1988-January-8

Muslim Journal

"An Islamic Formula for a Successful Life" : Part 4
Los Angeles, California — November 15, 1987

Imam W. Deen Mohammed

They say black is inferior, is a mark of inferiority, and the people that sold the white masses and the black masses that idea are really speaking in a different context, a different framework or language altogether, when they talk about black man and white man. In their language, white man is enlightened man; black man is dormant man, his mind hasn't shined forth, his intellect hasn't been illuminated, so he's dark in intelligence. The light of intelligence hasn't sparked and lit his body, lit his light, lit his world for him yet.

So therefore, when they say, 'you're black,' can't you sense that when white people in the intelligential circle, say 'black people,' that they are talking about something that you don't know; can't you sense they have a meaning that you aren't aware of? They are not talking about your black skin — they are talking about your failure to spend on your intellect, your failure to come into enlightenment by straining your imagination, not to find fiction and falsehood, not in that sense; you stretch your imagination to find unreachable boundaries of truth, to try to find the framework of truth, for you, in this external world of reality.

The framework of your existence, the framework of your conscience; man's conscience should go out and expand. They say 'expand your conscience, expand and expand and expand, to find self in creation, to find the place and role of self in creation; to see if you can see a direction for man in creation, and if you will stretch your imagination, your sensitivity, your senses, your sensitive nature, your sensitive being, to feel what you can't see, then you will begin to feel a purpose that you can't articulate yet, but eventually if you keep feeling out for it, you will gain the ability to articulate the purpose that you sense for yourself, and its external reality.  And that's the activity in the life of cosmic man. So go on and tell them a black "Superman" is born.

Yes! And not just now; Frederick Douglass was a black "Superman." But we need to turn the masses of African American people on to this kind of thinking, to this kind o! appreciation, of image, of self view, of self-identity, where we identify ourselves not in white man's history; first, we identify ourselves in God's handiwork, find our worth and purpose in God's handiwork first, and then measure up in value to what the white man wants to give us, within that great picture of our reality. That's what we must do. Stretch your imagination; don't be afraid to think. What did DuBois say: that we, the educators, the teachers to our black children, they will do a service to an extent that they will teach their children to think. And most of us don't know what he means anymore. When he said think,' he means to stretch the imagination; go, where the white man dare not leads you, go where he is afraid to lead you.

He is afraid to lead not only us, but afraid to lead the masses, to the field of resources, because if they get into the field of their resources, that God has created for them, they will be able to compete and demand a share in every quarter of life. Not only that, they will not be restrained or restricted in travel by the American citizenship, as cosmic man, they will think nothing of going to see what resources that the black community can use in China — resources that the black man can use in Kenya. See, they won't be afraid.

But now even though we know that as a citizen we have the right to go and do business on this whole earth, especially in any country that's not at war, or not a declared enemy of the American people. We have the right to go there; we have the right to go to Russia, because Russia and America are cooperating now. We have the right to go to China, because China and America are cooperating now, in sufficient degree to allow American citizens to go there. And long before it was known to the American public, that China was a country that was moving closer to the American people, and would allow the American people to form diplomatic relations and good relations with China, long before that was even known, there were Southerners and Northerners down there in Canton — in the big center for exports; I know because I was there, as a member or a group of the American/ Chinese friendship group. I visited and went along with that group of American people. And I saw in Canton, Southerners, that were there but weren't in our group, who came there as businessmen, and while China was regarded by us in the United States, as a place that we shouldn't visit, as a Communist enemy, they were over there getting goods at a price that they couldn't get them elsewhere and bringing them back to the United States and selling them and making their business position stronger in their communities, because of their access to the markets of Canton or to the imports of Canton.

Do we have the courage to do that? NO!!! It takes cosmic man to have that kind of courage. See, in fact, most of us, though we accept it by law, as citizens of the United States, with the rights of every other citizen, in this country, most of us have that "chained elephant syndrome." You know the white man says 'you're free, there ain't no change,' and we go out so far and back up, and its hard to go forward. It's very hard to go forward.

