Responses and Solutions For Progress: Building the Community and Family

Excerpt of the December 5, 1997 Interview with Imam W. Deen Mohammed


Q. What is your vision and concerns for the building of the community?

IWDM: First, building a community is an obligation on all Muslims and believers who live in Muslim lands or in non-Muslim lands. I think having excellent models of community life in a predominantly non-Muslim society is a more conscious demand for us than for citizens of Muslim lands. It is imperative.  It is not something we can say "yes" or "maybe" about. It is "yes," period. We must do this, if we are to fulfill our obligations as Muslims under both the Qur'an - the word of G'd, and the leadership of Muhammed (PBUH) - the Messenger of G'd.  I believe that G'd has given us the community to focus our efforts, be they private, family or other. It is in man's nature to live and achieve in the community. G'd has given him an industrious spirit and nature to want to work and achieve community establishments.  The full picture of that establishment is a community where responsibilities, benefits and opportunities are shared. Man is created for his share of responsibility to G'd for community.

Efforts to have civilized communities started with men going out in the field and facing the rough nature out there in the world, catching the animal, bringing back its meat for the table and its hide, selling what they could not consume to the next community if they could.  After a while the income from their industrious labor and spirit would give them enough money (or good to barter) that they would not need to sleep in a tree, or on the ground, or in a hole in the mountain. They had the time to build a house and make progress. Pretty soon they would have a river boat, or a horse for transportation.  I believe for that reason, man is described by some great teachers of Al-Islam and non-Muslims as being a creature who is plural and singular in the same time. He is singular in himself, but he is plural in the possibilities that G'd has made for him. He is plural in the spirit that G'd has given him . He can't live to himself -alone in his mind or spirit.  In that sense, he is a temple within himself that has not one person's interest in it, but has the interest of many in it. He is plural, not in terms of psychology (that means you have a mental problem). Man is plural in terms of his interests and concerns. Therefore, he takes in his family, loved ones and his friends. He takes in the people and his country, and all those interests dear to his heart are now within his mind and spirit.  He lives with them as a plural and complex social organism. He is living the life of one person, and at the same time living the interest of more than one person. This the way. G'd created us. When we can express this in the living environment, we are more content and free.

People who are dull and wondering why they are dull spirited, many times it is because they are not motivated to share the responsibility for more persons than themselves. Muslims want to see their brother's life and his family in a state of excellence. All of that is necessary for the fulfillment of our spirit, and our soul's needs won't be fulfilled unless we have that.  Community is the focus for us, and what I see as the most important thing to start with in building a community is the establishment of a nucleus. A Muslim community is established to accommodate the lives of people who believe and worship G'd.  Every community will have a house of worship (or many).  Communities are built to accommodate the needs of the family. The first need outside of the home is to have a school to educate our children. Then the community wants to have a township, ordinances, rules and regulations. After a while you will have many jobs and somebody regulating the town, which means government. This is the traditional pattern.  The first step in our plan is to have a place of worship where we can worship and conduct the Friday Jumuah (congregational) service. The next step in our plan is to have the people employed, earning an income to support the other segments of the plan. Therefore, in this nucleus is worship, education and economic achievement. This is the first three.

We already live in a civilized society. We have the township or city, country and state services. As we develop in the three areas of the nucleus and feel comfortable, then we should also want to begin sharing the responsibility for the township and its conditions.  This includes examining the benefits going to citizens from the government. Asking, is it an encumbering government? Is this too much to ask of government, or should we ask for more? All of this should not be just the concerns of non-Muslims. It is the concern of all the citizens. Muslims should take it upon themselves and become a part of the efforts to have the best environment possible for the citizens of the town or area.  Muslims should share in that responsibility, when they are able to free themselves up enough to have the masjid (mosques), schools and employment to support their assets or investments. That is the plan in order of priority or interest.  In my opinion, when it comes to making the plan materialize, the steps to success are not always a fixed approach. They say: "Build a masjid first"; we can have a masjid in rented facilities, in our homes, depending on how large the local following.  This means we should study the situation and address how best we can realize the establishment of this nucleus - a place to worship, a private school for our children, and especially support for our men, so that they can have business establishments and employment.

Which one then is the best to start the process? Again, in my opinion, when it comes to implementing this in society, we have to begin increasing the income of the community, if it is deficient. It is more practical when we are terribly deficient in income to first address that need. While this is being realized we will be worshipping in a rented facility, or at home, or on a piece of land. Therefore, the second effort is to provide decent facilities for the daily and the Friday Jumuah prayers.  All of that is in the mind first, but maybe they don't realize it according to their preconceived notions. Sometimes the last thing is what we should first do in order to best accommodate the first thing.  For instance, when a group effort is terribly deficient financially, it is best to address that issue first and try to create situations to bring in income. And once you have the income, then you can come back to first principles and cause them to materialize.  Again the vision is for a nucleus where Muslim families will be living in close proximity with a masjid facility that also houses a school, or two different facilities. That is number one, along with the creation of businesses. In the nucleus they must all come together at the same time. The building of facilities should include the building of economy housing for the low income residents and decent homes for the leadership (more economically developed).

Hagar's Children

February 1986 - The white man refers to the African-American as "Hagar's children" and so far, our history makes the white man look like he is telling the truth or that he knows something about us that we are unaware of. It looks like he's got some insight into our life that most African-Americans don't understand, since he seems to be labeling us correctly all of the time. The white man believes that G-d has doomed and destined the African-American never to be functional in world society in any position of significance other than that of Hagar's children.

“When one refers to us as Hagar's children, he is not speaking from the Qur'an. He is speaking from the Bible, and what he means by Hagar's children is someone that doesn't know how to establish himself, so he sells himself to somebody who is already established.”  Hagar was not established. She had no home or husband so she sold her services to Sarah (Abraham's wife), who had a home and a husband. Sarah was established. But in order to grow, Hagar had to be put out of Sarah's home. Sarah said to Hagar in effect, "Look here maid, I'm the one that approved this, and I'm the one that brought you in here, but I can't stand looking at your glory in my house. You get out into the desert away from my establishment with this thing that is being produced in you."

When the white man says, "Hagar's children," he means that you are following in the tradition of the African girl called Hagar. Hagar didn't have the courage or the vision to go and shop for a decent husband and to require of her husband that he build her a house. She was just, a beggar woman. She went to Sarah, and said in effect, "Look, my survival is threatened. May I do something for you?" and Sarah said, "Yes."  Look at the situation of the African-American community, and you will see that they are Hagar's children. The African-American is not talking about establishing their own neighborhoods or establishing business people in their neighborhood. They are only talking about getting something from the white man's house, crying, "Whiteman, you have a whole lot, give me some of what you got." Whiteman, I'm no father to my children, take care of them for me." That is the African-American's situation, and it is pitiful.

