Muhammad was the eighth of them. Eighth in this picture.
When G-d caused him to go up to the seventh heaven, then G-d caused him to be sent in travel to Jerusalem where the dome of the rock is now, to Jerusalem where the masjid, the dome of the rock is. He ascended there and Allah says, "And it was G-d who took his servant up into the heaven and caused him to make the travel, took him on the travel to the sacred precincts in Jerusalem."
When he returned from that experience he was ready, G-d had done finish the preparation of him. He was ready then to be the leader of a new world order. Yes, a new world order. Islam became the new world order. It was a new, completely new ideology, completely new idea of government and society. It's too much to trace the history of that movement from that early and humble and very simple beginning maybe. Again, it wasn't a simple beginning but we know today there are over one billion Muslims following that man.
That man who was persecuted and chased out of-- actually rejected by his own city but he lived to be successful and victorious, came back into the city victorious. Came back into his hometown Mecca victorious with 10,000 strong supporters. Instead of punishing his enemies who rejected them, G-d presented him to his enemies and to Muslims and to the world, as we find David, Dawud presented in the Bible. Who when he had the opportunity to punish his enemies he forgave them.
The prophet Muhammad forgave his enemies and he told them if they would accept the peace-- He didn't tell them they had to become Muslims. If they would accept the state of peace-- that was a new state, that was the state of Islam. If they would accept the state of peace then they would have protection as citizens of that state. If they were Jews they could continue to be Jews, if they were Christians they could continue to be Christians, if they were Sabians, another religion that's mentioned in the Qur'an, the could continue to be Sabians.
All they had to do is just respect the state of peace. Be peaceful citizens. Don't try to undermine or bring down the new government or cause trouble for it. That's all they had to do. He said, "Let there be no more spilling of blood. All the times of the past are forgiven. Let there be no more spilling of blood". This was our prophet. Then did he chose to say,-- Well, I'm home now. I'm going to stay here. You can't put me out. No, he told them that he chose to go back to Medina. That's where he would make his home.
He actually went back to Medina and that's where he lived until he died and he's in paradise and he's on earth. He's on earth in every true follower. He's on earth in the Qur'an and he's on earth in every true follower. But he as a person is gone, he's gone from here and he's in paradise with G-d in the presence of G-d. Praise be to Allah. This is a little quick reflection or a quick look at how Muhammad came to his big job of establishing a new world order. In the first was a city and we know even today the most progressive feature or dimension, or progression, in the building of society is city.
That's where you expect the most achievement. Most achievements you find in the city. The people are more build up in the city than they are anywhere else. That's where you find the heaviest burden on the society, the heaviest burden on the government. The most laws, the most activity, that's where you find it, the city. Really the city is really the goal of society so to speak, isn't it?
The aim of the society is to come to that development where you can manage city life. Meaning, manage people in close quarters with each other and in great numbers and service them and service their needs. A city starts sometimes from just a few people, very few people. One family coming, another family coming, and pretty soon you have a city, you have a little town. After a while, it grows over it become a city maybe in time, it becomes a big city.
New Medina, we don't know what's going to happen there. It might expand into a big town. Maybe it will have as many people in it one day. If it could expand buy more land, keep expanding, it will have as many people living in it as Harrisburg has in it right now. Who knows? That could happen possibly. You don't have to have it all right there because there are some cases or situations where towns are not all joining. They have a piece of land here then they're separated for a distance and there's more land but it all belongs to that town. They're all living in that town all under that local city government. That can happen it could easily happen.
The topic is that what we're addressing is community growth and development in obedience to G-d. The prophet Muhammad, how did he begin to establish this new society? He used the word of G-d. The word of G-d was his guide. For us as Muslims, our first importance should be on following the Qur'an to develop our community, to have our community plan.
Our community plan should not be written before we have good minds and good brains and good people who can look in the Qur'an and coach us and advise us, counsel us so that we don't develop something that will be rejected by Islam or rejected by our G-d, Allah. This is how it should be done. The prophet is living model in history. He's a living example, a living demonstrator, a living model of how we should proceed to actually bring that to life, to realize it.
The prophet began by putting his emphasis on literacy and education. The first words of the Qur'an, the first words from G-d to Muhammad, peace be upon him, was, "Read" and he replied to G-d, to angel who was the medium bringing the words from G-d. "Read," and the prophet replied, "I am not one who can read." The command came again to the prophet, "Read." He replied again, "I am not one who can read." For the third time it came, and the third time it says, "Read in the name of your Lord or your guardian evolver."
Of course, it doesn't mean in fact the same thing as Lord but for want of a better word for want of a word that's one word that could say something, they said that the translators translated it Rabb. The word is Rabb, in English Lord, because people who followed the Christians, who followed the Jewish people, they translated it Lord-- Rabbis used to be called Lord, and Rabboni as the derivatives of that Rabbi, it means Lord or my Lord.
They followed that and they said Lord, but the meaning of Lord has changed from those times till now. We have Lords of London [laughs] They're political bosses, right? They're political officials. They are called the Lords of London, the political officials.
This word has changed its meaning. That's why in the commentary of the Qur'an where explanation is given or further meaning is given, the translator attempts to explain what Rabb means more. They explain it as meaning one who is responsible for something existing.
Also provides the care for that thing that they are responsible for so that that thing progresses, grow, develop, mature as it should develop or mature until it becomes fully matured for its responsibility. For everything in creation, all matter is evolved. All matter is brought from a simpler state to its final state, to its most developed state, all matter, all things, including man, life or everything.
