Reprinted from the Muslim Journal (11-29-02 to 12-20-02)

Respect the Intelligence of Today’s Public:
Muhammed Came to Correct What Came in Scriptures Before

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

(The following is the Jumuah Khutbah given by Imam W. Deen Mohammed at the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam on April 5, 2002.)

With G-d's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer, we wit-ness that He is One. We give all praise to Him Who sus-tains the heavens and the earth and cares for all of His creation, especially for His human creation. And we wit-ness that Muhammed to whom the Qur'an was revealed is His Noble and Generous Messenger.

Allah says of him that we should salute him with prayers and with peace. And Allah also says of him that he is a mercy to all the worlds. Everything that we have in Islam from the Qur'an and from Muhammed who received the Qur'an for us, directly or indirectly, addresses something that is in the scripture that came before or is in the religious traditions of the people who had religious communities before the coming of Muhammed, G-d's Servant and Messenger, Prayers and Peace be on him.

The Qur'an is all the Word of G-d, where in other scrip-tures are not all the Words of G-d. We are not saying this; they say this. This is not us criticizing them, but saying what they say of their own scriptures. They are not all the Words of G-d to the Prophets. Others came behind the Prophets and wrote much of what we find in the scriptures of others.

Other people, outside of the Muslims, their scriptures carry the words and teach-ings of their holy and saintly people, their rabbis, their priests, their monks and oth-ers. It is not all revelation from G-d. Even Apostle Paul is one of the main authors of the books in the New Testa-ment, and it is not agreed upon in Christian history that all that Paul received was from G-d.

Only Qur'an claims to have only the Word of G-d. There is nothing in there that came from Muhammed, himself. He was not able to speak those words. He was not learned in scripture and was not even acquainted with scripture; it was all strange to him. All of the Qur'an came directly from the Most High G-d. Glorified and Praised is He.

Muhammed the Prophet is a mercy to all the worlds. We read in the Qur'an that "this was revealed to him; he was not knowing this; he had no access to any of your knowl-edge." This is made clear. It says, "They wonder what kind of Book is this, that leaves out nothing small or big." What is this referring to?

This is the key for us Mus-lims. To understand the Qur'an, we have to know the context that it is addressing. Is it addressing every book that ever appeared in the world, when it says it leaves out nothing small or large? No, that is too much. There is a lot of nonsense and fool-ishness, and the Qur'an doesn't address nonsense. The Qur'an only addresses what people claim to be the Word of G-d or what people claim that G-d authorized.

The Qur'an addresses that and no more. "Did G-d autho-rize you to do those things in the Name of G-d?" The Qur'an has Muhammed responsible for challenging them and addressing them, to make them provide that this that you claim is from G-d is from G-d. These are the issues. The issues are found in the context of Revealed Knowledge and in the context of what the world used after Revealed Knowl-edge or even before it, to say "this is from G-d."

So Muhammed really comes as a Messenger from G-d to correct what the world has that they claim is from G-d. He comes to correct it, and that is what Allah's Words say in the Qur'an: "This is a correction from the previous Books, on the Books that came before and a plain teaching." It comes to make it clear or very plain.

In addressing what came before, "what came before" also was a plan for the future, although it had not been fulfilled. It was a plan for man's future life on this planet, until the Day of Judgment. That means as long as we are humans on this planet, G-d has already given us Guidance to take care of us as long as we are humans on this planet.

In the early times, scrip-tures came to Prophets addressing both their local conditions and pointing to the conclusion of things. Scriptures before Prophet Muhammed and teachers with the Scriptures were pointing people to the conclu-sion of things. They were pointing to the signs that address the conclusion of things.

When G-d made man and put him on the earth as a responsible creature to carry out G-d's Will, G-d at that time inspired him to not only work in the present but to work for the future. Every human being is created to not only live in the present, G-d created us with the nature to wonder how the future is going to be.

I have to prepare myself for the future. And if I can, I have to help others prepare themselves for the future. This is what made prophets. The prophet-nature is in every human being; every human being is born with the prophet-nature. We are the children of Adam, the descendants of Adam.

Adam is not only the first man, but he is also the first Prophet. He warned his chil-dren. He planned a life for the future. The need to prophesy grew stronger and stronger as man lived and experienced life in his envi-ronment. Struggle for that life produced more and more fears. They were striving and straining to look into the future, to know where is this going and how can we pre-pare better for what we are going to face.

