Solid Faith

Peace be unto you. As-Salaam-Alaikum. We thank G-d for our presence here today. We always begin, "With G-d's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer."

We want to speak to our radio listening audience and our live audience here today on the subject of Solid Faith. We are here in Homewood, Illinois, again for the First Sunday Address. We are pleased to be together again.

We thank G-d for life and for the opportunities for a better life. We are living in a time that is bringing religion and science toward agreement as to what is reality. Most religion and science require faith. We don't think of it that way, because we are not conditioned to think that way.  Science is mostly based upon theory. Before science arrives at fact, science has the base or foundation of theories. We have a scientific world. We have a world that tells us all about the nature of matter, how matter is composed.

I remember as a student in our private school in Chicago being taught, by our science teachers, general science and physics. If you had those subjects of science, you know that science says that matter is composed of small particles that you can't see with your eyes.  It has gone on the theory called the Molecular Theory, that molecules are composed of atoms, and atoms are composed of charges. And none of this can be seen by the physical eye, so it still remains a theory.  Theory means that they can't prove it to the rational mind and physical eye, except upon reference of observing certain behaviors of matter or believing that since these results come when we use these theories, these results hold up.

A person believing in life after death or the hereafter or another life or better and higher life to come believes in that on faith. But the faithful persons are recorded in scripture and in regular life, our life, as having certain experiences that give them reason to believe that that is reality - that it does exist.

The same for the Belief in G-d; it is a belief; it is faith. But the experiences that we have personally as people of faith are as much evidence for our faith and belief in matters of religion, as these theories are for the scientific world.  We experience it in our souls. We experience it in our minds. We experience it in our life. We see it happening in the lives of others. Many times, we experience it together. Two people or more will witness the same phenomena or the same happenings in their lives and identify them the same.

So what is the difference between theory and faith? The scientists would not have gotten to where he has gone and made the progress he has made, if he had not had faith. He had to have faith, faith in what he believed. He had faith that in what he believed is the reality.  We are conditioned to think of the world as the world of law and reality. Scripture says the whole world is deception. Deception - you are not really seeing reality, when you are looking at the world.

There was a time when man was looking at the earth and believing that earth was flat like a table. He believed that if you went so far, you would fall off the earth.  But observation over a long period of time and experience and increase in knowledge brought mankind to accept the common knowledge that the earth is round.

There is some proof that the earth is round, and one is given in the general science courses. It says that if you notice when you are out on the ocean front and the ships are coming in toward the shore, the banks, the land, you see the top of the ship first.  Then the rest of the ship comes into view in time, as it approaches. This is proof to a rational mind that the earth is round.

Similar proof is given to us in religion to support what we believe in, that there is a G-d. It is not just G-d over creation, but it is a Living G-d, an Active G-d, a G-d that listens to my personal life whenever He wants. This is what the person of faith believes in. And I say we have evidence of this, as does the world of science.

We have to change the way we think. We have been influenced by the secular world, science, human claims, man's claims that fascinate us and escape our mental capacity, in other words leave us without explanations and make us think that man is a miracle worker.  And he is. But he is not the first Miracle Worker, and he is not the biggest Miracle Worker. We are talking about Solid Faith. Both religion and science, I repeat, require faith. Science calls it theory. For religion, it is F-A-I-T-H.  Humans are born sinless. There is no inherent sin, period. 

Tower of Babel

"And G-d said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

"So G-d created man in his own image, in the image of G-d created he him; male and female created he them.

"And G-d blessed them, and G-d said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

-Genesis I: 26-28

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever. Amen.

As -Salaam -Alaikum

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Bible says that man (male and female) was made by G-d and that He gave them (human beings) dominion and power to rule over water, land, air, and all therein. In the Genesis we see the great role, the great office, and the great power that was given to human beings by G-d.

The language of Genesis pictures an earth that was not populated and a world that lay before man to be conquered. G-d did not tell man to set in a hole and pray or meditate, but He told man to fill the earth and subdue it.

We see human beings being given the land, water, and air as a challenge to their intelligence and to their morality. They were given an opportunity to see if they could go out and make the best use of the challenge given to them. G-d would see if the moral strength of the man could survive the test of conquest. So men were ordered to go out, to conquer the land, and to face the challenge to be tested by wealth and power. The worthiness of man could be proven by passing the test given to him by G-d.

THE ABSENCE OF REVEALED KNOWLEDGE

"Now the whole earth had one language and few words.

And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. .

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built.

And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have "all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

-Genesis 11: 1 -9

In the Bible story of "The Tower of Babel," we are given the cause of the fall, the ruin, and the trouble that came -upon the society (nation). That cause was the confusion that came into human life because of the accumulation and the massive increase of knowledge that was other than revealed knowledge.

The word "Babel' has in it the word "bab," which in Semitic language means "door" or "book." A book or a body of knowledge is an opening because it opens the way to new understanding and to broader discoveries. This simple word "bab" gives the invitation for men to open up and come into a new field of knowledge.

"BABY TALK" PHILOSOPHIES

The Tower of Babel is a story, which gives a description of the many diverse philosophies that grew up among the people. Because these philosophies did not respect the idea of G-d or divine worship, they caused nothing but confusion. Of the many philosophies that grew out of the human study, some were built upon the knowledge of the ground (knowledge of the physical environment); some were built upon the knowledge of fertility in nature; some were built upon the knowledge of emotionalism in the human being; some were built upon the knowledge of greed; and some were built upon the knowledge of love and lust.

These philosophies grew up as "bab," or "babel," as baby talk. There is a hint or a suggestion of baby in the word "babel." We could go on with further discussion on this word and we could go into other definitions of scriptural language to make the word clear to you, but it may be confusing at this time.

For now, it is enough that you understand that the Tower of Babel was a tower or a great mass of philosophies, which were not based on respect for G-d.

SPIRITUAL DARKNESS

When we read the history of the world, we find that there came a great period of philosophies behind the great religious teachings. Behind that period of philosophies there came a period of spiritual darkness. After G-d gave man the instruction, to fill the earth, to subdue it, and to make good use of it understand what brought about the fall of great nations that rose up on the earth. We must also understand the terminology of scripture to understand the cause, the fall, and the effect of the Tower of Babel on humanity.

