Reprinted from the Muslim Journal (7-23-04 to 8-20-04)

A Healthy Patriotism

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

(Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave this public address at The Mosque Cares First Sunday Series on July 4, 2004, at the Ramada Inn in Homewood, IL)

We greet you with the Muslims' greeting, the greeting of Islam, Peace be unto you  As-Salaam-Alaikum. We always begin by thanking G-d for our life and our presence here on this day. We trust our Lord, Creator, Allah, in the Arabic language of our religion and of the Qur'an.

We trust Him to protect us against straying or making mistakes or coming from our weaknesses, so that we do not make errors or confuse or make worse the life of those who are listening to us. We trust Him that we come from our strengths and not from our weaknesses.

This is the day we celebrate as July 4th. I don't know how many Muslims take this day to be our day in a very special way. But I do.

And I do, because I was taught as a little child, I can recall before I was 8 years old sitting in chairs like you are and listening to Ministers preach for my father and preach for the Nation of Islam.

I can recall my father also saying about Mr. Fard, whom he said was his savior, and my mother said he was her savior. And he said to the Nation of Islam that this man was the savior for the Black man  not just for Muslims but for all Black people. That is what he taught.

My father said that that person called Mr. W. D. Fard or W. F. Muhammad and by many names came to America on July 4, 1930. This has been documented and is in the very special printed materials of the Nation of Islam. I heard my father speak on that, and I can give you what he said in one sentence.

He said, "He came on their Independence Day, so that we one day will be independent." That is what he taught.

That is not the topic here, but it is a big part of this presentation. The topic for today is "A Healthy Patriotism." This also is Patriotism Day. I don't know how many of you know what patriotism is or what a patriot is. Patriotism is from patriot.

Patriotism is the support and loyalty and sacrifices that the patriot makes for his country or his fatherland.

Note that I did not say "motherland"; it is for his fatherland. Although, he does have a motherland, which is the whole of his people and the land. But his fatherland even has a deeper meaning.

I am going to introduce to you "Independence Day" and "Patriotism" to you, but I also want to share with you my personal experience as an observer of this day, as "Independence Day" for the American people.

My experience is that this is a fun day. When I think of this day, I think of parents going out with their children when the weather is good and drinking, eating roasted wennies and marshmallows, playing games and just having a good time.

I think that most Americans, families and children, think of it as a fun day. And I do like to go see the fireworks, though I never liked to make the fireworks myself. I like the big fireworks that are shot up in the air and all of those beautiful colors unfold.

Imam Muhammad Siddique of Indianapolis, Ind., told me that once he saw them light up the sky with the American flag. And I have seen that once, also. The American flag came out of the explosion; it was a beautiful firework. Some have colors like the rainbow. That is one way of looking at the 4th of July, in that fun picture or as having good fun.

But we should not forget the real meaning of the 4th of July, and it is very serious. And a true patriot, his patriotism is formed upon that serious meaning or formed out of that serious meaning of the 4th of July.

Numbers also have meaning, especially in Scripture or Revelation  not the Book of Revelation, but in Revealed Scriptures. The Qur'an is revelation. Those numbers have meaning, and it is given to us in the Qur'an plainly that numbers have meanings, so that we will understand.

It is given to us that G-d created so much in six days. Remember that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years. The day is not just a 24hour day. Some say it was created in six periods, because they understand that this is not days. They don't want the English reader to think that it is six days of our time or our calculation. So they say "six periods of time."

G-d says His Charity, His Goodness can be seen in the corn that grows for us in the garden. The stark may bear seven ears of corn, and on each ear a hundred kernels. And in another place, G-d says He gives without counting, although He says the form of His Charity is like the corn that grows with so many grains on each ear. That is The G-d I worship.

G-d is not like so many people who have to count everything they give. A real generous person will just reach in his pocket and give everything he has. He may not see what he is giving; you may have to tell him how much he gave. There are some people just that charitable, just that kind and generous.

Muhammed the Prophet was trusted with the wealth of the people. When the people needed something, he didn't go to get it for them himself. He would tell them, "Go to the treasure and get what you need." They would go, and he didn't go to see what they got.

One fellow was walking back from the treasure, and he kept falling because what he had was so heavy. So the Prophet told him, "Leave some of that there. Take only what you can carry yourself."