It is common knowledge that the prophet-nature is in all of us. We can never say that Muhammed is our Mes-senger. He is only Allah's Messenger. But we always say that he is our Prophet. He is our prophet and he is flesh of our flesh and bones of our bones. He is human, like we are. Allah says to him, "Say to them, 'I am a human mortal just like you are.'" These are G-d's Words to him in the Qur'an.

The public of the world has advanced so much in human intellect, since the time of the early Prophets and since the time of the Last Prophet, Muhammed. prayers and peace be on him. but we are still talking to them like they are a people who were in the crowds six thousand years ago, four thousand years ago or thousands of years ago. We are speaking like it is the same public.

We have not progressed our communication to our public, our religious public, that respects their gradua-tion in knowledge. That is why most of the people nowadays don't have much patience with the preachers. They don't care to go to the houses of worship, because the world is so far ahead of them in so many respects. The world is so far ahead of the religious leaders in these churches and mosques and synagogues and temples. All suffer this.

For some reason that I think can be explained, they think that when you say the Word of G-d never changes, that it also means the way you communicate it never changes either. That is horri-ble. We have to respect our public, the intelligence in our public. If the public now can have more understanding, they are prepared to ask for more understanding, we should give them that under-standing.

They don't have to ask for it with their mouths, they ask for it with their attitude toward you. They ask for it with their treatment of you. They ask for it with their actions toward you.

In the Qur'an, we read the small chapter titled Al 'Asr. We ask Allah's Protection from the Rejected Satan, the Enemy of all Human Beings. It begins with Bismillah, ir-rahman, nir-rahim, as do every other chapter, except the ninth chapter of the Qur'an. Then comes the words "Wal 'Asr." It is translated as "By the Time" and also as "By the Token of Time." It also means The Hour.

Scriptures before said one day with the Lord is as a thousand years with mankind, of our life. Our thousand years is nothing but one day with G-d. So this 'Asr is not on the clock that you get up by every morning. This is The Hour; it is a big measurement in the time of man. And it is a time of diffi-culty. We know that from the word 'Asr.

The Qur'an is powerful and rich and potent in its capacity to communicate volumes with a few words. I used to hear as a young man, who was interested and curious in the Scripture, that some Imams overseas took Al-Fatihah or one line or one word in Al-Fatihah and wrote volumes. I said to myself, "They don't have anything to do but waste time." That was when I was young.

Now I am older and I have enriched my own self by my studies and have entertained myself in such a heavenly way, putting myself in a heavenly environment. Just with my curiosity, searching G-d's Words has put me in a heavenly environment.

Now I look back on the expressions I made when I was young, and I feel ashamed. I feel sorry. I want to apologize to those learned men who make volumes by discussing just one short ayah or one expression.

I feel right now that I know I would not be bored, for I could take Al 'Asr and write volumes. This very word is so big and broad and it includes in its concept so much of man's time on earth and his time in history, man's life in struggle. I could do volumes.

Where do we get the diffi-culty here? This says "Wal 'Asr." It is slightly different from "usr," but nevertheless it is a hint on or play on "usr." "Wal 'Asr" - By the Token of Time. We know G-d says: "I do not want for you difficulty. (That is "usr.) But I want that you be purified."

Our flesh belongs to the animal kingdom, this flesh and blood body of ours. And there was a time for many nations when their flesh was no more than that of animals. They lived like animals and they worshipped animals. They made deities in animal forms as their gods. They put upon their heads animal horns, because they were imi-tating animals and were one of the animals.

They were saying, "I am an animal with this animal's traits, this animal's appetites, this animal's brav-ery, or this animal's cunning." They wore things to identify themselves with ani-mals that they loved and admired and some they wor-shipped as gods. Ancient Egypt, with its high and great civilization that they developed, chose many ani-mals as deities - cats, dogs, lions and others.

So in our flesh body, we belonged to the animal king-dom. And when the human spirit is out of the animal body, then the body is noth-ing but the flesh of the ani-mal. You become nothing but an animal.

When G-d said that He was going to make man, the Angels said: "What will you make, other than that that will cause bloodshed?" G-d said: "I know what you know not. When I have given to him of My Own Spirit, you (the Angels) make sajdah to him." G-d did not say, "Well, this man is worthy of your respect, so why aren't you respecting him?"

