1988-February-12

Muslim Journal

Human Rights in Al-Islam: Lecture by Imam W. Deen Muhammad at 4th Annual Seerah Conference in New York: Part 2

Imam W. Deen Mohammed

(Editor's note: This is part two of Imam W. Deen Muhammad's speech at the 4th Annual National Seerah Conference.)

Bismillah, Ir-Rahman, nir-Rahim. As-Salaam-Alaikum, and that is Peace be unto you. It is a great honor that makes me feel very humble to be addressing you here tonight. And I have to say this before going into this brief presentation that I will make. The organization that was headed for about fifty years by my father and our late honorable leader Elijah Muhammad was called the Nation of Islam.

Brother Imam Hashed, who just introduced me — I believe he introduced me, for I was looking around for that fellow he was talking about — mentioned the organization by the name of the Nation of Islam. So that no one will be confused, we are not talking about the Nation of Islam proper; that was an organization or movement for black reform or the reform of African-American people under the name "Islam." It wore the name "Nation of Islam." I say this so everything will be clear here, I hope.

But he made it very clear when he said, "Imam W. Deen Muhammad has led us to la illa-ha illallah, Muhammadan Rasulullah." I think that says all that we would like to say about that.

In my brief presentation here, I seek God's Mercy and His Blessings and pray that we will please Him always in everything that we do and pray that He will bring the good results to all of our efforts. That He will bless this occasion and our efforts here to present ourselves as a united community of Muslims in accordance with our religion, the religion of the Qur'an and the religion that God preferred for human beings. I hope that we will be blessed by Allah to have the benefits that we seek for this occasion.

Diplomacy in Al-Islam

I begin by first calling your attention to diplomacy in Al-Islam. Muslims, as you know, for I am speaking to the esteemed scholars and teachers and Imams in particular, but also to all of you. Because there are even non-Muslims here tonight who are not only leaders but are also very informed of what has happened in the global community of man. They are well aware of what our religion represents.

In bringing your attention to diplomacy in Al-Islam. I want to mention a book that is authored by a man named Ahdar Ikhbar. The title of that Book is "Diplomacy in Islam." I am calling attention to just one part or section of that book, where he presents as an example of diplomacy in Al-Islam the speech of Jafar bin Abu Talid, who addressed the King of Abyssinia as part and member of a great and strong delegation of Muslim followers of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. He was sent or commissioned by the Prophet to go to Abyssinia, that is to Africa or what is now Ethiopia, and to seek the Christian ruler there for protection from persecution or savage treatment metered out to them, the Prophet and his followers, by the ungodly Meccans.

I'm not going to give his speech. I am just calling your attention to the fact that Prophet Muhammad established for us also diplomacy. He was diplomatic, and instructed his followers to be likewise. And when this delegation went to the King, they didn't go there attacking or pushing themselves upon anybody. They didn't go there demanding anything. They went there as human beings and as God-fearing people, with the due respect and deep respect for God and also with due respect for their fellow man and for the King of Abyssinia. They addressed him in the most respectful way and humbled themselves. They also had the diplomacy or the diplomatic skills to present themselves to the King in a way to win the King's favor.

Now many of us in presenting ourselves to non-Muslims fail to demonstrate that kind of diplomacy. We fail to even recognize the need for diplomacy. There is a great need for diplomacy, when Muslims are introducing themselves to non-Muslims and especially when we are seeking some kind of relationship or some kind of partnership with them or some kind of working relationship with them. If we want a working relationship with Christians or Jews or non-Muslims or a working relationship with anybody, for that matter, we should realize that there is the burden on us to use some diplomacy and to respect the need for diplomacy.

Don't think that I am making a blanket condemnation, no. I'm just responding to situations that I, myself, have observed. I'm not saying that all Muslims are guilty of ignoring the need for diplomacy in these special kinds of relationships. I'm only saying that there is a need for us to be aware of the great diplomacy that was exercised by the Prophet and the early followers of the Prophet, peace be upon him and God be pleased with those excellent followers of his.