I subscribe to the Southtown Daily and get their Sunday Southtown. On their front page is "The Meaning of Patriotism," as their headline, the biggest thing on the front page.

It gives a definition of patriotism as "beyond flag waving and parades and fireworks of Independence Day. The spirit is defined by sacrifice, loyalty, service and kindness."

Also carried in the Chicago Tribune was something on this 4th of July day. If we want to understand what this day means, we have to do some research, because most of us are not in touch with the true history and unfolding or the development of our perception or ideas around patriotism or that support patriotism.

Most of us are just following the habits of the people in our country. So for us, it is just a day to have fireworks and drink lemonade, the sour with the sweet in it, and that is about it for us.

Thomas Jefferson is credited and remembered for giving us the language, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Mr. Fard, the teacher of my father who brought the plan for the Nation of Islam and left it with my father, if he said he came on this day, July 4, 1930, I am sure he didn't see the people at that time responding to him and being curious to study what he was saying.

Most people hear something and just heard it, that's all. They didn't give it any
thought. That is in the Qur'an and in the Bible. There it says there are many Clear Signs that G-d gives around them everywhere, but most of the people go along heedless. "Heedless" means to pay no attention to it; it never reached their minds.

Those listening to W.D. Fard or Mr. Fard Muhammad were the same. They heard the words but gave those words no serious attention. But I did from the earliest days of my life. Especially things that came from my mother and father, I gave serious attention. I wanted to understand it, even as a little boy.

I wanted to understand it, because I wanted to make it a part of my life. I wanted to take it in, I didn't just want to hear it. I thought that everything that they were giving me was needed in my life. So if I were to include it or incorporate it into my life, I wanted to understand it. And I wanted to feel that I knew what I am putting into my life.

There aren't but a few souls born like that into the world. Most don't care and are not that serious about life.

I am sure Mr. Fard was thinking of our being deprived of liberty. When he came, we were discriminated against in the South and treated like unwanted animal level people. I am not talking about slavery; I am talking about 1930. The laws weren't changed until about 1960 or after.

So we had no liberty guaranteed to us when Mr. Fard came. He saw a people in a country that claimed to be a country of democracy for all, freedom, liberty and justice for all. And he saw that a certain race had been excluded from that and not even recognized as a human being on the level to qualify for that.

I'm not talking about in the time of the 13 Colonies. I am talking about the 1930s in the United States, where the President was for all the states in the South and the North. And he couldn't be President, unless he got the majority votes in the South and in the North. But he tolerated the South treating us like we were animal level people and not qualified for the rights of the majority of the people in the country.

By the way, it was a Republican President, and I am not saying anything to encourage you to vote for President Bush; this is just a coincidence that President Bush is also Republican. But it was a Republican President, a general, a great soldier, a great person, a great man  Dwight D. Eisenhower  who came out as a soldier to defend our rights to be included as human beings on the level with everybody else.

That's something we forget, and we shouldn't forget those things. And our leaders who know those things should make it a point to keep their constituency aware of these important things.

I don't belong to either party. I don't belong to the dark people's Jesus Christ party you call the Democrats, and I don't belong to the Republican Party. I am a free man in this country, and I support what I believe deserves my support. I don't care if it is Democrat or Republican. I am looking for the right person.

Think about the parties. The symbol of one is a donkey, a dumb ass  speaking from the dictionary, and I want to be sure you've gotten the full meaning. The other's symbol is an elephant, a big, huge, massive creature, whose nose is very unique. You can't find any living creature with a nose like that.

He can give himself a shower with his nose. He can eat something as small as a peanut, picking it up with his nose and putting it in his mouth. And he can take that nose and tighten the muscle up in it and push down a building like a bulldozer. That nose is unique.

The only thing I've found that seems to warrant the attention and admiration like his nose is his equilibrium. With all of that massive weight, he can walk across something no more than two inches wide, if it is strong enough to hold him. He can get upon it and walk on a little small edge. Not only can he walk it, he also can balance himself on one foot, raising all of that huge thousands of pounds of weight  raising himself up and standing on one foot.

That is the symbol for the Republican Party, a big massive creature. I can't identify with either party. I don't have enough money to buy an elephant, and I don't want a donkey.