Without G-d's Spirit in you, you are not worthy of the respect of Angels. Why should Angels respect you, with nothing but your animal make up in an animal body? They shouldn't. Then you are not better than the rest of the animals. And there are some animals that are better than man, when you take the Spir-it of G-d out of man. G-d says that He has given something of His Ruh - His Spirit - to everything.

G-d is talking about that higher plane of inspiration. There are many planes or lev-els of inspiration that come to man. G-d made the beautiful creation, by itself, to inspire man and to aid man and assist man on the road to his own development to higher life and more productive life and to better life. The cre-ation, itself, does that in its beauty, its wonderment, in its wisdom. It is full of messages for the human intellect.

G-d was telling the Angels: "I didn't create this man to be left alone with the creation. I created him to be influenced by the creation to come to Me, to find Me, the Artist Who made this great wonder and gave this great wonder to him. I created it to inspire him to come to Me.

"And if he comes to Me, I am going to give to him of My Own Spirit. When I give to him of my Own Spirit, you make sajdah to him. I didn't give you (the Angels) to my world to serve yourselves. Your existence is to serve My man." Praise be to Allah.

Muhammed the Prophet said, "G-d, in that battle, did not leave you alone. He sent Angels among you to help you get the victory." The Angels are made to work with man, but it is the man that G-d chose to lead the humanity or all human flesh. And Muhammed is a Mercy to all the Worlds.

"Wal 'Asr." Concerning the Time down through the Ages... Difficulty. It is difficul-ty for what part of man? It is for his spirit. All of this is implied in the word "Wal 'Asr." Man's spirit wants to come to rest, rest from that which is in conflict with his better nature. His spirit is the life of his better nature.

Life is movement, not standing still. So our life is in our spirit more than it is in our body that can't go very far, without the airplane or car or something. But the spirit will even go beyond the conscious mind, beyond my rational senses. That is my spirit. It will tell my rational senses, "I'm out here and need you to join me. I want to understand where I am." This is the man that G-d made, the man that I am so happy to be. I know my life. I have found myself, and it is wonderful.

That is where all of us are created to go. We are to go where G-d created us to go, and it is not to be hung up in this life like a cow or dog or cat or snake. No, those cre-ations are much below your creation. Praise be to Allah.

"Concerning the Hour, surely mankind is lost and entrapped." He is not only lost, he is entrapped. He is lost and don't know the way out.

The first progression of this chapter or Surah began with "Wal 'Asr." The second pro-gression began with "Lo, man is in a state of loss." The third progression began, "Except those who have faith and who believe..."

Now dear people, we begin our journey back to our G-d. What is that journey? Is it G-d that we need to work with? No, it is G-d that we need to support our work. We need to work with our fellow man. G-d does not need to be a labor-er with us. He made us to be a laborer with one another and amongst one another.

So my journey bask to G-d is really to get authorization for what I have to do from my
G-d, because He gave me a soul that is very sensitive when it comes to obedience to my Lord. It obeyed BY Lord, before it was given to me. He won't give me a soul until He created it in obedience. Then He gave it to me, and I was born of Clara Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad.

That soul is there in me and with me to influence me to go where G-d wants me to go. So first we are established in our souls and we sand up erect, balanced - spiritually balanced. This is no Material balance; this is a spiritual balance.

Man's balance is spiritual, not physical, and it requires a subconscious more than it requires a conscious. It is because the mind has too much to do, than thinking on standing up. So G-d created us with a spiritual balance and a subconscious, so while we are working, we don't have to worry about standing up.

So the man walking around in an animal body may be standing up as an animal but may be down as a human being. And we have to let them know that G-d has sent Guidance to stand them up again in their soul.

So when we stand up and say, "Allahu Akbar," we are standing up in our souls -righteous, obedient, clean, with hands clean. Maybe they were dirty just a second ago, but when I brought my atten-tion to My Lord. I confessed all my faults and I tell Him that I want my hands open to "You, My Lord: I hide nothing from You. I am innocent in Your Presence. Please accept me and forgive me all my sins and make me perfect and clean before You, in Your Presence."

You have forgotten all of the wrong; you stop thinking about the dope you sold last week to pay the bills. You don't think of that when you stand up in the prayer lines with us; that is out of your mind. If it is in your mind, you are repenting for it and hoping that your repentance is accepted.

Now from the soul, we have to move out, because the soul wants us to get something and it isn't all here where I am standing. The soul is far reaching. So the soul is mak-ing me now want to move out. If I move out, the world is not under Angels only. The world that I came down in, I came down into it with Satan, when Satan was just a naughty boy. All this time he has had on earth since then, he has grown up.

