09/27/1992
IWDM Study Library
Human Intellect
University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
The following lecture by Imam Mohammed is entitled Human Intellect Part One recorded September 27, 1992 in Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
Imam Mohammed: As salaam alaikum
Audience : Wa alaikum as-salam
Imam Mohammed: Peace be on you. All praise to the one G-d, the Lord Creator, Sustainer, of the world and we witness that He is, but One alone. That He depends on none for the run of the heavens and the earth. He sustains all things by Himself, needing nothing from any thing that He has created. We witness that Muhammad to whom the Quran was revealed, about 1400 and a few years ago, is the last prophet and Allah's messenger and servant. We salute him with the traditional salute, the most excellent salute ameen.
We trust G-d to bless us with good results from our efforts. We obey his religion that He revealed to us by way of the prophets and completed and perfected with the last prophet. We seek to have innocent and pure intentions and we trusted that Allah will give us the good results.
Before beginning to address the topic, I would like to express something that is on my heart right now. That is to say we congratulate again the Muslim chaplains and the Imam of Champaign here in Champaign, Illinois, Imam Muhammad Abdullah and all those who worked with them to make the occasion last night what it was. That was a very impressive, very impressive occasion.
We'd like to also acknowledge that lecture given by two persons. The lectures were filled with useful information. Especially for me, for us in the ministry and was sincere, sincere, very sincere. That's what impressed me most of all, that the speakers were very sincere and very well qualified and prepared.
They complimented each other. The first speaker, the director, Peters, he addressed the problem of crime, and our youth falling victim to crime and the burden on the taxpayers and how that burden could be lifted and money could be better used.
Then he was complement by the second speaker, Ms. Zalina Harris, who dealt with the conditions before, even the crimes are noticed, or even the crimes are committed. The home condition, the neighborhood, the community condition. I understood her to be placing responsibility or at least trying to get us to see that responsibility is on us and our homes, parents and families, and on the neighborhood, to work to create an environment that will be conducive to good productive behavior instead of self destructive behavior.
I really appreciated the evening, last night, and I just had to make those comments before beginning this address.
It's very difficult to ever see the whole picture of a public figure. Very difficult. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad who made the name Muslim known in the African-American community and the black community and made the name Allah and the name Muhammad and the Quran, the one who made all of that terminology known to us is Elijah Muhammad. I know many of us think we know him or think we knew him. We knew him as a public figure, but few of us knew him as a father, few of us knew him as a husband, like my mother did. Few of us knew him on the basis of just friendship, like some of these brothers sitting before for me here did. I'm looking at some of them right now.
They knew him as not only as a leader, but they knew him as a friend. They knew him as a brother in the ranks with other brothers. They knew him as a friend. When it comes to me, the same thing goes or to any other public figure, we only see what is presented. Most times we are not able to really know the person in an intimate way and get a close up, look at that person to see the human side, to see the private life, the human side of that person.
It's very important to know the human side of a figure that you seek or respect or seek guidance from. If you respect the figure or a public figure and you seek guidance, or respect what that person says enough to let it influence your life, then you should try to see the human side of that person as well. The human side is revealed but it's not the point. The speaker will never make a point of revealing his human side.
If you are a person that's turned on sensitive, you are sensitive to the human side of a person. You can listen to a public figure and also come to know him as the human side of him. You can come to know him in a way that most listeners would not know him. A few did listen to the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and they did come to know him in that way because I know they told me.
When I would be telling them certain things about what I know of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, they would tell me, they would say, "Brother Imam or brother minister,"-- I used to be called brother ministers. Say, "Look, so you know, I saw that in your father. They say, “I knew that too." They start telling me things that they registered and we would begin to feel real comfortable with each other because we were identifying with each other. That we saw something in the Hon. Elijah Muhammad that we thought was very important.
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said, all white people are devils. He didn't discover that someone told him that. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said, a white person is born devil. They can't be born any other way except as the devil. All the babies are born devil, but if he didn't discover that somebody told him that. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said a black man is G-d, the owner, the maker, the cream of the planet, the father of civilization and G-d of universe and he knows every square inch of it. The Hon, Elijah Muhammad didn't discover that somebody told him that.
It wasn't a black man, it wasn't nobody from America. It was somebody from overseas, that said he was bringing the religion, bringing Islam. When we look in the Quran we don't find any of that, that's not in the Quran said, Hey, where is that? We can't find it in the Quran.
He said he was bringing us Islam, and we look in the history of Islam, we don't find any of that, but he said he was bringing us Islam. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad told us many things and he told us, he said, "I am the Messenger of G-d, I'm Allah's messenger." That's what he said, but he didn't leave us to wonder whether he's talking about god, invisible god or god of Judaism or something like that or god of the Quran or anything like that. He made it clear that the god, he said came to me, came in the person of master Fard Mohammad. He said that came in the person a master Fard Mohammad.
He identified the same man that taught him those things. He identified that man as his god, and then he said he was chosen to be the messenger of that god. Now, he didn't leave us a totally dependent upon his god. How come he didn't leave us totally dependent upon his god? Because he told us that his god will live about 500 years. Well, I would like to see my children lived 5,000 years or more. I would like to see my children outlive, the generation of my family outlive that god. He didn't leave us totally dependent on his god. You see, he said his god was going to die one day.
Now, he didn't leave us totally dependent upon his teachings either. He said, "Someone will come after me and bring in the religion. I'm not teaching you religion so much as I'm cleaning you up." He said, "I'm cleaning you up. Getting you ready." He said, "Someone will come after me and bring the religion." He said, "That one that comes may use part of what we have or may not use anything of what we have."
Now should it shock those who believed in him, if they really accept what he's said, should it shock them that now we come with something that is totally different? We've put aside most of what he gave us. We put aside all the Yacub's history. We put aside all those things, and we pick up the Quran, and we put emphasis on the religion.
Whether the Hon. Elijah Muhammad saw this happening exactly as it has happened or not. We certainly must agree that the man must've been in some way psychic. He must've been in some way psychic to predict an outcome that resembles very much what has happened. He said someone will come and give you the religion, teach you the religion, and he said they may not use anything of what we have.
Well, if anybody is really good in his heart and really means well. He will never throw away that that is good. You'll only throw away that is incorrect or bad, and he will keep that that's correct and good. We find that we keep and cherish, and thank Allah for the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and thank him for his good works. We keep and cherish much of his good work and much of his good teachings, because much of his good teachings is applicable right now to our conditions.
We can't raise what he told us, though it be good, and sound, and acceptable. We cannot raise what he gave us above the book that he raised above everything, and that is the Quran. He didn't teach us the Quran, but he did lift the Quran above everything. Even the lessons, even the Yacub's history, everything. I thought I will say that to you before going into my topic.
Now, I want to tell you something else. I realize that I'm on the campus of the University of Illinois here in Champaign Urbana. I realized that perhaps we have a few members of the student body here, or perhaps even some of the faculty might be here, I realize that. I also am aware that I'm looking at people that I grew and became who I am among. I became who I am among you. I'm looking at people who knew me when I was a teenager, that's right. I'm looking at people who knew me when I was a teenager. I can't help but have my mind and heart influenced by their presence.
