(Reprinted from the Muslim Journal 10-6-06 to 10-20-06)

Solid Faith

Imam W. Deen Mohammed

(Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave this Public Address on the First Sunday of August, Aug. 6, 2006, at the Homewood Hotel, in Homewood, III.

Peace be unto you. As-Salaam-Alaikum. We thank G-d for our presence here today. We always begin, "With G-d's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer."

We want to speak to our radio listening audience and our live audience here today on the subject of Solid Faith. We are here in Homewood, Illinois, again for the First Sunday Address. We are pleased to be together again.

RELIGION and SCIENCE TOWARD AGREEMENT

We thank G-d for life and for the opportunities for a better life. We are living in a time that is bringing religion and science toward agreement as to what is reality. Most religion and science require faith. We don't think of it that way, because we are not conditioned to think that way.

Science is mostly based upon theory. Before science arrives at fact, science has the base or foundation of theories. We have a scientific world. We have a world that tells us all about the nature of matter, how matter is composed.

I remember as a student in our private school in Chicago being taught, by our science teachers, general science and physics. If you had those subjects of science, you know that science says that matter is composed of small particles that you can't see with your eyes.

It has gone on the theory called the Molecular Theory, that molecules are composed of atoms, and atoms are composed of charges. And none of this can be seen by the physical eye, so it still remains a theory.

Theory means that they can't prove it to the rational mind and physical eye, except upon reference of observing certain behaviors of matter or believing that since these results come when we use these theories, these results hold up.

FAITH to RELIGION as THEORY to SCIENCE

A person believing in life after death or the hereafter or another life or better and higher life to come believes in that on faith. But the faithful persons are recorded in scripture and in regular life, our life, as having certain experiences that give them reason to believe that that is reality - that it does exist.

The same for the Belief in G-d; it is a belief; it is faith. But the experiences that we have personally as people of faith are as much evidence for our faith and belief in matters of religion, as these theories are for the scientific world.

We experience it in our souls. We experience it in our minds. We experience it in our life. We see it happening in the lives of others. Many times, we experience it together. Two people or more will witness the same phenomena or the same happenings in their lives and identify them the same.

So what is the difference between theory and faith? The scientists would not have gotten to where he has gone and made the progress he has made, if he had not had faith. He had to have faith - faith in what he believed. He had faith that in what he believed is the reality.

We are conditioned to think of the world as the world of law and reality. Scripture says the whole world is deception. Deception - you are not really seeing reality, when you are looking at the world.

There was a time when man was looking at the earth and believing that earth' Was flat like a table. He believed that if you went so far, you would fall off the earth.

But observation over a long period of time and experience and increase in knowledge brought mankind to accept the common knowledge that the earth is round.

There is some proof that the earth is round, and one is given in the general science courses. It says that if you notice when you are out on the ocean front and the ships are coming in toward the shore, the banks, the land, you see the top of the ship first.

Then the rest of the ship comes into view in time, as it approaches. This is proof to a rational mind that the earth is round.

PROOF there is G-D

Similar proof is given to us in religion to support what we believe in, that there is a G-d. It is not just G-d over creation, but it is a Living G-d, an Active G-d, a G-d that listens to my personal life whenever He wants. This is what the person of faith believes in. And I say we have evidence of this, as does the world of science.

We have to change the way we think. We have been influenced by the secular world, science, human claims, man's claims that fascinate us and escape our mental capacity, in other words leave us without explanations and make us think that man is a miracle worker.

And he is. But he is not the first Miracle Worker, and he is not the biggest Miracle Worker. We are talking about Solid Faith. Both religion and science, I repeat, require faith. Science calls it theory. For religion, it is F-A-I-T-H.

Humans are born sinless. There is no inherent sin — period. However, humans have a proclivity toward error or sin but are not born sinners.

There was a time in the history of our criminal studies in the United States, Criminology in the United States, that it was believed that if you could stop a criminal from having children, it would help reduce crime.

It was believed that the criminal would most likely produce a criminal, that that behavior was inherent. It wasn't long over a period of time that that was rejected here in the United States, and they took the position that no child was born criminal.

So here we find religion and science agreeing, coming together. Not today but many years ago, religion and science were taking similar positions.

If you really are an observant person and have a clear mind, and you think on what the world has done and think on what you have read in scripture, the world has just lived scripture. Scripture came before the world, and the world has been living Scripture as though somebody gave man science as his plan for his life.

Exactly what has happened is what was predicted. And I can give you many statements from religion and scripture to explain that and support that.

Need For POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE

To believe I am born a sinner is to be crippled for life, spiritually and mentally. Every field of knowledge knows that in order to succeed, one has to have a positive self-image or a view of the value of one's self as good and appreciative.