If you say things that will make people shake, don't trust the people that shake, because it's human nature to defend the mortal life, and if he's shaking, the mortal life is in trouble. No matter how good his heart is — look how they wept after they set Jesus up. Not that we agree with the story, but I'm coming from Christian reports. Look how they wept after they set the man up; set a poor, righteous man up and then wept, as he went up for the bad treatment, they were weeping. They say that Peter wept by the doorstep, or something like that, and he was the main one that betrayed him. Judas and Peter, right? Peter said, "I don't know him."

Now, that's a denomination that I would never join — a "Peter" denomination; that's if I was out shopping for a religion. I would not join a "Peter" denomination, because if he betrayed the man while he was living, what can you say to me to convince me that after he's gone, Peter is going to be better? If he betrayed Christ while he was living (peace be upon Christ), nothing can convince me that he's going to be better after Christ is gone.

Now, from cosmic man, we look at earth, the home of the human being. Allah says, the earth is the place where you are formed, the place where you will live, the place where you will die, and the place from which you will be raised up again. So earth is home isn't it? We are narrowing now, we come from cosmic boundaries, the big picture. Now we see the earth in the big picture. We are getting closer now to the boundaries of human influence. But human influences are favored by cosmic influence. It is cosmic influence, really, that gives muscle, purpose, etc., to human influence.

But now we are coming into the smaller picture of human influence; the earth. Our religion teaches us to identify in the body earth, as a member in the body earth that this is our home, the earth, and that the earth is the place for us realizing our growth. God says, he will be successful who will spend on themselves, or who will cause their own souls to grow, in its enlightenment, and its regardfulness or its piety. Piety is regardfulness. A nation when it loses regardfulness; a people will fall when they lose regardfulness. And now you see it's an epidemic in the society, of the ignorant — no regard for anything.
The manipulators who manipulate the life of the ignorant to save them from the threat of ignorance; they have influenced you to lose regard for everything.

They've brought movies out to make a joke of God. They used to have such respect for religion. They made movies to make a joke of the priests; make jokes of the nuns. Then they arm the children with authority over the parents. They have imparted to the children ideas about their rights that have made children lose regard for their parents. They think the parents are stupid. What influences in society have made our children lose respect for their parents, lose respect for grownups? That's not our doing.

Our common weaknesses of life was always limited; respect stayed among the African-American people, in the African-American people, for parents elders, until the influences came from the deceitful culture, the rigged culture that's rigged to contain the ignorant in their ignorance and feed their life to degeneracy, rather to growth and progress, so that they don't have to be worried about you having any design on the resources and treasures of the world. This is the truth! They kill people for saying the things that I say, but not nowadays. Not in these days, because they think what you are saying will fall on deaf ears. And they feel so secure that their game has been so tight, they have worked that thing out so successfully, so perfectly, that you can't do anything but get the attention of a minute, very minute, portion of the people. And that small portion would be of no consequence; that's what they count on.

But they are wrong. They are wrong, and we know that whenever God and His Plan intends for a thing to come about, the conditions for protecting that thing has already come about. So some of you all shiver and shake at some of the things I say — some of you, not all of you — because I know many of you feel the way I do and speak the way I do, you have no problem with what I am doing. In fact, you identify as one with what I am doing. I know that. And some of you that are here, and you are my color, you should understand that we have friends and company from other colors — I mean Imam W. Deen Muhammad has friends, helpers and supporters from other colors; silent partners.

Yes. God's work is protected by God. And this is God's work. A sincere work done to change the pitiful situation of the masses of people, is loved by God. Every man who has stood up to sincerely do something to salvage the remaining life that is in the masses of people, from the evil clutches of the world, God is with them — always.

So any of you who have fear in you, understand that the best insurance is God. And I am a living proof— not that I am the only one, but I am here, and I might as well show you myself as living proof that God is the best insurance.

(To be continued)