My talk is going to be flavored a little differently, because of their presence. [laughs] You will find if you really listen closely to me, you who've known my father the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. If you listen closely to me, you will find that we are very similar. We are very similar. The older I get, the more I realize how much I'm like my father, the late leader Elijah Muhammad. Yes, I do. I listen to myself sometime and I say, "That sounds like daddy." Well, that's natural. It's natural that a son should be like his father, that's natural.
I find that even my appetite for certain things. The older I get, the more my appetite get like his. [laughs] I'm not ashamed of it, I'm proud of it. I like it, I love that. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad if I would describe him without bringing in myth. You may call what I call myth. Some of you who haven't studied myth like I studied myth from the following of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, you may call divine science, wisdom, supreme wisdom, or whatever, but I call it myth.
I find that when I'm talking, I tend to be somewhat influenced by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad's ability, his skills to juggle dynamite and oatmeal. Or I should say nitroglycerin oatmeal. He keeps his mind on oatmeal, and he keeps his mind on nitroglycerin and then when he leave, there was no explosion. Nobody got killed, everything was safe, everything worked out fine.
Now, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad also I see him as a man and by that-- and I gave you that little illustration there. Really what I want to say is the Hon. Elijah Muhammad though he had no high school education, no formal education. He never attended high school, and he only went to the third grade of elementary school in the poor south. We can say he had no formal education. He was a man who learned by reading and listening to others, coming in contact with knowledge, that's how he learned. Most of what he learned was from the man that he say came as a stranger, and he was a strange man. The man that gave him his idea for The Nation of Islam, W. Fard Muhammad.
Most of his education is knowledge came as a result of that. Although, he was a person who was reading, and studying, and questioning everything in the early years of his life. We know that from his mouth, and from the mouth my mother, and from the mouth of his mother and my grandmother. We know that he studied and questioned religion, the church and Christianity as a young man. He came from the south like most of our people did to the north, to Detroit.
He came to Detroit with his family, and began working in Detroit. He just continued to study and question. He was influenced somewhat by Marcus Garvey who had his African-American movement before The Nation of Islam ever got to be popular. Also, Drew Ali, Noble Drew Ali who himself introduced a kind of Islam. It was also off brand self made up religion by a person or persons, but it was introduced as Islam.
I think these inventors of these artificial brands of Islam really feared that if they introduced true Islam to America in the black community, in the African-American community, that they would be killed or deported. If they were not citizens of this country, they would be deported or either killed you see.
That's why I think that they were more interested in influencing African-Americans or blacks away from allegiance to the white man and to white world, and more importantly to white man's ideas, and to bring, wean African-American people off of white man's ideas in hopes that the African-American would one day begin to think with self confidence. Think himself on his own with self confidence, and become an independent thinker for himself and for his own people.
I believe that was their intent. If that was their intent, then G-d reward them based upon their good intent. He will reward them. Even though they made terrible errors, in presenting Islam incorrectly. If that was their intent, we are told in Islam, matter are judged by intent. Matters are judged by intent. If you believe you are doing it right and you believe it sincerely in your heart, and G-d will not punish you even though you were doing something wrong, because you were not consciously erring. You were doing what you thought would be good, so G-d will reward them.
If that is true then I expect Hon. Elijah Muhammad will be rewarded with paradise, because he did much more good than a lot of people who call themselves holy and straight. I believe he'll be rewarded with paradise. If Fard was sincere in what he did, I'd say the same thing of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad's teacher. I do believe G-d will reward him with paradise if he was having good intentions, and the feeling that his work would be good, and his intentions is good. Most of all, his intent has to be good.
If you're doing it for money, or for power. No, the intent is wrong. You can't do it for money, you can't do it for power. You got to do it to please G-d, you got to do it for what's right, you see. Not for the material benefits and not for worldly statue or worldly fame? No, that won't work if we do it for that we're sinners and we get the punishment. We go to hell for corrupting religion.
So we who love the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, we should pray for his soul. We should remember him and pray for his soul and we should pray for each other. I know some of you do and I know I do, yes.
Another thing about the Hon. Elijah Muhammad that stands out with me is that he believed in what he believed in and nothing could break him from that belief. Nothing could break him from that belief. He didn't fear any consequences when it came to standing up for what he believed G-d wanted him to do. Nothing could shake him or break him. If Fard said don't eat peanuts they take five years off you life. He might slip and eats some peanuts he said, "Well this are not the red skinned ones" He said," The red skinned are really bad ones, yes." He might slip and eat some peanuts but that's not breaking allegiance to the teacher.
It's importance matters that really count. As long as you uphold the important matters then you are upholding that leader, you're upholding that person. He upheld important matters. He never back off of those importance matters until he was almost facing death and saw a change in America that was so convincing he just had to acknowledge these changes.
He saw America change from one of two laws. One for white people and one for black people to one of one law. He lived to see that. Now some of us right now I realize we have people that blow up things and they say right now we're in prison camps. I hear some blacks talking say we are in prison camps. I don't see nobody with the key to the prison but them but they say they're in prison, they say you're locked up.
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad realized that circumstances had changed so drastically in this country that he had to change his tune somewhat. He began to soften his tune, he began to even appeal to us and I'd never heard him speak like this before when he was speaking to our community he said, "I tell you this and I mean it from my heart" He said, "If the white people can accept you then you accept them." That's what he told us at one of his national conventions.
Now, maybe not his exact words but that's very close to his exact words. If white people can accept us and treat us fairly, be nice by us, then the burden of decency should be on us to at least return the same to them.
A wise man like that he would look stupid getting up there telling you Yacub's history was wrong and this was wrong. He just let you know by his attitude. I have changed my attitude it's time for you to change yours.
The wisdom of Hon. Elijah Muhammad, he stands out for his wisdom, for his psychology. He had a natural ability to rule us, be our leader and rule us with his own special psychology. He had his own special psychology and sometimes we're differed as to that psychology. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said to me once, "Son I know you're going to be the person that you are to be" He said, "But you can never get our people doing something talking soft to them." He said, "Son you have to ride (unclear) what do they call it? [unintelligible 00:24:37] He said, "And you have to have the whip" He said, "You've got to pop it every now and then"
Yes, he was right but I'm not cut out for it but he was right. [laughs] Yes, you get the best results from our people when you don't listen to them, when you talk to them and don't listen to them. When you give them orders and don't accept any excuses. When you be the only superior and they are all inferiors. You get the best results from our people.
Now I hope that day will change but it hasn't changed yet. It isn't quite as bad as it used to be though. It's changing but that's the description of us. Not only that, we like to be led by false people. Yes we do. We like to be led by false people. The more phony he is the more we like him and the more we give him.
We go and listen to him and just enjoy it and get up and give him $100 even if we've got nothing but $2 left. We give them $100 into the offering. Big phony. We'll buy him the latest car and the most expensive car, dress him up so he looks like the (unclear) pimp of the United States. Looks like he's pimping everybody that's available to support a pimp.