Getting back to the 4th of July The Ku Klux Klan, the KKK, some of you remember them. Don't think that they weren't patriots. They were patriots. The White Citizen's Council is made up of patriots. These were enemies to our rights or our coming into our rights as citizens of this country.

But how your patriotism is formed depends on your perception of the land itself. If you perceive the land as the land opened up for Whites only, then your patriotism is going to look quite different from Thomas Jefferson's and others who perceived this land as a land for all people and wrote descriptions of beliefs and principles that they held.

They wrote documents to live as long as we have lived in this country in a language that was designed to accommodate not only Christians, but also for other people who would be coming to this land of freedom and opportunity.

They were wise men with good hearts and foresight planning this Nation, the political edifice of this government, the United States, so that one day it will not be an offense to any good and well meaning person. It will welcome the Muslim. It will welcome the Hindu. It will welcome the Buddhist. It will welcome the Jew. It will welcome everybody who comes with good intentions and well meaning.

There is nothing in their language to exclude any who should be accepted: "We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men"  didn't leave out a one  " are created equal and endowed by their Creator"  recognizing a Creator over all of us. They were religious and made it clear that they believed in G-d, and they could not take authority that belonged to G-d.

So they said these rights are inseparable from the people; these rights are inalienable  the people could not be separated from those rights by the government or by any other power. It was because those rights had been given to them by virtue of their creation by their G-d. Their language did not exclude anybody.

So the idea that the South imposed upon the whole country and made us suffer under it was really unconstitutional at the very beginning. They shouldn't have amended anything. The amending was done, so that history would be continuous and not lost. That was the only reason why it was necessary to make amendments.

The body of the Constitution, itself, is like an organism. You couldn't take away from what was there, but it can grow. It can grow from the idea that was given to us by the Founding Fathers and from there it grew according to our needs or what we would permit or allow or not allow.

As we look back at it, we may see that one part is not acceptable anymore. But you don't cut it off, you just amend it. The language of the Founding Fathers is clear and complete enough for them not to have done what they did to us.

But as you know, even some of those Founding Fathers were guilty of having slaves and of not changing the attitude of those people who had slaves. They died leaving slave masters.

They were much like Mr. Fard, who would do a thing and then trust the people with it. He would say, "I know I have a lot of BS here, but right now this is what they understand. As they become better thinkers and fine tune their lives, they will get rid of the stuff we have left." The Founding Fathers were very much like Mr. Fard.

Mr. Fard said enough in clear and plain language to clear up every lie he permitted to be put in his name. And the Founding Fathers said enough and said it clear enough, that in time it would kill every falsehood or every lie they permitted their name to be put upon.

This is a beautiful and wonderful time we are living in. You all can't see like I can. This is a wonderful day. See how nice the weather is on this 4th of July. We thank Allah for that.

What I want to bring to your attention with this address today on patriotism is what I think is missing in most of our minds and hearts, that I think is absolutely necessary for us to make progress and not lose it. Study the people who make real progress and real sacrifices for the people.

They die and pretty soon our life is right back where it was before they started helping us or even more regressed, more backwards, more confused, less meaningful than it was before they started working on us. We need something in us, in our minds and in our hearts.

That is what a true patriot is. He or she lives with something very special and very meaningful as an understanding of what it is to be a citizen of America.

They live with that in their minds and in their hearts, and their spirit is drawn to that. And they make sure that then children succeed that. They are common families, not just the rich  the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots.

Among the poor are some real patriots. They are very devoted to the best that this country offers and the best tradition that this country offers and will not separate from it.

They will make sure that their children understand it and appreciate it. They will lose a child or two or more, sometimes all of the children are lost in their hearts and minds  not physically.

This will worry them. But they die with dignity and with strength. They are happy that they shared with someone who wasn't their child, with another friend or those who would open their ears and invite in what they were offered.

When I began as your leader, I said to myself, "No way for us to achieve what we want to achieve in this country, if we don't do what the rest of the Blacks  especially the Civil Rights leaders  were asking for our people to do. And that is to claim your rights.

Claim your rights! Don't have people tell you that you are not included. Don't have them tell you that you can try, but you won't make it; that you can invest, but you will never see what you are after. No.

