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Imam’s Resignation Meeting
Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Chicago, IL
830-2003

With G_d's Name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer. we begin. The praise and the thanks are for G_d. We thank Him for the gift and blessing of the model human person, Muhammed (pbuh), the honorable and noble servant and Messenger of G_d and what follows of the salute, or that traditional salutation to the last Prophet, the seal of the Prophets, mentioned in the Bible as it is given in the Qur’an. 

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:

Thank you, Omar and thank you brother Imams, and we thank our leader for our discipline as men, for his presence here my brother, twice, Raymond Sharrief. I would like to first introduce him to you and ask him to address us, address the men who are still the Fruit of Islam. Fruit means the product, so, we are still the fruit of Islam; Raymond Sharrief, our leader for manhood.

Raymond Sharrief:

As Salaam Alaikum, my dear brother Imams. I’m happy to be here before you not to teach you anything because I feel like a high school graduate called upon to address a committee of Ph. Ds and Masters degrees; because I know you have been well taught. I know by the progress that has been made, so, I come before you as one who has been around for a while, a few years longer than most of you; and there are some things that I might remember and you may have not forgotten but may have been a little slack on. So, I’m just here as a reminder. I want you to understand that, not as a teacher, just a reminder. I am your brother. I love you and I hope you love me and I will do everything I can to warrant your love, because we want to help our Imam to make a strong community of workers. He wants his community to be second to none and we are going to help him. It is not going to be done by mere words. It has to be done by actions. And who is to carry out that action? We are. That’s right, we are and it does not exclude anyone. If you can talk, you can do the job. If you can move around, you can do the job.

We, as Muslims, we can never forget we must secure our community. How can we secure our community? First, we must secure ourselves with our Maker. How can we secure ourselves with out Maker? Obey Him. He gives us the ordinances. It is in the Holy Qur’an. All we have to do is follow it. Throughout the Holy Qur’an it is warning us, guiding us, telling us what we must do, what we should do, because we all want to escape hell fire and it tells us what we must do; so, we must do that.

Security takes on many forms. We can secure our homes with electronic devices, burglar bars, and all those types of things, but we are looking farther than that. We are looking farther than just securing our own. We have to secure our community and this is not a small community. This community it encompasses three thousand by two thousand miles. Wherever you find Muslims, you find our community and we have to look out for each and everyone of them. 

I believe that we should look upon this Muslims community as a human body. Wherever that human body is afflicted with pain, you feel it all over. If you stump your toe, you feel it. If someone steps on your toe, you feel it. If someone sticks you with a needle, or a pin, you feel it. We have to be that way about our Muslim community. Wherever that community is hurting, we are hurting, too. I don’t care if we are in San Francisco, New York, Dallas, or wherever, we feel that pain whenever one is in pain. So, let us remember that it requires the effort of everyone who has knowledge of Islam, like our Imam and he is teaching us from the Holy Qur’an. 

We know he is teaching us the Word of Allah. We never have to worry about or have any doubt, because there is no doubt in Allah’s Word and His Messenger. We can lay our lives on it. We must instill this into ourselves, first, because if we can’t instill it into ourselves we can impart it to others. So, that means we must have 100% belief in Allah and His Messenger. And to have this means that we have submitted ourselves, entirely, to Allah. There is no second guessing. There is no looking for someone else to help Allah. Allah doesn’t need any help. He is self-sufficient. The Creator of the heavens and the earth, He doesn’t need any help. We are the ones who need the help of our Creator, to help us, to bless us, with His Spirit and in every way, because we know if we have the help of Allah, we will be successful. 

Being a Muslim for as many years as I have been a Muslim, starting out at the age of 13 years old, that is when I became a Muslim. In those days, we had to write a letter. If you were 12 years and older you had to write a letter. We told the savior to take away that slave name and give us our original name. Well, I did that and I was registered into the junior FOI. I loved the junior FOI, because I loved that militant part of it; all that drilling and carrying on and I became a part of it. I became proficient at it. I became the junior fruit captain. All praises are due to Allah. 

I was studious. I studied all my lessons and the first job I held, at that time, in the Nation of Islam was the office boy in the University of Islam. My duty was to flash the lights to notify the teachers to change classes. At that time, we had an auditorium, maybe a little longer than this; but not as wide; and we had a classroom here, a classroom there all over; and my duty was to flash those lights. Its time to change and I was proud of it. That was my first job in the Nation of Islam. 



Army officers from World War I trained the FOI

But soon, I graduated out of the junior FOI into the senior FOI and I didn’t lose my enthusiasm, all of that military training. I studied hard and I learned and at that time we had some old ex-army officers from World War I training us; and they were proficient in their job. They knew what to do. They gave us all the marching, training, “Right face, left face, rear, march; squad left, squad right, column left, column right”; all kind of classes and I had to learn them. And I advanced in the FOI to the position of lieutenant, then, first lieutenant.
The captain, at the time, he was on his job, but he made a mistake and I was first lieutenant; so; I succeeded him and the Honorable Elijah Mohammed saw fit to keep me on the job for 38 years. 