The situation is pitiful, despite the preaching from the time of slavery until now, and despite all of the sacrifice of men being betrayed and worked against by the powerful white society, and by the people they tried and are still trying to help.   African-Americans don't have the courage to establish their ethnicity like the Irish, the Italians and others, including the recent immigrants who are now coming into this country from Asia, Cuba and elsewhere. African-Americans don't have the courage to let the white man know that they have a concern for their own kind, and are not depending on him to direct that concern. They are afraid to talk like a man within the hearing range of the white man, even though they know that they would be doing nothing but accepting the responsibility that would bring them into the admiration of the American people.

I say to the Muslims, let us be more responsible for ourselves, our family members, our neighborhoods, our personal property and our people. Let us show America that we are not of the common run; we are special people with our own sense of direction, and our own sense of responsibility. And believe me, if we do this, we will go forward and become leaders of our own destiny in America overnight.

On Hajj - Interview with Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Aug. 25, 2001 

Q: Brother Imam, we want to thank you for giving us this opportunity to interview you on the Hajj. Over the years, you have taught us to look deeper into concepts -religious concepts and other concepts. Is Hajj like that? Does it have surface meaning but also a more powerful and deeper meaning that those without insight are likely to miss? Would you explain?

Imam Mohammed: As-Salaam Alaikum. I think the meaning that is most important is not deep, it's plain. It's plain and easy to grasp by ordinary minds. But it's the meaning that I think most of us miss. That meaning is the one given by the learned scholars and Imams. This obvious one says that Hajj is the unity of mankind, especially in Islam. Islam is a model and should be the model of Islam for mankind, for all people.  It is the Unity in the humanity that G-d created when He created our first parent, Adam, Peace be upon him. The meaning is Unity and Oneness for humanity under G-d. The Hajj is a return to your innocence -your purity — your original spiritual mental and social nature that G-d created us in, when He created the first people (or man).

That's the life that G-d wants us to return to. That's the real meaning of Hajj. It's a struggle — it's a struggle to unite humanity. You know that humanity is divided. Divided because of power, greed for power, greed for wealth, greed for the material world, and also sometimes for no other reason than "my family is all I care about. Don't bother me with yours."

Q: In 1967, you made Hajj when the rest of us were in the Nation of Islam and you met Maulana Maududi. You were a young man, in your early 20s. A lot has changed since then. You met him on Arafat. Tell us about Arafat and its importance and the importance of that meeting with Maududi.
Imam Mohammed: Arafat gives the Muslims a chance, the leaders and the common man, too, if he is interested in having some responsibility or some role in society. Arafat is an opportunity for him to come and hear the most learned leaders in Islam. They will be Imams, They'll be educators. They'll be political figures, presidents, kings maybe. They'll be doctors and lawyers — all the professions - all the important professions will be represented there at Arafat during the Hajj.
That gives us a chance to benefit from each other's experience — knowledge and faith, too. When a man of extraordinary strong faith speaks on politics or economics or social life, that man also communicates his strong faith to you — even though his language is the language of his particular profession or field.

So I know that a person or a weak battery can get charged up, get pretty strong just being here to hear what the good leaders are saying.  I was there once when Maulana Maududi was there. I learned that he was there because I could hear them saying: "Maulana! Maulana's under such-and such tent!" Then someone said "Maulana Maududi" and that rang a bell!  I said "Wow! Maulana Maududi!" I recalled reading some of his books from my father's library. So I said, let me find out where he is. While I'm thinking that, someone came; "Brother Wallace!" I said, "Yes." "Maulana Maududi wants you in his tent." And they came and got me and took me to his tent, and I met him and sat right near him.

He said this: "We have to be very aware and careful that we do not try to guide the Muslims in America — assist them, but don't try to lead them." That's what he told me on Arafat, with the tent full and they were all outside the tent. He was very popular with the Pakistanis and the Indians. He was of Pakistan and of the Indian people.

Q: Now we have celebrated Eidul Adha here for many years. Tell us about celebrating the Eid in Mecca. What's it like and also making the Eid Prayers while we're there?

Imam Mohammed: Eidul Adha in Mecca is much different from Eidul Adha away from Mecca. And it's simply because Eidul Adha is celebrated on the 10th day of the Hajj. It is the climax, the highlight of the Hajj, the meeting on Arafat, according to Muhammed the Prophet or the Rites of Hajj.  In Mecca, in the Holy Precincts, you are experiencing the difficulty of Hajj and also the wonderful blessing of Hajj with many Muslims from all over the world -celebrating the sacrifice of Abraham (PBUH) on Eidul Adha. You celebrate it with all those whom you unconsciously but strongly feel a bond with now, because you went through this together. And the crowd is oh so many times magnified, and the celebration too is so many times magnified! So I think that's the difference.
The difference is you are there and you have gone through difficulty and you have received many blessings. Now you are celebrating with so many Muslims from so many different faces and dress and languages, etc.

Strive for Community Life

2005 - Thank you, Sis. Sahirah, International President of this great women's international organization. We are very proud of them. They dignify all of us with their service to humanity, especially to the women who need their services, who need their help. And we know that if you help a woman, you help many.
Prayers and the peace be on our Prophet Muhammed. That is the traditional salute to him. He said to one who was asking him how to share himself with this mother and father, who had become of old age and both of them needed his help. He was asking the Prophet how was he to share himself with his mother and father.

The Prophet said to him, "Help your mother." The man was still waiting for more from the Prophet. The Prophet again said, "Help your mother." And then he said, "And help your father." So the emphasis is on the mother, and the mother is symbolic of the collective group, the family, the community, the congregation. We have a sign in the House that we turn to when we worship in prayer, in congregation and prayer. The House is called Ka'bah, and Ka'bah means "connection." And G-d says to us in our Holy Book of the House that we call Ka'bah, that in it are blessings for many people. For Muslims all over the world, it is a sign.

It is a sign that scholars in Islam say is the Fifth Pillar, a sign of the unity of all mankind. It is the Fifth Pillar or fifth essential in the practices of Muslims. And there are five of those essentials.
The First of them is to witness that there is One G-d, Who is responsible for everything, bringing into existence everything that exists. That is The Creator, and we witness that He is One. And we witness that Muhammed (PBUH) is His Messenger. Second is Prayer, to worship that One. Once we acknowledge that He is G-d, we should worship that G-d.

Third is to give in Charity. Fourth is to Fast, to restrain ourselves for G-d. G-d says in an inspired Hadith (saying of the Prophet), "Fasting is for Me." He says, "Let the fasting person know who sincerely fasts in the month of Ramadan" - that's the Fast month for us - that "the breath of the fasting person with G-d is like the best perfume in the nose of the people."  That is how much G-d loves one who fasts for the sake of obeying G-d, having a disciplined life and obedience to G-d.

And the Fifth and last of those fundamental practices is to make Pilgrimage to visit the House.
Life is all about making connections. To have life, you have to make the first connection. That's what the President in the New England area has just done about two weeks ago. She made the connection, she and her husband who is an Imam I have known for some time. Although I have never had any personal dealings with him, I feel as though he is my personal friend, Imam Dawud. May Allah bless this union with all the joys that you all want and expect. Ameen.