This G-d is responsible for the existence of things. He is the one who designed these things to grow and develop until they reach the final state for their existence, the final development for their growth, the final end for that growth and development. He's the one who even after that if that existing thing, especially the human being needs Him, He will come to the rescue. He's never out of reach. He's never too far away to know what is happening to His creation. When needed when it's necessary, He will come to the aid of a creation even after you've become grown and think you know everything and think you are your own boss and think you don't have G-d over you.
You get in too much trouble that same G-d will come and try to get you back on the right path [laughs]. Wonderful G-d, this is the Lord, this is Rabb. He is Lord of all the world. But look, how this language was given to Muhammad, the first words of G-d to Muhammad, "Read in the name Bismi", "Read in the name of your Lord." But it didn't say, "Read in the name of your Lord, Allah."
The first words of revelation did not give Muhammad the proper name of G-d, Allah before the complete name of G-d that holds all the meanings, all the names, all the attributes. He wasn't given that. He said, "Read in the name of your Lord who created." So the first understanding and perception of G-d, a concept for G-d that Muhammad received was G-d as the creator, G-d as the creator. ?kra bismi rabbikelleziy halak, "Read in the name of your Lord who created." When this was read to Muhammad, Muhammad was able to read. That enabled Muhammad to read.
When He said it for the third time, it wasn't just, "Read," but it said, "Read in the name of your Lord who created," and then Muhammad began reading. Something about introducing G-d as the creator and instructing Muhammad to read, that enabled Muhammad to begin reading. From that time he began reading, Muhammad the prophet. Praise be to Allah and the peace and blessings be upon Muhammad the prophet.
Now, why am I saying this? I am saying this to give you my position or my opinion. My position or my opinion is this, that if we want to make great progress that will enable us to have the growth and development and the life, the destiny or the fulfillment of life for us on this earth that we want because our nature urges us to have that. If we are to have that, we have to understand this real world and its relationship with its designer. It didn't design itself, G-d designed it. It didn't plan itself, G-d planned this creation.
We need that understanding. We need to understand G-d as the creator, the one that did all of this and as the Lord who takes things and cares for it, design for its growth, its maturity and then takes care of it to see that it realizes the fulfillment of its life plan, the plan for its life. That it realizes the fulfillment of the plan for its life. The plan for man's life is to be able to manage life in community. That's why Allah says to us-- Am I with you or are you with me? I hope so, I'm with you. I'm straining like hell to be with you.
[laughter]
Yes. That's why G-d tells us in the beginning of the creation how we were created, how the first people were put here. G-d gives us a picture of what? Man and woman having children. The Christian world says, Adam and Eve. We say Adam and his mate, and some will also say Eve, they call her Hawwa. A man and his wife, or a man and his woman, or a husband and his wife having children that's how it all started. G-d says, "And from them came many children spread near and far abroad." G-d is telling us that we are a family. That's what G-d is saying that the human people taken all together we are a family with two first parents.
If we are family, what does that suggest to any family? We live together, we're supposed to live together, we're supposed to live for each other. That’s what it's saying, a family that the whole lot of people on this earth, the total Community and number of people on this earth are really one family from one ancestor. We should be as a family. We should care about each other. We should want to live together. We should want to see all the members of the family in a good state and having a good future. That's how a good family is.
What we have is not mine, or mine's and my brother's, but what we have belongs to the family. When the old die off they are supposed to pass it on so the young inherit from them. This is the traditional behavior of good families. Am I right or wrong? When G-d is telling us this, he's telling us how to have life on this earth in community, so if we have these sensitivities we can make a lot of progress.
If we go and just want to have community life, we want to build a town and all we're thinking about is nice streets, nice living quarters, nice stores providing us for our needs and whatever, if we just thinking like that of the city its own limits itself and its own limits, but we are not thinking of the human life that requires the city, that eventually requisitions are asked for city. When I'm saying city now I'm saying for organized society, asking for an organized society where we won't be in conflict with each other, where we won't be doing things haphazardly, where we won't have a red light on a two-lane highway and nothing but a slow down sign on a six-lane highway that's interrupted by streaks every four or five blocks apart
[laughter]
It doesn't have somebody agreeing as to how this is going to be done. We will design that town to finish us off [laughs]. It will be designed to make us have accidents and kill each other. We'd go crazy. Yes, so we have to have a sense of order, sense of order, rule, law for the whole. This is what G-d wants us to know and in a family, a good family that's what you have.
You have a mother responsible for the home, the house, household, responsible for little children and have a father she can consult if he has more to offer for the home that she has, and she consults him. But his main job is to go outside and seek more support for that home. His main job is to be a field man. Not a domesticated man, a field man. He's suppose to be going out to get more support for that home. Yes. This is what we want for the society.
Again, the emphasis is on education because the more your mind develops the more your whole world can develop. The smaller your mind the smaller your world's going to be. Education is the number one priority. Education respecting G-d who provided it all. He provided everything. All the knowledge is provided by G-d. We can't get any knowledge except from that that G-d did. G-d did this earth, He made it. G-d did the sky, He made it. G-d did the living things and the dead things, inanimate things, the rocks and the stones, and everything, the rivers, the waters, the oil that flows underneath the soil, everything. G-d did it.
If we're going to have any knowledge including us-- G-d did us. If we going to have any knowledge, you have to look for it in what G-d did. That's what G-d means when He said to Muhammad. That's what Muhammad grasped when G-d said, "Read," and he kept saying, "I can't read. I don't know what you're talking about, G-d." When G-d said, "Read in the name of your Lord," Muhammad spoke Arabic. Nobody had explained to him what Lord means. Rabb. Nobody had explained to the Muhammad what Rabb meant because he spoke that, that was his language, he was an Arab.