I’m thankful to Allah for blessing me to be of some service in the growth of this community, the Muslim community, that started under the Honorable Elijah Mohammed and it flourished under him. And now, today, under his son, it is flourishing more; and we’re going to help him make it flourish even more; because we want it to be number one, second to none. That’s right! And we’re going to help him in any way that we can.

I don’t know what you’re doing, today, but in former days, all of the Mosques, Temples at that time, they were called; they remembered, at that time, what we called headquarters. They always set aside some funds to help the headquarters. They carried on their duties at their Mosque, their expenses, but they always had some left for number 1. We know the vast expense that our Imam has traveling all the time, to and fro, all over; not only the country, but the world and on business, not play. He is on business. So, we, I think at this time, if we haven’t been, we should all be putting aside something to help the Imam, because it is no easy task. 

We know, in this world, without any money, you don’t do anything. You have to have money to travel, to eat, to live, and he travels a lot and we should help him. He should not have to depend on just Chicago to help him to do these things. He should have the help of the whole community. Every Mosque under our Imam should contribute something to help him in this work. Don’t’ think that we’re doing this for nothing. Allah knows us. He sees us, every day, hears us, every day. Every thought that we have, every motion we make, He sees us. Nothing is hidden from Him. And He tells us in the Qur’an everything is written down in the record. So, we have to prepare ourselves, because one day we’re going to have to meet our Maker and we don’t want to have difficulty when we meet our Maker. We want our entrance to be made with ease, not with difficulty.

There are stages in this thing. Some of us will make it with ease and some may not make it. We want to be sure that we are one of those who make it in paradise and please our Lord. Brother Imams, let us be on our job, not 99 %, not 99 and 9/10%, but 100%; as near as we can be perfect. Let us take an inventory of ourselves and see what we can do to improve ourselves. So, I know. I’m constantly trying to improve myself. I’m going to Fajr Prayer every morning, me and my brother in law. I’ve been told of all of the blessings you get for going to Fajr Payer. Remember prayer is better than sleep. 

If we remember this, then we will remember our G_d. Allahu Akbar! So, brothers, I’m not going to hold you any longer. I thank you for this privilege of coming before you. I pray Allah to bless me to be able to meet with you again and I pray that He blesses us with much success. Let us remember Allah much. We should pray, “Oh Allah, help us in remembering You, in expressing our gratitude to You and worshiping You in the best manner.” I give you back into the hands of our Imam, who will enlighten us further and we know that. Thank you for your attention, I say to you, As Salaam Alaikum.

Imam W. Deen Mohammed:

We thank Allah for blessing this community with - - I started to say, Imam, because he is; with the Supreme Captain, Raymond Sharrief. We thank Allah for blessing him to be in this community, to come in as a boy, 13 years old; as old as my younger child, right now, Mohammed Shakir Mohammed. His birthday was in July. He became 13 years old. And we know much of the strong history of Raymond Sharrief, so, we appreciate him sharing what he shared with us today. 

And you know it matters, righteousness, dignity, high values, high principles, strong spirit and enthusiasm for what is good. Physical structures can disappear. Even the physical person that to you may not be present anymore, but that person lives on and on. So really, he is still my leader. He is still my supreme captain and he will always be that. When I look at him, I will be seeing my Supreme Captain, Raymond Sharrief. So, he will always be that and I thank Allah that Allah has blessed him with health and I know he has spirit. But Allah has blessed him with spiritual help and he is able to come and join us. And we look forward to hearing from him many, many, more times, especially, in our big gatherings; whether they are once a year, or twice a year, or more. We would love to have him address us. 

Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s resignation 

I will begin by saying as the song says, “And when I hate you, it is because I love you and that is how I am. So, what can I do?” My patience is lost with you. You’ve brought me to the end of my patience. I am resigning as leader of the ASM. I’m no more accepting to be wearing the title, “Leader of the American Society of Muslims”. And I’m asking you to look at yourselves and get a good knowledge of what you want and what you are willing to support. The Qur’an, in Arabic, says, “Laa ikraaha fid-deen”, translated, “G_d forbids that we force people to do what they do not want to do in this religion”. 

So, there is no compulsion in this religion and Allah says to us that the believers conduct their affairs by Shuraa. That means they meet with the best of them, the best of their representative sit down and meet, whether the matter is buying a new piece of property or repair a piece of property or much more serious matter than that.

ASM Imams should form Shuraa leadership body

They meet and they discuss what they have to do and they agree, respecting what Allah has revealed in the Qur’an and what His servant and Messenger, Muhammed, has ordered and demonstrated to us. And they are a democratic body, Muslims, for want of a better word. I don’t know of a better word in English. You have the wordm “Shuraa Baynahum,” which means sitting down with each other, those who have the best character, the best record for working and the best obedience; most of all, to the Qur’an, the Word of G_d and Muhammed’s way, his tradition. We sit down and we discuss our affairs and we make our decisions. 