Satan was too much of a match for me, even then, when we were together in the heavens or heavenly regions. His disobedience then caused us all to be cast down together - not separately, all together as one bunch. Now he has had all this time to do his thing.

G-d said to the Archangel Jibril, "Let Me show you My creation." Then He showed it to him, and Jibril said, "My Lord, how can anyone go astray in such a marvelous, wonderful, beautiful cre-ation?" In an instance, G-d showed it to him, though ions later in time, and it was all decorated by Satan. When Jibril saw it, he said, "My Lord, how can anyone go straight in such a creation?" That is the creation that we are in, the one that Jibril said, when he looked at it, "How can anybody be without sin in this creation?"

Satan filled it with allure-ments and enticements and temptations everywhere. So to advance with the soul that G-d gave us and with the direction that G-d put in that soul, that soul will often become conscious in man's world and is influenced to have many interests and many appetites and many objectives or aims or hopes.

But there is one that you had before your eyes fell on the world, before your ears heard the world. You had one direction, and that direction was obedience to your G-d.

To take your life and your interest in obedience to G-d where G-d wants human life to go is the original soul and con-sciousness of the human being. But now you are in this very difficult world to keep obedience. It is very hard to keep your taqwa in this world influenced and decorat-ed by Satan. So the time is very difficult; the hour is very trying -"Wal 'Asr."

But it is not so diffi-cult for those who have faith. It says: "Except those who have faith." Then you are excluded; it will not be very hard on you who have faith. Faith even takes the burden of Satan off my back. Otis Redding said: "I wake up early and the light hurts by eyes. Then I look at you, and the world is all right with me. It's a lovely day."

Now I don't know what he was addressing, because I haven't found a woman to do that for me. Only the Word of G-d does that for me. G-d is saying that Faith is your best weapon against the temptations, against the greatest tempter - the Shaitan, himself. Faith is your key to victory on the long haul with the heavy baggage to reach your Lord.

What is that heavy baggage? My responsi-bility to develop my life and the life of my envi-ronment. It is my responsibility to shoul-der the responsibility for the whole world and the state of mankind until the end of time.

Phrase No. Four: "And their works are righ-teous, their deeds are righteous.... Except for those who have righ-teous works." We know this is scripture. Most of you come from a Chris-tian environment, if not from Christian teach-ings. And those who come from Christian teachings know that this is in the Bible - the same thing.

G-d won't accept faith alone; you must bring to Him also good works. This is the Bible. That is why Allah says in the Qur'an that this is a correction on the books that came previously and an extended mes-sage, but first coming out of the old. Then it extends it, so we can go further in the world with the new.

After G-d created us for a strong and healthy life, the Satan influ-ences our life to be dis-eased and weak. So we need righteous works to advance the works that G-d wants in this world.

Satan is here with his plan to defeat the works of man, to prove man unworthy of being given this honor and this responsibility by The Creator. He is out to prove man wrong.

Eventually, Satan wants to make the world, too, to be made for G-d. But he has his own ideas of how to make it happen. And it irks him that man takes this responsibility on himself and keeps Satan out of it. He says, "Why are they keeping me out of something I was in before they were in it? I used to lead the Angels. What do these little boys think they are doing? I'm going to out think them and crucify the whole race of mankind."

Satan told G-d: "I am going to go out before them and behind them. I'm going to go on their left and on their right." There, he was saying to G-d, "I'm going to cruci-fy the whole of mankind."

To crucify is his block-ing, stopping, checking and making static and still what should be moving for G-d. That is why it says in the Qur'an, "Nor did they kill him. Neither did they make him static and steal. And they did not give him rigor mor-tis."

Righteous deeds will take all of us down off the cross. Taqwa by itself will not take us off
the cross. The cross is static life that can't move. You can have taqwa and maybe you won't move. In the name of your taqwa, you will say, "I'm justi-fied to stand still, because it is too danger-ous for me to go out there in Satan's field of activity."

But when the spirit comes into you to do something about your environment and to have righteous work established for your name, then Satan has a contender and he is going to have to give up some of the territory. That is why G-d obli-gates us to not just have taqwa but also jihad.

Muhammed the Prophet had been grant-ed victory and the envi-ronment was in their hands, but we haven't gotten there yet. We are trying to get a little bit of this environment in our hands. We are mak-ing progress here in Atlanta more so than anywhere else right now. But we haven't got-ten there yet.