"LAND," "WATER," AND "AIR"

From Genesis to Revelations we have the three concepts of land, water, and air taking on different outer appearances but having the same inner nature and function. The ancient people in religion saw water as a good symbol for the moral makeup of the human being because morals are like water. Water, which has to be contained in something, has the property to clean (remove filth) but it can also be made filthy and polluted.

The land contains the water, so the ancient people used the land to symbolize laws. Some land is softer than other land like some laws are softer than other laws. Air was used as a symbol to represent prophecy and spiritual teachings. So we see that the ancient religious people used good words as symbols for great ideas that they had in the body of their religion.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

Brother and Sister, it is important that each one of you understand that you are a power in creation. The thing that separates you from other creation is your freedom of movement.

As a human being, you have a greater freedom of movement than any other creature in creation. You can master your flesh, which responds to you and follows you and you follow it.

You dictate to your hands and your hands do what you want them to do. You dictate to your feet and your feet do what you want them to do. Your heart, which is the sentimental part of your self, responds to emotions and it responds to what is morally right and morally wrong. The heart is related to the human conscience.

THE POWER OF THE BRAIN

The third part of our makeup is the intelligence. If you are to worship G-d, you have to worship Him in the physical flesh by submitting your physical body to do what is right. You -also have to submit your heart (sentiments) to G-d and do what you feel in your heart is good for you. You avoid the thing that you feel in your heart that is bad for you.

You also have a brain that is able to question the movements of the feet (flesh) and the heart. Sometimes your brain will tell the heart not to go a certain way because it knows that the way is not good for you. Threfore, the human being should worship G-d in that part of his make up that is superior. That part is his brain (mind).

THE LIGHT AND LIFE OF G-D

If the religious language of today had been interpreted from the original religious language and composed in the likeness of the original religious language, we would have an intelligent religious world instead of the confused, false religious philosophies of a Tower of Babel. In an intelligent religious world, there is religious life, light, human success, and prosperity. We would have these benefits not only in the physical world, but in the moral world and in the intellectual world also.

The growth of natural religious life is producing an intelligent religious community in the Lost - Found Nation of Islam in the West (the Body - Christ). The Great Truth of Divine Mind has given us a Light and a Life from Almighty G-d  which removes us from the confused, grafted "baby talk" of this world's modern Tower of Babel.

12. One Day shalt thou see The believing men and The believing women How their Light runs Forward before them And by their right hands: (Their greeting will be):" Good News for you this Day! Gardens beneath which flow rivers! To dwell therein for aye!  This is indeed The highest Achievement!"

Holy Quran – Yusuf Ali translation – Sura LVII: 12

Thank you for honoring us with your time to read these few words.

Your Brother, W.D. Muhammad

Ramadan

Imam W. Deen Mohammed Study Library


"Ramadan is a time for fasting, and fasting really means refraining yourself from doing those things that will take your life into a bad condition. We are to do that all through the year we know, but in Ramadan we take an intensive course. So it's a whole month on intense studies and intense concentration that we get the best of what Allah swt wants.
So once a year the priest Aaron according to the Bible he would lead the people in atonement and the blood would be cleansed, the bad blood once a year. Now here we have a whole month once a year that's actually for purification it's for great purification of the soul and the carnal life or the flesh, mortal life to bring it to conform to the will of G'd"
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"Believe me, in Ramadan whatever you are able to do of good in Ramadan you can do it like superhuman. Your ability in Ramadan is like superhuman in comparison to what you could do outside of Ramadan. G'd blessed this month because so many millions of sincere pure souls are obeying Him in this month. So he loves this month more now than he did when he revealed the Qur'an in this month to Mohammed saw.
He loves this month many more times than he did before because so many pure souls are obeying Him with their complete devotion. And only failing when they can't help themselves. He loves this month so much more that he is more present with us in this month than he is with us in any other month, this month, the month of Ramadan." Allah u Akbar


And on the Night of Power - oh boy - He is with us and he's giving us the peak of His presence and inspiration, it's at the peak when we stand for the Night of Power. Now it doesn't have to be on the 27th, if we stand on any odd night of that month obeying Him through His Messenger saw we're obeying Him, then we get his presence at it's peak, and we get his spirit at it's peak, and His guidance at it's peak for us. Never will His guidance be stronger for you then in the month of Ramadan, and never will His guidance be stronger for you in the month of Ramadan than on the night when you stand in prayer, the Night of power. And this is not spooky, this is real"


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"Fasting is not for losing wait, fasting is not for making the body healthier, it does all that. Fasting is not for increasing your will power, it does that. Fasting is for increasing your purity and perfecting your obeisance to your G'd, fasting is Allah swt. He reveals to Mohammed our Prophet saw. Fasting is for me, G'd said that.
And look what he says, " The breath of the fasting person for G'd is as the most pleasant perfume" think about that. So your breath is smelling, it may offend me, your friends with your breath during the time of the fasting. You may even offend yourself, but Allah swt wants you to know," Feel comfortable with this bad time for your breath, it reaches only the humans that way. It reaches Me as the finest and the most pleasant perfume." Isn't that wonderful? This is a beautiful month Ramadan "


" ...And also remember to not only avoid food and drink during this month but avoid foolishness, accepting that into yourself is worst then breaking Ramadan with water and drink. Avoid vulgarity in the month of Ramadan, don't even entertain stuff like regular dancing that we see in the world, males and females dancing, whether dancing alone or with a partner. These dances mostly are vulgar dances, they are not decent at all. So don't even watch that stuff on the TV or movies during the fasting time. Stay away from that kind of stuff and you will straighten yourself, you will purify your will power, you will purify your spirit, and strengthen your willpower. stay away from anything that you know is not becoming of a conscious Muslim during the time of fasting. It is to train us and make us devote special attention. To concentrate more, to devote special attention to our own nature, our own life and our behavior to affect it perfectly if we possible can to Allah swt. So during this time be careful and avoid all the things and all influences that threaten to take you away or take you out of it, where it just makes you go to sleep to that excellence or to the obedience."