So life is all about connections. And then G-d wants us to know that even the forming of life in the body of our mother and her body, the forming of life is connections. He gives us the water and the thickening of water adhering, water trying to hold firmly together. Blood is forming together, adhering, and then the fetus lump; the flesh now has formed and is holding. And it goes on to bone forming in the flesh. Then Allah says He covers the body with flesh, and after that there is another creation. So G-d wants us to know our two creations. We have one creation that's flesh, special flesh, human flesh. It belongs to the animal world, but once the human spirit comes into it, it shouldn't be animal anymore. It should be human.

He wants us to know we have two creations. Then we are created all over again, and that's the human person inside the body. Religion, not just Islam - but the great religions, are all about acquainting us with the life inside the body, that second creation.  It is the true life and G-d says of that life, He formed you in your mother and He formed your picture and made it most excellent in your mother. When the baby is delivered, you see a beautiful baby girl or a beautiful baby boy. And we see a picture and want that picture, that new baby. We've got to have that picture.  G-d said he formed all our pictures in our mothers. He made your picture most beautiful, most excellent, the most handsome one. That's the human spirit and the human personality that G-d wants us to have in common with each other.

We should have one human spirit accepting all people in the family of man or human family. We should have one basic spiritual nature. It's all about respect. It's all about giving, struggling, striving. Muhammed the Prophet (PBUH), when he was concluding his mission, he said many things. But one thing he said because he was persecuted and had to fight to free religion. He said G-d ordered him to fight until the religion is no more persecuted, and the people are free to worship under G-d. This is Qur'an. This is the Word of G-d through Muhammed, the Prophet (PBUH). He said to the people - he didn't say "no more wars," but that's what I think he meant. "After this is only Taqwa and Jihad." Taqwa is a word we use for sacred respect. It is translated as fear sometimes, but it means sacred respect.
The fear is the fear to break that respect, to lose that respect. And G-d says, "And fear G-d." But it also means give G-d the respect that G-d is due. And, "All of your close family ties begin with mom and dad." Muslims, like Christians, are supposed to hold the life of family sacred. And anyone who violates the family commits a very bad sin. Whether it be an outsider, an enemy of the family or a member of the family, when you violate the respect we should have for family, it is a major sin. G-d has placed nothing before family, except Him. He also says, "Close family members who have close family ties have first rights in the Book of G-d," In America, I learned when I was a child that charity starts at home and spreads abroad. Take care of family first. This is both Christianity and Islam.

Life begins for human beings in Heaven. The person who loves G-d doesn't worry; if G-d says their life begins in Heaven, that's good enough for them.  They are not going to get pencil and paper and try to figure out things. We can see that life starts in Heaven every time we look at the little baby that mama delivered; that's that heavenly life. The baby comes here with a spirit that has not been changed.  The world can change. Mom and dad can change. But that baby comes here with a spirit, the same spirit that G-d gave the first baby that was put on this earth, that existed on earth or in Heaven. G-d wants us to know that He is going to guide us. He is going to put us in circumstances that are going to be too much for us. He says the creation of Heaven and earth is a bigger creation than that of man.

Why does He say that? He says that, to tell all of us that the human being is not able to manage this material world, that we have to be supported upon, without the Help and Guidance from G-d.
We know that in the story of the beginning of mankind, a kind of a Genesis in Qur'an, G-d said there was a rebel in the Heavens that we call Iblis. The Christian language would call him Satan; the Arabic word or Qur'anic word is Shaitan.  There was a rebel among the Angels. His name was Iblis, and he did not accept that man should be made a khalifah in the earth. Khalifah in the earth means one responsible for rule or authority that human life should have in the earth. Iblis did not accept that; he didn't like that and was not a true Angel but one of the Jinns.

Angels are made of Pure Light. Jinns are made of fire. Jinns are made as passionate creatures. When Iblis did not accept G-d's Will, G-d said to him, "Get you down from here, all of you." Because of what this Jinn did, man also was sent down for human life, sent down from Heaven to the earth.
"Get down into the earth, into life. There, you will find all of your needs, and there you will die, and from there you will be raised up again." G-d is saying that man's life is to be lived on earth in the community of people, human beings. Man is not an Angel. He has angelic qualities; he can serve in the role of an Angel; he can even behave as an Angel, which is rare. Man's description is human, not Angel.

G-d said, "If the earth had been populated with Angels, He would have sent you an Angel as a Messenger." He didn't. He sent you a human person, Muhammed the human mortal, as he is called in the Qur'an.  G-d is telling us that we have to accept to live in circumstances that we have on earth. We have to have G-d's Help to manage, because without G-d's Help, it is too much for us.
We don't have to tell too many mothers in the ghettos that. She knows it's too much for her. Her children turn to the street, and she can't call them back. There is nothing she can do about it but just see her children go the way of the streets.  She can call everybody and not get any help. Everybody comes, but hardly ever anybody can help. Her children are gone.

That's because the world is a bigger influence than human influence. If we let the world and the circum-stances in the environment that we have in the world, if we let those circumstances and that environment go against human life, then we lose our children to that life, that Pope John Paul II, who has passed - may G-d have him in Paradise and Peace, Ameen - "the Culture of Death."  He called that cultural influence we have in the street that is negative and against human decency, and these are his exact words, "the Culture of Death." So G-d wants us to have leaders who have the faith and spirit that they can manage circumstances in their environment and influence the environment, so the environment supports the human life that G-d wants for us.

Muslims are not only obligated to take care of their souls - yes, we are - but those of their families as well. G-d says take care of your families. "Save yourselves and your families from the Fires of Hell." Those fires are not just burning below the surface of the ground. They are burning wherever we are, and many of us are better than six feet below the surface of the ground.  We think we are walking on the ground, but we are not. We are more than six feet under, and the Hell Fires are leaping all over us.
We want to be able to manage circumstances. We can't do this alone; that's why G-d wants us to be a community. G-d says, "You are a community."

He doesn't want us to be anything but a community. The congregation is supposed to be the congregation of the community. The Muslims are a congregation.  Congregation means coming together, holding together. He could have used another word, which would make you want to think of comparing yourself to some other community. But He said, "... And you are the Best Community evolved for the good of all people...."  We want to strive for community life, and we want to have our community life in the way that G-d guides us to have it and to have that community life welcome all people.  We are family. Humans are family. So we have to welcome all people who belong to the family of human beings. Welcome them and see no differences.

When you come to lie point where , ou meet them and you become friends with them as good persons and you come to the point that you've forgotten that this person belongs to another race, you've forgotten that person belongs to another religion, you become friends, you welcome each other, you live with each other and go places with each other, greeting each other "hi" and "how is your family," asking about each other's relatives - when you reach that point, you have joined and have successfully come back into the family of mankind as created by G-d. And you will be in heaven.  Muhammed, the Prophet (PBUH), our Prophet, the Prophet of the Qur'an, made faith a condition of love and made faith also a condition of getting into Paradise. He said, and I am quoting him word for word, "Never will you enter Paradise, until you have faith. And never will you have Faith, until you practice loving one another."