The reasons why so many people are failing in life is that they have a crippling belief or idea that cripples them and prevents them from performing at their capacity or their ability. It is because they have been told that human beings are born in sin or born with sin.

Somebody was awfully messed up, when it came to accepting sex. And they are the ones who thought themselves a special creation, that they had rejected flesh and pursued religious light and had become another creation above human creation.

And they imposed upon themselves, as G-d revealed in the Last Scripture, celibacy - to have nothing to do physically or sexually with a female.

They required that of themselves or of their order, that you don't marry women, that you are married to The Word of G-d. That influence is what we see in the belief that man or human beings are born sinful or in sin.

This is not something that starts in The Gospel. It starts in the early scriptures, that if you do wrong, your children are going to inherit it. Your children will be punished for your wrong; they will inherit your sin. This is in Scripture. But do we understand it? No.

We take it literally and we take it to be speaking to the matter, which it is not. It is speaking indirectly to the matter or to the subject - not directly. No child necessarily has to be affected by the bad behavior or the sins of the parents. We see that in life; we don't need anybody to prove that to us.

We see extraordinary children come up in the worse conditions in some of the worse households, and they turn out to be just super. We don't have to have anybody to prove it to us; we see it in our own life.

I don't think most of us bought that anyway. I think those who can't find a job bought it. I think those who can't follow good leadership bought. I think those who can't follow good sense bought it. But I think a lot of us never bought it.

The human family has human family solidarity. As our destiny, we have to accept the unity of the human family. Man has progressed socially and materially on this earth with a position now, globally speaking, that we cannot accept to ignore other nations and other people.

HISTORY UNFOLDING

Not only do we have to recognize their existence and their right to their own future, as they choose to have it, but we have to also recognize that they have a right to share in the wealth of the world. Their lands should be respected as their lands, and our lands should be respected as our lands.

We can't run from each other anymore. We can't live economically without each other anymore. We have to work and cooperate for the good of us all here on this planet earth.

This is the reality that was prophesied in scripture that would come. That things in G-d's Creation were working automatically, both in the human creation and in the material creation, to bring home the Destiny as G-d intended it to be.

It is not as some nation intended it to be, it is as G-d, The Creator, intended it to be. When we read scripture, we see it plainly unfolding in the history of man's social and material life. We see history unfolding, and we see scripture speaking in man's material life, social life and spiritual life - in his whole life.

DON’T DOUBT FAITH

Here is what was said, and look at what is happening. What was said is now seen as what is happening in this global community of man today.

Some of you doubt faith. You don't want to trust faith, so your faith is weak. I am sure a lot of you come from Christian backgrounds and a lot of you in the radio listening audience are Christians, perhaps.

You may recall the preacher saying, quoting The Gospel, quoting Christ Jesus - Peace be on him: "If you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can do wonders."

Think about this, the Qur'an and the Bible - these two Books say very much the same thing, when addressing major issues on doubt and faith.

My mother had me to take care of the garden. I saw her planting mustard seeds. Those seeds are so small and light, a little breeze will blow them away. Take one grain of mustard seed and put it on your finger — be careful not to drop it, because you can hardly see it.

The mustard seed is hard and to look at it, it looks dead. But when you put it in the place where G-d intended it to go to have life again, it becomes a big bush and just one of its leaves has weight.

"If you have so much faith as a grain of mustard seed...," that looks dead and is hard. This is Solid Faith.

Muhammed the Prophet taught his followers what G-d revealed in the Qur'an: "Be together, stand together as a solid wall." And we stand together shoulder to shoulder, as a solid wall when we pray together in congregational prayers. We take the stand upon faith.

SUPPORTS YOU CAN’T SEE

And G-d says, "Look at the heavenly bodies." Both Scriptures point us to the heavens, for us to observe the wisdom for a higher order of human life on this
planet earth. G-d says, "Observe the bodies that you see in the sky and how they appear to be supported with no props or supports under them that you can see."

What is that saying to us? It is saying that not only your life but the existence of the material universe is existence upon powers that you can't see. The sun - you can't see what is holding it up. The moon - you don't see what is holding it up there. You get a telescope and look at planets and material bodies or material mass bigger than ours.

Look at the planets, like Jupiter. You cannot see what is holding them up there. Science tells you of the trillions and trillions of tons - not pounds - in that mass. There it is hanging out there in space seemingly with no support holding it up.

That is pointed out to us to tell us to trust the G-d that designed this creation, trust the G-d that designed the Universe. Trust Him. You can't explain everything He did. Trust Him. He knows and you know not.

You look at what He has done and then come up with your own explanation for it. I know about universal gravity. That is what science tells us.

But when the farmer looks up there, he doesn't see any universal gravity. All he sees is big bodies up there and nothing is holding them up. So G-d's Lesson is going to stay, no matter what science says.