Goodness Is On The Rise

Imam W. Deen Mohammed - Page 80 of "Life The Final Battlefield" available at www.WDMPublications.com


"We live in the best times, perhaps, ever on this planet earth. I know in man’s history, this is the best time ever. Jesus and Muhammed (PBUH), the prophets, peace be on both of them, pointed to this time. They said that much greater things would happen in the times ahead.
They did not say the greatest things were happening in their time. They pointed to the future. Now we have come to that future. There is a saying that can be applied to many kinds of situations in our family life and public life and especially in this time where man is connected all over the planet earth.

Time Pointed To By Jesus and Muhammed (PBUH)

There was a time when man did not know that man was living in another place. If you were in the Old World before the New World was discovered, they thought that was all the world. They thought they already were connected with all the people; they did not know about people all over the world.
Now we have been connected all over and are living in the time of a global community. Man has finally come to be one global community connected with human beings like himself all around the world. This is the first time this ever happened in history. DO you think the Servants of Allah (SWT), Prophets, didn’t know about this time coming? Yes, they did. They knew the world. They knew when that time came, it was time for man to be like he was in the beginning.
How was man in the beginning? In the beginning, before man made his world over G-d’s Creation, we were supported by the natural world. As we progressed in our separate nations and countries and places, we got more and more out of the nature that G-d created and more out of natural world and more under or in man’s world.

Exact Science Depends On G-D’s Creation

Man’s world grew with the help of science that expresses itself out of nature or through nature. You cannot have the science of anything, unless you first respect nature as Allah (SWT) made it. If you don’t, you will have no science. They call it objectivity and other names or that you take the subject who is doing the work out of the subject matter.
If you want to develop a science of any particular area or matter, you have to study what Allah (SWT) created and respect it and don’t deviate from what it says. If you let your own self come into it and influence it, you will never arrive at the exact science.
That alone should give us the respect for G-d and what G-d has revealed. You cannot advance yourself but so far, without respecting the order of matter and the order of nature established by “Creator.” If you don’t believe in Creator, then it is that which was established before you touched it. You don’t have to believe in Creator.
But just know you couldn’t get anything, until you respected the world and its nature in its state and composition and under its laws, etc., before you came into the picture before you touched it. This is in Qur’an"

Purity and Goodness

As Salaamu Alaikum, Peace Be Unto You.

We Praise G’d, the Lord, Keeper, Cherisher, Sustainer of all the Worlds . We witness that he is one and one alone, has no partners or no assistance with him in the rule of the heavens and the earth. We witness that Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed, 1400 centuries and 18 years ago is the last of the prophets, the seal of the prophets mentioned in the old testament and the new, in the Torah and the Injil as one coming to lift the bands of slavery off the people, to take the bands of slavery off the people, and remove the heavy burdens that weighed down their backs, the yolks of slavery that weighed down their backs.

This is what Allah says to us in the Quran of Muhammad, that he is the one given to them--to the people before who followed scripture in the Torah and in the Gospel, called the Injil. We witness that he is the messenger of G’d and a marvelous person for all persons who believe in G’d and the last day.

God says of him in Quran, He is enough, sufficient for all people, he is sufficient as a model for all people; and G’d says of him that any who believes in G’d and the last day, they will find in him a most excellent model  he’s for any who believes in G’d and believes in the last day.

Today, on this Jumuah, the most blessed day in the year, more blessed than the Eid of Adha and the Eid of Ramadan, according to the teachings of our prophet. Friday, Jumuah, is the most blessed day in the year--more blessed than any Eid, any holiday. On this blessed day, we want to talk about the need to have Purity and Goodness in order to receive G’d’s blessings of mercy. 

The greatest mercy that he gives us and G’d promises us mercy in two measures. That’s to fulfill prophesy too, because in the old testament it is mentioned he will give the people, who will serve him, a double portion of his mercy. They will get mercy in two measures.

That is fulfilled only when the Quran came. It was not fulfilled before. It was fulfilled only when the Quran came, that the people received a double portion of the mercy of G’d and the whole world changed to be more humane, more accommodating for the human life that we want, the good human life that all of us want.

The world was never as suitable for the human life as it was when Muhammad came with the Quran and brought about the change. The world has remained, has progressed ever since that to be more and more suitable for human life. Before I was up and down and mostly under tyrants and enslavers (those who would enslave humanity) before the Quran.

The Quran came and already it has broken the bands of slavery, taken the heavy yolks off the people and they give other ideologies the credit but those ideologies only were established after the Quran came. The Quran was established first then those ideologies were established following the light that Allah gave in the Quran, Allah’s light that he gave for the world in giving us the Quran through Muhammad, the Prophet (PBUH).

Before going to the Quran, we want to look at the traditions of the people to see where emphasis are. When we make our ritual prayer, we have to make ablution first--cleanliness comes first. We have to clean ourselves first to make the wudu. If we are not in the state for wudu to take care of the job by itself, we have to make ghusl (full bath) and wudu to be clean. Then we pray to G’d. Then we are in a state of cleanliness.

We turn to G’d and give him our complete life in devotion to him. That’s what our prayer is--the rendering of our complete life in devotion to the G’d who created everything, who made everything in the sky and everything on earth. 

So, there are some duas we say to remind us of our need to be clean. We say “Oh Allah, separate me from all my shortcomings as you separated the light and the darkness and clean me of all my defects as we wash white cloth clean with water and deliver me from all my sins as we rinse cloth clean and free of all stains with water.”

So this is evidence that in the rituals and traditions of the people they are seeking cleanliness and purity and all of it begins with purity in the mind.  You first must be conscious and we call it anniyya. You must make your intentions for whatever you are about to do. I’m about to make my ablution so I make my intentions. I have to be conscious of what I’m saying; I just can’t do it as a habit. It is conscious habit. There is a difference. Conscious habit remains good. Unconscious habit can go bad. So, we make our intentions for our wudu and when we are making our salat, we make our intentions for salat and say, “ I’m going to make salat and state the one we are going to make.

“I make intentions for salatul Fajr Prayer (two rakats ) - Sunnah (means following the way of the Muhammad the Prophet).  Then after that we do two rakats fard for the morning fajr prayer, as we are obligated to do by G’d. And, if there is any other prayer like the noon (Thur) afternoon (Asr) prayer we say four rakats of Thur, four rakats Asr; three rakats of magrib (after sunset prayer); four rakats Isha (the night prayer). We have to make intentions, we say that.