In the beginning of the Nation of Islam around 1931, we have the records saying that the teacher of the Nation of Islam came from overseas and began teaching in Detroit, Michigan, where the first Temple was established. And the first chapter of this great International League of Muslim Women organization was established too in Detroit.  The Nation of Islam, as I knew it - I was born in 1933 and remember 1943 and 1953; that's 20 years. All of those years, if you met a member of the Nation of Islam and you told them you were a member, they automatically accepted you as their brother and sister and you could feel that love.

We had love for one another. That's what was strong among us, that we had love for one another. We lost that during the change, when we stopped thinking about G-d so much and started thinking about ourselves - getting money, Black Power. All that took it away. We lost that genuine love we had for one another. Over recent years, the past 10 years at least, I see that love growing again. And the International League of Muslim Women is really a great haven of love for one another. That, we feel. And you are helping us grow that love back. You are helping the community grow that love back that we lost. We are getting it back.  We have to understand, too, that we need special efforts like the International League of Muslim Women, special organized efforts. People should look for coming together. People should look for those of similar minds, when you want to do things, when you have a need that is not being fulfilled, it's strong in you and you want to do something about the situation.
Look for those who have your kind of thinking, your mind. Look for those in whose mind is the same fire burning, burning for something special. Then you group with those of like minds. You should group together and have your leader. When people come together, the leader manifests. The one who is best qualified will be known, and you'll have a leader.

This is how we want to multiply productive work. We want it to multiply. Let's not stop the work of the International League of Muslim Women. Let's find out what's the need in our community. Let us say, "Hey, I'm not going to wait for Imam W. Deen Mohammed to say 'shazaam' and create this.  "He is not superstitious; he doesn't believe in that kind of magic. I'm going to do something like these women have done, like Sis. Sahirah Muhammad." Praise be to Allah. We thank Allah for her and all these great sisters.  Don't forget to identify with the "striving for," and today we are still the "striving for." If I remain the leader, I'm going to be the leader of the "striving for." When you get rich, I'm going to retire and will ask you for money. But I will always be the leader of the "striving for."
I think that is what Muhammed the Prophet (PBUH) meant, when he said he was offered two ways to go. He was offered to travel through the mountains, and he was offered to travel through the plains. He said he chose to travel through the plains. So identify with the "striving for" firstly, right at home in your community.

Identify with the "striving for," and let us test our leaders, when they come before us to lead us. Let us see if they have love and compassion for the "striving for," not the "lazy for." See if they love and care to serve the needs of the "striving for." If they do, then they are the leaders who we want and they must show us by their actions that they love human beings, that they love people.  That they are not just working for the dollar or working to pay their bills. That they are working because they love people and want to see the whole life better, not just one life or some better - but all the life better. Then we should support them.  I'm saying this because we live in a time when most of us have lost our human life. We are in human form, but we have lost our human life and are subject to have show-off leaders and people who are promoting self-interest, first and last. Those people will deceive us and themselves. All of us lose, when we accept such persons as our leaders.

So in my conclusion, we want to keep Taqwa and Jihad. Keep the Sacred Respect that G-d wants us to have, for G-d first, but also for human relationships, especially those family ties and all things that He, G-d, has made sacred. Then we want to always identify with people who are striving for a better life.  Thank you, and Peace be unto you. As-Salaam-Alaikum.

An Islamic Formula for a Successful Life

1988 Los Angeles - When it comes to a whole lot of people, a whole group, the masses, black, white, green or whatever color, when it comes to these big groups of poor people, they will point out the fact, but they don't point to the fact until after one of the poor have already called the attention of one of the members of his own lot to the problem They weren't talking about the poor self-esteem of blacks, until (Marcus) Garvey, Frederick Douglass before him, Drew Ali, and many others did and especially the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they weren't talking about it until they made the point, that the black man has been derived of a comfortable self-image. That he has been told lies about his own individual human worth. And that has to be corrected if the black man is to meet the challenges of the modern times, and competitive world society. It was members of our lot that told us before the social scientists, the so-called learned Western scientists came out and began to make an issue, to get help for the problems.

And believe me, no matter how sincere these people are in education, in the social fields no matter how sincere they are, they can't do but so much. Their ability to help the masses, is greatly limited. They will spend on individual problems, but they will not spend significant amounts on satisfying the problem of the masses.  And if they start to spend to correct t he malfunction in the masses, (and I'm not talking about blacks only) now, the masses-the uneducated, the un-established, the uprooted, that's who I'm talking about. If they spend they will not spend, and if they spend, there will be right away, a counter-movement against their spending. And that movement will be secretly spending to undermine what they are trying to accomplish. I said 'secretly': you won't be aware of what's happening. All of a sudden you've got freedom that you didn't have before; all of a sudden they are promoting liberty on your part that you didn't have before, you didn't dream of, you were even afraid to think of, telling you that you can freak off, and do whatever you like. That's to take the masses away that need help, that come to them.

Now, I'm not telling most of you anything; you know this. But, sometimes you have to be reminded, that the masses are an unwanted lot, they are only wanted in servant roles, and if there is no need for them in servant roles, they are regarded as a burden on society. Now, am I saying this to excite you, to rile you, to make you become dissatisfied or angry, with the Establishment? No! I am saying this to get you to see that you must be responsible for yourself, and whatever help comes to you accept it, if it comes from clean hands, accept it, be grateful to God and be grateful to your fellow man. But don't depend on that — for great help comes in seasons, but you have to live throughout the year. And my religion tells me, that I should direct my attention to a blessed tree, whose fruit comes in every season, and that isn't the world. The world's fruit is seasonal. You remember the seasons of (President) Kennedy, and the season of President Johnson, and now you are in the season of President Reagan. So you know something about seasons don't you? And I think the Christians say, there are those who can read the face of heaven, but can't read the signs of the seasons.

They can look at the sky and say it's going to rain, they see the clouds up there, and they believe most likely, that those are rain clouds, so they say it's going to rain, and they see the winds blowing the clouds, they say it's going to be fair weather. But they can't look down here where everything is happening all around them, and say hey, it's winter in June (laughter).

It is important to know that Scripture will focus on man as an identity, which is the answer for the identity conflict and identity burden. The Scripture focuses upon man's identity as universal man, as common man. Now we know our identity differs depending on the interest we give ourselves to. We even identify a person as a mailman, but that identity of his is not as important, not anything consequential as his identity as a creature who is a member in the material universe, and has a role, a purpose and a destiny, in that reality. That definition is much more significant, much more important for the human sense of well-being, sensor of direction, sense of purpose in life, than the simple identification of him as a mailman. But the mailman — that's an identification, isn't it? He's a mailman. See, some of us think that the identity that the traffic cop wants is the important identity; he's Negro, he's black, you're burly, or you're frail. 'I'm black and burly or I'm black and frail; I'm black and homosexual, I'm black and gay,' whatever. I'm not making jokes; I'm very serious. Those are the silly identities that we live with. Tm black and female, I'm black and masculine.' An ape is masculine — more masculine than you. He'll take your pants down. That ape is bad, tough, real burly. So that's not the identity that you should be proud of.