When G-d said to him read in the name of your Rabb who created, then Muhammad understood what G-d meant, "That I am to respect the G-d that made me and everything else and I am to read what he did." Hey, are you with me? I am to read what he did. That's the beginning of science. That's the beginning of a scientific attitude and a scientific approach. When you look at the external world, and yourself as part of the external world, as in the make up too of the external world. You look at that as something that you should read. What is another word for read? Study, to find communications, exact communication that's in that thing you're studying.
G-d created everything to communicate what it has to the intellect of man. I should repeat that. You got to get that. G-d created everything to communicate what it possessed, what it has to the intellect of the human being. Did get it? Maybe you need three times like Muhammad got it. G-d made you and everything you visualize or can not visualize but it exists, G-d made it to communicate to your mind, to your rational thinking mind. What it holds, what is possesses for your benefit, for human benefit.
Saharalakum maa fi samawathi wa maa fil arli. He made to be of use to you in your society, your community, in your life, everything you can visualize in heaven and on earth, this is the G-d. If we have leaders in education, if we have leaders in industry and science, we have to organize. Muhammad the prophet is called a man like Moses, peace be on the two of them. Moses too was not educated. Moses said, "Oh G-d, release, untie the knot in my tongue." That meant that he was not educated so he could not speak, articulate. He could not speak knowledge and wisdom. He was not schooled for that. He said, "G-d, Oh G-d, untie the knot in my tongue”.
Muhammad too couldn't read. In a way it's saying the same thing. What did G-d do with Moses, peace be upon him? G-d gave Moses the enlightenment on the mount of the Sinai, Tur Sini in Qur'an. He gave him the enlightenment and he came down with it and what did he do? First thing he did, he gave the people law for their behavior so they could have a peaceful society, an orderly society where citizens wouldn't be fearing what another citizen would do. The law, we say, but after that what he do?
He then called for the people, the leaders, the professional people of his society. He calls for the doctors, he wanted the doctors, he wanted the lawyers, he wanted the musicians, he wanted to iron workers. He wanted all of these people to come together and then he started to tell them how he wanted the new world, a new society to operate. You will be responsible for this, you'll be responsible for that, you all are under one law. Same thing Muhammad did. Same thing we have to do. If we want to see growth and development for our vision of community life in America, Muslim neighborhoods that are Muslim populations living the same way no matter where you find it.
If you go to Los Angeles, if you go to Canada, out of the United States or you go come to Mississippi to Harrisburg or you go to Chicago, wherever you go, you see the Muslim neighborhood looking the same. Same design, same pattern, same behavior, same permissible and not permissible [laughs]. The same Halal and Haram. If this thing is wrong in this neighborhood of Muslim, it'll be wrong in the neighborhood 2000 miles away and in Los Angeles from Chicago, 2000 miles. That's what Nat Cole says, "2000 miles all the way on route 66." Your society is the same everywhere [laughs].
This is what we want. If we are going to have that then we have to do the second thing. Don't just take the Qur'an, take the [unintelligible 00:43:13] and the guidance and the knowledge that is in the religion. That’s not enough. You need the leaders. You have to find leaders, organize leaders and hold them responsible for their area of knowledge and experience and expertise.
This calls for agreement, cooperation, unity. That's why G-d says, "And your community is one United Community, and I am your Lord, therefore, obey me." "Ummatikum ummatanw waahadatanw wa Ana Rabbukum fa'buduun." This your community, it is one-- They say one community. It means more than that. It means one United Community. It is a United Community. That's what the one means for the community. This your community is the United Community.
The founding fathers studied this language and they said, "We want a United States." It was not existing before the Qur'an, this idea [laughs]. Greeks had nation states and they were striving for unity but they didn't use that language. It was the Qur'an that first used that language for society, United States. This your community is "Ummatanw waahadatanw," is a United Community, "wa Ana Rabbukum," and I am your Lord. Don't forget what Lord is now. I am your Lord.
I am the one responsible for your existence. I am the one responsible for your design, for your growth and maturity. I have designed where your life can go or where you can take it. I have designed it as G-d. I'm the one watching you and I will come to your rescue when you can’t help yourself. I want to see you reach the destination. I'm going to care for you all
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[00:45:18] [END OF AUDIO]
START PART 2 
… and you saying, no I'm not going to serve that one, it you believe that that One exists. The One who made your existence possible, and then made all of the growth possibilities, all of the enrichment that's possible for you. He made all that possible and He's standing invisible. You can't see him, but He's present, invisible, watching you, and He's going to let you as a good parent will, as a good father will. He's going to let you fall down and get up. He gave you legs, he gave you muscles, so if you fall you know you can get back up. He's going to let you fall down and get back up. He's going to let you cry and laugh. He's going to let you get desperate and you don't know what the hell to do. When you run out and you know you don't have anything else you can do, he's going to come in and say, "Here I am, get started again. You must go to the destination." That's the G-d. Allah says in the Quran, He says to the person who recognizes his G-d, He says, "Who is more worthy of me worshiping as a G-d than the one who did creation for the first time and repeats it?" He's the one that did it from the very first time. That means the real Creator. No one is worthy to be served except our real creator, the one that made everything and designed its behavior, its nature, and also designed its destiny. This is the only G-d we can worship. Any other G-ds, we're being unfair to G-d and that's shirk, it corruption of worship and it's ingratitude. It's ungratefulness, it's saying, "I don't appreciate it. I'm not thankful." Allah says in the Quran, "the worst of the people are the people that are unthankful" The unthankful people, they are not grateful to G-d that did all this and made it all possible, designed you so well and planned your future to be so beautiful, so rich. The prophet when he knew he was going to lead his people, he said to them, to the ones devoted to knowledge and understanding, he said to them, "Meet me at the fountain of abundance." Because G-d promises abundance and the prophet didn't live to see that abundance, but he told them, "Meet me at the fountain of abundance." What does it means.
