June 7, 1996

Muslim Journal

Imam W. Deen Mohammed's Comments to
The Malaysian Muslim Shura on April 14,1996

With Allah's Name the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer. As-Salaam Alaikum. Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the systems of knowledge. The prayers and the peace be on the noble and generous Messenger and what follows (given in the Arabic language).

Your Excellency, distinguished members of the Shura of Malaysia Muslims, it is a great honor for me to be with you at this time on the opening of your Shura session, to greet you and to give you the good news of our good state in the U.S.A.

Our present community, as you perhaps know, came to be upon an intriguing paradox called the Nation of Islam in America. Circumstances in that strange situation brought us to be in touch with the real Islam. As strange as that experience was, we were introduced to the Qur'an as a sacred Book, as God's Book. We were not told to study it however. We were told that there would come a time in the future when we would have leaders who would make it possible for us to learn something from the Book, but the Book was a distance from us. It was like a mystery; the Qur'an among us was like a mystery.

The leaders, in spite of them calling themselves Muslims and the Nation of Islam, were preaching from the Bible. They came from the church and they thought they were converted to Islam, but they were actually preaching from the Bible. They were applying all of the glory of the Biblical Israel to us. We thought that we were the Hebrews spoken of in the Bible, the original black people. We thought that the story of the Hebrews or Jews suffering and their promised rise into power was really addressing us.

A trick was used to make us have a sense of presence in the Scripture, in the Bible, and a sense of destiny as a people that God had chosen. But we were calling ourselves Muslims, the Lost Found Nation of Islam in America. The teacher who brought that strange message to us told us that he was our savior and that we, were the lost sheep. We were certainly lost, that's for sure.

We thank Allah that this trick or plot worked for many of us. For myself it certainly worked. I was encouraged to become a real Muslim, a follower of our Prophet and to respect the Qur'an, the Holy Book of all Muslims as the number one authority in my life. I began to read it and to search for direction for a way to introduce the religion correctly to the rest of my father's followers. God blessed me to be successful with that.

So because of that intriguing paradox called the Nation of Islam in America, I had the circumstances in my life to bring me to the real Islam. We believe that the intentions of those people, even my father, were good. The teacher of my father wanted to use a trick to bring Islam into America through the poor and illiterate blacks. We think their intention was good and God only knows. God will judge them. I can't judge them. We pray that God accept their good works and forgive them their sins and their errors. Insha-Allah that will be granted to them, I don't know.

What I do know is that I am awfully excited about the possibilities for us now in America after having this good opportunity, this very excellent opportunity, to be the guests of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) in Malaysia and to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister and give him some of our concerns.

Insah-Allah we will be having a delegation coming from America, from our community, at least once a year representing our efforts in education and our efforts in the community to establish good community life in the public of America.

Thank you very much. Again, it is a great honor for us to be here sitting at this table with you. I will carry the message back to America, to the leaders first and then to the general community. I am sure they will be inspired and our spirits will be very high.

We hope that the President of ABIM will come to America and be our guest speaker at our national convention. I assure you that there will be 10,000 maybe as many as 20,000 enthusiastic Muslims waiting to greet you and appreciate whatever you have to say.