I'm on my topic, "Islamic Formula for a Successful Life." The first step towards being successful is to see yourself, for the moment you see yourself, according to the Prophet, (PBUH), you know your God. How can man know God and not know himself? You have to know yourself first, and you know yourself by looking at yourself in the cosmic reality. "Oh, what is he talking about, cosmic reality!" Look. Matter is continuous, there is a continuity to matter. Matter has a unity, matter has a sameness, matter makes up one family of matter. Stars and all the bodies and things in the universe; you are a citizen of the universe. You were a citizen of the universe before you became a citizen of Africa, or a native son of Africa; you were a citizen of the universe before you became a citizen of the United States; you're first a citizen of the universe. Your identity begins in the universal reality, and that's where you find your essence; that's where you find your nature. God says He made man and patterned him on the pattern which He made the universe. I hope we understand it as I go on.

Allah says, with the Revelation given to Muhammad the Prophet (PBUH), speaking to the Jews' stiff-neckedness, their stubbornness. that God revealed to them, that they should enter the door prostrate. You can enter the door prostrate, if you are ignorant and have been misguided, you can enter the door, prostrate, if the right picture is presented to you. What do we mean by prostrate? The Christians say it in a different way. They say. 'you cannot enter unless you come in as little babes.' God created first for us, the cosmic reality — stars, heavens, earth, all of this combined is one great endless, material reality. Now, maybe you can't be as philosophical as I can be. I heard a white man brag once, and he wasn't a high-class white man; he was a common white man — a common white man, of thought and principle, and he said in my presence: I believe he said it in my ears, but he wasn't looking at me.

I sensed he just wanted me to hear what he was saying. See, sometimes a man can look at a person, and can pretty well guess what kind of mind is in that person, and when you sense that a mind is in that person that may hear something that other minds won't hear, and you've been wanting to tell some black man that, the white man will tell that in the ear of that man, that he thinks will listen. So this white man said, 'the white man has great imagination, and that has accounted for his success.' That's what he said. You'd be surprised how help comes to people, from unexpected places.

Now, I agree with that man. Great imagination; imagination that strains itself to comprehend unreachable boundaries of this real environment, not imagination that sees what it can do unreal. See, the fools have great imagination too, but they stretch their imagination to see what they can do that's unheard of, that's unidentifiable, that has no place in the continuity of reality. They want to do something that's freaked way out, that's way-out. So their fiction is not appreciated by the critics of fiction, and they wonder 'how come, you see how they do us, man? Now you now the black man can write, man! The heavy prose, all the great fiction that we write, man. when do we get any recognition for our popular books, the popular fiction of our writers, man?' Your fiction is fictitious' It has no real reference! It's not a message of the truth' in strange apparel! It's just strange through and through! We need to know these things, so we can get our life into our own hands.

So dear beloved people, when talking about self-image, the importance of self-image for a healthy sense of well-being, the bigger picture i> the situation for the smaller picture. If you put a small picture in isolation, you are in trouble. But if you take the small picture and put it in the framework of the lug picture, now you've got a relationship, now you've got reality connected. Now you've got some way of defining the limiting definitions. See, the black man just keeps on going with the definitions of black. 'Yeah, black is beautiful, man.' Now, that's some light stuff to say about your identity as a race. Birds are beautiful — that's not a racial classification. 'Well, we needed that to come back from the negative things t he white man.' Well, all you can do is 'tit-for-tat".' He hit you on the shoulder, you hit him on the shoulder? That's child's stuff. He calls you ugly, don't try and prove yourself beautiful. He calls you ugly, try to prove yourself wealthy, or try to prove yourself wise; go for a bigger victory. He calls you ugly, don't go for that little shallow victor, that he's trying to influence you with, go for a bigger victory.

He'll say. 'you niggers are sure ugly,' you say, 'keep quiet, brothers, let's see if we can show him we're sure wise.' Because he'll let his daughter marry an ugly wise man, and while we are on this facet of the puzzle, you have to understand this, that all white people are not beautiful. Now, they know that. When the white man thinks of himself as the ideal race, with the idea of beauty and all that, he's aware, that some of his people are hideous. He knows that some of his people are so ugly that if he met them at high noon, he would be afraid. He knows that! But lifting himself up. as the ideal picture of man's beauty, has influenced you to think, that he ain't ugly! Sure, white people are beautiful, but white people are also ugly, with all their straight hair. A straight-haired orangutan doesn't make him beautiful. But some straight-haired blacks think that they are OK, that they are beautiful just because their hair is straight. Some are so ugly that they should be apologizing every time they see somebody. But his hair is straight, so he's not even conscious of it — he doesn't even know he's ugly.

And some old brainwashed victim of the white man's psychology, from the women, she'll be fine, she doesn't see anything but his straight hair. She'll have a baby and the baby will be born bald-headed, and ain't nothing there but the orangutan, and she's ashamed for people to come over 'and see my baby' because she married a head of hair.

So in order to work safely with any concept, you've got to see that concept in it> reality. And it is the cosmic concept that has given birth to every other concept— every animal, every plant, human being, body, every stone, every crystal. forms in the concept of the cosmic world.

The white man has that understanding; he makes fiction and he pictures his heroes as cosmic heroes. They don't have United States citizenship. They've got a citizenship in a cosmic galaxy. Now you tell me that hero's concern is as small as yours? No, your narrow picture of your identity makes you very small. Allah says, 'O man, think not that your reality is bigger than the external reality.' He patterned man's life and His reality on the order of the universe. You have universal disciplines in your nature, in your being by nature, and it is those universal disciplines that account for your well-being. If you lose those universal disciplines, you will lose your sense of well-being.

So we need the big picture in order to identify the small one, to find the place for the small one, the value of the small one.

We need to know the role of matter cosmic reality in order to appreciate the role of man. And Allah says the heavens, the stars, the moon, all of those things glorify God. all of those things conform to His purpose, all of those things conform to His will, all of those things follow the nature and aim that He gave them. And for that reason, they remain; their function is preserved for them, while man is constantly losing his function as the excellent creature that God created him to be.

Racist views of ourselves did not come to us from common, natural man. It came from man who gained the feel, the insight, the feel to confuse reality, and pass on pride to the fools that he himself pretends to buy, but does not buy, but only-sells it. If you think racist America was able to achieve the greatness that America achieved in the last hundred years, you are yourself ignorant. It was not racist America that achieved that, no; they used racism as an excuse to keep you out of the competition, to keep you fighting them in a battlefield of nonsense. "What the heck difference do it make if you white or I'm black" or "I'm superior because I'm white - white is better than black" and then we're going to counter, "I'm black and I'm better'n you." "Your skin burns in the sun; mine doesn't. You get sun rash, I don't." And when they come back, they talk about you.

Patriotism

"Patriotism as we know, is an element in the social life of all people and we are all patriotic. The element of patriotism is always with us, but patriotism changes for us and sometimes we don't see or we don't identify the new patriotism. The old patriotism is still with us in our conscience so we don't identify the new patriotism.  What I mean by New World, is the unfolding or revealing of something that was with this country when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution. That desire for a world wherein all the good human aspirations would be respected by the nation and by the people of that nation, and that no one would be denied the free expression of his noble human aspirations and he would be able to pursue those aspirations.