So, all of this is telling us that our religion has been “ordered” to bring us to the purest state, the cleanest and purest state of existence as a human being. It is designed to do that. We say, “Oh G’d, make me of those who keep up prayers and bring from my offsprings one who will keep up prayers.

This is not just a habit life for us. This is a conscious life for us. This is a life that takes care of the need now and in the future. We pray for our present generation and we pray for our offspring--that our offspring remain, our children, our grandchildren and grandchildren to come, that they all remain in the path of G’d and they follow the way of Al-Islam, that they keep up prayer. And if we keep up prayer, we have salvation. 

The prayer is our salvation. Yes, but if we leave off prayers, we lose everything, and Allah, (G;d Almighty, Highly Glorified is He) says never did a people fall until they first forget their prayers. They neglected their prayers. They broke their tradition. They went off from that way of following prayers--the way of prayer you see. 

So, we know that and G’d says he does not want for us hardship but that he wants for us to be purified. He does not want for us hardship; isn’t that a loving G’d? He knows when we get up early in the morning, this is hard on the body. The human body can’t think. The body can only respond, it can’t think. So, if it could think, it would get up with us so happy, we would feel so good in the morning, but it can’t think so we have to think for it.

And it’s going to be saying, “Hey, I don’t want to get up”. And G’d knows it’s going to be hard on us so G’d says he does not want for us hardship but he wants that we be purified. When we meet the challenge, when we accept hard things that’s in the way, obligation. When we accept to do that hard thing, it makes us stronger to do the hard thing. So, G’d really is so wise that even the difficulty that he permits us to experience is also a training so that we will have better “fitness” for the whole life and the road ahead.

Yes, so actually it is a fitness program and what athlete dreads fitness programs. He goes into it with a good spirit. He loves it. It hurts, it pains, but he loves it.  I met a gentleman at one of the youth facilities. We were invited to one of the youth facilities to go and talk to the youth. Some African American brothers are doing a good job. They are in charge of the administration at the facility in Chicago and a big facility too. The size of it made you feel real bad a facility this big means a lot of our children lost.  Anyway he was telling me how fit he was. He said, feel and I felt and it felt just like was I feeling this mike or something of iron, some steel. That’s how it felt. It felt like iron, not plastic, but iron--not wood, iron. That’s just how it felt, like iron up under his coat. He said the first thing he tells these youngsters when they look like they want to threaten him or something, I tell them, “before you do this, I want to let you know, there is a side of me I hate to see myself”.  And he went on to tell us how he was in professional football and everything and how he loves fitness. The man loves fitness but I gives you pain, you know. 

And this is how we should love to do what Allah wants us to do. No matter how hard it is, or how much pain it gives us, we should love it as a fitness program. That’s what it is. If you obey, it is a fitness program for you.  And that brings up the month of Ramadan, which is coming soon in a few days. The month of Ramadan is a fitness program. It is a fitness program, every year, once a year we come into the month of Ramadan. And what is it for but to purify us. It is to aid the program of purification. It is one of the biggest elements in the program of purification for Muslims.

In that month we abstain from food and drink or taking anything in our bodies or enjoying the biological life, the physical life--the physiology. We don’t indulge in sex during the daylight hours with our wives. We don’t get romantic or get sexual with them during the daytime. It’s a total discipline for the total person. The Bible has hints of this too. It says if you look at sin with your eyes, your eyes have already committed the sin. So, any part of you that you give to sin, that part is guilty of sin. So, in Islam we have to give our whole life to the devotion so that the whole life gets the benefit.

So we are not to be thinking about sex because if you do that, you have already violated it. See, you say I didn’t have any sex, but I was thinking about it all day long. Well, you broke it all day long. So, you don’t do that, you have to discipline. That’s what makes you a superman. I say superman because the people under the world are weaklings. The people under G’d are strong. And the measure between them and us if we give our self in service to G’d is the difference between an ordinary person and a super person.

Yes, it makes us supermen and superwomen, sister. You sisters who devote yourself to this religion, as Allah has revealed, it you become superwomen.  They don’t just have super male heroes, they have super female heroes too.  So, the religion is “ordered” to purify us. And if we become purified, then we are fit to be servants of G’d. G’d want all of us to be his servants not just prophets and messengers. He says, “yeh ebadulah” speaking to all human beings. “Oh you servants of G’d”. Praise be to Allah.

He wants that we should be purified and the one who is promised is Muhammad (PBUH) the seal of the Prophets, the last of the prophets--he is a liberator, coming to liberate the people. But the liberate the people he has to purify them.  Yes, you are sent to purify them and the terms that are used lets us know that it is both a physical purification and a non-physical purification. It’s purification of the physical person and also the non-physical person.

You will say spirit and I’ll say spirit, purification of both the body and the spirit--the material life and the spiritual life. And if we understand this religion, we study it as scholars, we come to understand that every structure or pillar or essential serving as the basis of our religion is really a purification.  
Shahadah is a purification, to witness that G’d is one. Monotheistic purity. It is a purification. 

Salat is a purification. Salat burns out all impurities. It’s more powerful than any wudu. The wudu is first but the salat is what burns out all the impurities. It’s that fuller soap and that fire that purifies that is promised in the gospel. Yes, so it burns out all impurities.  Zakat is a purifier. It says, “Oh messenger of G’d take from them for charity to purify them.”. 

Fasting is a purification. That’s what it is for. It is to increase the purity of our spirit. Spirit is the unconscious force. And nevertheless, it survives consciousness if it would give itself to G’d. It survives consciousness to bring the mind back to G’d spiritual direction.

Propogate

"We should practice the method of propagation, that Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, gave us. He told all of his followers that once they'd learned one line of Qur'an, to take that one line and give it to someone who didn't know it.

He didn't wait until they got a Ph.D. or a sheepskin, or some other token indicating that they had gone through studies for so many weeks or years. He didn't wait. He said, "as soon as you learn and understand and are able to apply one line, go then and inform another one of that." If you understand one principle, idea, or basic of this religion, if you understand La-illaha-ilallah, to go out there and pass it on to someone else. If you understand the practical benefits of prayer, turning to G'd, remembering Him, five times a day to keep your five senses alive, to keep your government strong, go and pass that on to another person.