G-d gives us a Lesson that says, "Have faith in the Lord that designed this creation. The way it is designed is too big for your mind to grasp. Have faith in The One that designed it and don't doubt. Die to your own life, die to your own mind and live again."

THE PLAN OF G-D

It says, "He has made your life like the life of a plant." A parable of human life is the parable of a plant in Scriptures - not one Scripture but Scriptures. To live again, the plant produces a soft, moist thing called a fruit. Even if it becomes a crusty thing with a hard crust over it like a walnut, it was soft before it became hard.

Then it becomes hard and invites you in your curiosity to go inside it, and when you go inside, you find soft meat -the walnut meat that is nice and chewy. If you put that hard nut in the ground and it gets the situation needed for it to have a birth, it will birth forward and the "soft" will break through the "hard" and take root in the earth.

It then springs up not as a walnut but as a walnut tree with bushels of walnuts. That is G-d's Work. So you have faith that your little dried up life can have life again.

Just give it to the Plan of G-d, and it will come to life again and spring up bigger and better and more abundant than it was before.

Greed for dominance fears our being a human family. Hence, since time began this category of power seekers have sought to influence human behavior against family, against morality, against human intelligence. Further, the influence had been designed to set the innocent up for profiling.

Meanings can be mean. Do you hear what I'm saying: "Meanings can be mean." The expression "black" was associated with honor, dignity, nobility, etc.

This meaning was popular in Arabia and many other parts of the ancient world. Black clothing had been worn for centuries, thousands of years, indicating respect and sacredness. Black clothing was worn by people of faith.

Our Scriptures revealed to man night (ignorance and faith) - fear also is darkness, but I am concentrating on just these two. These are the two that Scripture concentrate on - ignorance and faith.

Man was born ignorant and had to learn the world. And he had to have faith to make progress in that direction. Night comes before day. Day is knowledge and the ability to reason.

SACRED BLACK STONE

The Sacred Stone designates the corner and the starting point for pilgrims circumambulating from right to left during their pilgrimage at the Holy Site, we called the House built by Abraham and his son. That stone is black in hue that marks the corner, the starting point for the pilgrims to go from right to left around The House.

Muhammed the Prophet, demonstrating how the pilgrimage should be done -called Hajj in Arabic - when he went to the corner, he bent over and kissed the Black Stone. Black must have a good meaning, at least in that Holy Precinct.

People have been stigmatized as "nigger" or "negro," the term where nigger comes from. Negro comes from Spanish and means "black" in Spanish. Here is a people who have been made very angry, to the point that they will hurt somebody because they were called "nigger." But nigger and negro mean the same, black.

I remember as a youngster having seen boys and grown up men who said, "You call me nigger again, and I will break your head! I will break your face."

I understand it, although it is a word that goes back to a meaning that we can accept -black, and our people are black; we come from the country where our forefathers were mostly black.

I was raised scientifically. You can't show me a white African American and get me to call that person black. That's a contradiction of good sense in my early education. I am different in that way. I have run into a few like me, but there aren't many.

We stopped calling ourselves negroes. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the influence of his great organization, the Nation of Islam, brought us to accept black as a precious and valuable property in the people. It is a precious and valuable property, certainly.

If G-d made one people who would not burn up and not have their skin to peel off and get skin cancer, favoring the black people with that color and that color has these benefits, we should recognize that and appreciate being black -at least in the hot climate.

Although, it may not help you in Greenland or on the North Pole. But still it has great benefits. Everybody's features and makeup have great benefits for them in the native land of where they came from. If they come out of that native land, it may work against them.

Others have been stigmatized with derogatory terms, not just negroes. People have been stigmatized as A-rabs. They are not A-rabs; they are Arabs. But those who have been troubled by them know that they are Arabs, but they will say A-rabs. When I hear this, it takes all the control I have to not say something to them.

Here we are picking up the racist's attitude and the racist's prejudice. People have been stigmatized in all races, and the stigmas keep coming. They don't stop. New ones come in and irritate others, and they start nicknaming them with bad names.

Our Scriptures tell stories of evil conspirators, conspiring to influence human behavior and human interest to position humans to be stigmatized and profiled.

There is a small number of evil conspirators, who get into powerful positions to educate the public. And the public buys their education and becomes their slaves, mentally not physically.

They get your mind and govern your mind and maneuver you in every area of life, as though you are their robot. The conspirators are given different names and charged with seeking to discredit Sacred Authority.

They are charged with wanting to usurp the Powers of the Lord, Creator. That is the evil ones. They sought to have a dominance in the world. They still seek to have a dominance in the world and to keep that dominance. They seek to keep a dominance and to take G-d's Place in the hearts of the faithful.

These conspirators in Scriptures are charged with presenting themselves as Angels of Light and sitting on the Throne of Power in the Heavens as G-d. This is Scripture. So don't have a problem with me; I am just reading Scripture.