That kind of environment doesn't come until moral freedom comes. That is, when people are able to express freely what they feel in their moral sentiments. This, to me, is the greatest difficulty for a society; to let the moral goodness just come out freely from all of the people. And I believe that the hurdles that we have come over; the hurdles of racism and now materialism are now dying.  Materialism and racism are still in the world, but I believe the "spirit" of the American people now is not racist and is not materialistic, and I am sure that what we are coming into now is the New World. That world that the founding fathers anticipated; the New World that is suggested in the lines of the Preamble to the Constitution that says that "All men are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights."

This concept of man and the concept of the State being a State under G-d a state respecting G-d is really a way of saying or a way of expressing something else. That is, the need for the proper respect for individuals, for each and every individual regardless to his moral, religious persuasion; the respect for each individual. And when we see all beings as the creation of one G-d, and a nation and its people accountable to a G-d, then in that kind of thinking we have respect for each individual. We have a kind of sacred respect for each individual. By New World we mean trying to help that spirit come to birth that has always been in the country. It is in the Constitution and it always has been in the country, but it has been overlooked and ignored, and even suppressed. And now, I see the climate is right for the rebirth of this kind of respect for human beings, a sacred respect for human beings, for human life, for human aspirations."

Zakat - A Societal Necessity

As with all the great religions, charity is a fundamental principle in Al-Islam that has been prescribed for its adherents. The concept of charity has an important role in the life of the Muslim and Islamic society. Charity in Al-Islam is closely related to the concept of charity in Christianity, and perhaps in Judaism. I am sure that it is very close to the concept of charity for the Christians. Charity in Al-Islam starts with the minimum requirement, and goes to the maximum.

In exercising the maximum degree of charity, we must be prepared to share our wealth, our money and our homes with those who are out of doors. We must be willing to give up much of what we hold private and dear for the benefit of those who are shut out. Charity is a means for improving society. It is not seen as a desirable condition to be on charity. At sometime in a person's life, they should want to get off of the charity role.

Charity is a great necessity for the good future and well being of the society. G-D says that He has created us upon equality. He also says that He has favored some above others. There will be some of us with greater spirit, greater talents and greater skills, and those with lesser ability may find themselves at the mercy of the better achievers. Therefore, G-D wants to sensitize and keep us in touch with the best of our nature that He has given us. He wants to keep charity in our spirit.
The role of obligatory charity (zakat) in Islamic society is to relieve the pressures on the less fortunate by taking a percentage of the annual income from those who are more fortunate. The amount arrived at by most writers and teachers on the subject of zakat or charity in Al-Islam is 2.5 percent (two and one-half percent) of your annual holdings. This is not an income tax deducted from your wages. This 2.5 percent is determined and collected based on your total accumulated wealth.
Under this particular concept or ruling, if you own an automobile, your automobile is accumulated wealth. If you have a garden, a farm, agricultural animals or money in the bank, it is all considered part of your accumulated wealth. From the above, we can see that the range of accumulated wealth under the terms of zakat is very broad.

Zakat is not the only way the Muslim society survives economically or financially. There is also sadaqah, which is an additional charitable deed performed after the obligation of zakat has been fulfilled. There is a great range for sadaqah. We have sadaqah eid: charity in one form or another that is distributed to the poor and needy. Muslims on the two great Eids celebrations: Eid ul-Fitr (Sadaqah ul-Fitr), and Eid ul-Adha. the bigger eid or the greater eid. As stated above, sadaqah is another term for charity, and that is the term we use for charity given on those great Eid days. We use that term for the charity that we give on those great days.

Sadaqah is expected from everyone, the poor as well as those who are in a better situation. Many times we don't have very much to give, but it is the spirit of the charity that is important for human society. Every man and woman needs the spirit of charity in their life in order for them to feel healthy enough to meet the greater challenges of life. If you do not have charity in your heart, you will be unable to meet the challenges of life.

An Islamic society has to finance important new projects. If you are an independent Muslim nation, you have to finance the defense of your homeland. There are also other forms of revenue, but in Al-Islam, it is all charity. The role of zakat is to improve social life for the less fortunate. It is to help them have the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, education, a chance to free themselves from an impoverished situation and provide them with an opportunity to establish themselves. As we say here in America, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," and "It is better to teach one to fish, than to give him a fish."

Why We Celebrate Father' Day

Wall Street Journal Article Excerpt, Updated June 13, 1997
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"In most of the countries of the world, religion has treasured traditional family life, in which sex has meaning as a strong bonding element between husband and wife. In this view, sex has an inherent social aim. Its purpose is organized family life.

When sex is understood and valued in this way, and its human and social meaning is carried over into public quarters, then public life has a strong social and moral foundation. Thus it was men who saw honest work as an expression of their masculinity who were most sought after by decent women. Such men also understood sex in the context of civilization, and took seriously their obligations as husbands and fathers. The term "father" commanded respect.

What has come to be called "pop" culture has crowded out the traditional view of sex and morality. If we are to restore civilization's traditional respect for fathers, we must first restore respect for the traditions on which it was based."

Use in Human Service

February 261988, Oakland, CA - Praise be to Allah. As-Salaam-Alaikum, and that is peace be unto you. We give all praise to the One Lord and Creator of the heavens and the earth, Whose Proper Name with the Muslims is Allah , the same G-D for all the G-D fearing people on this earth. In fact, He is the same G-D for people anywhere, if they are existing in some other body and somewhere else other than this earth. It is the same G-D, the Lord of all creations. We give all praise to Him and we thank Him for the blessing of religion and the blessing of faith that came to us by way of the blessing to all people and to all nations and a mercy to all nations, the one we call Muhammad the Prophet. We pray the peace and blessings of G-D be upon him, and that we always be guided as Muslims into the excellence that he demonstrated and exemplified for the following.

Last evening we had a wonderful time and enjoyed another very successful fundraiser and evening of excellence for Sister Clara Muhammad School in Oakland, California. You will remember that I said to be prepared for tomorrow and come, for I am going to talk all day. I hope I won't do that, and I am going to try not to do that.  We have been addressing some concerns, and I hope I can continue in that same vein and same line of progression. We focused on the human being as a creature with sacred properties and came from that focus to then focus on the human being as a creature with potential for the management of the environment, whether that environment be small or be the total environment that we live in. That is, the natural environment that we live in, the earth and all of its elements, the wind and water and fire, the sun and moon and stars above, for all of these things according to revelation from G-D were created to be utilities for man or as utilities for human society. They are to be of use in human service.

The term in the Holy Book is "saqa," which means that something has been made available by another principle or authority for human benefit. And Allah says that He made the sun and the moon to be of benefit to human beings. These things are not to be worshipped by us. And that is the point, that these things are not to be worshipped by us but they are to render services for us. And we should not become big-headed and think that now we are G-D, because you know that in the history of man's search for truth he began as a baby, then entered kindergarten, then elementary school and high school, and finally college and the university. And as we trace his movements from that first weak state of his, we see a progression in his worship.