If you understand the meaning of charity and how it is a requirement of human nature, that keeps our emotional and moral lives healthy, go and pass that on.

Charity increases the moral life in the individual. It makes him stronger. Pass on that information to another person so that he or she will also accept the principle of charity in their life. No matter how poor or bad the individual's circumstances are, they will have the spirit of charity. If the individual can't give money, they can give somebody a good or nice greeting this morning and tonight. Show kindness, consideration and courtesy. That is charity, even though you do not have any money.

If you only have five dollars and someone comes up to you, looking bad and is hungry and you can see your way through tomorrow, why not give up two or three of those dollars? It will help the person see through the day. Pass it on to someone else. Tell the person where it came from, so he or she will be a part of the army of the saints. Don't pass it to the person without telling them where it came from. They will not have an identity. He or she will not be in the company of the order that G'd wants. Tell the person that it comes from G'd. Allah revealed that. It is in the Holy Book. Yes! Tell people fasting is good for them. But don't tell them to fast every day until they die. Let there be a sun over your government. Let there be a ruler over your house, Have the ruler say, "no food' today, until eight o'clock this evening.

Even if they don't fast during the month of Ramadan, like we do, if we can pass it on to people to restrain their appetites for at least a few days, a year, it will help them, because when one restrains his or her appetite, they increase their strength. It is an exercise of the will. And just as exercise in the arms makes them stronger, exercising the will makes it stronger.

You cannot make everyone believe in Hajj, but tell them, G'd intends that we know the unity of the oneness of man. That though man looks different in their many faces, features and colors, they are all one family, and are from one ancestor. Tell them that G'd intends that we one day be one conscious community on this earth. Tell them where you got it from. Tell them that G'd revealed it.

Praise be to Allah!

Last September 28, as I was leaving home to come to the Masjid about four or five Jehovah Witnesses were on our block, going from door to door, early in the morning. I left my block and I went to Stony Island and there was one of Farrakhan's followers, putting up a poster announcing that Farrakhan would speak at a tribute to the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, the late leader, at University of Illinois, Circle Campus.

I came here and saw the same few faces that I see every Sunday. I asked myself: when will these people who say they are with me, do half of what they used to do for the Honorable Elijah Muhammed?

When will they do half of what the Jehovah Witnesses are doing? Half of what Farrakhan's followers are doing?

When will they make half the effort that others are making? They are afraid to invite a friend or a relative (to the masjid) or to go out and spend two hours acquainting someone with what we are doing here. They are afraid and have no spirit to do it."  Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Look For Something To Build Upon

"Muslims are guided to have a special way of checking wrong. The Muslim is supposed to look for something to build on before looking for something to tear down. 

This is the teaching strategy of Prophet Muhammed, the prayers and peace be on him, and this is the spirit of our religion. We are supposed to look for something to build upon before looking for something to tear down. More importantly, we should remember and practice that wisdom. When having to confront each other as family, or as brothers and sisters, or as friends or strangers, remember this: Look for something to build upon before looking for something to tear down. That will help tremendously."

"...the biggest need for the soul is achievement for human community life. Live community and every member has the opportunity to excel. Every member evolves.  Every member gains and grows with a spiritive sense of personal shares in community wealth...Living community raises every member's sense of wealth, and sense of individual BEAUTYYY...Those who do not live community lose thier sight in thier pursuit of beauty. Thier blind standing on beauty pushes them over the edge and they fall down into Hell. Live community to avoid that pitfall."   Imam W. Deen Mohammed

The Idea of Freedom in Al-Islam

Nov. 10, 2006 - With G-d's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer. We greet you with the Greetings of Peace, of all Muslims in Al-Islam, As-Salaam-Alaikum. We are very pleased to be addressing the topic of Freedom in Al-Islam.  First of all, the Prophet of Islam, the last Prophet, Muhammed - upon him be the Prayers and the Peace -is reported to have said: "Everyone of you is entitled to his or her opinion." So I start here with the idea of freedom in Islam.  Human beings are prided in Islam for human intelligence. Muhammed the Prophet said of the human brain, that G-d made nothing more resourceful, nothing having more or better use than the human brain.

When we look at man's influence in the natural environment, we see that no other life presents itself as human life presents itself. No other life has changed the natural environment as humans have changed the natural environment.  I think it is very inspiring, really, to see how impressive some of G-d's small creatures, much beneath man in evolution and developmental growth over the history of their life, have contributed to their environment.  Bees, for one, build their nests or honey combs and have a very impressive community. There are the ants. There are the beavers and how they work and cut wood to build them a house on the water. They are very impressive.

But nothing compares in any way with man's imprint on the natural environment. Man has altered the natural environment greatly, so much so that the animals and plants and everything have been changed somewhat, have increased or decreased, have improved or not improved - because of man taking over and dominating the environment.   I am not looking at the problems for the environment right now. I am just looking, and hope you are looking with me, at the great power and usefulness of the human brain. Man use to live in the wilds like animals, but his brain would not let him stay like that. His brain produced for him ideas and plans for changing his environment.  Today, we live in the human environment, and it almost shuts out the natural environment. There are so many constructions built by man - roads, buildings, transportation. They are built by man for man.

So you walk out of your house or private quarters and most of the time, there is no attraction to pull you away from what man has established - unless it is raining or storming; then you will look up at the sky. Or if it is hot and very bright, you might look up at the sky.  So our attention is drawn to the works of man. And because man has been given the freedom in this creation, in the material world, to think and act upon his thoughts, we see man as being very, very special in the creation of all the things that we know in the material existence or material world -in the universe.

Because of this very, very special endowment - G-d has endowed the man with this brain and intellect and freedom to think and then act upon his thoughts - to alter his creation and to alter his own life for the better, hopefully always. It is a precious gift, a precious freedom that we have.  That is where freedom should really start, with the most useful part of human life. It is useful in terms of serving human betterment and also in terms of serving the betterment of the natural environment. When we think of our freedom in the United States of America, we see that freedom started with freedom of the intellect. In fact, our great leaders of our society would trace the great history of freedom to the philosophers, the thinkers, men of deep thought. One of the great philosophers said, "I think, therefore I am (therefore, I exists)."