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...plan for us. And when we get it, you'll know. Yes. Prophet Muhammad was our leader all the way. When we get there, we won't see ourselves only, you'll see Muhammad. You'll see Muhammad. Here we are, Muhammad, our Prophet, peace be upon you. Here we are. We have reached the destination and we see you. We know you've been with us every step of the way. Yes. I hope you're following what I'm saying. It's going to take people who want to use their brains to get us where we have to go. People who don't care about using their brains, all they can do is wait for us to bring it about so they can enjoy it. They can't help us chart the way. They can't help us develop the plan. They can't help us build the city if they don't want to use their brains. With that I'm saying that the responsibilities have never been on the many, the responsibility is always on the few. When Moses came down, he didn't call the many. He called the leaders. Leaders in every field of interest that was necessary to have a community life. He called the leaders and he charged the leaders with responsibility and he obligated them to bring G-d's word, G-d's direction for them. That's what we have to do. Plan our future. Number one priority is that we study to see if we are in obedience to G-d, or if you're doing something that's not approved by revelation. Study to see if our leadership is following the model of Muhammad and if it is not we have to make it conform to the model of Muhammad. Because he is our leader and the model for our leadership. 
I'm not going to keep this much longer because we have other things we have to do and talk about. It's very important that we don't give all our time to one thing and not even preaching. Really, I'm not preaching. I'm preaching but take the P off, I'm reaching, reaching. Reaching hard. Yes, now, there are many things that we have to say about this city, but I'm going to stop right there. The emphasis from the very start was on studying, knowledge, and reading it as G-d intended for you to read it. The revelation was the light for them to work by. The revelation in Quran that was coming to Muhammad. That was the light for them to work by. After reading, after literacy, raising the reading level which is raising the education, raising the condition for more education. If you can't read, how are you going to be educated? That's what it's doing. Bringing about a condition for growth, academic growth, education, right education, correct education, and after that, then Prophet Muhammad looked. They wanted him to do everything for them. We've had that experience, haven't we? I know a lot of you have been with me a long time. 
We've had that experience. You got to do everything for them. What's wrong, brother?" And then it's time to come out. "Hey, how come you didn't just go on and cough or belch brother?" "I was waiting for the order, brother. I was waiting for permission." [laughs] What I'm saying is to say that you are-- That the average person needs no training, needs no education things that G-d has created you to handle for yourself, you going to wait for somebody from headquarters or central office to tell you it's okay to do it. "So, why you got all the food in your mouth, brother?" "I didn't get a command" [laughs]. I'm exaggerating, I'm stretching it to drive home the point. I want to drive home the point. I wanted to burn it to us [laughs]. Yes, the Prophet, after he had given them the emphasis, he just showed them the interests. He gave them the light from G-d on their mission, the light on the mission. The mission is to bring into existence a new world, a new world order, a new world. After he dropped the light of the Quran and put the emphasis on study, on education, reading, learning to read and improving your knowledge. Then he began to delegate authority, put responsibility on the people who are qualified to carry it, just like Moses did, just like Moses did. They were suffering like those people that I was referring to, without naming anybody, waiting on somebody to tell them when to wipe their mouth and et cetera. They were just like that, so revelation came from Allah, said Muhammad is no arranger of your affairs. He is not here to arrange your affairs. He is a messenger of G-d. He's Allah's messenger. He's not here to arrange your affairs, so once you know the instructions from G-d, you are responsible for taking the instructions from G-d, taking the guidance or the explanation from the Prophet how you should do it. You're responsible to take that and not look for Muhammad the Prophet, peace be upon him, but to take it and be responsible for it. 
Education is the number one priority, so you who are in education, you people who love academic life and love to teach and love to see education improve, you don't need to call Muhammad the Prophet. You call on your colleagues who are equipped like you are equipped, and have the sense and the sensitivity for the work that you have, and you begin to plan it and you build it respecting what G-d has revealed and what the prophet has left with us. That's what needs to be done. You're waiting on the Nation of Islam to be reborn. It ain't going to be reborn. It has died and passed on its responsibility to us, yes. It's just like the caterpillar living its life then it says, "I've gone as far as I can go, I'm not moving as fast as I would like to move, it's taking me too long to reach the flower, I want better equipment right down to modern times."
It goes in to an enclosure and sacrifices its life so that a creature will be born fit for the destiny. The caterpillar is gone, let us butterflies get down to modern times. Let us do more than just walk and crawl, let us fly, let us have the more speedy way of traveling. Progress, that's all, it's not the butterfly, but a great thrust for us that puts us in a situation to make much more progress to do it better and faster and to have a much more beautiful appearance, a much more beautiful form and state of life.
Ain't a butterfly much more attractive than a caterpillar? He's attractive too, but that butterfly is even more attractive. Improvement in appearance and improvement in performance. Now we are much more than butterflies. Just to say that we need to step into another dimension, a dimension of growth and development that will enable us to do things much better, have a much better state of life and to do things much better, and to accomplish much more and much more or in much less time.