He got the wardrobe, out of site wardrobes and rings and everything is loaded with sparks. He's sparkling all over, he's dressed and he jumps out of the car looking like Buck Rogers just designed it.
We just love him to death. Pray to G-d for his life and safety and happiness. Many of us are still like that. Many of us are still like that but we ain't satisfied with that we are going to change. That's right. We are changing and we are going to change more.
Another thing that I admire about the Hon. Elijah Muhammad as extraordinary attributes of his. His wisdom was an extraordinary act, his psychology that he used was an extraordinary attributes, his devotion and obedience was an extraordinary attribute. One of the thing I want to mention before going to my topic his boldness. He was a bold man.
He was bold enough to challenge the people that didn't want to do nothing but come in and sleep. Sit down in a chair and go to sleep. He would challenge you to take over the supermarket and run it "Wake up and get up from there and accept the responsibility to run the supermarket"
[laughter]
You're sitting there sleeping while he's talking about business, you ain't interested you're sitting there and nodding "Wake up." Man of bold faith, bold courage and bold faith very bold and he would try to excite us to be bold and courageous. He said, "You know what my savior say a lot, the whole race of these devils he said he could put all of them on a string and tie it around his baby finger and shake them like that".
When you see a man talking to you like that you know if you've been intimidated to see the white man as a big tower and a figure he starts to get smaller while that man is talking to you. If you have the courage to sit there and hear him out.
You see a man talking to you like that you know if you've been intimidated to see the white man as a big power and figure. He starts to get smaller while that man is talking to you. If you have the courage to sit there and hear him out. [laughs]
I've witnessed that some of them didn't have the courage, they start sneaking out, when he start talking. They get up real easy off their seats.
[laughter]
When I'm looking at some of those right here, who sat through it all. They sat through it all. They were brave enough to hear him out and thank Allah, now we are rewarded more than we ever were before. [clears throat] We must appreciate the Hon. Elijah Muhammad Mohammad for that boldness, for that courage to look at a people that seemingly had no aggressiveness at all. No ability to face the challenge of white world of dominance and superiority by white world society. Compete total ownership by white people and everything.
People without enlightenment. People without the tools of education. People without the means. The worldly means. To encourage them to stand up to the white man and begin to accept responsibility for their own life and their own future. To begin working for the future of a nation of blacks on this earth, that would be independent and responsible for itself. That was I'm telling you really a phenomenal thing.
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad leading that courageous effort, has to be seen as a man having an attribute of extraordinary boldness and courage. Boldness and courage of faith and also action. Faith and action. [clears throat]
Now I still somewhat believe that that psychology can be justified. Though it was stretched and used in the extreme. That makes it unacceptable now in light of what Allah has revealed in Quran and what was established by Muhammad not a myth but a living a man alive in history. Muhammad the prophet, the prayers and the peace be on him. In light of that we can't accept that anymore but let me tell you something, I believe Islam should be applied as science is applied.
I believe Islam is to be applied as knowledge is applied. Islam is most of all knowledge. Elim. Elim is the Arabic term or the Quranic term. Islam is most of all knowledge. We know the condition for getting that knowledge is a sound heart. An innocent heart. A sincere heart. A true heart. A faithful heart. That's the condition for receiving that blessing from Allah but the great instrument of progress is knowledge. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad, even when he was encouraging us to become equal with the white man, to seek equality with the white man, he used knowledge as the criteria.
He said, "You will not become equal until you have equal knowledge." Those are the exact words of Elijah Muhammad, "You will not become equal until you have equal knowledge." Well if you are a Muslim. How many Muslims do we have? Raise our hand. Muslims. Thank you. The great majority of you are Muslim. Well let me tell you, you Muslim you should feel that you now have opportunity to become equal with the white man. because the Quran is definitely equal knowledge. It equals all knowledge. No knowledge can rise above Quran and it is superior knowledge. [chuckles]
You who are Muslims, if you believe that then you should be filled in a good situation. You should feel yourself in that good situation. To exists, progress, compete and rise to top positions in America and any other country. If you devote yourself to the purpose. Because the Quran is not average knowledge. It is the best of knowledge. It is the best of knowledge.[clears throat]
I tend to also put focus on the intellect. The human intellect. I believe that this is the way of the Prophet. Peace be upon him. The way of the Prophet was to address the human intellect. The heart. Certainly the heart too is necessarily, address the heart but most importantly it is to address the human intellect. A human being, in our physical makeup or in our biological makeup, we differ from the animal. But, we are more like the animal in our physical and biological makeup that we are like the animal in our spiritual and intellectual makeup or mental makeup.
The mental make up and the spiritual makeup of the human being is what gives the great difference. Makes for the great difference between the human being and the animal. Some of us think the great difference between the human being and the animal is that we are better. We are more moral. We are nicer. Human is to be sweet. Nice. We think human means kindness, love. It means all that but in that particular area, we are not superior to the animals. Just study animals and you'll see they practice love as much as we practice love. They practice love of the young. Love of their baby just as much as our wives and mothers practice that love.
They exhibit a willingness to sacrifice their life for their young, for their children. Just as much as our wives and our mothers exhibit a willingness to sacrifice their lives for their young. They will suffer and go lean and not eat to feed their children just like the women. Don't think that our great difference from the animal is to be seen in our goodness. No. I tend to at least appreciate them for saying that in our treatment of our families and our treatment of our children, we are no better than the animals and many animals are much better than us.
Where is our great distinction? It is in our mind. It is in the intellect. That's where we are greatly different and it is in our spirit. Because of free will, or limited free will, or limited free spirit and we say limited Muslims choose to say limited. Because that freedom is not ours. It is a trust. G-d gave it to us as a trust. He has created the world and us in such a way that if we tried to get all the freedom we want without the respect we will end up being denied that freedom. That freedom will be denied us. You'll be cut off from that freedom.
We say a limited freedom. Man is given freedom but a limited freedom. The freedom is the freedom of choice. Freedom to choose good or bad. The freedom to choose right or wrong. The freedom to choose morally as well as rationally. The freedom to choose.
So man has a freedom of choice and he's a free spirit. It said that man is a free spirit. [clears throat] We accept that and we appreciate that but we know that as human beings, we have been put on this earth for a purpose. We believe in G-d. That's what identify us with Christians and with Jews and with other people who see one as the authority over them and all. One in charge over all. Over their life, over their existence, over everything.
That's why we identify with them. We believe in and many other areas we identify but that's first. That's the first where we identify with the people of religion. The people of faith. That we believe in G-d. I see you have come here, - you see me, - with no tie. You say, “why does he have no tie on? Dress shirt and no tie?" Well I like to go like this sometimes. This is a 16 and a half and when I put a tie on it makes it feel like a 15 and a half.
15 and half chokes me. I didn't want to take the time to take off this nice shirt. I put it on and it looked nice and I didn't have it. I said a tie doesn't feel comfortable. I said I'm going out. I'd want to go like this. I said they may think is symbolic but it ain't symbolic today. It's comfortable.