He worshipped the things he feared most, first. Then he worshipped the things he admired the most. And lastly, he worshipped the things that most satisfied his intellectual curiosity. That road of experience brought some men to stop right at themselves and they have gone no further. And for that reason, even in this most modern time in the sense of the advances of sciences, et cetera, there are now civilized nations still worshipping man as G-D. Let it be understood right here in the beginning of this address that Muslims worship nothing of creation. We don't worship the sun or the moon or man; we worship nothing of creation!

We worship only Allah, Who created everything and according to our Holy Book was existing before anything was created and is unlike anything He created and has no need of the creation for anything in Himself. He does not eat; He does not drink. He does not slumber; He does not sleep. Years and time has no affect on Him. These are the words of the Qur'an and not my words. These are the words of our Scripture. Time of the years has no affect on Him. Again, He cannot be affected by anything. Nothing can even approach Him to affect Him.

That is the Qur'an. And most of you don't speak Arabic and so there is no real need for me to give you the Arabic from the Qur'an. And it takes too much time to say the chapter and verse. The worse preachers will give you chapter and verse for everything they say. So this is the "ayat" or the concept of G-D for Muslims.  And you say, "What is He, then?" He is beyond the grasp of our human perception, and that is the G-D that man should worship. If I can perceive him fully and completely with my tool, then he is no bigger than me. Anything that I can perceive completely with my tools, then I am his equal. Whatever man has been able to completely perceive and understand with his mind or his intellect, he has been able to equal it or to master it. So the foolish notion of desiring and wanting to see G-D as you see your friend — look, you do not even see your friend in total. In fact, we know very little in total, but we can get a lot of knowledge of it.

Going back now to what I was saying doesn't mean that G-D is non-existing. I can't perceive Him in total, but He is existing! It does not mean that He is not real; He is real. He is more real than the things we acknowledge as being real. Allah is more real in our religion and by our understanding in our religion. In fact, He is "The Real." And everything else is just a reflection of some minute part of His Reality. This is G-d.

Really, I hate to use the English word, for it carries the message that some people have in their religion that G-D is no more than the dynamics of the universe that goes up and down. They have said that man can descend to the dog and ascend to god. Therefore we have "G-o-d." What a nice message or saying, but it is dangerous and I mean terribly dangerous. For man is a creature of haste and daringness and is ready to do what he thinks can't be done. And that is the challenge he wants, the challenge that says, "No, you can't do it." He is ready for that one. And the biggest one is "be G-D!" And he is ready for that one, too. He wants to be G-D.

I am speaking not only from second hand and third hand, I am speaking from first hand. We used to say we were god, that is the followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We used to believe that we were god, in that the black man was god. And our knowledge wasn't as heavy as the white man's that said he was God. So we did things more foolish than he did.

Perception is a natural urge in the intellect; it is a natural urge in everybody. When the baby is first born, the greatest interest in the baby appears to be the urge to perceive. The baby will look at the mother and look at the father, the brothers and sisters or whoever is in the household. They will look at the objects and study them. The baby wants to see and understand what it is seeing. It will look at itself.

Science says that man is a creature of habit and it is described in so many ways. Science1 does not have any one definition for man; it has many definitions for man. The one we use most commonly is "human." And what does human mean? You'll say, "man of the soil or man of the earth." And perhaps that is so, but the idea we have now of human means a person with feelings, a person caring, a person that has refined sensitivities that are "human," or that are just natural for him.

Now when he behaves or responds to our kindness, et cetera, in an ugly way, then we may call him an animal. But again, that is a great mistake. Because you will find the same good feelings and concerns among animals that you find among human beings. I haven't seen any human mother any more caring than some of the mothers among the animals that I have observed. So really, that is not our excellence. Kindness, consideration, caring — those are not our "special" excellence.

The special excellence of man is his mental power or intellect and is his superiority as an intellect. He is not superior as flesh; he is not superior as a creature of feelings. He is superior as an intellect. Man is a free creature. So his feelings sometimes will lead him to go beyond what is good. He can become so good that he is too good, and that is bad. Whereas the animals have checks on them. They can't love you to the death; I have never seen animals loving each other to death. But I am sure you have run into somebody, if it wasn't a girlfriend or boyfriend, that will love you to death. So you say, "I don't think I can make it, if you keep loving me. Hold up, slow up just a little bit." So that can't be our excellence. The intellect is our excellence.

There is something else that goes along with that intellect. And it is intelligence as well, and it is something that is typical of the human being. And that is a requirement in us to give for what we receive. 'To give for what we receive." A real human being does not like to receive and receive and receive and not give. A human being likes to receive and give. And this is a requirement in us that leads us to acknowledge G-D. "How did we get all of this? I want to thank somebody for it. Who am I to thank for all of this?" So he looks for the one to thank, and that is G-D. He keeps searching until he says, "Yes, G-D, I thank G-D."

That is the spirit and attitude that makes him a good servant of the Lord. He reaches a point in that realization, where everything he does he wants to do it knowing that G-D is pleased with it. Whether it is with his family and running the household or working on the job or helping the men in the neighborhood or even playing on a team, he reaches a point in that kind of progression where he wants everything to be first accepted by G-D. That is a wonderful creature.


That is the creature that excels. That is the creature that really becomes a hero. That is the way of the prophets of G-D. They are our best heroes. They rose above the confines of their being, time and knowledge, because they served the Lord Most High with that kind of devotion. We believe in this religion that man is a creature created for service. He cannot find happiness, until he accepts himself as such. That he is a creature to find his happiness, his pleasure in rendering service. He has been made the servant of G-D.

Memorial Day

"This is the Memorial Day Weekend, and memorial means that this day honors somebody or persons who should be remembered. They are the people who fought and lost their lives, so we could have this peace and security that we enjoy as citizens of the United States of America. We honor them and pay tribute to them on this day.

Also we must take full advantage at every occasion, when there is a holiday that gives us time off from work, to meet together for every important interest that we have as a community, to study and strengthen the situation for our schools and masajid, for our business people, for our financial needs.

The sick have to be taken care of. The little ones without parents have to be taken care of. These are all obligations spelled out for us very clearly in the Holy Qur'an. The weak have to be taken care of, not to mention that our investments have to be protected. As much as possible, we want to qualify to finance our own investments. So we have to work at that.

It is not going to happen, unless we work for it. Allah says that there is nothing for the human person, except that he strives for it, that you make a real hard effort - you have to strive for it. It is very difficult, and you are going and going but it is not with ease. It is with difficulty. That is our history."

Mother

April 7, 1978

As-Salaam-Alaikum, a woman's identity is in her basic nature—motherhood. A woman's unique nature creates her motherhood. She does not have to birth a child to come into motherhood. "Mother" as a social role, a leadership role for which physical motherhood is a symbol. Motherhood does not mean ability or capacity of only giving birth; it also means in addition, having the responsibility and authority of a mother (to look after and care for life as the mother does. Therefore, all women are by their nature and qualities mothers. Little girls are mother-like. The reproductive function in a woman naturally gives her distinct physical and social desires and a strong motherly interest in life and society.