Progress, progress modernization. Allah sent Muhammad-- This is concluding that part, then I'm going to quickly go to the second and third part and finish this up, they'll only take a few minutes. I'm emphasizing something here, and if it stays on your mind I'm happy with that. If what I'm giving you now stays on your mind I'm happy with that, it's going to situate you and you who are not situated and wants to be situated it's going to situate you to make much more progress and devote yourself to more holy, more completely to realizing the destiny or the destination that G-d has for us, a community establishment.
Allah says to Muhammad, these people wanted to impose upon him their will, the rulers of that day, they wanted to impose upon him their will, they want him to make a deal with them, they wanted a bargain, say, "Okay, you're determined that you're going to have this. You're determined that you're going to be a messenger of Allah. Okay, well, let's make a deal, let's have a compromise here. You be the messenger of Allah and you also be our messenger." He said, "No, can't work that way, it's all for Allah or nothing."
What was his reply? G-d gave him the reply, "I am a free man in this town. I am a free man in this town, [foreign language] I am a free man in this town." The Yoruba people who got their influence on their language from Arabic in Quran they call freedom uhuru, uhuru, uhuru, freedom, free, uhuru. The word uhuru, in Yoruba, not Yoruba, swahili, pardon me I'm sorry, correction, swahili, comes from ??? in Arabic. Huron say it I am a free man in this town. You all want to see Islam in turbans and in long coats and sandals and things. Silks and stuff. You want to see Islam in Dhikr beads, and you want to see Islam in the rituals, you're missing the great points, the great, great focus points for seeing the whole of Islam. You're so eastern now that you don't even want to find the mission of freedom in the Quran. You don't want to find our mission work to free ourselves in our society in the Quran and in the life of Muhammad and his teaching.
Allah says, when he was denied expression when they were trying to close his mouth, when they were trying to choke his progress when they were trying to imprison the great expression of life that G-d had given to him so it wouldn't grow out of that small confines that they wanted to keep it in. What did G-d say to tell Muhammad to say of himself? "I am a free man in this town." Freedom is a necessity, G-d created the human intellect to be free, it doesn't mean freedom of the body as much as it means freedom of the intellect. G-d created our minds, our rational minds, our thinking, intelligent minds to be free and that's the only way our minds can grow to go to the unlimited boundaries, and go into the unlimited space that's out there for our minds to go into, down here and up in the sky.
The only way we can have that if we insist that our minds must be free. Don't tell me I can't think, don't tell me to read the Quran and not think, don't tell me to recite it and not think. Allah says, "Think, for surely thinking brings great benefits," and that thinking of G-d is the greatest of all. Then Allah said, why? Because if you think of G-d the way Muhammad was told to think of G-d, you're going to connect creator with creation and you're going to read creation as the signs of G-d. G-d said that to Muhammad and to us in the Quran, He said all that we see in existence is the Ayats of G-d, the signs of G-d. Then G-d says to us, in the Quran, taught Muhammad the teacher, that every verse in the Quran is an Ayat and all together they are Ayaat.
What do you do to the ayat or to the ayaat of the Quran? You read them and study them. Then G-d says, everything out there in the heavens that's what He wrote first before He gave you a book by way of communication to man through His own language, speech. He put matter out there in orderly form, made kingdoms of stars, governments of stars that operate together, and respect each other, they don't run into each other.
This government of stars killed that one or destroyed that government of stars, all are there together in orderly form, existing together. Then He looked at us and as the old scriptures say He wants us to be as a star. Having our light radiating from us, knowledge, science. Having our light radiating from, Madinat Munawwara, the city of enlightenment. Having our light radiating from us and respecting another order, another order. We won't be the only order, the people of Pakistan they represent an order an order of development in the Ummah. Yes, and they have their system of stars.
Here you have another one in Egypt, and another one in Sudan, and all over the world Turkey, all over the world all of these different orders of stars system of stars, and we are supposed to be ??? ?????, one community united. We're supposed to be existing in same space but yet having independence. Yet having independence. One order or one community of stars will have a central life that is looked upon as the hub for all the rest of them, right? We say the sun and the solar system. The solar system and the sun. The sun is the hub. The hub. All the other planets, nine, they conform to the discipline that the sun imposes upon them. They are in the gravitational pull of the sun. They all stay in their order. Our solar system floats around. There are many galaxies and many other solar systems. They all are conforming to one universal law, Allah is the designer of it all. Marcus Garvey said one day the black people as a community will rise up and take their place in the constellation of the stars. I'm talking about the future vision for Islam in America. I'm talking about the leaders of this being African-American. For this they want to call me racist, I want to say this is not Islamic. I can't help it. If G-d has deposited something in the African-American Muslim that's going to make them leaders in this new world and a model for all other Muslims? That's what I believe and that's what I'm seeing. I have to recognize what I'm seeing. We don't have the professions that they have. We don't have the professional resources that they have yet. No, the Pakistanis, Indians' Muslims, the Arabs' Muslims, the Palestinian Muslims and all, they have much more greater percentage of professional people than we have and they have more wealth, much more wealth than we have. But, we have a condition that they don't have. We have a condition, a condition of soul, a condition of mind, a condition of spirit that they don't have. G-d has rewarded us. G-d has rewarded us now with Islam.