[laughter]
But believe me I do wear a tie and all Muslims wear ties and they are black ties. Yes. All Muslim wear ties. Black ties. What is that tie? Tie of faith. We are like Christians in that we believe we have faith. We are people of faith. We are like the people of religion. We are people of faith. Our tie is the tie of faith in G-d. Faith is what he has revealed and faith in his prophets you see.
Our tie is a tie of faith, first of all is the tie of faith. [clears throat] Now, with faith comes hope doesn't it? Yes, the people who have faith they have hope. No faith no hope, so with faith comes hope. The first black is the blackness of faith and the first whiteness is the whiteness of hope. [laughs] Yes see with hope there's some light right? Faith is a willingness to go without seeing. [laughs] They may call it blind faith that's total faith, total faith, blind faith, total faith to go without seeing. Then hope is a condition that says, "I see something, I see something".
Hope indicates that you recognize something not just Faith, you also recognized something. A baby comes here in the world having faith in his mother it's natural for him. He lives his first days with his eyes closed. Well, most of the time closed he might open them occasionally or she might open them (unclear), trust in his mother blindly, that's what I mean the new baby trust the mother blindly.
That's how we should come to G-d. Now if we already have some knowledge, then we come with little light, but if we have no knowledge, then we should accept to believe in G-d on faith. Faith is a condition that we are born with, just as that baby is born that trusts his mother, every human being is born to trust a superior power over it.
A power responsible for its existence and in time if it's receives the right kind of environment and is blessed by G-d that child will acknowledge G-d as G-d is revealed in the scriptures. Will acknowledge G-d become a believer, proper. [clears throat]
I believe that we as Muslims should focus more on the intellect, the human intellect. When G-d says he's going to create a man. He wasn't talking about a romantic figure in the mind of some romanticist of the Romantic age in western history or in western culture or any other culture or history. Allah says highly glorified is He, I'm going to create a man, a human being. We are to understand as Muslims that he saying He's going to create an intellect an intelligent responsible human person. With attention first on the intellect. [clears throat]
The womb of birth for the human creation is the motivation to excellence in our nature that we are born with. We are born with a motivation to excellence. This motivation to excellence is in everything not just us but every life has that motivation to excellent. Every life begins from simple, simple form to less simple form. From more dependent form to less dependent form. From less attractive form to more attractive form.
We find that all life not just our life, all life is born to grow and progress from lesser to greater, from inferior to better, from dependency to less dependency, from poor performance to better performance.
This is the trend that's set in all life, the human being because of our freedom to choose our special intellect that we have, special mind that we have. We benefit the most but as Allah says we're also subject to suffer the most, to be degraded the most because of the same freedom, the same independence that we have. The limited freedom of choice.
If we are taken from this direction in our life, we can become regressive and we can use our brain the same intelligence, the same freedom of thought and freedom of mind, freedom of spirit and everything that we have. That is intended to better us the better our condition and to guide us and to bring us in better situations we'll do the reverse, if we break with that tendency with that natural line in our nature. Natural line for excellence in our nature.
We can look at history very briefly and very quickly and we can see that history testifies to that. Arabia for example, Arabia was in the dark ages the time when the prophet was born is called jahiliyyah ignorant and it means ignorant age. Or in American language, we would say dark ages. The society had regressed because it had gotten off that natural line of motivation to excellence. It had gotten off of that and it began to take pride in silly things, petty things instead of pride in his best tool, best muscles and best senses.
When we put down our best tools our best muscles and our best senses then we become retrogressive, we regress, become regressive instead of progressive. [clears throat] Many times, a society is not aware that it is regressive, it thinks of itself as progressive when it's really regressive because its values have changed. If we change the values to take pride and dehumanizing values rather than humanizing values, then we will be praising ourselves and saluting our achievements that are taking us back down the ladder when it comes to grades and human excellence. Thinking that we are really doing a great job, thinking that we are really well off, thinking that we are really the most advanced people on earth.
Let me tell you something about American society. In truth American popular culture is the most savage culture I'm aware of. Now that might be one worst but I'm not aware of it. I'm not aware of any culture more savage more humanly degrading than the popular culture of the United States of America. Now there might be another but I don't know about it. It will be much safer for me and my children to live in any jungle on this planet than the live in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, places like that, much safer.
I feel much more comfortable raising my children, leading them in prayers and teaching them Quran and Sunnah and guiding them to the way of Islam best I could if I was in some of these primitive jungles of South America, or Africa, in India any place,
I'd feel much safer with my family. This is the wildest place on Earth.
[applause]
But we would like to cheer and praise ourselves for being better than everybody else. You're worse than everybody else. When it comes to popular culture of America, we're worse than everybody else. That's why it's so necessary in America to cherish freedom, to cherish freedom. Your freedom in America, is your heaviest responsibility. There's no responsibility American carries heavier than their freedom, heavier than his or her freedom.
I hope you're registering what I'm saying because it is very important if you don't already feel that way. That's very important. Your freedom is the heaviest burden you carry if you are a live conscious human being in the United States of America. If you not live, you're not conscious, you don't have any burden only when somebody denies you your wildness.
Aim for excellence. A principle for empowering the intellect. Dear people, believers whether academic or streetwise, religious or secular political or anti-government, flamboyant or modest we all aim for recognition. Allah Most High says in the Quran, [Arabic language].
G-d says that we have certainly formed or created the human in the best of mode. In the best of mode. Now you who have worked in some of these factories that I have, you know what the mode is. They make a mode then the mode allows them to make many copies. One mode many likenesses. We are told in the Quran that we were created from one human person, one person one Nafs, one person one soul from that model from that mode many likenesses, many likeness. Allah to me approves of my self worth.
I have a need to have a comfortable self worth to feel good about myself as a creature of value, a creature of some worth. Allah approves of me wanting that when he says to me and Allah is saying to each one of us with the revelation that he created us in the best mode or image. He created us in the best image, the best mode or image. [Arabic language]
The very word that says best as translated in English best that word is also used when you want to tell somebody that their work is excellent, it's the same word, it's for excellence too. This word addresses that the aim for excellence in our nature. G-d is saying that he created every man and woman with the aim for excellence in their nature. [Arabic language] With the aim for excellence in their nature.
Now dear people I don't know what you hear about me but like I said it's hard to keep the whole picture of a public figure before you, but I'm no less interested in serving, the betterment, the improvement of African-American in this country than I was when I was with the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. If anything I'm more interested now in working hard to improve the condition of African-American people in this country. Doesn't mean that that's my only interest, no. If I hear any other people I know I'm interested in all people, my interest is in all people. But I don't know of any people that need more attention even today in 1992, 1993 almost than African-American people.