Women need to take a new look at the role of motherhood in (the world and they need to re-assess, re-evaluate and re-establish the importance of the role of motherhood in the world. Motherhood is the most valuable attribute to society. Woman does not have to have a baby, or even be fertile to be a mother. To be a mother is to be a mother-like leader. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), called women who served the community well—mothers. In the Catholic Church system where clergy or officials are arranged in order of grade, rank, or class, the highest rank of female is called mother, usually Mother Superior. These cloistered females certainly do not have babies or children of their own. They are called mothers because they fulfill the beneficial leadership role that Almighty God has assigned to the female.

Women are mothers first and always. They are mothers for their families inside their homes, but they should also be mothers for the block that they live on, for the nation they live in and for the world that we all live in. In short, mother means leadership in society. Mother leadership is essential. The loss or absence of this very important role has caused many of the problems in the world today.

Women need to repossess the lost leadership role of motherhood. They should be active leaders in the community. We need motherhood leadership at every level of national life. Women, because of their natural stamina and keen interest, should push for the creation of a better life that would benefit and cover the whole world. Women should work for things that will be completed by them rather than start and stop in the first stage and leave them as many men often do.

Apathy is the absence of feeling for each other as we should feel, It is the lack of concern about the terrible things that are happening around us. In other words, apathy means lack of interest and indifference. Mothers cannot afford to be apathetic, because all of the worthwhile, desirable and excellent qualities which the world needs rest in a very significant part and depend on the leadership of motherhood. That leadership is naturally concerned about the health and welfare of all human life—the home, the community and the nation.

If, through changing times and attitudes, a conspiracy has formed to diminish the role of women or cause women to become apathetic, it is our duty to disarm the conspiracy and re-establish and restore women to their rightful and deserved role of leadership in our society. And we should lend our whole and sincere support to their efforts in assuming their leadership role as mothers of the nation. When we have done this, we will have reached the core, the central or innermost heart of society. That is motherhood.

We must have motherhood in the home and in the nation. We need those sentiments serving the best interest of the nation which are by nature female generated. We need the keen eye of motherhood watching over the land. Intelligent men know world leadership is best when it is combined with the wisdom which originates from fatherhood and with the wisdom which originates from motherhood. Female interest coming from the lungs of motherhood reaches us as solutions to problems and not merely as attacks upon conditions. The leadership role of motherhood over the nation requires that women meet the present challenge to eliminate the corruption and cruelties which modern society has imposed upon the woman. Because of the imposition of cruelty and corruption which surround us, the motherhood forces of heart and intellect are needed to save human life for America and the world.

Peace be to you

Your brother in service to Allah,

Wallace D. Muhammad

QUOTES by Imam W. Deen Mohammed

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Be True To Your Label

June 7, 1987, Dallas Texas - I have been, as you know, addressing you on the subject of "Sacred Life Connections." The theme that has been chosen for the workshops and for this address here today fits perfectly within that general topic, that I have been addressing. Community family life is a sacred life connection; to keep that life constituted, as our Lord Creator intended for us to be constituted, is a sacred duty. To hold to the identity that G-d intended for us, as individuals, and as groups, is a sacred duty. When we lose that identity that Allah intended for us, we begin to lose the way that G-d intended for us to be constituted, the way He intended for us to be made up, inside as well as outside.

Our religion, Al-Islam, focuses on family, and Allah Most High, that is, G-d Almighty, the Lord Creator says in our Holy Book, the Qur'an, "family obligations have a priority." Family obligations are given priority. My obligation to my wife, to my children, to my father, to my mother, to my grandparents, to the aging people in my family and the young in my family, is a duty that G-d has focused the revelation on, and has told us that before Him, family ties have a priority, family ties are given priority. We have obligations to family

I have a right as an individual, to benefit from good family circumstances, a good family situation, and I have an obligation as an individual, to support good family life, to be a contributor, to contribute to the well-being and excellence of family life, and society; in our religion, everyone has an obligation to work for the same, and to respect the same. We understand that in America, this is the land of freedom and opportunity, and of the great experiments, the great experiments with freedom. So here in this country, not only are the good people free, but the bad people are also free, and sometimes it seems that the bad people have more freedom than the good people. More freedom to progress, more freedom to advance their aims, their ends, more freedom to pursue their goals, that are criminal, than the good people have to pursue their goals that are legal, and that are honorable, that are approved by G-d.

It appears to be that way, and I used to feel very bad about the situation in American when I thought about this special kind of freedom that Americans have here, and for years, I was burdened with a great burden, and I said, well, what is this; is this the devil, is this hell or is this an opportunity for humanity to survive? And I couldn't say there was no opportunity for humanity here, because I have survived as an American and as a human being here. But it was confusing to me. And the more I thought about it, the more I had to rely upon the Qur'an, the teachings of my religion for an answer. And I came to the conclusion that this is just an opportunity; America gives you an opportunity, and all of us have an opportunity, and the problem for us is not to be blamed on America or on this special kind of freedom that we have here the problem is to be blamed on ourselves.

America gives us a special situation for competition, and never think that you are going to be helped; in America, you are helped in seasons, and the season will come when you are not helped anymore. You are left on your own. So don't depend on anybody in America; nobody in America is going to help you always, except those who obey G-d over the word of man, and obey the Will of G-d, over the will of man. If you don't have anybody like that with you, then don't expect to be helped. Help here in America is always seasonal.

Now you can just hang around, spring will come again, but winter will come too, again. Muslims' hope in G-d's word.  We must put our hope in something bigger than America. Muslims' hope is in Allah, in what He reveals the Qur'an. Our hope is in the life that was demonstrated to us by His Prophet, His Messenger, Muhammad, the Last Messenger of G-d. That's where our hope is. Muslims, don't forget where your hope is, and work on keeping your identity. Muslims must work on keeping the Muslim identity. You know, things may be created or produced, and a label put on them, that truly identifies what has been made or produced, or created. But if those things are perishable, in time, the contents won't be true to the label, unless you find a way to preserve it.

In our life as human beings, we have this freedom, to conform or to not conform, to obey, or to disobey, and in the society that we live in sometimes encourages too much freedom, immoral freedom, and we find ourselves without knowing it, losing the original content of our lives. However, we continue to identify as we identified when the contents were correct. Muslims may call themselves Muslims, long after they have lost their Muslim lives. They still call themselves Muslims, and we are happy to say we are Muslims. But often, the Muslim life is left behind, long time ago. So we have to live true to our identity, true to our contents. If we don't, we are going to lose the life.

Keep identity before you, and keep the true meaning of identity before you, not just as a name, because names are just in the air, unless you can just grasp the full meaning of what that name represents. The name "Muslim" connects us with a meaning. Islam, or Al-Islam as it is called in the Qur'an, or in the Arabic language, connects us with a meaning. It's not guaranteed that we are going to keep the meaning, unless we make an effort. The Muslim name is known also to Christians; they know it, they say, "oh yes, a Muslim, sure, we know what a Muslim is."