G-d saw that for our suffering, those who remain faithful, those who remain devoted to him, trying to find him, I want to know G-d, I want to be obedient to G-d, I want to know what G-d wants for my life, how I should live on this earth under G-d. Those who kept to that, G-d gives them the reward now. He gives them the best reward. He gives them both love for Islam and devotion to the future for the Muslims. Yes, G-d has done that. We can't change that. My own son. One of my own sons. He's worked on by people outside the community and by some nuts inside the community. He tells me, he's so hurt, he's so burned, they're messing his mind up so much. He says, "Daddy you are supposed to be the leader for the Muslim community. Allah has blessed you to be the leader. The responsibility is more on you than anybody else." So, is prayer important? You have to have the Muslims establish regular prayer. You have to have that. Somebody has to be the leader. Somebody has to be trusted. The others have to have patience. The others have to trust their leader. Then we can be successful, so if you're going tell me I'm the leader. It's morning fajr time and you're not leading the prayer. I know the situation we're in. I know what we need to have the five daily prayers called. We need a situation like Muhammad had in Medina. In Medina.
We need an area that is ours. To establish institutions and employment that would be under us. Then it will be easy to regulate the whole life of that neighborhood so that prayers will be easy. Prayers are too difficult if you don't have a Muslim design for your neighborhood or for your life and society. It's too difficult. G-d wants it like that. We'll be forced to create the city, the towns, the living quarters that respect G-d's revelation. So that we will organize our economy and our industry, our employment and everything so that it is compatible with the guidance of G-d, so that our workday starts, so that it is not difficult for us. As the work day starts, when the sun comes up, so you get up, before the sun up and you make your fair prayer and go to work. Make your fajr prayer, eat your breakfast and go to work. When others are waiting for the lunch break, we've already had our lunch break. We had already had our lunch break. We've had our mid day prayer. When time comes we have mid day prayer. We have our mid day prayer, we go home. We've done our eight hours. Asr prayer and we're finished. We have done our eight hours. We go home, have time with our wives, time with our family, or time to do other work. When the call to maghreb comes, you've been off of work for two or three hours. Maybe four hours. It ain't hard for you to go to maghreb prayer, you waiting for maghreb prayer. 
You ain't doing it alone, if G-d had ordered us to fast in Ramadan alone, it would be nobody fasting but a few spooks floating in the sky. They would be the only the ones who would be fasting. It wouldn't be nobody fasting. G-d ordered us to fast together. When you fast together, it's like doing work together. When you do work together, you have much more energy to do that work, you have your brother there and you're watching him work. If you get a little tired, you look at him and you get a little inspiration from him. You start picking up your part of the job. Right? Picking up on your part of the job. Yes. Allah wants us to have community. Allah wants us to do this together. Allah want us to have five daily prayers in congregation. He doesn't want us to have to go 20 miles to a Masjid, every neighborhood should have its Masjid convenient for the people in the neighborhood. Every workplace should have a Masjid convenient for the workers there. You don't have to go anywhere. You working on this job, just like to bear a ring or whistle rings saying, "Now, take a break." [unintelligible 00:29:28] . Ain't nobody going to dock you." You go there. You go to pray and come back to work. Can't you see that will be much easier for us? Prayer would be much easier. But here you got a neighborhood. They ain't praying. Nobody praying. Ain't no adhan coming through the window. You ain't going to hear no Adhan. Nobody around there is thinking about the Adhan or Islam.
Also the family got to go to work at different times. Here you know what time you got to go. You getting up. I know because I did it. I tried it. You getting up. You just went to bed almost. Summer time. That sun rise early. You just got to bed. This busy life keeps you too busy. Got things to do for the job. Got things to do for life. G-d things to do for wife. Got things to do for children. Things to do for yourself. Things to do for-- You got all these things to do. You go to bed now it's fajr time. You got about three, four, five hours sleep at the most. It's fajr time. You got to get up and pray fajr prayer. You listen to some of these Aliens, space Aliens, you will get up and stand by two hours praying. Two fajr, two sunnah, 50 nafl, et cetera, et cetera. You go to work, the man don't even want you on the job. You come in there and you out of it. You're completely out of it. Yes. I know, I tried it. I've tried it. You go to work. You're all messed up. You work. You're getting weak. Your mind getting weak. After a while if you keep taxing your mind, your mind is going to get weak. Now you're seeing things that don't exist. You're hearing voices that nobody else can hear. You're getting ready to go out of this world. You getting ready to go crazy. You're just trying to do all this. Allah says he didn't come to make things hard for us. He comes to purify us. He wants us to use our intelligence and follow the guidance and Muhammad as the guide so that we can have a society ordered so things won't be so difficult for us. 
Let them condemn me. I don't care. I have patience. I try to explain to people who come to me. Anybody who come to me and say, "Why you don't do this?" Why you don't do that?" I try to explain to them the best I can but I'm not going to let them hold me up. I'm going to keep on the road I'm on until we reach the destination. That's what I'm going to do. Yes, so have faith that we now, Allah has blessed us now to have our spiritual life in pretty good shape. Now Allah is blessing us to have a plan to get wealth. Wealth, W-E-A-L-T-H, wealth. Yes, it's a funny thing. Sometimes they can't even hear me man. They don’t know what I'm saying. They say the Imam can’t speak. What did he say?
[laughter]
Imam: Did you hear the imam say that we aught to welch on the religion brother?
[laughter]
Imam: Our Imam he's messed up brother. He's not following the religion brother. He told us that we have to welch on the religion. So, I spelled it for you. W-E-A-L-T-H.