Now when that situation changes then perhaps you will hear me talking about the Indian, I'll be then, "Yes, G-d is moving me to address the condition of the American-Indians." Now I know they say well they don't have as much as we are, they are not recognized, they don't have the visibility and the acceptance in society that we do. That's right, but you go and talk to them and you see that they have better condition than we have. I know, I talk to them and some of them look down on us, they think our condition is worse than theirs. [laughs]
It's not all for the satisfaction of the soul, it's all not all about how much you're recognized in Congress, how many seats you hold in Congress, how many Senate seats you have, what chance you have for the presidency of the United States? Are you a legislator? Are you part of the government? How many banks you have? It's not all about that, it's about how much respect you have among yourself from each other. How well knit your family is. How strong your family bonds are, how much pride you have in your own ability as a community. They are so proud that they refuse to be taken over by Western culture.
Their pride is keeping them out of visibility and out of places in- or what you call high places. Yes. It's their pride. I talk to some of them, I lived with them for while in prison. It was the selective service violation that was my offense and I lived with some Indians up there in Minnesota. They had a number of them there, good number of them there. I lived with them and I learned from them that they are proud people and they have faith even now that divine powers are going to act on their behalf and rescue them from their situation in America. They still have that hope.
How many of you still have the hope that divine powers are going to rescue from your situations of dependency on dope traffic, wine, gambling, wasteful spending and low self-esteem? How many of you still have the faith that G-d is going to rescue you from your condition? Not many.
The American-Indian may be much better off than we are on the whole. There is no way any other race would hear that the son of Elijah Muhammad is coming to this place here and not fill up this whole place and be seated all around the outside, no other race, no other race on this planet. "Oh, I don't care how special [unintelligible 00:57:15] I ain't going to listen to him. Let's boycott him."
“I ain't listening to him. I don’t want nobody to tell me, - he is a traitor. He is a traitor to the black race”. He’ll make up all kind of excuses, but if they had Hitler was going to be here today, he was a traitor to the human race. They would be all around, standing all out there wanting to see and hear Hitler. [laughs] Strange people. That’s the way things go, you know.
Thank G-d we do have some real, real wonderful people. You are here right with me today, and you’re going to be with me in Robbins Illinois or wherever I go. I know that. We do have some real wonderful people. We are growing. Don’t think I’m saying this to say I’m downhearted. No, no. We are growing. Our situation is improving, our knowledge is growing, and we are growing in spirit, in hope and faith and in knowledge. We are growing.
I will say also in worldly meaning. We are growing. I’m hearing about the business people of our community throughout these United States, and I feel very proud of them. They are growing. We expect that you will continue to grow. Allah is with us, we are Muslims, we follow the Quran, the guidance of G-d and we follow the examples that G-d gave us, the human example Muhammad the prophet. We should be successful, and we will be successful always.
We all want to raise our grade level. This is true for all types in society. The serious minded want to excel in the eyes of others and in the looking glass that he looks into to see himself. He wants to excel. He wants to be a little better. If he’s vain, he just look himself look a little pretty, cosmetics, and then use a little cosmetic (unclear). But if he is man, or a person of little depth, he will question his soul as he looks into the mirror and he will want to make improvement on his soul as well as on his outer appearance.
Jokers want to excel among the jokers and also in the looking glass too. We all have egos and the inherent need to feel good about our grade level. We have that inherent need to feel good about our grade level. The stupid person want to feel good about his grade level. The person who delights in being stupid, he wants to feel good about his grade level. If he did not prove himself to be more stupid than his challenger, he feels degraded. He works hard at being more stupid than his challenger. Whether it’s negative or positive, all of us are striving for excellence, aren’t we?
I guess Satan he wanted to be an excellent opponent to man and he proved himself fit for that challenge, because he is an excellent opponent to man. Satan. The devil. The aim for excellence is a motivation in our flesh and bone, that’s what we mean by inherent. It’s in our very flesh and bone. It’s our life, that motivation. Moreover is human and community service that we want that’s in our very nature. We want to be of human and of community service. Some people gain national dominance after being told that their purpose on this earth is to rule the earth.
Now, I've studied history and myths, and I found that language is in the history and myths of nations, past and some still existing. They were sensitized to believe that their purpose on this earth is to rule the earth. That they’re special, they are to rule other people. They are to be superior. Others gain national dominance, after being told their purpose on this earth is to excel in rendering services that benefit the whole of the earth.
Their purpose is to excel, compete with others and to excel even their own achievements, their own margin of achievement. To excel, beat that mark. Like an Olympic competition, a person competing in the Olympics he comes to the Olympics to compete there, but also outside of the Olympics, he is competing with his last high score. To beat his last high score. He is challenging himself, challenging himself to excel, to beat the last score. Get a better score.
There are people on this earth who compete in rendering a service of the greatest use or benefit to the greatest number of people on this earth. This service to you may sound philosophical, we are here on this earth to serve the betterment of life. The betterment of life. Our prophet, prayers and peace be on him, he said, “The best of you, [foreign language] are those who benefit people. The best of you are those who benefit people. Who are useful to the human being. Useful to the people.” The best of you. And we know that he also pointed to other attributes or other merits to identify the best of us. That’s one of them.
Our service to humanity is one of them. That we can’t live a selfish life, not caring about how our life is going to affect another person. We have to care about how our life is going to influence and affect another person. We got to live to make a contribution to the life, the human life, the life of human community. First of all beginning with the nearest to you, your self, your family your immediate family and then extending out to embrace or to encompass the whole community on this earth. All nations, all people. This is what G-d wants from us. He gave us models in his prophets and messengers to show us that. Muhammad the prophet, he established that. He lived that.
He didn’t live for white, or black or for Arab or non-Arab. He lived for humanity. His service was service to humanity. Now, I hear some angels whispering that the service is to Allah. Allah says, "Nothing reach Him but your obedience." Your taqwa. We’re supposed to do it respecting Allah, above all things. We’re supposed to do it to please Allah above all who want us to please. Allah does not wait for us to help him with money or with science or with social service or with medicine. He needs none of that, or with good counseling. Allah doesn’t need any of that. We need that. Our usefulness is not a benefit to G-d. Our usefulness is a benefit to mankind. That’s why the prophet said, “[foreign language] who benefits people the most.”
Philosophically speaking, our passions that overpower us when taking on some desire, some interest. Can be a woman, can be an opportunity to earn a better income, whatever it is. Passions will pick us up, overpower us and pick us up. Same passions my take us down, down to ruin, down to corruption. These passions are passions for life in the broadest context of life. We can’t understand that, we can’t realize that. Everything is connected.
I love this woman and I think that this love is just for that woman maybe. I become so much occupied with her, that I think that all this love is just for her, no. He was put here, he has relatives, he has persons he love, you see. Love can’t be all for her. She will have children. The love can’t be all for her. Maybe if she has no children. That doesn’t matter, the love can’t be all for her. There are going to arise interest between the two of you. You’re going to share interest. If you don’t give some of your love to those interests, how can you love a woman who has interests and not love her interests? You see, love is for life. Life and the human beings are living, that’s why we love the living.