LUCIFER in MUSLIM and CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES

Now that G-d has blessed me to be in the position to deal with it, I find it so relieving and rejoiceful. Now, dear people, Lucifer is given in Scripture as a bright and morning star.

The Scripture says, "Why have you fallen, Lucifer?" Here is the chief of the evil ones, and he planned his evil on high and was rejected and cast down.

We see this in many Scriptures, in our religion and in the religion of the Christians. The Christian Scripture says, "Why have you fallen, Lucifer?" The Muslim Scripture says, "Get you down from here." They are addressing the same evil conspirator.

I remember reading before I was your leader in the community — I was a minister on a local level — a book by a German. It was a book about us and said, "People who walk in darkness have seen a great light."

It was a book about slaves and how rational some of them were and how perceptive some of them were. This book also focused on the element of evil in a good and innocent society.

Lucifer and his friends want to establish themselves in the biggest place with the biggest opportunities. He likes it that the most progressive place also believes in freedom, for he surely wants to be free. He comes over here and tells all of us to be free from everything; don't let anything hold you.

He says, "You heard in the early days of Scripture that you shouldn't eat pork. So eat everything you want to eat. I know you heard in early Scriptures that you shouldn't drink liquor, but drink everything you want to drink. And a little bit is good for your stomach."

"REBUKE SATAN"

The devil will make you laugh at his wickedness. If he were here, he would be laughing with you. If you are laughing a little low in volume, he will pick up to get you up again.

We must all accept blame for our behavior, no matter how subtle, how powerful or how deceitful Lucifer and his evil ones are. Our Scripture says that G-d will not excuse us for our behavior.

The Bible says, "Rebuke Satan and he will run from you." That means to chastise him with strong language. Speak out against his evil and he will run from you.

That doesn't sound like some creature that we can't deal with. Those words in Scripture in the Bible give me courage to do battle with him, if we have to.

The last revelation to man on this earth, the Qur'an, says, "Fight the schemes of Satan, for his schemes are weak. He has no power over you, except to invite you through your weaknesses." If you follow him, the blame is on you.

BE OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER

However, in civilized or civil society among our fellow citizens are those who accept to be their brother's keepers.

So how do we deal with it? We know some people are more vulnerable than others; some people are more gullible than others. Some are more stupid, but we are supposed to be our brother's keeper.

Those who know should protect those who don't know. Those who are strong should try to impart strength to those who are weak. That is better than trying to work somebody up to faint and fall down and start foaming at the mouth.

Then that one goes back home and comes back next Sunday for another charge. And the house stays as dirty as it was before. The house stays as poor as it was before.

I go back to neighborhoods that I was raised in as a boy, at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old. I go back there today in Chicago and find the same sights of people with no purpose, men wondering around on the corners, hanging around taverns.

There still are lots of storefront churches, where they go in and get a powerful charge and go right back to the same old poor life. That has to stop.

I don't care how much the preachers get excited and say, "Oh, he shouldn't do that." I am with Bill Cosby. He is the moral voice for African Americans today in these United States.

PROFILED for EXTERMINATION

We have street style public behavior that wants to be seen as vulgar, ignorant, rude, boisterous, confrontational and crazy. We i have an epidemic of that in the streets in our young men. And our young girls are following behind them and taking the lead sometimes.

What are we going to do? Are we going to play with these great issues or take them serious? If we allow our people in our neighborhoods to give in to such behavior, then we are actually setting our own selves up to be stigmatized, to be profiled for bad treatment, for extermination.

You don't have to be killed physically to be exterminated. Any time, the influence and spirit of human life in the form that it should be in is not in you anymore, you have been exterminated. If we can't knock on the door of intelligence and get an intelligent human response, you have been exterminated.

Yes, we are influenced to behave against our own human nature and human intelligence, setting our own selves up to be profiled.

We are not real people; we are actors - A - C — T -O - R - S. The average one is an actor who gets on the streets and behaves in a manner described in this paper.

He gets up and looks in the mirror to see if he is looking according to form for the act. You dress up for it. You even have to get the expression: "I don't give a________for anybody!"

You look at yourself and make sure you can "believe" that you are real. Open the door as if you have something against the door. You knock the screen door out of your way.

We should not accept group collective behavior that profiles us for bad treatment and social rejection. The living puts away the dead.

Thank you very much. May G-d give us Light and open our eyes for the Light and forgive us our ignorance and our sins against our own life, so that we will have Devine Mercy and a new chance for life and progress.

That is our prayer, Ameen. We give Salaams and Peace to our radio audience in Mississippi and in the South and other places in the North and on the East Coast and West Coast.

Our radio listening audience is growing. We wish that you support it. We are here in Homewood, Illinois, for the First Sunday Address.

G-d is Greater. Allahu Akbar.