There is not a whole town that we can show people that we have and are the administrators for that town and taking caring of the affairs of the peo-ple in that town - all of their services given by Muslims. We haven't achieved that. We haven't achieved what Muhammed achieved, with the Grace of G-d and His Mercy, in Medinah.

And when he achieved it, did he say, "OK, we have reached the Promised Land. Rejoice and celebrate." No. Because Allah says, "As soon as you complete one task, immediately take up another. Peace was established for the whole land and Muhammed was estab-lished as their chief, their boss, their gover-nor.

Consciousness and struggle are what make all people great. Devo-tion to what they respect as having the power to support their good life - that is their taqwa for that cause. Then they have a com-mitment to put their energies, their bodies and their money into the effort, and they become a great people.

I'm not going to name any of them that comes to my mind now, because we don't want your mind to be on other people. We want you to be aware that G-d creat-ed all people with this nature.

Works and righteous works! Do you know that the heaven that G-d says He has prepared for us is a promise He has for workers? We are going to the Paradise, if we make it, or to the heaven, if we make it, that was prepared for workers.

"Oh soul, pleased and pleasing. Pleased with your own self and pleasing your G-d, return you to your Lord. Enter you - go in to My Paradise." Isn't that what scripture said that came before? It said: "Good worker, faithful servant, when the time comes at the end, faithful servant enter in to My Par-adise."

This is promised in the scripture that came before. It is in the Bible, and here the Qur'an cer-tifies it again, certifying the worker.

To the faithful worker, yes Paradise has been made for you: "Enter
you among My workers."

"Abd" means more than one thing; it never meant slave. The term was abused by hard, cruel task-masters. It meant "servant" all the time. Then Allah came and cleared it of the abuse and raised that title up to be the highest title for human beings - that is for G-d, The Creator, to call you His "Abd," His Ser-vant.

There is no title higher than that, according to the teachings of the most learned and most upright in this religion. It is also according to the hints and the plain talk in Qur'an. "Enter you among My workers." Then it says that you can have Par-adise. "... Therefore, enter you My Paradise."

So G-d has given us the steps for salvation. When Jonah finally got free of his difficulties and was on land, according to the Bible, he said: "I have a three-day journey. G-d has established me again in my soul, but now I have to find a way to move out.

"When I find a way to move out, then I have to perceive my future des-tiny on this earth among these un-G-dly people. Not only am I to be estab-lished in my soul, I am also to be put on the right road. And the right road is this next step for me. Then after the right road, I'm to visualize what I am to have as my community life at the end of that struggle."

Don't think that this has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with us. The minimum number we need for this Jumuah is three. Why? Because Jonah's struggle is our struggle. Jonah's struggle in his soul is our struggle in our soul. Once Jonah is free from the struggle with his soul, then he has to establish his life on this planet. It is because G-d created him to have life on this planet and to have a model life that will speak to others and tell them what they should make of their lives.

They will say, "G-d has guided this man to this model." They will have it as a witness and as an attraction to attract oth-ers to the right life or the right establishment for man on this earth. That was Jonah's destiny.

When we stand up to pray, don't forget your connections. The Kaa'bah is a sign of connections. That is exactly what it is. Its greatest meaning and message are signs of con-nections, that it connects that that was separated, reconciling that which should be together and not against the other parts that belong to it. To bring all parts that belong together together, that have been separated and divided by the schemes of Satan.

It is to bring man in unity with mankind, not just with his nation or with his race or with his secret order, people of his persuasion. No, it is peo-ple with the human soul, to bring all of the souls that belong to Adam together, so they again become one life harmo-niously living for righ-teousness and an abun-dance of good that G-d created us for.

After work, what pres-sure are you going to feel? It would be the pressure of correctness. A worker will be under the pressure to be correct, to not make mistakes, to not have flaws in his work.

"... And they mutually support the advancement of truth." But this truth is not common truth. It is the broadest picture of truth. It is the broadest context for truth - Al Haqq. "As-Siddiq" is the truth. If you spoke the truth, you would say "Sadaqa," which is from As-Siddiq. That is the truth for the tongue. But the truth for the whole life is Al Haqq.

You may have a truthful tongue, but you may not be aware of reality. Reali-ty is what is real, genuine in the nature, in the pic-ture and in the function G-d created for each of
you. That is Al Haqq.