The law should govern the people. What they say is the authority should be respected by them. This was my thinking back when I just started out as leader. I said if they don't respect it, that takes nothing away from the law that they don't respect.

The whole White race may not have respect for it. But if I know how to read it, the law is above all of the people, until they get the majority of the people to change it. And as long as they can't change it with the majority of the people, that law stands, that authority stands.

I said to myself, I don't care what they think of me. They may think that I am not worthy of being included as a citizen or worthy of the rights and privileges of citizenship. I don't care, as long as I know there is a law that says I should have that. Until they change that, then I am going to live as though this country belongs to me as much as it belongs to any other person.

I made that my decision long ago. And I said, this is the psychological disposition that all of us need, if we are going to succeed in getting our share of this country. That was my determination.

And don't think G-d wasn't with me. I can't remember a time when I didn't ask G-d to be with me.

My mother could put a whipping on you when you made her angry or disappointed her. And when I thought she was coming at me, I called on G-d like that poor Black man who had been caught by a White mob before the law changed down South.

I cried on G-d, that there was no friend but G-d. I had G-d in my life as far back as I can remember, seriously.

I said to myself, I have to share this with the followers and then get them to understand that it is necessary, in order for them to make progress in this country toward the goals that we had before us.

The Hon. Elijah Muhammad didn't leave any small goals before us; he gave us big goals to reach. So I said that the followers have to have this in order to succeed and in order to keep the progress. Don't lose it every time a soldier dies in our community.

The people have to have what will live in them and what they will hold on to, whether the leader is dead or alive. I said to myself, I have to work on this. I began. I even worked with the children in the school and was over the school at one time on Stony Island Avenue.

What you have rights to goes back before the United States, this kind of perception of your entitlement, what you are entitled to as a creature of G-d on this earth that man did not make. The Creator made it.

This goes back to that time before government and even before man and his authority. It is in Islam and in the Qur'an, where the language of the scholars was formed upon the language of the Qur'an.

Every man created is entitled to what G-d has created. No man is to be discriminated against. It isn't to be based upon anything but justice; you can't deny it.

It would hurt me to know how the poor Native American Indians with their arrows and hatchets were out powered by those with firearms, and how the Indians eventually lost and had their land taken from them and they were put on reservations.

They were told to stay on that reservation. And if they came off from there, they had no protection. Their life was dictated to them, and they were confined on restricted areas of land. That hurt me.

But what I have learned about our life as products of the earth, although we say G-d created us, we ourselves are products of the earth. And obviously we are special products of the earth, who have the ability to use the earth and even to alter the picture of the earth that we live on.

This is in the Qur'an. I am not giving anything that I can't defend as a Muslim teacher or as an Imam. So I said to myself, G-d says that if you don't behave in a way to keep your rights or your land, He will let another people come and take it from you.

So the writers of legalities, on what is legal, for landholders in the Muslim world have put into writing that if you don't attend your land, then others have rights to it.

Is that any different in the United States? No. If you neglect your property in the United States, if you don't pay your taxes, or even if you pay your taxes and your property becomes an eye sore and a problem for your neighbors, your neighbors can bring you to court.

And if you don't correct the problem, the government may take that land from you. Many people have lost their land just because they abused it or didn't care for it. So there are other rules that go with that entitlement.

With that cleared up, let us come back to our rights. Whether you own a house on the block or not, maybe you don't own anything on the block and just share a room with somebody. But you live on the block, and when you walk out on that sidewalk and see trash on the sidewalk, it is supposed to bother your heart.

Why? Because that is your living quarters. You don't just live in the small bed you sleep it. That is your outside. You sit on the porch. You come back and forth to that address.

Every time you see something bad, it hurts the spirit and weakens your life, when you walk in your house and you have something bad on your mind and in your spirit. That condition that you had to walk through to get into the door of the house.

That is your living space. And as a citizen of the country, you are entitled to any part of the public as much as any other citizen is entitled to a part of the public. The public domain is shared by all of the citizens.

But they have us thinking that this is the White man's city, the White man's street, the White man's sidewalk. In fact, they have intentionally manipulated you and intentionally influenced your psychology to get you to have that attitude.

The "they" I am talking about is not the White man but the wicked man, the man who wants to keep out as many as he can from production and reward. He is greedy and wants it only for a very few.