I am advising you to do that, to continue to do that and you who have been negligent, not doing that, I’m inviting you and advising you to please respect what is established as the rule in Al-Islam. Respect what is established as the rule in Al-Islam, because if you don’t, you will lose. If you do, you will prosper, because Allah is real. Allah is not imagination. And our representative, I could feel him and I always feel him when he speaks. He’s a believer in G_d. He’s always been a believer in G_d. I remember him speaking, so many times, to the fruit, helping us with our lives, helping us stay in the Temple, not getting put out. I never heard him speak without feeling he was a believer in G_d. If you heard him speak, you know him. You know he impressed you as a believer in G_d. And I am sure he had that as a child, and he still has it. I know of him making Fajr Prayer all the time.

Isn’t it something what we came from, the teaching we came from, the belief that we had before and how the best survived and conquered and broke through all that that was inferior, just like a strong, live, plant. Maybe dead plants are all around it, but that strong, live, plant will push up through the surface of the earth and take off and roll back all those dead plants and stand up firm. So, G_d blessed the strong to survive and we have survived because number one we had faith in G_d and we wanted to be right. That is how come we survived. And I don’t have to say number two, number three and number four.

I advise you leaders, you Imams, to meet together after I leave you and do not rush things. Do not be in a hurry. Some things deserve special attention, a lot of thought, careful judgment, and this is one of them. I don’t know if you have all of your regional leaders, or Imams, here. How many regional Imams do we have here, or sectional Imams, I think we call them, now? Could you stand so I can see you a little better, all sectional Imams? Many are not present here. En sha Allah, you will reach the rest of them and you should meet together with other Imams who are active in this community. Those who are doing nothing, if they are present, okay. But I wouldn’t look for them. But those Imams who are active and producing for us, for the community, you should meet together. And you should see what it is that you can establish as an agenda for this community that I am resigning from. 

Establish an agenda, if you can and review everything that I have given you and be honest with yourselves. Stay away from your agenda anything I have given to you that you know you can’t give your support to. It is better to go with 1/10th of what I have given you and be open and sincere, than to be pretending that you are going with us and you are only going with 10% and 90% of that. You don’t really have it in your spirit and in your heart and soul to support it. So, you should just take it from your agenda.

If you want to go back to the Nation of Islam, that is fine with me. If you want to go back and join Farrakhan, it might be better off, it is alright with me. But please, I am speaking to you as a friend and as a brother. Please stop pretending. Don’t have one agenda among yourselves when I’m not around and pretend you’re with the agenda that I gave you when I am present. Stop being pretenders. It is bad for you. It is bad for us. It is bad for all Muslims.

Imam W. Deen Mohammed will not lead persons who reject his agenda

You might say, “You’re not accepting to be our leader?” Well, if I am your leader, I will always be your leader. I will not accept to be your leader, if you are not following my agenda. I love you brothers. I will not accept to be represented as your leader when you don’t accept my agenda. I cannot be successful as a leader unless I have people that I am trusting and supporting my agenda, not having two agendas; one that you keep in your pocket and when I leave you and you take it out when I’m away. I can’t have that. I can’t have you speaking and think I’m ignorant. Some of you think I’m ignorant. I can’t have you speaking your silent language to each other. You have been doing this for years. I can’t take any more of that. 

I speak and you say, “Well, we heard from Imam.” I know the way you said it, that you are communicating to your people that, “We heard from him and that is it.” And you meet later and you discuss how you are going to manage what I said; how you are going to deal with what I said. So, that is over.

W. Deen Mohammed leader for all good people 

G_d made me a person for all good people and I thank Allah for that. So, I am still your leader, if you are good people. Whether I know, or let people advertise, or publish, that I am the leader of any organization, for the rest of my life, I will never be a leader of any organization. I will lead only good Muslims of the United States of America and my commitment is, firstly, to those descendants of slaves that are on a mighty journey and that journey is not over. So, my commitment, first, is to them and then to all Muslims of the United States. 

I know this is surprising to you; disappointing to some of you; a relief for many of you good and bad. The good ones are relieved, because you suffered. You know what I have been putting up with in this community, struggling with it, year after year, and looking at the same old faces, never changing, waiting for us to die. They are hanging around waiting on us to die and do they have anything prepared that they are going to give us better than what we have now? Or when you did, do they have anything else better? They will be around here looking at the next leader, waiting on him to die. So, let’s finish this ugly business. You are on your own. So, let the public be aware and let the Muslims be aware that the ASM, American Society of Muslims, formally, by all those other names going all the way back to the Nation of Islam, you are on your own. Do not say that I am your leader. I do not accept to be your leader. But, individually, you good people, I am your leader and I love you very much. As Salaam Alaikum. 

If you don’t mind I’m going to move out, because I don’t want to keep you uptight, As Salaam Alaikum.