You don’t love a dead woman, do you? If you do, you’re really out of it. You love the memory of a dead woman but you don’t love a dead woman. [laughs] Love is for the living, and it’s for all the living. The more you grow in love for life, love life. You’re supposed to love life. Love life in its excellence. Love life in its beauty. Love life in its intended direction that G-d gave it. Love life. Supposed to love life. Don’t love death, don’t love disease, don’t love misery. Don’t love pain. Marquis De Sade he loved pain. Don’t love that, love life. Love life in its excellence, love life in its beauty, love life in its intended direction that G-d gave it. Love life. You’re supposed to love life.
Those who will love animals, they are more mature in their love for humans, than those who love humans and don’t love animals. Yes, I don’t like a person who love only human beings but don’t love animals. Something in me won’t let me like them. No. If you want to become more bigger and more mature in your love, more complete in your capacity for love, you have to love life. All life. All life is one and interconnected.
If we have this kind of love for Allah, love for his creation, love for life, we wouldn’t have the serious problems of ecology that we have now, would we? No. We wouldn’t have the serious problems of endangering certain species even man, polluting the air, polluting water, making all these serious problems, we wouldn’t have that if the love for life had been given us from childhood and had been put into our culture. Into our culture or even into our curriculum, our school curriculum. No, we wouldn’t have all these serious problems.
This is what I register when I read the Quran and when I study Muhammad the prophet. Muhammad the prophet didn’t only teach respect, good treatment to animals but also to vegetation and trees. He said, “See that you harm no tree when you go to war with the people. Don’t destroy their crops and damage their trees. Don’t attack a person unless they’re bearing arms.” That’s what the prophet said. Peace be upon him, Prayer and peace be upon him. “Don’t attack anyone that’s not bearing arms.”
Are these Muslims throughout the world behaving like that now? Who are they following? They are not following that great man that I’m talking about. Their behavior doesn’t say so. We should understand that we do not give up love, we transfer love. Now let me explain by what I mean by that. You may be disappointed in your mate, or disappointed in your father, your mother, sister or brother or friend. The great love that you were giving them you may hate that you were giving them all that love, and you cut it off. That love is going to be transferred to something else. That love is there, it’s not going to go away. It’s only going to be shifted, directed, redirected to something else.
You’re going to give it to self-destruction, or you’re going to give it to selfishness or you’re going to give it to correcting your ways. You’re going to love the things that are best for you more, you’re going to see that that person was a problem for you, and I have been neglecting myself, I haven’t been putting my priorities in order, and I’ve been putting values and seeing my values incorrectly. Now I’m going-- That love is shifted and transferred to other places, right. Yes. Some will go and buy a dog, or buy a little puppy. What am I saying this to say? I told you my father was a psychologist, unlicensed. I am too.
I’m saying that to say this, G-d created the human being with the biggest capacity for love. If he is not keeping to the lifeline, the human lifeline, the real lifeline of human life, the lifeline of excellence, if he is not keeping to that, if he is alienated from that, then he can become the worst. G-d says that He created us in the best of most but consequently some fall to the lowest of the low. Some fall to the lowest of the low. You see. That’s the possibility for us because of this limited freedom or this free will we have.
Now, when I see the African American people giving themselves to foolishness, following the popular trends to just give all their free time to music, songs, dance, street talk. If not that, self-destruction, drug abuse, violence, murder. When I see that I see misdirected love, and a reversal even of love. You know, they say love and hate are just two sides of the same coin. One side is heads the other one is tails. I don't think that’s a perfect description, but it does help to give a picture of how love and hate operate. You love, and that love becomes less and less and less and less until you get to a point where you can’t recognize any love. Then it start to be hate. Then hate a little more and more [laughs]. That’s how it goes.
Devotional urge in our nature is very important. Devotional urge is the strongest force in human life. Devotional urge. We say, “Oh, that boy of mine, he just waste his life. He is not devoted to anything.” Yes, he is. He is devoted to wasting his life. Everybody is going to be devoted to something. Look how strong the devotional nature is in us. Allah says in the Quran, says, “And glorify G-d. Be excited about the new religion with equal passions, equal enthusiasm that you had for the false G-ds." He says, "And even with more enthusiasm than that." This is what Allah tells in Quran.
That's the address to the Meccans who were idolaters and who were all excited and made great celebrations and great spiritual show in worshiping or service to their false gods. So the Quran is bringing to their attention that, "Look, you discredit, you are not respecting your own intelligence. Now here G-d has blessed you with really a religion that gives you a good image, give you excellent image, give you excellent opportunity, make you feel good about yourself, and you are not as excited about this as you were about that ignorance that you worshiped in the days of ignorance or Jahiliyyah," you see? That's what Allah's saying to them.
What does that tell me? That tell me that the devotional nature is very strong. Those people, they were giving their devotion blindly to those things, they were giving their devotion blind to those things. When they open their eyes and see with their reasoning sometimes they don't give as much recognition and devotion to the new enlightenment, or to the new value that they have. Many of you are like that. Many of, you will be saying, "All praises to Allah for the Hon. Elijah Muhammad!." jumping up on your feet every two minutes.
“All praise, - stand up for the Hon. Elijah Muhammad!” Get your quick charge and go back and repeat the same thing again, but you are not excited today. So you need to read the Quran and say, "No." When Allah bless you with Quran and the real religion of Islam, you wake up and realize that you are cheating yourself and you are cheating what you've been given by not showing at least equal enthusiasm when we should really show more enthusiasm. Devotional urge is very strong enough. You are going to be devoted to something.
That devotion is going to eventually lead us to correct our ways, to correct our life, and follow the line of excellence in our life, or it's going to destroy us. It's going to destroy us. Without direction, without faith in human excellence, without faith in the direction of life that G-d gave when he created human being, we find most of our youngsters, they're giving themselves to idleness, they're giving themselves to self-destruction. Too many are giving themselves to drugs and violence, and even murder. What draws them to the gang?
Devotional nature, the devotional nature. They don't see anything. We can't show them anything that makes them feel that this is worthwhile devoting themselves to, so they're devoted to the gang solidarity, camaraderie, support from each other. That's what they're devoted to. Then they go in packs and they get their own interests and they go and, -- we were coming to a neighborhood last week, it was frightening. We saw look like 100 and some boys had to be, 140 boys or more, and they were just roaming, just roaming the streets little bit after dusk, dark.
Dangerous, very dangerous. We said we know something is going to happen terrible tonight. No way that many boys can get together and nothing happen. They sadden their families, their mothers, their fathers, their friends. I'm sure something happened because they have a sense of power. The more than numbers, the more sense of power they have. They're young, so they become drunk, they get drunk. They have been made drunk by the sense of power and they have to realize it, they have to execute it, they have to exercise that power on somebody, they just not going to have it.
They don't have the maturity to have that kind of great weapon and not use it. They have that great sense of power. They're going to attack some innocent boy, rob somebody, challenge another group of boys, and beat up kill up each other. Human life is very complex. It's not simple. It's very complex. Human life is not something to take for granted. We can't manage human life like we managed cooking breakfast this morning. It's much more complicated than that. We should take seriously the management of our own human life, and any idea, whether it's religious or worldly, any idea, that encourage the individual human person to accept more responsibility for the management of their own individual personal life is one that I support and appreciate.