I'm just raising a few points, for I have said I am going to speak for about ten to fifteen minutes. I didn't plan to make a long speech tonight. I will save that for another time. I'm going to make this very short and hope that I will be finished in the next five to ten minutes at the most.

The next point I want to bring to your attention is that we believe along with you, that is the immigrant Muslims and the Muslims of the international Muslim community or world, that there is definitely a revival of Al-Islam going on. And it is not going on only in our location, it is going on all over the world. It is growing and it is spreading. There is a definite revival going on; there is a return.

I can agree with Muslims, for we can have good intentions and the choice of language starts out being good. But in time if we go from pure intent, then in time the language becomes bad. So they tell me that I am the Mujeddid of America. And after reading so much about the trouble with mujeddids I don't care to be called that; I am afraid of the word, itself. So I don't like for us to talk about mujeddids. To me it simply means to make something new, it is from "jeddidun." When something is new, it is "jeddid." And "mujeddid" is to make something grow. And if you make something new, it had better resemble the old! We don't want to make any new religion.

But I do recognize along with the Muslims of the world that (here is a definite return. We are returning to conscious religion. I have read the Bible and the history of the Christian religion, how it developed and grew, and how it had the problem of people just falling asleep under ritualism. It was condemned even by Jesus The Prophet, peace be upon him. Jesus condemned just having empty ritualism: he condemned people following rituals blindly. We are happy now to know that Muslims are becoming conscious and attentive to the demands in their life from the true religion of Al-Islam and also attentive to the demand in our life for commitment.

We have to be a people committed to something for our own personal good and for the good of our Muslim community, for our brothers and sisters whether they are in our mosque or in some other mosque or in our country or in some other country. We have to be a people committed to the Islamic commitments, a people devoted to Islamic commitments and accepting those commitments and doing whatever we can. no matter how small our resources are or how great our resources are.

Believer In Courage

I am another firm believer in courage. Courage! Courage is the American way, and I think courage makes you better and courage makes you bigger. You have to have the courage to accept the responsibility of Muslim and to accept the responsibility of Muslim life.-No matter how poor you are and no matter how few you are, you are to accept that responsibility. As black people, belonging to the poor section of the black people or African-Americans; we are the poor African-Americans. It is hard to find a wealthy African-American among us, although over the last five or ten years we see a kind of change in the make-up of the membership. We are beginning to attract people with more means, but the general membership is still the membership of poor people. But I insist that we still accept the full responsibility of a Muslim people and of a Muslim community.

Allah says give in charily. Allah says struggle, "jahidu." with your own selves and with sour wealth. We have to do that, too. Allah says feel for your brother. Prophet Muhammad has taught us that to feel for your brother, to love for your brother, and to care for your brother. Don't rest while your brother is in pain and misery. Or your neighbor, for that matter. You know the teachings, and I am not trying to teach you anything. I'm just bringing some things to your attention. So we have to do the same way. although our means are small. And if we feel that, then we will work harder.

Allah has created us in such a way. Highly Glorified be He. that the more responsibility we accept, the more power we have to manage it. The less responsibility we accept, the less power we have to manage. Allah has created us in that way. And I am not speaking from my wisdom. I am speaking from Qur'an and the Sunnah. the wisdom of Prophet Muhammad. Although we are small in numbers and small in wealth or small even in intelligence, if we accept the full responsibility of a Muslim man and the full responsibility of a Muslim community, Allah will bless us with Beater power to do things. We will come into greater power to do things.

If you want to be bigger and more able to manage things and to manage affairs and responsibilities, then accept fully the responsibility of a Muslim man and woman and accept fully that responsibility of a Muslim community. Work hard, and Allah will bless us and we will become a great people, insha-Allah.

Two other things that I want to call your attention to. and I will make it very short. That is the fact that many of us talk about Muslim unity, we invite each other to be united — "Let us unite. We are supposed to be united. The Muslim Community is one community." Certainly, that is true. But understand this. We don't want unity at the expense of quality. I know some of you don't want to hear me say this at this time. But we do not want unity at the expense of quality.

(To be continued)