1980-October-3

Bilalian News

Liberation For All People

Imam Warith Deen Muhammad

With the Name Allah, the Gracious, the Compassionate.
(Editor's note: Following are excerpts from Imam Warith Deen Muhammad's address to the Midwest C.R.A.I.D. meeting at Chicago, Ill., March 15, 1980.)

Prophet Muhammad advocated the liberation of the female and the advancement of education for all people. The Ummah and the Arabs didn't live up to that. Prophet Muham­mad warned the Arabs and the Ummah against aristocracy; he warned them against dictatorship; he warned them against material­ism.

But a few centuries after he passed, they went into aristocracy; they went into dic­tatorship; they went into materialism. They left the universal, humanitarian liberation that is for all people, equally. They became gnostics, worshipers of wisdom.

Well I hear you laugh — you know what that is. Down in the deep lessons, the 34 problems, in the science, calling yourselves the special people, the world going north and you going in the basement with your metaphysical science.

Well that's what the sleeping Ummah did. They fell into the same sleeping, slumber pat­tern that the Christians had fallen into. Christianity went into 300 years of gnostic search and gluttony. What came out of it? A Christian dictatorship that oppressed the masses, denied education to the masses, to females.

That's the same thing that happened to Muslims. The Muslims went into a scholarly to flowery kind of discourse and left the mission to liberate and elevate the mind of the common person. And what came out of that? Monar­chies and oppressive Arab governments. Corruption! Yes — failure.

They have failed, and I believe that it is a sign. Just as Bilal is a sign, and just as is resurgence of Al-Islam in the international world today.
Bilal had the spirit and the heart, and the people that you people think yourselves to be above, the ones I have told you to accept as your brother and your equal, that very people will one day walk in the Paradise ahead of you.

Who is shaming their religion? It's the spoiled sheikhs who rob the masses and come over here to Las Vegas and gamble their money away, who do the forbidden things and would have us believe that they pray five times a day. Some don't pray once a day. They have a few good ones over there. The majority of those "big shots" over there don't pray at all. When they pray, it's formality, they are politicking. When they go home, no prayers!

Don't you know if you pray sincerely, you can't carry corruption? If they are sincere in their prayers, Allah will make their life right. And they will make their country right. The nationalists have failed.

Another thing about Bilal: Prophet Muham­mad told him to go on top of the Kaabah, when he came victoriously into Mecca with 10,000 fearless soldiers, and the Prophet announced the end of feuding and called for no further bloodshed. Prophet Muhammad called am­nesty and ended all bloodshed.

Bilal wasn't in any black country — the Arabs are white-looking. They are generally white like the lightest ones here tonight, and even lighter and more Caucasian-looking. But Bilal was of black skin, and woolly hair.
The Prophet told him to climb to the top of the Kaabah. He could have told him to just make the call from the position of Abraham or something there in the Holy Precincts of the Kaabah. He didn't have to tell him to climb on top of the sacred house. That's a message; it acts as a sign, it acts as a prophecy.

Now Bilal himself is not the purpose, you are the object. He was just a sign. Bilal had a very special place with Prophet Muhammad; but what does it mean, if it doesn't find in­terpretation in humanity and in us? Why did he pick a non-Arab to do that? What is the significance?

"Oh, because he wanted to show that the blacks were equal in Al-Islam."
He didn't have to make him the caller of the prayer; he could have made him ambassador to Ethiopia. He could have said, "Bilal, you deliver a Khutbah." Or, "Bilal, I want you to be a chief scholar." No, that wouldn't have been in accord with prophecy.

The man that's to come, he's not the top scholar. The man who's to come, he's not the orator. He's not respected as an orator, but he has the heart, he has the spirit, he has the love, he has the willingness to pay the price to call everybody to God. He is the caller, he's the caller! Isn't that wonderful?

Oh Brother, that's wonderful. He's the caller, and the caller shall walk in the Paradise ahead of the scholars. He's going to stand on top of the house. He's going to declare the Shahadah from the top of the house, openly to all people.

In fulfillment of this prophecy: Don't hide it under a bushel, take it to the top of the house.
Let your light shine. What was Prophet Muhammad telling the Ummah? He was telling them "you won't have the spirit, you won't have the courage, you won't have the devotion, you won't have the will, you won't have the love for all God's people to stand on top of the house and tell the whole world that
`there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah; Muhammad is the universal Messenger.'

"It won't be fulfilled in you. You're going to go to sleep in the luxury that we have gotten because of our works to please Allah. but it's going to come from Bilal, the people of Bilal." They will stand on top of the house. They will let their light shine, they won't be afraid and they won't hoard the knowledge.

Everywhere I've gone, I have preached this religion. In the Caribbeans, among the so-called Ahmadiyyas — I don't care who I'm among, I preach it straight. Sometimes it cuts pretty deep, you know. The greatest work on Earth is the word of Truth, the word of Al-Islam. Oh yes, I preach it with rejoicing pride. And everywhere I go, I'm respected.