[laughter]
Imam: Allah is showing us now how we can get wealth. It's not me, not you. Allah is now ready to make us wealthy. You hear what I'm saying? Weal, T-H-Y at the end of it.
[laughter]
Imam: Yes, Allah is ready to make us wealthy. Didn't Allah make the prophet Muhammad wealthy? Had so much wealth and look how trustworthy they were. Had so much wealth that they didn't have this elaborate kind of system we have now. Banking system and all that. The wealth was just piled up somewhere. Money, valuables. Those who need come and get your share. This is Muhammad the prophet and they came and they got their share.
Most of them were so fair and decent that they wouldn't take too much. They took moderate amount, very modest amount for themselves. There's a report that one he loaded himself so much he couldn't hardly move away with it.
[laughter]
Imam: He was made to put some back. He was made to put some back.
[laughter]
Imam: We live in a time now the world is much more developed in technology in terms of technology and systems. Systems have been developed so greatly so much more. We depend on systems. We are going to use these modern systems, these modern systems.
The wealth of the community should be looked at when it comes. Just like they look at the wealth. Take care of the needy. Take care of people who have worked hard so that all of us to realize it. Instead of saying go get what you think you're entitled to. We will ask them, "What do you think is a fair compensation?" Yes, why not? They go, "They may ask for less than what we had planned to give them."
Some of us think a fair compensation is I can make it on $60,000 a year for rendering this service. Good. Sister come up, she says, "I have no husband and I have children in the school and they're difficult for me. I can't find tuition for them. Take her name, sister you pay no more tuition for any child. We're going to get there. Call up the director of the school, "brother director. How many children are on your list that are not able to pay their tuition? 200. Accept them all."
The money is being put into accounts that you would operate on, take care of them all. That's going to come while I'm living in inshaallah. I don't plan to die next year or within the next 10 years. I don't plan to die. In fact I'm not planning to die at all. I'm planning to live yes. I don't expect to die in the next 10 to 20 years. We got to realize this in our lifetime even if you're old as I am. Inshallaah we're going to realize this in our lifetime. We're going to have the wealth for these needs and we are not going to just get this money and forget about what Allah wants us to do with our life. Allah wants us to establish our life as Muslim life in Muslim environments, Muslim neighborhoods, Muslim towns. That's what Allah wants for us.
I'm sure all of you know about Utah, the Mormons town. We're not talking about something that doesn't have a precedence in in American history. The Mormons have their town, they run that town too, don't think they don't. They run it, it belongs to them. The people in Utah lived the way Mormons live. It's open, some other people can live there but they populate that town and that town is ran, established and run from people who are Mormons. That is Utah isn’t it? The Mormons? Yes.
We're not talking about a dream or something we have to say is it possible? It that already has been done. There are many Christian and religious towns throughout America under Christian leadership, under Christian direction. Under the direction of that particular denomination. Under the leadership of that particular denomination. We're not talking about something that has no precedence already in the history of the developments of towns or cities in America. Are you with me? You got to be, if you're not then I'm going to go crazy. Really, I'm going to go stark raving mad. This reality is too strong, if ain't true I'm going to go crazy, if don't want me to go crazy, get with it. We're going to realize this and it isn’t going to take long.
I don't have time to tell you all the things that's been happening very recently. It's so much I'm telling you it's exciting, surprising, but in a way a little bit frightening. That Allah is opening these big doors of opportunity up to us. I know what we are going to come into. 
We live in the world today that is described by the media and now by business world and also by all of us now. Especially organizations devoted to making a contribution to the better future for all people on the earth. Is described as a global village, the Global Village.
This is the time for Islam to go to the limits Allah wants it to go to. Ain't no predicting anymore that Islam, the sun of Islam will go down and rise again. No that was back then but now no. Sun of Islam getting ready to rise for the second time never to set again. Yes, and we are not just the only focus for this resurgence, for this new birth. It's all around the world. It's in countries all over the world. It's happening. Some places happen very quietly, some places it's more expressed. Like in Turkey, the man who was second in the leadership of the government is now first. Because Islam has won. The Islamic party is in power in Turkey now. Yes, wonderful time.
This idea of the earth as a global village is already given to us in the Quran by Allah. He says, "And the people were once one community." That's a prediction in the Quran. That's G-d's telling us what we're going to have to become again. There's going to come a time when the people will again have to become one community. Now we might think it means one community in Islam. No, not necessarily but one community in terms of how people are to live with each other on this earth, in peace, respecting each others religion, respecting each others nationalities or each others ethnicity or each others race. This is what's coming and it's coming fast. The leaders that I'm with are world leaders, world visionaries that I am meeting with. They see the year 2000 or at least by 2020 that we're going to have more peace and more harmony and more agreement between nations and nations, markets and markets, economies and economies, that we're going to have the best time ever on this earth for all people, but the new vision, the new world that is coming it will not excuse healthy, able-bodied persons. They're going to have to find some ways to give some employment to everybody. Now you won't be able to make no union wages if the union is crooked. Allah says-- Now this language is in communism. Communists stole this from the Quran. Allah says, subhanahu wa taala “To each according to his work." The communists took that. They formed a language that says, "You are to be paid according to your work and your needs."
This is in Islam. In other places-- They're not addressed together in Islam but in other places it says that, "G-d provides for each his needs or his or her needs." That's to tell us that the minimum that the society can give to its citizens is necessities of life. You've got to have the necessities of life. Living conditions that are suitable for you, that will allow you to live a healthy life and not be driven insane or driven to crime.