For human identity, we have to start with the human mind. The human mind is where we see the true human identity. If we were not free thinkers, if we could not think independent of our circumstances, if we were created and formed in the earth like an animal or plant, we would be governed by habit.  The bird builds a nest; it is instinct, habit over a long period of time. It has become habit for the bird to build the nest.  We could take any other living creature in creation and look at its life and history, and we will see the same picture - that they are not changing the way that man has changed.

They have not changed the way they live over long periods of time, the stretch of their lifeline or existence, except when you look at the progress for their biology.  Science says that many of these creatures, the way they look now, they did not look like that originally. But they were not formed yet, so we are not really talking about those creatures. If you are talking about something biological or some germ for a dog and it is not looking like or having the picture of a dog, then we are not talking about a dog.

It is the same thing for humans. If you are talking about some form of life that existed but didn't take on this design and this picture that we have, then you are not really talking about humans.  You are talking about some existence of life. But once that life takes a life form then we can say we are talking about human life.  When you look at man and look at other creatures, we can say that man is much more superior to all other living things. Man has taken pride in his superiority, the superiority of his intellect, intelligence and superiority of his brain.  The brain serves community. The brain serves family. The brain serves the human heart. The heart tells me, "Oh, this is a burden on my heart to look at these conditions the way they are."

The heart tells me these are bad conditions in my neighborhood or area, for my friend or for a stranger. My heart will dictate to me that this is not comfortable.  Who takes over the responsibility to do something about it? What part of me does that? It is my brain. So when the Prophet said each of you is a leader in his own right, entitled to his own opinions, the Prophet was giving us an idea of freedom in Al-Islam.  We have a concept we call Shura, and that Shura is a governing body. We are told in our Holy Book, the Qur'an, that the believers, the Muslims, conduct our affairs by Shura.  This means having members in a body qualified upon their good character and knowledge and experience as Muslims, how to judge a matter, how to contribute to decision making on all levels of concern, from the smallest to the biggest.

This is required of Muslims. If we address an issue in our life, we should address it with respect for one another, those who have knowledge, experience and good character and can make a contribution to a discussion and to coming to a decision. It is called Shura Baiynihum.  That is respect for each other's character and intelligence. A lot of us forget that intelligence evolves man; it evolves even man's moral life. Intelligence evolves man's romance with females. Without intelligence, his romance would be disgraceful in a human society.

We tend to want to separate moral life from intelligence or rational life. We can't do that. Moral life is intelligent life, if it is advancing. There is intelligence in every aspect of the human form. There is intelligence in my hands, in my ears, in my skin. If something gets on my skin and my skin tells me it is uncomfortable, that is intelligence in my skin. Man's whole life is intelligence.

When the baby cries because it has dirtied its diaper, it is so someone will come and clean it and put on a nice diaper. Do you call that morals? Has the baby grown up to understand what we mean by morals? It is not morals, it is intelligence.   We seem to categorize intelligent life, saying this way is moral and this other way is rational. You cannot make that kind of separation and be correct. If it is good moral thinking, it is also rational.  Freedom should be "freedom of the dome." This is the "free dome" on top of the house, on top of the temple. The President sits in the Oval Room, a big dome. Churches and Mosques like to have in their designs big domes. It all started with the head, the brain.

An open area is really a reference to the sky. Country dwellers, when they wake up in the morning, don't look at buildings and all of this that obstructs the view. They look at open land, and it seems as if the sky is coming down and touching the earth — like it is one big dome over the earth.  That is the freedom we want, the freedom to engage the total environment with our brains. All of us won't be interested to do that. But those who will be interested, we want them to do that.  We want philosophers in modern times; they shouldn't just be a thing of the past. We want philosophers who will engage creation with their intelligence, with their hearts. The heart is intelligence.

Nat King Cole sung a song once titled "My Foolish Heart." For there to be a foolish heart, there also must be an intelligent heart or he wouldn't have used that kind of language. We want intelligence and to take pride in intelligence. We want freedom in our intelligence.

You can lock my body up in a cell for some reason, justified or not, but if I have an active mind, my mind will be free. And I will make a lot of progress for my life while physically confined. Maybe, it will be a year or two or 10 to 20 years in confinement. Still, I will come out with a plan to build a wonderful life for myself, using my intelligence when my body was confined. My intelligence was free.

The idea of freedom that we have today, I would say, is a reaction to bad experiences or reaction to denials. "Oh, the United States used to hold us back. They aren't going to hold me back anymore. I am free now!"

So you are free to play music so loud, it hurts my ears, punishes my ears and with about 10 years of it, I won't be able to hear. But I am free, and I can turn this box up as loud as it will go and pull up beside you and give you some, too. They will pull up beside you in the street and shake your car with their volume. You are free to do that.

You are free to be vulgar, to be rude, disrespectful in your home, to disrespect family members - your mother, your father - this is freedom? No. That is not freedom. It is only freedom for the ignorant interest, not for the intelligent interest. Real freedom starts with the freedom for the intelligent interest — not for the ignorant interest.

I hope we will be able to come back to what is real freedom. This is freedom in Islam and also for Bible people. We have the same freedom given to us by The One G-d, Who revealed the Scriptures to the Prophets. The Christians have it as the Bible, and we have it as our Qur'an, the Holy Books.  Don't think that I am telling you something about Islamic freedom that is not also true of freedom for the people who follow the Bible.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: What is the greatest hold back today to keep us from enjoying our freedoms, the freedom of mind or whatever?

IWDM: The greatest hold back is the separation from progressive life, the loss of our best traditions. That is the greatest hold back. We have lost our best traditions.

Our leaders, before the Emancipation Proclamation, were leading their people to have an appreciation for human life and to not tolerate a life subhuman or the life of a slave under a people that claimed human superiority over Blacks.

That was the beginning of our freedom. Our leaders, males and females, our thinking people who proved to be very helpful and got recognition from their own people in the bad circumstances became the mouthpiece for those people.

They were trying to address us to give us a stronger spirit for declaring our right to be treated as other human beings are treated - Whites or anybody else.

That tradition was taken over by the church in time and became the place for those discussions. The text of the preacher would have teachings and words that would influence the members of that subjected, controlled society, to get a better sense of worth as a person and to build on that, so their spirit to demand change and better would grow.