And he loves power and knows that if the few have control over the many and the properties, they will have great power and no one will be able to challenge their power. They are too powerful.

But if the thing is made right and the many are encouraged to come into production, authority, wealth, his share will be diminished and he will not be as strong and won't be able to dictate life and circumstances and the future of everybody else.

Who is this "he" I am talking about? It is Shaitan, the devil in man's form.

Any living brother is the savior of the dead brother, if the dead brother wants to be saved. I am a living brother. You have to be living to save. When Jesus Christ died, they lost their Savior. He had to be resurrected, so he could continue to save. He came back to life.

So this 4th of July is not just for modern times and for the United States of America. The real meaning was with man thousands of years ago. It came with Revelation from G-d.

Muhammed the Prophet, the prayers and the peace be upon him, said there would come a time when the people would see him and Jesus together. They are together in many ways. Also, he is described in the Qur'an as a man raised up from the people like a brother, like unto Moses.

So this 4th of July is not just for modern times and for the United States of America. The real meaning was with man thousands of years ago. It came with Revelation from G-d.

Muhammed the Prophet, the prayers and the peace be upon him, said there would come a time when the people would see him and Jesus together. They are together in many ways. Also, he is described in the Qur'an as a man raised up from the people like a brother, like unto Moses.

First he is like Jesus Christ. They have a lot of things in common, but what do they have in common more than anything else, that is more important than anything else? It is that neither one of them was educated by the world. No man and no institution educated them.

Both of them were not the children of educated parents. They were not the children of any priest or rabbi or teacher of Scripture. They both were men who had been blessed by their Creator to be pure and honorable by nature, not by education. No one taught them into that. They had it by nature.

Their own natures gave birth to them. It birth them as honest, truthful, pure, etc. When Muhammed was grown as a man, he kept that original untarnished unspoiled nature. And the people witnessed it. This is in history and it was documented by non-Muslims in that time.

They called him "As-Saadiq," the Truthful. They gave him that title before G-d commissioned him, before he turned to G-d.

By the way, his people worshipped idols; the Christian people would call them heathens. These were the people he was born among, idol worshippers or heathens. And their history says that he never worshipped the idols.

He was called As-Saadiq because he was always known for speaking the Truth. They called him El-Amin which meant that he was known always to be trustworthy; he would never betray your trust.

No church made him; no synagogue made him; no monastery made him; no priesthood. Nothing other than his own nature kept him that way.

Jesus Christ is portrayed in the Scripture, in the Bible, as being the same kind of life, if you understand it. It is said that he was born in a manger, where animals were kept, but he didn't come out an animal.

Both the Bible and the Qur'an say that he was born pure, and his purity was preserved. He didn't lose his purity, no matter what was heaped upon him. And he was born of a pure woman, a pure nature. Praise be to Allah.

These men are alike, and in time, the learned, the studious, the observant, the curious minded in religion would eventually discover this, if they are not afraid to go into the Bible.

If the Muslim student is not afraid to go into the Bible with an unbiased, not prejudiced, not condemning it, but looking to see what is there, and the good there to recognize and respect it  if you go to the Bible like that, you will come to the understanding that I have given you of Jesus Christ's creation.

If you study the Qur'an the same way, you will come to the understanding that I have given you of Muhammed's creation. It is as plain as day in the Qur'an.

Allah says, "No," He doesn't have sons like you have sons, a man and woman coming together sexually and having a child. When G-d wants one, He creates them.

G-d said, "None of you are G-d; you are the children of your father, a human being." Someone will say, "Oh, but not Jesus Christ." So let us see what The Gospel says.

The genealogy of Jesus Christ, where he came from, is traced back to Mary and Mary is traced back to her father. And it goes on back to Adam, the first man who was created by G-d. That is the Bible.

This is the 4th of July, Independence Day. And what is so important about this special day? America is saying with the 4th of July that this Nation is built upon the natural evolution of human life. Human life evolved out of nature, out of the earth by G-d Who planned it.

And eventually, that life will come to the right perception, the right idea and the right plan for the future of the society. So this day that we celebrate for Independence of this country has in its meaning, shrouded in the celebration, covering the true thing.

There is in the core of this day that we celebrate meaning that will live on. It still will be living in the hearts of the saints and the righteous. And they will have the language of the Founding Fathers supporting this idea.