Right to education, equal rights to education and employment and et cetera and to rise up in the system, if you qualify to become the leader. This is Islamic justice. This is Islamic equality. To get the fair pay for your work, what is fair for your work and to respect the worker. This attention on the worker that the communists brought about, they got this out of the Quran. To respect the worker. That the worker has rights and the worker has a dignity and honor with G-d, the worker. Prophet Muhammad says, "Pay the worker while the sweat is still on his forehead or still on his brow, pay him."
Some work don't require any sweat, you're not sweating. What does that mean? That means, when a man has done his work, he's entitled to his pay. Don't tell him to come back tomorrow, "Why? My work is finished today." You see, we're going to have make a lot of changes, don't we? Once we have our own community life in our own hands to design how we work and how we get paid and everything, we're not going to have nobody waiting two days and three days a month, a whole week or next Thursday to get a check and they already worked. Their work is finished. Work is finished get your money.
Now if you say, "Well, I want to get paid every two weeks." and your work is continuous, you're in employment of a person or company or something and your work is continuous, you ain't going to stop. It's a continuous thing, so you can say, "Okay. I like getting paid every week. I like to get paid every two weeks. I like getting paid every month." The boss shouldn't say, "Well, if you want this job, you get paid every two weeks. You want this job, you get paid every month." The boss ought to get with the workers and say, "Can we come to agreement how often we're going to pay? If we're going to pay weekly, bi-weekly or every two weeks or monthly." The workers agree, everyone has a salary after two weeks. Then, okay.
I think a lot of considerations we're going to have to have that are not in the language of this society. We're going to have bring in new language. We're going to have to bring in new sense for what is proper and just. We've got to have a new sense for what is proper and just and everything. I could talk on that for hours and hours, so I'm going to have to shut my mouth. One more point then I'm through. Now, this new world order. This one village. The trend is toward, one world system, economic justice, racial harmony and religious harmony. It means we will be different, but we won't be making trouble for each other
[00:47:04] [END OF AUDIO]

The concept as we have it but what Tawhid is, the world is going more and more toward Tawhid. Tawhid is the belief that one G-d did it all and that everything he made is related. Has a relationship. Nothing is foreign in this thing that He did. Life is one and human life is one. We are one human family and all wealth, originally was provided by G-d and whatever wealth man creates, he creates it because of G-d's provision to him and the resources are there. Wealth ultimately belongs to G-d. All wealth, ultimately belongs to G-d. We can't just have wealth and make decisions of how money is going to be allocated without respecting what G-d wants.
Every human being that G-d made has a share in this wealth. The right to compete with other human beings to acquire the amount of wealth that they are able to acquire. Billionaire, he must be free to become a billionaire. If he has ability to become a billionaire, we cannot hinder him from becoming a billionaire as long as he conducts himself decently and does not deprive anybody else of their right to also become billionaire.
We have to learn what this religion is. Related to modern times and the world that we live in to see what are we to embrace that is in the American way of life or in the system of America. What are we to embrace? What are we to say no, we can't accept that? That will pollute us or that will bring a defect in us if we buy that from the American way of life. We have to know what to reject and what to accept. Our freedom is not exactly American freedom. In fact it's a long way from being American freedom.
American freedom is taken too far. Our freedom is first, the freedom of the intellect, to find how it is to serve G-d's plan. G-d and his plan. That's the first. Our freedom is first the freedom of the intellect. That's where freedom starts for man. Then our freedom is freedom to pursue the destiny that Allah has for us. If anybody wants to block us from that we have to defend our rights to our freedom, we have to fight for our freedom if we have to. We have to shed blood for our freedom if we have to.
Yes, this is Islam. Don't be afraid to embrace Islam. We have to even shed blood, go to war, battle and lose our life to have this freedom if we have to. Allah doesn't want us to lose our life. He wants us to have this destination that's in that this is a community life that he has designed for us that so He says, "If you are prosecuted in one place, then don't say to Allah on the day of judgment or Allah couldn't do this because I was persecuted there."
START 3:38 1-30-19
He says, "My earth is spacious." Spacious? Right now the land that's accommodating our plans for our community life, more than any other land that I know of anywhere, is the United States of America. In my last statement as I close, is that Allah is bringing this world to envision a future that has a welcome to Islam and Muslims who will be true to their religion bigger than it has to anybody else or to any other idea. Thank you very much.
Let us build cities, let us first start by building our families, by supporting our community effort, our centers, our Islamic centers and the efforts of those centers with a projection with a view on having eventually neighborhoods and towns run by Muslims with laws and everything agreed upon by Muslims. All of this could happen. No alcohol or drugs are to be found in- This is a drug free, alcohol free town. No gambling in this town, no prostitution in this town. No perverted acts in this town. If you are seen in the public, you are going to be arrested. Yes, the law will be enforced.
Lord help you if you're found guilty. The only thing that will help you is the permission of G-d but we are going to be trying to execute his will to the letter. Yes, and we can do that. We can do that. Believe me we can do that. Now if somebody that is not a Muslim comes through the town, we have to respect their right not to obey these laws, you know. We tell them, "Do you know what town you're in? Did you know that- you may pass through but next time, if you are caught with liquor or drugs on your possession, you won't see your town for a long time."
Yes, we could do this. Don't think we can't. We can do this. Yes, and if a guy wants to be a freak, in his own bed with the shades down, help yourself but if we catch you in public, before our children do it, we are going to cut your joints off. Thank you very much. May Allah guide us to the destination. As Salaam Alaikum.
[00:07:00] [END OF AUDIO]