I don't care what it is, I don't care what the idea is. If it encourage the human individual person to accept more responsibility for the management of their individual human life, their own personal life, I have to salute that idea and feel very comfortable with it. Any idea that just calls us to a surface level pride, to be proud of our race, because we are black skinned because we don't burn in the sun, we burn in the shade. That stuff is foolish to me, that's foolishness to me.
G-d has given every people something that is uniquely their own, and you can see merits and demerits in all of us. If you're rational minded and intelligent, you can be led by rational discussion to accept that no race has any real basis for claiming a superiority over another. I'm tired of seeing our people, African American people, following those who sell artificial pride to our people. I'm tired of that. I am. I don't have much sympathy with people like that anymore. I don't have much patience with people like that anymore. Just selling people false ideas of their origin, false ideas of their greatness.
That's silly. Your real greatness is right with you. It's in your heart and in your intellect. That's where your real greatness is. It's not in the color of your skin. The color of your skin, G-d says He has given us the differences of color and even the differences of our language, the tongues, the languages as a sign. Those who are led by the devil, by the deceivers, they take a sign in one people to be a sign only for that people when the sign in every people is a sign for all people. Yes, our black skin is the sign of what's in all people.
He may be red, he may be brown, he may be white, our black skin is a sign of what's in him too. And his skin is white, his sign in color is a sign of what's in all people. Though our skin be black, his skin is a sign of what's in us too. But the Satan, he deceived the people to mis-translate, to mis-interpret the signs that G-d gave, and he makes the white race think that blackness is only a sign of what's in us who wear blackness. The light, when it's shone, broken up into it's different parts through the raindrops, as a rainbow we see the light that is really they say white light, but no, white light is invisible. It's not white.
That bulb white. That's fire. The light we see by is not white, it is invisible. If it was white you couldn't see. Transparent. But the prism or the rain water will break up the light and show its various colors to us. Now the red we see in the spectrum does it tell us what's in red only? No, it tells us what's in light [laughs]. Now if you can understand light as being-- if could follow my comparison, I'm making here. We all are human and the various colors that we have on our faces tell of signs of what's in every human.
What's in every human? Your blackness on your face is a sign of faith. It's a sign of obedience, blind obedience. Faith and blind obedience. It is a sign of rest but it is also a sign of death. It is also a sign of ignorance. Why? Because the beginning of the intellect is ignorance. When intellect first comes into existence, it knows nothing, it's ignorant and the wisest of men is the man who says to G-d. "G-d, I'm ignorant." "G-d, I know nothing." You know all. The wisest of intellect is the black intellect, not the white one. Not the one that boast, "I know everything," not the one that's trying to show off and trying to present itself as the bright light. That's not the wisest of intellect.
The wise of intellect is the intellect that shows itself black. "G-d, I know nothing. I know nothing." It doesn't mean that it knows nothing, but the intellect is not giving itself credit for what it knows and it's realizing that though it knows a lot is still depending on G-d. You see? That requires great faith too. If I would discuss to you the symbolic meaning of the term black you will find that black has ugly meaning and black have beautiful meaning. Black has such beautiful meanings to the Arab people that they use a derivative from the term black to address each other with respect or honor. (Arabic), so and so. They still do that. (Arabic) it's, so and so. It comes from (Arabic) it means black.
Mind you, I say the same attributes that's in you are in all other people and, the same in them are in them and all other people. So, you white too and white has mostly beautiful meanings, especially in white culture. But in some other cultures white doesn't have all beautiful meanings. It has also some bad meanings. I'm not here ever to make anybody uncomfortable. That's not my purpose. I never want to do that. I'm not here ever to discredit anybody's ideas or beliefs. That's not my desire to ever do that.
So, I hope I'm helping and not hurting. Yes. There's a lot to say about that, but I [chuckles] thank Allah I can look at a man in his face. I don't care what color he is. His color won't prejudice me against him. No. I wasn't always like that but I thank Allah, the influence of Quran Islam on my life has brought me to look any man in his face and I will not be influenced by the color of his skin to judge him or to disrespect him or evaluate him. No.
Dr. Martin Luther King. He said-- He prayed. His words were a kind of prayer that one day people will be accepted for the content of their character rather than for the color of their skin. I thank G-d that I can tell Dr. King if he was here-- Dr. King if you listening I'm telling you now, Wallace Deen Mohammed has lived to measure up to what you hope for. I will not judge a man by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.
Many times, I won't even judge him by the content of his character. I find that too many of us are innocent. We didn't do that to our character. We couldn't help it. We're just victims and if we're shown the right way, you'll come out of the bad character into a good one. When we devote ourselves to destruction, it is a desperate cry in us to be saved from ourselves. That's what's happening. When we see our youngsters devoting themselves to destruction out there they are crying. They're desperate and they're crying out to the society. "Save us from ourselves. Our parents couldn't save us from ourselves. Our home couldn't save us from ourselves. Now we in the streets and you see us, the whole society you looking at us. Please save us from ourselves."
You'd be surprised how the psychology of the human being works. They're not aware of themselves that their behavior is really a desperate cry for someone to save them. They're not aware of that themselves. They're needing help. Their nature is doing that because their minds have become disabled and it's the society's fault more than it's anybody else's fault. The whole society can't blame it on individual parent, although first responsibility is first on the home, on the parents in the home. What they call it, they call it the super-culture. The super influence. When the super influence of the world meets your little small influence at home you aren’t no competition for it. You are no competition for it.
The child turns on the television and everybody's behaving that way, is the way of the world. It's the accepted way of the world. Child go out in the street and everybody saying that, talking that language. He comes back home. You talking a different language. No, your little strength that you have is nothing. The superego is too much for the ego. The superego comes from the environment. Is the ego you get from the environment. Yes. Desperate cry to be saved from ourselves or it is a desperate protest against a world that accommodated our fall from divine grace. That accommodated a cultural influence that exploits and maximizes the desire in us to sin against our human devotional aim.
Allah says that he did not create the human or the jinn, except for His worship, except to obey Him, to serve Him. [Arabic language], except to worship Him, except to serve Him, except to obey Him. This is not only an invitation for us to obey Allah, heed his guidance, respect His guidance and follow Quran and Muhammad, that's not an invitation to that only. That's an eye-opener for the person who is curious, for the person who wants insight into things.
That's an eye-opener, is to tell us that, if we give this devotional nature to fractions of the whole, it's going to eventually disappoint us. But if we give this devotional nature to the whole, it won't disappoint us. There's no way to give it to the whole, without giving it to the cause behind the whole, and that is G-d. Why should we give all our attention to race, sex, money and unqualified freedom? The answer is understood best, when we understand that there's a terminal conflict involving in human motivation, terminal conflict that will lead to death, the end, total destruction.
Terminal conflict involving human motivation, is alienation, is leaving breaking off from the human interest, going off from the human interests, going off from the line of human excellence. For the fashion look, whatever is fashionable today. I used to try to keep up with the fads, but now, look like it's all blended into one thing. All you have to do to be in fashion now is just look like you just got out of Sherwood Forest bed. But for the fashion look some will give up all their earnings, and will only enjoy a short-term high, because the fashion is it's going to change. You see.