So from the slaves and church leadership, from DuBois and the political leadership we would progress. These leaders were doing the same thing: Addressing the need for us to appreciate the great beautiful life that we call human life and put pressure on a society that was denying us to express that
human life.

After DuBois came other movements. In education, we had Carter G. Woodson, and he was saying the way we were perceiving our own life was influenced by those who were denying us our life. And that we should come to see our life with our own eyes and our own intelligence and take responsibility for writing our own history.

When we look at our life in the past and how that life was advanced from slavery to today, we see a continuous effort to better the human condition of Black people — in society and also at home.

That is our real lifeline and that is the real lifeline of a people. So to forget that, if we lose that life - we are supposed to give it to our children, like the ones living on the farms and plantations gave it to their children. They didn't leave their children without that understanding; they gave their children that understanding.

DuBois said that we will progress in the measure we are willing to teach our children to think. He didn't mean to just think anything. He meant to think progress for the human life of the Black people.

This is what we are missing more today than any other thing. We are missing the traditional life. We are missing the progressive life. We have forgotten about it and have been separated from it, so we feel no consciousness to conform to something that is truly ours.

Our history and our life is ours; it is nobody else's. So we don't have that consciousness anymore. So every influence in the air can reach us, even the bad influence that can take us away from having a good human condition into giving us bad human conditions.

Q: The expression in the Qur'an - I will give a few words of it: "Enter into Islam all the way...." Can you elaborate on that?

IWDM: Yes. Actually this comes from the root word for Peace. It is saying enter into the state or condition for Peace with your whole life. Don't just enter with your individual soul; enter with your family and your community.

Your life extends. You are not living separate. Your life is not separated from your family and your community. Your life belongs to them. So to enter into Peace completely, don't leave out your interest in your family and in your community. You won't be satisfied, until all of this is at Peace.

First, it starts with the individual. You don't want Peace just for your spiritual side. A lot of people think that you shouldn't expect Peace in this world, except for your soul.

So what about the Peace for my interest in being able to support myself and my family without begging somebody or being on welfare or public assistance?

Every aspect of the human life wants Peace. That is what Allah is telling us in the Qur'an.

Q: There are many misconceptions about Islam in the media that give a negative image. What is your position on the media and how do you feel that, as Muslims, we can correct this?

IWDM: First of all, Islam is to be expressed in community life. Life needs opportunity for expression. And there is no better opportunity for expressing human life than the community setting.

So I think if Muslims will just come into that spirit and know where they are to focus their life - in community - in time, we will make more and more contributions to our community picture.

The picture of the African American and the Muslim community will get better and better. It will improve more and more.

When the south suburban newspapers learn from us that we are planning our life in the suburbs, that we intend to have businesses here and homes in the suburbs and build homes here, they came to us.

The newspapers came to me and others and were very excited about that. What they gave us in their report was very favorable; it was impressive and good.
We can go and talk to them about ideology and all that, but until we grow our life form in community setting, they are not going to have too much to say about us.

Q: I have a quote from the Bible on John the Baptist who baptized Jesus, that says the heavens open up to him and the Spirit came down to him like a dove. Can you explain that?

IWDM: I recall reading that in the Bible. John the Baptist, as I understand it, symbolizes one who wanted to awaken and arouse the senses in the person. And Jesus, according to John the Baptist, was really too high — in his mind, in his opinion of the person Christ.

It wasn't comfortable for John the Baptist to baptize Jesus, but Jesus requested it. And he had to baptize Jesus. So I think the Scripture is just saying that when Jesus' human sensitivities were called upon to awaken or respond, that his sensitivities were not down here on earth with us. They were in the heavens.

The symbol for his sensitivities was the dove. Jesus was a Messenger of Peace. The dove is used to carry messages; it is the messenger bird.

Q: We often speak about Muslims, Christians and Jews in terms of us having connections with others. How do people of faith find common grounds with each other - in their faiths? And what do we need to do to find Scriptural connections with each other?

IWDM: First, we need to study - if we are going to live together, and we are — we are not going to have a planet where we can go to just for Muslims. G-d has put us together, and we have to live with one another.

The first thing for us to do is to study what is responsible for my life. Study what governs my life. For us, it is the Qur'an and Muhammed the Prophet. For the Christians, it is the Bible, mostly the New Testament and Christ Jesus.

We Muslims, who want to have dialogue and a working relationship with Christians or Jews, should feel obligated to study or read what governs their life. Read and study it with respect, not with prejudices.

Some of us are not prepared to do that, so they should not head up such an effort. If they have an interest, they should follow those who head up such an interest who are free and not restrained by envy or jealousy or dislike for Christians or any kind of negative thing. Those are the ones to head up such an effort.

And it is the same thing from the side of the Christians and Jews. When they want to dialogue with one another and with us as Muslims, we should make sure that there is at least a welcome by all parties for one another and also for what governs their life.

Then be honest and open. Our acquaintance should grow stronger. How does an acquaintance grow stronger for anybody, for a friend? It grows stronger, when you ^ experience living with each 1 other or dealing with each i other. The acquaintance t should grow stronger. 

At first, it will be just talking about similarities for s faith. That we believe in the Same G-d, that we believe in t the Scriptures, that we believe in the Angels and all of these similarities. We should start with just Faith.

But at some time, our embracing each other upon our common Faith in G-d should progress to our aspirations: What do you want in this neighborhood, and what do you want in these United States? Do we want similar things for ourselves and our children?

Then begin to address our aspirations. What do Christians want? What is the Christian life in America? What do the Jews want? What do the Muslims want? We are the newcomer, so we have to tell them what we want.

Lastly, we have to be willing to tell them that our Scripture takes issues with Christians and Jews. We have some issues.

"We want to have a good feeling being your neighbor. But we can't have that good feeling being your neighbor, without disclosing to you things that will not make you happy with us."

But it is necessary for these things to come out, and you will have a better chance for better relations. If a husband and wife keep secrets from each other and reveal nothing but those things they know each other is going to love, some situation or some event is going to bring out what they are hiding one day.

Now they not only have what they were hiding working against them, in being comfortable with one another, they now also have deceit working against them being comfortable with one another.

