QUOTES by Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

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. 

1 comment:

  1. This is a great collection of articles that feature Imam Mohammed's commentaries, etc. Mosque Cares gives the dates that this particular interview was posted, but it doesn't give the date of the actual interview. What date did this interview of Imam Mohammed by Al-Qalam take place

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