But while spending all our earnings on the short-term highs, we're neglecting our families and our community. That neglect is not short-term, it's long-term. Family and community establishment is the goal in our devotional nature. Want to be devoted to art, want to be devoted to industry, whatever, science, whatever. All of that is to improve the life of communities. So we have better families, better neighborhoods, better communities, better towns, better nation, better communities.
In that nature is where the law resides, the law which rewards us or punishes us, the language in Islam [Arabic language]. The ordinance of the law of reward and punishment is from Allah the most high. But it operates in our social nature. It operates right. The best way to provide a condition for us to continue to move in the line of excellence, is to acknowledge the Creator, that this world did not happen by chance, that this world is the original work of G-d the Creator. He designed it. He created it and He is the best to guide us.
One prophet in Quran, he was challenged by the mighty powerful ruler, who took even divine authority into his own hand, and thought he had power over life and death. When this prophet replied to him. He said, "The G-d who created me, is the G-d that will guide me." There's great knowledge in that. G-d placed guidance in the creation. He's the creator of the creation, and he put guidance in the creation.
Our religion teaches us to have a respect for creation, to value creation and to never think ourselves to be the owners of creation, and to never think ourselves to be bigger than creation, or bigger issue than creation itself. Allah most high tells in the Quran, "Oh man think not that your creation is a bigger matter than the creation of the heavens and earth."
Where Allah lifts us up and wants us to feel good about ourselves, that he made us Kalifa on earth, and put us in a situation if we obey Him and follow the excellence in our nature, we can get utility, He says from the skies and from the earth. We can utilize what's in the skies and what's in the earth. That's what modern science and technology has done, it is doing, it is utilizing what's in the skies, and what's in the earth. G-d told us that 1400 years ago, [Arabic language], that he has made utility for you, and what you see in the heavens and what you see in the earth.
While He has paid such great respect to us, and honored us so highly, He's also cautioned us too, that we don't get big-headed, while we are realizing the great resources and benefits of natural creation and natural law, that we think ourselves to be more important than the great vast creation we call the material universe, or the material system, from which we're born and grow. We are born upon this creation, and we grow upon this creation. Some of you here, I'm sure you're in college, you're in the university.
I'm sure you can appreciate what I'm saying. You know that all the knowledge you have, in the best of your books in your library, are nothing but revelations of what is in matter, creation, life as G-d made it Himself. I'm sure you wouldn't be a fool to say no to that. In fact, it makes the student heart feel good, when he understands that really, all of his knowledge, all of his science and all of his knowledge that he's getting, is only an unfolding and unfolding of creation itself, an unfolding an illumination of matter in his own mind. Isn't that wonderful?
This is the respect we need to build in our children, and build in our students, and build in our adult members for creation. Allah wants us to respect creation, but to realize that we ourselves are creation, and subject to the power, the overpowering forces of creation itself. If we don't serve the G-d who over creation, then the creation itself is too much for us. It'll overpower us and bring us down to the lowest of the low. Yes.
The only power to contend with matter itself is G-d. And the only way we can manage matter itself we have to have our obedience and give it to G-d. Yes, give it to G-d. Then you are safe. The motivation for our people when they were free from slavery was a motivation to excellence. They wanted to become better. They were told that they were slave class. The people who have the mind that blacks were inferior, told our people, our fore parents, that they were fit for slavery and weren't fit for freedom.
That G-d created them to be slaves. That's what we were told, that's what our fore parents were told. So when we were freed the motivation was to get opportunity for that that was enslaved. The flesh body itself wasn't only enslaved, the mind was restricted. We wanted freedom for our minds. We want to take our minds to education, take our minds to better books, and take our minds to better situations for the growth of our mind.
We were motivated by the need for excellence or growth along the line of excellence. We were needing to satisfy the aim of excellence in our life that couldn't be satisfied when we were held forcefully to a class or status of slaves. Now we are free. What we going to do with that? We're free now. What are we going to do with that? Are we going to give our minds to music, song, dance, rhythm, dope, drugs, sex. Just senseless sex. Sex with no human base.
Anything without a base of human values, you got to have human values in the base of everything. If you don't have the human value in the base of anything, then that thing is going to become destructive for you as a human being. Sex, you can't just have sex life and sexual activities without appreciating human values in the very base of sex life. Human value should be in the very base of sex life.
And this is what G-d reveals to us from reveal the Quran. This was what the prophet wants to lead us to this kind of respect, where no matter what we devote ourselves to all of us are not going to be the same. Some of us would be politically inclined, some of us would be medically inclined, and some of us will be musically inclined. We were going to be inclined different ways. G-d says that, to each of you is an inclination, to each of you is an attraction, but turn all your faces to this Qibla.
That’s what G-d says, that Qibla is a sign of the original worth of the human being, the original values, turn your attention to your original values. To your original excellence that made possible home life, social evolution, progress and the eventual illumination of your mind receiving a revelation from G-d. G-d want us to keep that human base and the human value there in the base, keep that in the base of all our interests, then we will have success.
In my closing, certainly I'm a man of race consciousness. And I feel good to say I'm a member of the black race, or the African American people. Certainly I do and my soul would never be satisfied if I ignored that. Yes, my soul can never be satisfied if I ignore the need in me to feel good as a member of my people or my race. We have a great life and a great history, but the devil, Satan his influences, the satanic culture of the West has just shattered our faces and wasted so many of us. But that doesn't mean we are lost and hopeless. No, we're not lost and hopeless. We have great minds in the Christian community, great minds in the Muslim community, great minds and on these campuses. Great minds out there in the street.
We have African Americans that are still decided upon bettering the condition of this race we call the black race. Our case is not hopeless. You're just hearing too much noise from those that don't count and you're not hearing enough noise from us that do count. I feel very good about our progress. We are progressing as a people. We have great minds, great people with great human character, great hearts. And they are working in many places in these United States all over the United States. They are men and they are women. They are in all areas of human interest.
But I won't be really satisfied until we have what I think we started out to have. And I believe we had it for a long time, up until maybe the hay days of the civil rights movement. When confrontation on the streets with the white man in the public eye took us away from that. What I'm talking about is men who volunteered, and women who volunteered to keep watch on the condition of the black race of the African American people and meet with each other and discuss the condition of their people and not go out and talk to the white man and complain to him before themselves diagnosing our case, and coming up with some information to address our needs and to address our problems, to address our needs and problems, and sicknesses and began to preach.
Preach through newspapers, through black newspapers and preach from podiums like this. Preach to the masses, that we got to fight these influences. G-d didn't create us for this, G-d didn't put us on this earth for this. We have to keep G-d up in our mind, keep G-d before us. We have to remember our destiny. We had a sense of destiny with those people. And I hope that we will be influential, and forming again, an African American intelligentsia that watches over the needs of our people. Thank you very much. As-salaam alaikum.
[00:57:31] [END OF AUDIO]