Even if this country were to be destroyed, this idea is a portable government. It is the portable government that G-d evolved for mankind. If the country goes away and a few of us escape, we can establish the same thing as good or better in time, in another life or on another piece of land somewhere else. It is portable and man can carry it.

I have the understanding of how to create life again, political life that will grow into a great government. I have it, and I bet many others have it. But if the whole country would be lost, if G-d spared my life I could get it going again somewhere else in another land or in another place.

That is security, that is peace, that is salvation, when you know that you have been blessed with the perception and the way to form a society that will live, when others are dying and passing away.

Look at the longevity of this country, this form of government we have. Look how it has survived, when governments are falling all over the world. It is not because it has been so righteous; it is because it has been blessed with the sacred knowledge of how to form government life of a people, of a government
under G-d.

Never did it disown its Father. The leaders of this Nation never turned to Communism or atheism and disown or disrespect G-d.

I said this too in my young years as a minister. Imagine yourself now as a father with monumental wealth and immeasurable power and influence. And you have two sons.

One of your sons remember you all the time, but he is out beating up people and taking their property and selling whiskey and getting them to gamble and do all of those things. Now you don't stand for all of those things, but this son remembers you all of the time.

The other one does not drink and does not gamble and wants all the land to be shared by the people and just authorizes a few officers to represent them — though they get a good living for representing the people.

They want all the people to share the wealth and don't want any banks holding the wealth. And they don't want any small number of people holding up or piling up the wealth. These are the Communist people.

These are your two sons. One son isn't drinking and isn't smoking, and he has put the dope dealers out of business. That is what Communism did. But he says, "You aren't important. It's not important even to remember you."

And among those with the other son who is doing all the bad things, there are others who don't even like the bad things the people are doing. They really are working against those bad things. They are trying to make the family of the brother who is remembering you a better family, and they are making progress.

Tell me, who will you acknowledge? The one who is not selling drugs and not letting the people play and do nasty things and won't let them gamble. But he doesn't remember you, and he will punish the others if they come out of their houses and start talking about you in the public.

That is what the Communists did for 70 years. Who would you recognize as your son? You would recognize the one who remembers you. Even though he is doing bad things, he remembers you. And he is not imposing the bad things that he is doing on all of the family.

He permits anybody in the family who wants to not to go that way. They don't have to rob and steal. You will remember that son. Well I have just given you a picture of G-d's Position.

The Arabs were reading the Qur'an and reading it right about G-d. We had the Qur'an, too, but we were saying "G-d was Mr. W. D. Fard in the human flesh." The Arabs knew the Prophet who got the revelation, and they were acknowledging the right Prophet, Muhammed the Prophet of Arabia.

We were saying that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad was the messenger of G-d. And we weren't interested but for just a little bit in Muhammed of Arabia, whom the Qur'an was revealed to.

But we had good intentions, and our religion was sincere. And we wanted to be all the way straight, not part of the way. We were acknowledging Him before great America and taking the risk of living our different life here in the face of great America.

They were coming in from Muslim countries changing their names to Robi, Jack, Sam, Tobi, ashamed to come out. This country didn't say you couldn't have your religion in this country, but they weren't coming out in the open with their religion. They were keeping it as quiet as they could.

Now the same G-d that I just described sees these poor descendents of slaves, how they were treated and how they wanted to be treated, and He sees in their hearts how they really wanted to be upright and on the right path for G-d. And they are speaking a language that G-d can't accept.

So G-d says, "I'll take care of them. I'll teach them Myself. They are going to learn the Qur'an, and they won't learn it from the Arabs. I am going to inspire them, and they are going to learn it from My Inspiration. One day, I am going to favor them over the rest."

The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said that day was coming, and the day is here. The Muslims that Allah is with are not those Muslims over there. It is the Muslims in the United States of America, and they were here while others were mum and afraid to speak.

This is Independence Day, and I am inviting you to come to my meaning of Patriotism and walk these streets and know that they belong to you as much as they belong to any man. And see your future in this country, and believe that the world is open to you as much as it is open to any man.

Go on and build a great life for yourself, as much as any man in the United States of America. Thank you, Peace be unto you As-Salaam-Alaikum.