"Ya, Haqq..." - "The truth has come and false-hood perishes." So man just speaking the truth is not enough to kill false-hood. But whenever he universalizes his truth to respect all truths that G-d created, now he is ready to slay falsehood. And falsehood is of the nature to perish before truth, but not before "your truth" — before The Truth, The All Inclusive Truth, The Uni-versal Truth.

When it is put in that nature, the same thing happens as it does when the vampire is put into the sun; he disappears and becomes nonexistent. These are steps that we must take and be aware of, in order to guarantee or assure success in that difficult time for soul and human spirit.

"Wal Asr." That difficult time will go on and on, for as long as man is making history. That is why one translator calls it "Down through the Ages" or "The Token of Time through the Ages." Satan is not going anywhere.

So when you stand up in your soul, Satan says, "Well, they aren't going anywhere, because I have the environment." So you have to have the faith to meet the challenge and know that G-d obligates you to not excuse yourself because Satan has the world.

That is the spirit of the Black man. If you invite them to cooperate with you in a great work that involves even a contest with the establishment or the big, rich White folk, the cow-ard will say: "You know you can't do anything. You know the White man isn't going to let us do that! He knows we can't go any-where."

We are not asking the White man to let us do anything. We are doing what our G-d told us to do. We don't have patience with you talking about what the White man is going to say.

And if you clean up your act, the White man won't be in your way that much. In fact, you can clean up your act to the extent that he won't only get out of your way, but he will send some of his associates to you to let you know that he appreciates what you are doing.

I am not only talking about holy and saintly White people, I am also talking about those who don't even pray. G-d gave Solomon the jinn in his army to help him work. And Allah says in the Qur'an, which is so power-ful and so beautiful with its communication: "A party of the jinn heard and said, 'This is a won-derful reciting.'" They almost got the Holy Ghost. They said, "Neither men nor jinn should disre-spect it."

When truth comes, it has the power to kill false-hood. That is given to us in the Qur'an in G-d's Words. Where does it kill it? It is in the head. And this is referred to what was said before; it is what the Bible said, too: "Strike him in his head."

That means it has the power to kill the logic that supports the lie, the logic that holds up the false-hood. It will kill the false-hood that's in the head.

After that, don't think the war is going to be just two minutes or seven days or 10 days. The war may have to go on until G-d concludes the matter. We aren't the ones to say when to stop; only G-d can say when to stop.

G-d will tell Satan when to stop, and G-d will tell us when to stop. We are to work and not have even on our minds a get off time; there is no time to get off the job. It is not even in this reality. Just work.

When you work with that kind of awareness, time does not bother you. "They encourage each other to be patient; they mutually support patience and perseverance." Praise be to Allah.

We have the answer. We have the sure formula for success here and here-after. Let us accept it and act on it like determined men in war, who are not thinking about going back home. They are thinking about the victory.

Jumuah is the best day in the life of man, on Fri-day. At least, the world chose the right day to make as payday. G-d has guided me to much under-standing. I know now that even though Satan has decorated this world, G-d's Angels are still here. And this world does not only have on it the imprint of Satan, it also has the imprint of G-d's Angels on it.

We thank G-d for His Messengers, all of them -Angels and humans. We want to see where all of this life and effort should be in community or in the Ummah of Muhammed (PBUH). Wherever we are, we should be trying to establish ourselves in the Ummah of Al-Islam. That should be our main focus.

We have to establish ourselves in the Ummah of Muhammed, of Al-Islam. That means we cannot go around and be pleased with our lives and accomplishments and we have no community model that the people can look at and say: "This is after the model in Medinah. These people do not have pork on this block. These peo-ple do not sell liquor on this block. These people do not commit crime on this block."

What am I saying? If we only can get one block, then let's make that one block the model of the Ummah. The police should not be needed on this block. That is what we want. And though they are small in numbers, they should be industrious. This small block should have stores on it run by them with products made by them or imported by other good Muslims who need support for their life.

We will be buying prod-ucts to help the life of other good Muslims around the world who are making a good effort and are good people.

"This Ummah is one Ummah, and I am your Lord. Therefore, worship only Me." That is what G-d says in the Qur'an.

Doesn't that language sound familiar. It is about 12 centuries or more older than the language of the Founding Fathers, but they said: "One nation united, indivisible, under
G-d, the Creator."

Thank you very much. As-Salaam-Alaikum.