Q: You mentioned Carter G. Woodson, when you were talking about freedom. In the book that he wrote, "Miseducation of the Negro," he mentions that the only person dedicated to go to the church would be the ones looking for money, to line their pockets.

Would that statement keep those who wanted to help and to be educated not to go to the church, or how do you think that statement fits in, as Woodson was trying to bring the people up intellectually?

IWDM: I can't agree with that opinion. I know there are many people, who will see an opportunity to make a comfortable life financially or materially, if they step into the role of a preacher or as leader of a church. I am sure a lot of them have been attracted to become leaders in the church for that reason.

But I know the better church leaders, who have kept the church alive for all of these many generations, were not going into the church because of the money they could get. They were going there so they could serve humanity under G-d. That is what I believe.

A lot of them are very intelligent, educated and graduated from colleges and universities and went to divinity school to get their divinity qualifications. While I can't agree with that, I can understand that expression and I don't take offense at it.


RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES MISSING

Why? It is because especially today, we have too many people claiming to be interested in telling us all about G-d and how to get ourselves ready to meet G-d, but their lifestyle is that of one who hustles the ignorant people, the ignorant masses. Their religious principles are not there.

The real principles of a religious person or religious leader, we don't see them shining in them. They are not illuminated by virtues and decency and honesty and truth. We don't see that when we look at them.

We see show business and money collected at the end of the show. I can understand that kind of criticism.

We hate to knock anybody, but we know that from Islam and Christianity, we find a good percentage of the leaders uneducated and not established for their intelligence. There is a problem there.


SEPARATED from LIFELINE

Q: Is this part of the hindrance of African Americans achieving their goal of freedom?

IWDM: Yes, I do believe that. In the early history, when we had leaders making great contributions to the betterment of African Americans, they sought to be educated and did the best they could to get more education.

That motive is not that popular now. I think you are correct; it has a lot to do with the deteriorating community life and moral life and spirituality of our people.

Thank you for your comments and questions. They have been very helpful for this presentation. I would like to take this time to address this life that has gotten separated, cut off from the lifeline of our people.

When I say lifeline of our people, I am talking about the best traditions and best performance we have in our time that we have been in America as a people.

I am addressing that absence of conscious as to what that did for us, to bring us to where we are today as a free people in these United States.

I would like to make a strong appeal to our people at home, to the parents: Uphold decency. Stand up for decency. Don't let yourself be so burdened at home with the work you have to do to get ready for work, to keep the home the, way you want to keep it. Don't let two jobs burden you so much, that you cant have a word about decency, when it is necessary.

When you see your children, your house getting nasty, speak out against it. When you see the behavior of persons in the family getting nasty, speak out against it. Even if it means being hated by the household, speak out against it.

Real friendship is standing up for what is good for a per-son, not ignoring what is bad for the person and seeing them going to hell or to the garbage can and not trying to stop it.

(This begins the Nov. 5, 2006, text of Imam Mohammed's First Sunday Worldwide Radio Broad-cast)

As we read in our Holy Book of Scriptures, "Without G-d's Guidance, there is no guidance." If all we have is ourselves, it will count for nothing in the end. Only G-d's Guidance will take us safely to the end.


PARABLE of the PLANT

We are told that a parable of human creation is the parable of the creation of a plant. We know that plant life normally begins in the dark and eventually grows in size from a seed and breaks the crust of the earth on top of it and shows itself to us.

That is one likeness. That both the plant and human seed grow out of our sight, away from our observation; we can't see what is happening.

But in time, the growth increases to show us that a child is growing inside the mother. Eventually, in nine months normally, it presents itself- it, shows itself to us.

That is one comparison, But the comparisons get a little more difficult for us to readily grasp, for there are many, many of them. The child comes and crawls about on fours, like an animal. But eventually and not too long, the child makes the effort to stand up straight.

The child manages to stand up straight, and that is another comparison. The plant does not present itself as standing up straight, firstly. The plant is growing roots in the ground and the roots are going down, not up.

If it has more than one root, some roots will be growing out and some will be going down to anchor or stabilize the tree, so that it is firm and balanced. But in time, the plant shows itself growing up straight. And the little child comes and is standing up straight now, up on his feet.

When they stand, they grow in a definite symmetry, they grow in a definite pattern and make a picture. They obtain the balance; the same that is on the left side seems to be on the right side.

It is the same for the plant. Its growth on one side looks exactly like its growth on the other side. It may differ somewhat, and if it does, it knows how to adjust its balance.

If a large limb grows out from a tree, the other side will grow enough weight on one side to balance out the abnormal side. Normally, the tree will look the same, on both sides, all around. That is how we humans are, too.

In picture, in our physical symmetry, we are balanced; what is on the left side seems to be the same as on the right side. It may be slightly different, because we spend more energy with our conscious mind and thought.

If the doctor examines us, he will find that the right side is slightly bigger than the left side. It is because we are concentrating so much energy and thought on that side.  Normally, we are right handed and are using the right side more. Some people even tend to chew on the right side more than on the left.  These things throw off the symmetry a little bit, but not enough to be detected by the average person with average eyes. But I guess we are human and should have a little defect, for us to have a true picture!

Life begins with the seed; everything has its seed. The seed is put away from our eyes, out of sight, away from observation. The seed is placed hopefully in a quiet and peaceful place, wrapped up, covered away from the sunlight.  There it grows in peace. There is a song that says, "I woke up and the sunlight hurt my eyes. But then I looked at you, and the world was alright with me." That "you" can be anyone, but one thing for certain, that person must have truth. Sometimes the light hides the truth.

Our light in the house, our light in our own minds, our limited light sometimes hides the truth. And we have to see the truth in order to bear the light. "I can make it in this light; it's alright."  A plant is a noun, the name of a thing. When we think of the plant, we see life - plant life. As a noun, also a plant could be an establishment. The seed is put in the ground for cultivation or to grow, and it has to be given proper care like the human child.

The job just begins when you get the child from the mother, just like you get the seed that has shown itself above the surface of the ground.Now the work begins for the farmer. He has to make sure that weeds don't crowd it out. He has to make sure that it gets proper water.  The same we have to do for the baby, and there are many comparisons, as we go on to talk about the plant being a parable for human creation. There are many similarities to be observed. We will observe only a few.